Archives for October 2009

We mean this. As a smart woman commented, it puts the “twit” in twitter.

The banality of twittery just out-twitted itself.

Yes, the tweet that gave even the virtual world pause came from one Penelope Trunk, 42-year-old chief executive of a blog called Brazen Careerist, where women can find advice about balancing work and family.

Trunk tweeted while in a board meeting late last month that she was having a miscarriage — and how great is that? Beats the abortion she was planning to have, which would have meant missing two days of work since she would have had to go all the way to Chicago. Apparently, there’s a waiting list in Wisconsin, where Trunk lives.

I need to find me a big old comfy rock to go hide under.

________________________

Rebecca adds: But the important thing to remember is that women never take abortion lightly, and only have them when in dire straits, and after much consideration.

This episode is foul, but maybe it’s advancing a greater good if it promotes the awareness that some women do indeed treat abortion as analogous to a bikini wax: a bit of physical discomfort, sure, and sometimes it’s hard to get a convenient appointment, but hey, it’s part of full sexual liberation!

_____________________

Andrea thinks that someone’s site stats were down and needed a sensation? Indeed, I clicked over to Brazen Careerist–only to find this as Trunk explained herself on the miscarriage tweet:

If you are new to my blog, and you’ve gotten this far, maybe you’ll like staying here for a while. Here’s a good page to begin on: About this blog.

I recently went to see Julie and Julia, and loved it. (Yes, this is related.) I loved it at least in part because Julie Child seemed to be a dignified, and yet fun, woman. (One of my favourite lines, brilliantly delivered by Meryl Streep is when Julia Child loudly declares “I am a very conventional woman!”) In our Oprah Winfrey age we are constantly crying about something, revealing all, expecting massive sympathy and discussion–or as in this case, being clueless and crass and making profit of one kind or another (not necessarily monetary) from it. Sad.

Sometimes, the cure is worse than the disease. I’m willing to look after myself and take vitamins and supplements, but this is just too much.

In the eternal quest for a fountain of youth, no elixir is beyond the realm of consideration. Thanks to a team of Austrian scientists, human sperm is being touted as the latest age-fighting agent. According to a researcher at Graz University, spermidine, a compound that is found in sperm, guards the cells in flies, worms, yeast, mice and even human blood against damage, thereby slowing the aging process. Worms treated with spermidine lived 15 per cent longer, while fruit flies given the compound outlasted their untreated counterparts by a margin of 30 per cent.

According to Richard Martineau (who is not in the habit of making stuff up), France’s Culture minister, Frédéric Mitterand (nephew of former president François) wrote a book in 2005 in which he confesses to – or rather, brags about – engaging in sex tourism. He paid for sex with underage boys. And bragged about it. And now he’s his country’s Culture minister. And of course he’s defending Roman Polanski.

Of course. He would be.

For those of you who don’t read French, Big Blue Wave did a good job translating the money quote, here.

There’s been a spate of articles lately of diehard feminists turned normal. By normal I mean they suddenly realized what everyone already knew: Having kids is meaningful. Difficult. But meaningful. And fun. Families matter. Men and women can indeed be friends. Women enjoy homemaking-related stuff sometimes, not always, but likely more than most men. This sort of groundbreaking thing.

So today’s Globe has another piece on this same subject. And where I had resisted posting about the other articles, well, now I’m breaking down.

______________________

Brigitte smirks: I hope she’s wearing a helmet.

We talked about it here. Here is an update:

The students’ society pro-life club Choose Life hosted an unadvertized closed club event with controversial pro-life advocate Jose Ruba, co-founder of the Canadian Centre for Bio-ethical Reform, in the Shatner building’s Lev Buhkman Room last night. Because the SSMU executive was unaware of the event, Ruba’s arrival brought on a degree of panic as the executives discussed their course of action.

This incident follows Choose Life’s decision to proceed with hosting Ruba’s pro-life presentation, “Echoes of the Holocaust,” despite a SSMU council motion last Thursday censuring the advertised event. Today’s lecture, which will present abortion parallel to the atrocities of the Holocaust, is scheduled to take place this evening from six to eight p.m. in Leacock 232.

_____________________

Tanya adds a morning after update: Jose Ruba attempted his presentation but…

 As the presentation got underway, about 20 protestors began shouting and singing children’s songs. They then crowded around the vacant podium (Mr. Ruba having absconded) and continued signing [sic] for the better part of an hour, at which point police arrived. Two protestors were taken, but many were left behind. When the police left, protestors resumed and disrupted the presentation (which had fitfully resumed) until the two hour mark, at which point event organizers were informed by campus officals that time had run out and the room had to be closed for the night. 

 

Ruba’s Facebook status this morning? “Jojo Ruba survived today. McGill’s reputation for higher learning, we’ll see.”

The Federal Trade Commission in the United States will require bloggers to disclose freebies:

PHILADELPHIA – The Federal Trade Commission will require bloggers to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products.

I would be delighted to disclose that Starbucks had asked to me review their signature hot chocolate or their pumpkin spice latte. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink? Please?

______________________
Rebecca adds: I would also be most diligent in disclosing if I were the recipient of, say, a Mac Book Air, or whatever they’re calling their newest and coolest release. Ditto excellent wines and Belgian chocolates.

______________________

Tanya wonders:  Is this where we make our wish-lists?  I’m up for a Pentax K20D and the latest version of Photoshop.  Oh, and Lululemon yoga pants.

Someone here had to say something, but nothing apt came to mind. So I find myself quoting someone unlikely (although I did like Rush Hour):

People are defending Roman Polanski because he made good movies 30 years ago? Are you kidding me? Even Johnny Cochran didn’t have the nerve to go, ‘Well did you see OJ play against New England?’”

______________________

Andrea adds: Indeed. However, I did not realize that The Pianist (2002) is Roman Polanski. Most unfortunate, as I love that movie. It’s not a reason for Polanski to be acquited or to go unpunished or to justify his actions, though, which seemed to be lost on many in Hollywood.

______________________

Brigitte chimes in: I must admit I never really knew what had happened, until now. Yesterday I saw a clip of Dennis Miller and he said something to the effect that you shouldn’t really say anything about the case unless you’d read the transcript of the victim’s testimony. I found this excerpt here and a longer version here. You know what I don’t understand? Why just about all the news stories you see about this case these days talk about the girl he’s accused of “having sex with”? If her 1977 testimony is true (and as far as I can tell nobody says it isn’t), “having sex” is not what happened. When a girl says NO and sex (both vaginal and anal) happens anyway it’s called rape. She was 13 and he was 43 (or 44; I’ve seen both, not that the difference matters). He belongs in jail.

Today’s Post contains this piece about a woman who had 15 abortions and wrote a memoir about it. I had already heard of this through thoughtful readers who sent me the link about her soon-to-be-released book, Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict. But I didn’t post about it because it’s been a busy week; that said I was also slightly reticent to read about this strange and deviant case.

Indeed, it’s not easy to read about. But here are the interesting points to me:

Firstly, she has tried to kill herself several times. Secondly, she writes that motherhood made her feel accountable for her actions.

The first part is a sad, sad note on what abortion does to a high percentage of women, who can’t cope, can’t escape and try to kill themselves as a result or spend many years imagining they should.

The second part about motherhood making her take note of her actions is interesting insofar as I have heard about this from several post-abortive women: When the do have a child or get pregnant and that child is wanted, even if they did not feel bad about the prior abortion (or did not realize they felt bad) becoming a mother brings all sorts of problems with the thing to the surface.

This speaks to the long term outcomes of abortion. The highest percentage of abortions occurs before the age of 30. Many women do see it as a solution in the short term and feel a sense of relief. The reality is that short-term “solution” comes back to visit them later in life.

Yesterday I heard a very wonderful woman speak at the de Veber conference. Her name was Teresa Harnett, and wow, I just found her captivating and inspiring for her strong compassionate presence, her words, her expertise in counselling women considering abortion. She’s been doing it for over 20 years at Birthright Pregnancy Services in Hamilton.

She spoke of her work as making a bridge between that catastrophic moment for a woman when she realizes she is pregnant and considers it truly to be the end of her own life and later on, to a future she can’t yet see. She can’t see it in her fear and concern. But Teresa spoke of making this bridge–to the point where she could see that her life will not end, that there is support, that there are true and meaningful choices.

All this rambling post to say I’m distressed when I read about someone having 15 abortions–and I’m sorry it takes a trigger like childbirth for many women to realize the fullness of their actions. But then there are women like Teresa, many, many women like her, doing great work as a bridge between a terrible present and a more hopeful future. And then I feel encouraged.

(More on the de Veber conference later. It was a really inspiring day.)