Who's in Charge?

While teaching at Princeton, Lisa Belkin was stunned by what she saw after classes: "In social settings and in relationships, men set the pace, made the rules and acted as they had in the days when women were still 'less than.' It might as well have been the 1950s, but with skimpier clothing, fewer inhibitions and better birth control." Belkin wonders why. How could this be happening now?

She asked her journalism students to interview other students to help her "explore this disconnect." Belkin wanted to know "How do these social norms look from within?" None of the responses were enlightening or new, and most agreed that the power dynamics are essentially the same as they've always been: "he chases, she submits" and "that the 'he chases, she submits' paradigm was no big deal." The old-fashioned phrase "boys will be boys" made its way into Belkin's article as well as that now standard post-feminist (read: not really feminist) rhetoric that a "kind of female power" is one in which a woman appears sexually available. It didn't surprise me that none of these college students said anything dazzling because the structure of our society has stayed firmly in place, and that structure is-- gasp-- patriarchy.

As reported by Lisa Belkin, patriarchy is successfully reproducing itself, and, by the way, when women repeat "boys will be boys" they are complicit in this reproduction. (Women are complicit in many, many other ways too.) Please note too that there's no "generational card" being played here; that little saying has been repeated generation after generation after generation, reproducing itself over and over so that it feels very natural, sounds so natural that we naturally accept who's really in charge. The boys, of course.

The Arab Spring

I read Vali Nasr's opinion "If the Arab Spring Turns Ugly" in yesterday's NY Times. Nasr explains that the optimism of the Arab Spring might not turn out so well "because throughout the Middle East there is a strong undercurrent of simmering tension between Sunnis and Shiites... the region's two main power brokers, Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, are already jousting for power." I'm not in any way an expert on the Middle East; however, when my family moved to Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s when I was a teenager, one of the first things I learned--one thing I felt-- was this "undercurrent of simmering tension between Sunnis and Shiites." Quite frankly, it's hard to miss. Nasr also states that "the problem goes back to the colonial period when European administrators manipulated religious and ethnic diversity to their advantage by giving minorities greater representations in colonial forces and governments." It's good for us to remember that.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

So I finished reading Uncle Tom's Cabin--read it on my Kindle, by the way-- and I recommend it, the Kindle and the book. I know there's controversy surrounding the literary merits of Uncle Tom's Cabin, but I say give it a try. About the writing: it's didactic, and preaching is just plain awful writing. The stereotypes-- the racism-- and the Christianity made me very uncomfortable (being uncomfortable when reading fiction isn't necessarily a bad thing when it isn't the actual writing that's causing the discomfort!), and I understand that Harriet Beecher Stowe had a political agenda.

Writing a story with a political agenda has limitations, but Harriet Beecher Stowe probably didn't care because story telling can be an agent of social change which was her goal. Reading Uncle Tom's Cabin in the 21st Century is, of course, a different experience than reading it when it was first published in 1852-- though I wouldn't know this first-hand but I imagine that it was a different experience because there were people in 1852 who defended the institution of slavery-- but no human being today can possibly disagree with her message that slavery is bad, evil, wicked, reprehensible, and immoral except those who currently engage in the buying and selling of people.

Breakfast Sandwich

Ciabatta, avocado, and mascarpone. Yum!

Parade Magazine Dinner

Last night's dinner was inspired by Parade Magazine whose dimensions shrunk recently and which has nothing to do with anything. I was inspired by the veggie stir fry recipe provided by Sara Gilbert. I made some changes because I didn't have broccoli-- which is a rarity-- and I added garbanzo beans (which Sara's kids probably wouldn't like and for whom her recipe was intended), and I substituted whole wheat penne for the rice. So on top of the penne were red and yellow bell peppers, zucchini, asparagus, onions, garlic, and garbanzos; all were sauteed in extra virgin olive oil. I also had a salad of red leaf lettuce, arugula, and carrots. A very simple meal which is one of the several reasons Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking wouldn't work for me.

Yes, Julia Child and her re-famous cookbook are old, old news, news full of backlash and complaints from our three-second-attention-span society. That cookbook was on my mother's shelf in the kitchen while I was growing up (and it's still there), and my mother did cook from it. Of course, my mother spent hours cooking everyday, something I've never done and most likely never will. Besides, for me to use Julia Child's recipes I would have to veganize her meals, and I simply don't feel like doing that. And I'm not disciplined enough to go through any cookbook front to back making each recipe--that and I get bored very quickly. I would simply get tired of using the same cookbook day after day after day. Anyway, I'm amazed I remembered what I made for dinner last night. Usually I cook, eat, and forget.

Uncle Tom's Cabin & Figs

I'm reading Uncle Tom's Cabin for the first time. It's making me cringe a whole lot even though I'm acutely aware of when it was written, so each time I cringe I'm pulled out of the story, which you writers out there know isn't really a good thing. Anyway, I'm 70% through it. Yes, I'm reading it on my Kindle which I adore.

Yesterday I successfully transplanted the avocado tree, and I noticed that a raccoon is interested in the fig tree, but the figs aren't ready yet. I hope the raccoon forgets about the figs. Yeah, right. So after taking care of the avocado tree, I bought two Barbara Karst bougainvillea, and they came with a QR code-- everything has one nowadays, doesn't it?-- so I scanned the code, and there was a lot of good info about watering which is very useful because I've found that watering my garden can be tricky because not all of the plants in my garden have the same water requirements. I'm a novice gardener, so I still have a ton to learn.

Some figs:

Marine Layer & Avocado Tree

This morning I woke up to a thick marine layer. A seagull actually woke me up, and that usually doesn't happen. Last night I caught up on Weeds and The Big C. Today my plan is to transplant an avocado tree.

This fuchsia loves the marine layer: