Author: admin

This is despicable!

The Gay Animal Kingdom Should Now Be Required Reading
Category: Biology • Education • Gender & Sexuality • Politics • Wingnuts
Posted on: November 3, 2009 5:30 PM, by Eric Michael Johnson
By now everyone has heard of the high school English honors teacher, Dan DeLong, who was suspended for offering students the Seed magazine article “The Gay Animal Kingdom” by Jonah Lehrer as an optional extra credit assignment.
According to the Alton, IL based Telegraph newspaper, DeLong has now been reinstated at Southwestern High School after several hundred students and parents attended a six-hour long disciplinary hearing:
At Monday night’s meeting, more than 200 people lined the stairs, sidewalk and office space at the district’s small unit office at 884 Piasa Road in the Macoupin County village of Piasa. Many of DeLong’s supporters had handmade posters and banners stating: “Mr. DeLong Inspires Us,” and chanting, “Broadening minds is not a crime.”
Unfortunately, what it looks like is that DeLong entered a plea deal with the Board of Education where he would admit that the article was “inappropriate” in exchange for going back to work. In a statement that DeLong read, on behalf of both himself and the School Board, this agreement was that:
[T]he Board of Education and administrator’s concern was never about sexual preference or homophobic condemnation. Rather, the issue of concern was the age appropriateness of the material. . . I agree with the board that the material in my class was not age appropriate for my sophomores and for that I apologize. I understand the board has decided that I shall receive a Notice of Remedial Warning.
This is wrong on several levels. First off, this is absolutely about homophobic condemnation. No one would have had any problems with a science article that described the evolution of heterosexual monogamy in voles or gibbons. Such an article would have naturalized a belief that many people hold as the only legitimate kind of relationship for our society today. However, by showing that same-sex pairs exist in the natural world (and that gender is a much more fluid concept than people may have realized) it challenges people’s assumptions about what “natural” actually is. Because they were threatened by this idea, the Board is confessing that ANY discussion that homosexuality could be natural is therefore inappropriate. It’s homophobia, pure and simple.
via The Gay Animal Kingdom Should Now Be Required Reading : The Primate Diaries.

Been down in the dumps romantically lately ( this and my ankle sprain are the only thing making my life not fully AWESOME! channeling barney from How I Met Your Mother!!), time to post something mushy, hehehe. From John Keats, read the whole letter!

I do not write this till the last that no eye may catch it.
My dearest Girl,
I wish you could invent some means to make me at all happy without you. Every hour I am more concentrated in you; every thing else tastes like chaff in my Mouth. I feel it almost impossible to go to Italy – the fact is I cannot leave you, and shall never taste one minute’s content until it pleases chance to let me live with you for good. But I will not go on at this rate.
via Letters of Note: If I cannot live with you I will live alone.

I salute The Daily Show people for being ballsy and doing this. Resolving this conflict would make the world a far safer and better place. Let us not drown out the few people who try to do something!

Last night Dr. Barghouti and I were on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart talking about Palestine.
The show was overwhelmed with angry emails and phone calls prior to the appearance, and up until the last minute it seemed like they might cancel. During the taping the show had it’s only heckler in 11 years. The entire staff were very nervous and may come to regret the monumental decision (and not make it again) as they will surely be inundated now that the show has aired.
That is why it is CRUCIAL that the show receive letters of support from anyone who appreciated the interview.
PLEASE take a moment to give a quick thank you to the Daily Show. I’m sure they will likely be affected by numbers rather than length, so it’s OK to make it short, but spread the word to others! Be sure to put “Thank you” in the subject, and maybe Dr. Barghouti & my names. Fill out the form here: http://www.comedycentral.com/help/questionsCC.jhtml (make sure to choose The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as your topic).
I believe the interview wouldn’t have happened 3 years ago. Times are changing. Keep on keepin’ on…
Anna
via Jon Stewart Needs Your Help! : The Primate Diaries.

Keep Safe Everyone!  Praying for all of us.

Albay starts evacuating over 10,300 people
By Inquirer Southern Luzon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:51:00 10/30/2009
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—More than 10,300 people in Albay province were expected to be evacuated before dusk Friday as Typhoon Santi (international codename: Mirinae) inched closer and the threat from restive Mayon Volcano remained, officials said.
Albay has been on “‘preparedness status” the past few days for such hazards as flash floods, lahar flows, landslides, high winds and storm surges in coastal areas, said Abundio Nuñez, plans and operations chief of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office.
In its 5 p.m. bulletin, the state weather bureau Pagasa raised storm Signal number 2 was raised over Albay, along with eight southern and central Luzon provinces.
Nuñez said authorities expected to have evacuated up to 1,984 families or 10,332 persons by 4 p.m. Friday as recommended by the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council.
via Albay starts evacuating over 10,300 people – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.