So I was on a panel on multiculturalism should we worry about it on Saturday, moderated by Rebecca Goldstein, with Taslima and Katha and Sarah Jones. At one point Rebecca said we were agreeing too much so it occurred to me to try to fix that by bringing up not female genital mutilation but the male kind. (Instead of cries of outrage, though, there was some applause. Yet more agreement! What can you do.)
You already know what I think, unless you’re a new reader. [Read more…]
I’m at the airport. Way too early. I can see the top of the Capitol from this desk-plug-in spot.
There are sparrows in here. They fly along the windows as if they want to get out but maybe they’re used to being here. Maybe they’re like children raised wearing a burqa.
Taslima talked yesterday about being a child who said No, a child who was curious, a child who always asked questions.
Taslima is so amazing.
Sorry about weird disappearing posts and comments and whatever else is weird. I’ll straighten it out late tomorrow when I get home, or Monday. They were only tiny posts anyway.
Hahahahaha me on a panel discussing multiculturalism with Taslima Nasreen and Katha Pollitt and Rebecca Goldstein – what a great wish-fulfillment dream. Perfect.
Wait…
What an amazing evening. I was sitting talking to Stacy and others at the reception and someone came up behind me and gave me a standing mini-hug, I turned and there was Taslima.
And after her came a bunch of other exes. It was exciting. Things are happening.
Taslima told a funny story about Mohammed bargaining with Allah to cut down the prayers from 50 a day – 50!! a day!! – to something more tolerable. 40? No no. 30? No no. 20?
Mohammed was a merchant.
I’m here. Rumpled, plane-battered, hungry and foodless, grumpy, but here.
There’s a party of Young Communists staying. Alas they’re all on my floor. They’ve been shouting in the halls.
Did I mention I’m hungry?
Oh hey, I forgot to mention I’m leaving. taking airplanes, busy, so things will be quiet for a few days. I’m off to Women in Secularism 3.
Now’s the time for you to talk about anything you’ve been wanting to get off your chest; nothing is off topic. And your time starts
NOW
Legislation that will further limit access to abortion in Louisiana and would likely close three of the state’s five abortion clinics overwhelmingly passed the state Senate with a vote of 34-3 Wednesday. [Read more…]
The Russian Orthodox Church is annoyed that a guy in a dress won the Eurovision song contest. This strikes Russians as hilarious, because The Russian Orthodox Church features guys in dresses.
The drag queen’s performance and its enthusiastic reception was a sign of the world’s moral decline and part the aggressive assertion of Western cultural norms, according to Vladimir Legoyda.
The chairman of the church’s information department told Interfax news agency: ““The process of the legalisation of that to which the Bible refers to as nothing less than an abomination is already long not news in the contemporary world.” [Read more…]
Sinister.
Imagine that a little-known but increasingly powerful group of ideologues had hatched a plan to transform the United States into a Christian theocracy harkening back to the Dark Ages of Europe, a time when society was governed by the laws and officials of the Catholic Church.
Suppose further that this plan had a scary simple strategy: Recruit bright, young law students; put them through an intensive indoctrination program; place them in plum internships across the country; and watch as they swim upstream until they reach the top of the legal system, where they can create, enforce, and interpret laws according to a legal philosophy infused with fundamentalist Christian theology.
Got it?
Now learn that it’s already here. Sofia Resnick and Sharona Coutts at RH Reality Check report: [Read more…]