The first known celebration of Father’s Day was on July 5, 1908 in Fairmont, West Virginia, where it was commemorated at William Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South – now known as Central United Methodist Church. Grace Golden Clayton is believed to have suggested it to her pastor after a deadly explosion in nearby Monongah in December, killing 361 men.
It was also during a sermon in 1909 that Sonora Smart Dodd became inspired by Mother’s Day. After the death of her mother, Sonora and her siblings were raised by their father William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran. Sonora wanted to show how thankful she was to her father and, because William was born in …
So, I came across this post on feministing. Although feministing is normally a site concerned with women’s rights issues from the perspectives of 20 and 30 something feminists, this post by a high schooler- listed as Cassidy F. on feministing- really caught my attention. She wrote:
I am female. I attend a private, 9-12, coed boarding
Last month, as I sat in the auditorium during our weekly All-School Meeting, a horde of senior boys suddenly leapt on stage, clad in only short-shorts and wacky accessories. Reel 2 Real’s “I Like to Move it” (popularized by the movie “Madagascar”) blasted over the sound system, and the audience realized that this year’s highly anticipated Senior School Meeting had officially begun.
Senior School Meeting is a time-honored tradition at my school. It …
It was only since Twilight – which was directed by Catherine Hardwick- was released, and the box office totals clearly spelled out success, that I’ve realized what little presence women have in the film industry.
I think we must be confused by the multitude of pin-thin actresses whose faces are plastered all over our lives. Yes, we’re concerned because of the effect of their stupid ass body standards that permeate into our lives every day.
Yes, we’re concerned because of the stupid ass things they do, like getting out of cars in ways that let everybody know what their undergarment preferences (or lack thereof) are. Yeah- I think we’re confusing their omnipresence with actual influence, and failing to realize there is a world in the film industry beyond actresses.
To avoid any possibility of beginning this article with a rhetorical question-which, if committed, would be tantamount to stylistic self-immolation-I offer the following statement: this sentence is not a rhetorical question, but the next one will be. This gracefully leads me to the core issue of my column: why has the American population become so sensitive and so emotionally unstable that it is totally incapable of enduring sarcasm?
Before I can launch into the fundamental elements of my argument, I feel it is necessary to prove that our society has, in fact, become a delicate pushover that bursts into tears when it’s the victim of an innocuous prank. To accomplish this, I give you the example of the July 21, 2008 issue of the New Yorker, the cover of which depicted a caricature of President Obama dressed in a turban and traditional Muslim dress while fist-bumping his similarly-exaggerated wife, Michelle Obama, who was wearing camouflage and toting an AK-47 (sure, the example’s a little stale, but time doesn’t mean anything in journalism).
Alright, I’m ready to start a weekly series. Every Sunday (unless I forget and it’s a different day…which will happen) I’m going to feature an up and coming new female artist that we should all support. It’s hard enough to be in the music industry, to be a woman in the music industry and maintain your identity, I can only postulate, must be even harder.
So this Sunday let’s talk about Julia Nunes.
Julia Nunes: Queen of the Uke
Julia “plays ukulele, guitar, writes songs and other junk.” She has two CDs out: “Left Right Wrong” and “I Wrote These.”
She’s best known for her fabulous youtubing (youtube.com/jaaaaaaa) – that’s 7 a’s
Why hasn’t anyone made any computer games for girls?
*the vid really picks up around the 7 minute mark- but up till then is still good exposition
I’ll be honest, I don’t actually know that much about video games (maybe because I never had a desire to kill virtual aliens…and isn’t that the central problem?) but as far as I’m concerned, the video games that at least have female protagonists aren’t really for females…watching Lara Croft shoot virtual enemies doesn’t really make me feel empowered, just like I’m watching another sexualized male fantasy.
Apparently, back in 1998, Brenda Laurel, a bad ass innovator who revolutionized technology, did think of this and created a video game for girls aged 8-14 – one of the first attempts to market video games to girls. As she stated, “It can’t just be a giant sexist conspiracy, these people aren’t that smart. There’s six billion dollars on the table they would go for it if they could figure out how.”
And she did figure out how through her game series following Rockett, an eighth grader at a new school. She really zeroed in on what girls would find interesting in a virtual reality: making decisions, creating a story line, escaping from the pressure of their own reality and entering a new persona. And as she stated, in its prime it ranked right along with Madden Football in sales.
Remember American Girl Dolls? It used to be a huge thing to have one of those dolls. Every one had its own little story. Dolls with identities. There was Samantha, who was from the Victorian era, and Felicity, who lived during the American Revolution and plenty of others.
These dolls were fun because they actually had substance- a story, something to teach us. Maybe the lessons weren’t really expansive (I didn’t actually know anything about my Samantha doll other than the Victorian era epithet) but I preferred introducing a doll in that way rather than with an, “isn’t she pretty?” And I like that a doll company thinks that way, too. At least in theory.
Well, on June 2nd the first Jewish American Girl Doll, Rebecca Rubin, was introduced. Further …
