My sister is visiting this weekend. Last night, we were talking about San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. My sis expressed frustration that he had legalized gay marriage in the city right before the 2004 election. She contends that the celebratory spectacle of gays and lesbians getting their matrimonial groove on in SF mobilized homophobes across […] Continue reading →

Take a look at State Senator Brock Greenfield, one of the architects of South Dakota’s absolute abortion ban. Republican. Director of the South Dakota Right to Life. Baseball coach. Substitute teacher. Convenience Store Clerk. 30-year-old virgin. Continue reading →

It’s a gloomy day for women’s rights, with South Dakota sending up the first flare, aimed straight at the new Supreme Court judges. Women are being put on a short leash elsewhere: March 1, the FDA will impement the iPledge program, which requires women to run through a humiliating obstacle course to obtain a prescription […] Continue reading →

The first time I spied the plastic bags of pre-sliced apple at Whole Foods, I could hardly believe my eyes. Have we gotten this lazy or busy or package-crazy that we don’t have time to slice a goddamn apple or eat it off the core like humans have been doing for millenia? I wondered. Apparently, […] Continue reading →

Yesterday the SFChronicle had an expose of parents who are seriously gaming the federal Special Education laws of the 1970s which gaurantee a “free and appropriate public education” for anyone with disabilities, from birth to age 22. The word “appropriate” is an interpretive soft spot big enough to drive a deluxe edition Hummer through. Which […] Continue reading →

This starchy little tribute to the fulfillment of housewifery was tucked into the SF Chronicle’s Home & Garden section this past week. I read the whole thing, mystified. The heavy, gleaming General Electric sits, heated and ready, on the ironing board. My mother moves quietly around the kitchen. Even at this hour, she looks neat […] Continue reading →

Here’s some fun stuff for the weekend. The theme? FANTASY. Apparently, there’s a whole genre of trashy romance paperbacks devoted to baby-daddy fantasy. Red meat for the Smart Bitches. It’s hard out here for a superheroine. Peer into the adolescent world of comics, and you’ll discover a roiling id full of rape/torture/dismember/snuff fantasies. Travis Frey […] Continue reading →

When my son watches TV, I feel guilty. The primary reasons for that: 1) the nearly unanimous conclusion by pediatricians that television watching is bad news for kids, and 2) I grew up watching minimal TV, and I rightly or wrongly associate that with increased creativity. Then this article comes along and up-ends some of […] Continue reading →

Batteries are the bane of my parental existence. I’d guess that a good 85% of children’s toys today require batteries. That, to me, is indicative of a complete lack of imagination, perspective, and responsibility on the toymakers’ part. Batteries contain hazardous waste, and increasingly, states are adopting laws that ban batteries from landfills. California’s just […] Continue reading →

I meant to blog about this last week, but life intervened. In the beginning, there was Maureen Dowd, bitchin’ and moanin’ in her book Are Men Necessary? that smart, accomplished women have a hard time finding mates because men find such attributes threatening, and they prefer bimbos. Judith Warner, in her Times Select blog, questions […] Continue reading →