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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Mackenzie's LiveJournal:

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    Monday, December 25th, 2006
    2:59 pm
    Winter 2006
    Monday
    10-11 STATS 350 Lecture
    11-1 RCHUMS 481 Theater of War
    2-3 RCLANG 391 German Philosophy Readings
    4-5:30 GERMAN 300 German Grammar

    Tuesday
    Hosting at Pizza House 12PM-5 PM
    5:30-7 STATS 350 LAB

    Wednesday
    10-11 STATS 350 Lecture
    11-1 RCHUMS 481 Theater of War
    2-3 RCLANG 391 German Philosophy Readings
    4-5:30 GERMAN 300 German Grammar

    Thursday
    NO CLASSES!

    Friday
    10-11 STATS 350 Lecture
    11-1 RCHUMS 481 Theater of War
    2-3 RCLANG 391 German Philosophy Readings
    Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006
    5:44 pm
    Fall 2006 Schedule


    Mondays:
    10-11 German
    11-1 Victorian Era Theatre
    1-2 German
    8-10 PM German Theatre

    Tuesdays:
    10-11 German
    1-2 German (again)
    3-5 Medieval History

    Wednesdays:
    11-1 Victorian Era Theatre
    7-10PM German Theatre

    Thursdays:
    10-11 German
    1-2 German (again)
    3-5 Medieval History

    Fridays:
    10-11 German
    11-1 Victorian Era Theatre
    1-2 German


    God, that's so much German
    Monday, August 7th, 2006
    6:32 pm
    I'm 19 today....


    who is ready for Canada?
    Tuesday, June 6th, 2006
    11:49 pm
    I'm currently considering getting a nose piercing like this:



    Yay or nay?
    Tuesday, April 25th, 2006
    12:31 pm
    Ahem...I am done with school.
    Monday, March 20th, 2006
    9:35 pm
    To Alex:

    I asked my German professor about why the English language doesn't combine words like German does even though it's a Germanic language. She doesn't know, however, she knows old English and says that it's so hard to understand that unless you spoke German it would be impossible to interpret. So perhaps the word combining was just lost throughout time as the English language became less confusing? Apparently old English had no punctuation...and other craptacular things like that.
    Monday, March 13th, 2006
    7:44 pm
    Jeremy and I saw a squirrel eating a banana today. It was the most fuckingly amazing thing ever!
    Friday, February 24th, 2006
    2:18 pm
    So, I have a German midterm when I get back from break. Anyone wanna practice speaking Deutsch with me over spring break?
    Thursday, February 23rd, 2006
    9:29 pm
    Merr
    Monday, January 9th, 2006
    9:53 am
    Jumping on the bandwagon
    Winter 2006


    Monday 11:00 am-12:00 pm Intensive German I
    12:00 pm-1:00pm (German Lunch Table)
    1:00 pm-2:00 pm Intensive German I
    3:00 pm-4:30 pm Theatre History
    Tuesday
    8:30 am-10:00 am AIDS and other crises
    11:00 am-12:00 pm Intensive German I
    12:00 pm-1:00pm (German Lunch Table)
    1:00 pm-2:00 pm Intensive German I
    5:00 pm-6:30 pm RC Singers
    Wednesday
    9:00 am-10:00 am AIDS discussion
    3:00 pm-4:30 pm Theatre History
    Thursday
    8:30 am-10:00 am AIDS and other crises
    11:00 am-12:00 pm Intensive German I
    12:00 pm-1:00pm (German Lunch Table)
    1:00 pm-2:00 pm Intensive German I
    5:00 pm-6:30 pm RC Singers
    Friday
    11:00 am-12:00 pm Intensive German I
    12:00 pm-1:00pm (German Lunch Table)
    1:00 pm-2:00 pm Intensive German I
    Sunday, January 8th, 2006
    10:22 am
    I woke up this morning thinking of Jeremy and it made me smile.
    Thursday, December 22nd, 2005
    11:20 am
    You know, CL is really boring.
    Monday, November 14th, 2005
    11:39 pm
    Oh my God...I really hate Calc II.
    Wednesday, November 9th, 2005
    12:15 am
    I feel really sick.
    Friday, October 14th, 2005
    8:09 am
    Global Awareness
    An article from December 2004 concerning the welfare of young girls outside of the U.S.

    Saving Girls
    Thursday, October 13th, 2005
    10:49 pm
    The Male Privilege Checklist
    This is an article written BY A MAN about the privileges that men have and are usually unaware of. I do agree that some of them are not as important as others, but for the sake of keeping the article intact, I'll include everything.

    The Male Privilege Checklist

    An Unabashed Imitation of an Article by Peggy McIntosh

    by Barry Deutsch


    In 1990, Wellesley College professor Peggy McIntosh wrote an essay called White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. McIntosh observes that whites in the U.S. are "taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group." To illustrate these invisible systems, McIntosh wrote a list of 26 invisible privileges whites benefit from.

    As McIntosh points out, men also tend to be unaware of their own privileges as men. In the spirit of McIntosh's essay, I thought I'd compile a list similar to McIntosh's, focusing on the invisible privileges benefiting men.

    Since I first compiled it, the list has been posted several times on internet discussion groups. Very helpfully, many people have suggested additions to the checklist. More commonly, of course, critics (usually, but not always, male) have pointed out men have disadvantages too - being drafted into the army, being expected to suppress emotions, and so on. These are indeed bad things - but I never claimed that life for men is all ice cream sundaes. Pointing out that men are privileged in no way denies that sometimes bad things happen to men.

    In the end, however, it is men and not women who make the most money; men and not women who dominate the government and the corporate boards; men and not women who dominate virtually all of the most powerful positions of society. And it is women and not men who suffer the most from intimate violence and rape; who are the most likely to be poor; who are, on the whole, given the short end of patriarchy's stick. As Marilyn Frye has argued, while men are harmed by patriarchy, women are oppressed by it.

    Several critics have also argued that the list somehow victimizes women. I disagree; pointing out problems is not the same as perpetuating them. It is not a "victimizing" position to fight against injustice; we can't fight injustice if we refuse to acknowledge it exists.

    An internet acquaintance of mine once wrote, "The first big privilege which whites, males, people in upper economic classes, the able bodied, the straight (I think one or two of those will cover most of us) can work to alleviate is the privilege to be oblivious to privilege." This checklist is, I hope, a step towards helping men to give up the "first big privilege."

    The Male Privilege Checklist


    1. My odds of being hired for a job, when competing against female applicants, are probably skewed in my favor. The more prestigious the job, the larger the odds are skewed.

    2. I can be confident that my co-workers won't think I got my job because of my sex - even though that might be true.

    3. If I am never promoted, it's not because of my sex.

    4. If I fail in my job or career, I can feel sure this won't be seen as a black mark against my entire sex's capabilities.

    5. The odds of my encountering sexual harassment on the job are so low as to be negligible.

    6. If I do the same task as a woman, and if the measurement is at all subjective, chances are people will think I did a better job.

    7. If I'm a teen or adult, and if I can stay out of prison, my odds of being raped are so low as to be negligible.

    8. I am not taught to fear walking alone after dark in average public spaces.

    9. If I choose not to have children, my masculinity will not be called into question.

    10. If I have children but do not provide primary care for them, my masculinity will not be called into question.

    11. If I have children and provide primary care for them, I'll be praised for extraordinary parenting if I'm even marginally competent.

    12. If I have children and pursue a career, no one will think I'm selfish for not staying at home.

    13. If I seek political office, my relationship with my children, or who I hire to take care of them, will probably not be scrutinized by the press.

    14. Chances are my elected representatives are mostly people of my own sex. The more prestigious and powerful the elected position, the more likely this is to be true.

    15. I can be somewhat sure that if I ask to see "the person in charge," I will face a person of my own sex. The higher-up in the organization the person is, the surer I can be.

    16. As a child, chances are I was encouraged to be more active and outgoing than my sisters.

    17. As a child, I could choose from an almost infinite variety of children's media featuring positive, active, non-stereotyped heroes of my own sex. I never had to look for it; male heroes were the default.

    18. As a child, chances are I got more teacher attention than girls who raised their hands just as often.

    19. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether or not it has sexist overtones.

    20. I can turn on the television or glance at the front page of the newspaper and see people of my own sex widely represented, every day, without exception.

    21. If I'm careless with my financial affairs it won't be attributed to my sex.

    22. If I'm careless with my driving it won't be attributed to my sex.

    23. I can speak in public to a large group without putting my sex on trial.

    24. If I have sex with a lot of people, it won't make me an object of contempt or derision.

    25. There are value-neutral clothing choices available to me; it is possible for me to choose clothing that doesn't send any particular message to the world.

    26. My wardrobe and grooming are relatively cheap and consume little time.

    27. If I buy a new car, chances are I'll be offered a better price than a woman buying the same car.

    28. If I'm not conventionally attractive, the disadvantages are relatively small and easy to ignore.

    29. I can be loud with no fear of being called a shrew. I can be aggressive with no fear of being called a bitch.

    30. I can ask for legal protection from violence that happens mostly to men without being seen as a selfish special interest, since that kind of violence is called "crime" and is a general social concern. (Violence that happens mostly to women is usually called "domestic violence" or "acquaintance rape," and is seen as a special interest issue.)

    31. I can be confident that the ordinary language of day-to-day existence will always include my sex. "All men are created equal…," mailman, chairman, freshman, he.

    32. My ability to make important decisions and my capability in general will never be questioned depending on what time of the month it is.

    33. I will never be expected to change my name upon marriage or questioned if i don't change my name.

    34. The decision to hire me will never be based on assumptions about whether or not I might choose to have a family sometime soon.

    35. Every major religion in the world is led primarily by people of my own sex. Even God, in most major religions, is usually pictured as being male.

    36. Most major religions argue that I should be the head of my household, while my wife and children should be subservient to me.

    37. If I have a wife or girlfriend, chances are we'll divide up household chores so that she does most of the labor, and in particular the most repetitive and unrewarding tasks.

    38. If I have children with a wife or girlfriend, chances are she'll do most of the childrearing, and in particular the most dirty, repetitive and unrewarding parts of childrearing.

    39. If I have children with a wife or girlfriend, and it turns out that one of us needs to make career sacrifices to raise the kids, chances are we'll both assume the career sacrificed should be hers.

    40. Magazines, billboards, television, movies, pornography, and virtually all of media is filled with images of scantily-clad women intended to appeal to me sexually. Such images of men exist, but are much rarer.

    41. I am not expected to spend my entire life 20-40 pounds underweight.

    42. If I am heterosexual, it's incredibly unlikely that I'll ever be beaten up by a spouse or lover.

    43. I have the privilege of being unaware of my male privilege.
    3:03 pm
    Continuing to Raise Awareness
    I'm linking to a page that contains the first chapter of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique

    It's a great piece of feminist literature concerning the movement of women back into the home in the 1960s and the dissatisfaction that came along with it.

    Ladies, I suggest you take the time to read the chapter I linked to. It's great stuff.

    The Feminine Mystique
    Wednesday, October 12th, 2005
    1:15 am
    In Response to Andrew's Critique of Feminism
    I think everyone has a very negative perspective on feminism, including women. The stereotypical feminist is a macho lesbian who doesn't shave her legs and hates men. Well, guess what-- that's not a feminist. Feminists don't hate men, in fact, we marry/date them more often than not. We don't think that women are superior to men, we think that men and women are equal. We recognize the biological differences between men and women, such as women can have babies and men are (generally) physically stronger. Many of you think, "women have it so easy now. Why the hell are they still complaining? They can vote, they get equal pay...,etc." Yes, things are better now than they have ever been, but there is still a lot to fix. Did you know that:

    *Until the 1970s, it was legal for a man to brutally rape or beat his wife.

    *Even today, an abused woman can have her children taken away from her because she "is not protecting her children from an abusive spouse," even if she is taking the beatings to prevent her children from being hurt.

    *According to the Bureau of Justice' Statistics for 2001
    ---85% of victimizations in cases of domestic violence were committed against women.
    ---72% of the people murdered by intimates were women.
    ---Less than half of battered women report these crimes to the police. Why? Many of them feel that the police won't help them (as that has happened in the past.)

    *Women are considered selfish if they have children and still pursue a career, even if they raise their children well and provide for them.

    *There are very few female heroes for young women to look up to. Particularly in the media.

    *Women are not allowed to be sexually free by society. Women who are sexual are often considered "whores," even by other women. Men, on the other hand, are praised for sleeping with multiple women. I'd like make men see what it's like for someone to call you a slut frown upon you for your sexual activity.

    *Women are projected with images from the media that constantly tell them they need to be 20 pounds underweight and extremely tall with large breasts to be beautiful.

    To provide a few interesting cases...

    *In Puerto Rice in the 1980s, a women reported cases of domestic violence committed by her husband to the police. Under law, the police had to investigate the case, file a report, and if needed, make an arrest. The women's pleas were ignored. The police also violated privacy laws, telling her husband about her complaint. The husband, in anger, shot both of their children and them himself. When the woman filed a suit against the police force, she lost the case. Gender discrimination caused this woman to lose both of her children.

    *In the early 1990s, a woman murdered her husband. Unable to have the murder classified as perfect defense, she lost the case and is now serving life in prison. Murder is a heinous act, but the woman's husband lit her on fire while she was asleep, with intent to kill her. Is her retaliation not self-defense? Was her life not in immediate danger?


    To keep this from being too long, I'll end this here. But I'd like to extend a general "fuck you" to people like Andrew and Ryan who by rejecting the idea of equality for men and women support the idea of male supremacy. This male supremacy in turn allows violence and discrimination against women to keep occurring. I'm sure your mothers are very proud of you, especially when you have your heads so far up your asses. Oh, and Andrew, if you hated feminists, you wouldn't have agreed to me paying for half of the stuff we did when we were dating.

    Ladies, support your fellow women. We all don't have to agree, but we need to band together. Be a feminist. It doesn't mean giving up your femininity, it means embracing it in whatever way you want to. Support women who don't know that there are other women who are concerned about their welfare. Stop thinking the girl who is sexually active is a whore. Stop thinking that the girl who isn't is a prude. Don't allow your beauty to be defined by the media. Never let a man rough you around or make you subservient to him. And read this Sexist Male and leave a comment telling these guys that it's not okay to be sexist assholes.
    Saturday, October 8th, 2005
    11:36 pm
    ...

    Current Mood: dejected
    Friday, September 30th, 2005
    7:31 pm
    Ahem. Do not read unless you like sappy things.
    ( Read more... )
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