thusspakezuska
Posts by this author
August 5, 2009
Dear Zuskateers, I feel I am letting you down by taking so long to bring you the next Gender Knot post. Personal life has just been immensely chaotic. (I actually intend to blog about a recent piece of that shortly.) I just haven't had the concentration it takes to produce a Gender Knot post. I…
August 5, 2009
UPDATE: Pat Campbell has asked that if you did take the survey initially when it was returning 404 errors, and you subsequently re-took it, drop her an email and she will send you cookies! She has promised to send cookies to the first 10 of my readers who had to retake the survey, if you let her…
August 4, 2009
You are a male physics professor, and you want to improve science education. What could possibly be a better idea than to team up with a bunch of professional cheerleaders and make a video of them shouting out science tidbits while they shake their pompoms? Science cheerleaders!
I know, right…
July 18, 2009
Folks, I had expected to surely have my next Gender Knot post up by now but life isn't working out that way. Too much craptastic stuff going on.
Meanwhile, Mr. Z and I are taking off for a few days. They have wireless internet where we're going but...we're not taking a computer with us. There…
July 15, 2009
Everybody's talking about Unscientific America 'round these parts lately. I've almost finished reading it and will post a review of my own sometime soon. In the meantime...Isis has a post up where she makes note of ERV's displeasure with the book. In response, ERV comments thusly on Isis's blog:…
July 15, 2009
Via the WEPAN listserv, I just learned about a new book about African American women in science:
Temple University is proud to announce the publication of Swimming Against the Tide: African American Girls and Science Education by Sandra L. Hanson. In her book, Hanson uses Department of Education…
July 9, 2009
Ed Yong has started a "who the heck are you, dear reader?!?!" meme that is floating around with my Sciblngs. If you haven't already visited a thousand other blogs and read it a million times, here's what he posted:
1) Tell me about you. Who are you? Do you have a background in science? If so,…
July 9, 2009
Because you do not want them to think you're crazy. Also, do NOT put on that hospital nightgown, no matter what they say.
Mind Hacks gives us another perspective on patriarchal norms for female appearance. Don't run out to the convenience store without brushing your hair, make sure to always…
July 8, 2009
Throughout the month of June, Philadelphia-area residents had the opportunity to take advantage of an extraordinary arts festival - Hidden City Philadelphia.
This unique arts festival...brings Philadelphia's best unknown historical and architectural landmarks back to life through original works…
July 8, 2009
If you've seen this post over at Isis's place, you have already read this:
A few minutes ago I received this email from the Overlords:
Hi Isis,
As far as I can tell they finally corrected it- they halted all ads from that network. I haven't seen any bad ads last night or this morning andfriends…
July 2, 2009
While I've been away from the blogiverse, it appears that you've had the misfortune to be treated to all manner of disgusting ads popping up here at ScienceBlogs. Mail Order Brides, Naughty Singles, and I don't know what all else. Isis has some details here. She says:
...if you've been visiting…
July 1, 2009
Hi folks. I had kind of a rough visit home to mom at the end of last week/weekend that took a lot out of me, followed by several days in a row of pretty bad migraines. I had hoped to post my next Gender Knot installment today but it just ain't happening. Rather than promise another date I will…
June 25, 2009
Christina Pikas has a nice post about finding information in books.
Sadly, however, she notes the following:
What kinds of things might a book work best for?...not for cutting edge, mostly
What does this imply when you think about our ongoing project to work our way through Allan Johnson's The…
June 24, 2009
Bloggingheads.tv has John Horgan interviewing Richard Wrangham of Harvard on a variety of topics related to his new book Catching Fire. The part of interest to me - and to our ongoing discussion on patriarchy - relates to cooking as a "primitive protection racket" in which men agree to protect…
June 22, 2009
Hi all...just wanted to let you know that I am planning to do the first post for Chapter 2 of The Gender Knot sometime next week, probably mid-week. I have the new edition of the book and have been reading but there's a lot of stuff going on with mine and Mr. Z's family this week. I hope to do a…
June 16, 2009
What does it mean when a woman ogles a man in the patriarchy?
Reader RichB commented:
...men being looked at as sexual objects increases their power, but women being looked at as sexual objects decreases their power.
Reader Hope isn't buying it:
Really? So if I ogle a man, I'm increasing his…
June 15, 2009
In light of the great discussion you all have been having on the second post on Chapter 1 of The Gender Knot, I thought it would be a good time to direct you to this most excellent Feminism 101 post at Shakesville, "Sexism Is A Matter Of Opinion". The whole thing is pure gold but I'd like to point…
June 15, 2009
Kim at All of My Faults Are Stress Related asks:
I've got a question for women readers, especially those in the geosciences, environmental sciences, or field sciences: what do you get out of reading blogs? And if you have a blog yourself, what do you get out of writing it?
I'm asking because there'…
June 11, 2009
Welcome to our discussion of The Gender Knot by Allan Johnson. This is the second post in the discussion series. We will be discussing Chapter 1 "Where Are We?" You can find all posts connected to this discussion here.
As noted before, there is an updated edition of the book now available. In…
June 9, 2009
When I was a young girl, I used to watch my mother at her ironing board. There was always a lot of ironing to be done. She kept a big clear plastic bag of clothes waiting their turn at the ironing board, and would sprinkle them with water - there was a special bottle for this sprinkling. I do…
June 4, 2009
I'm visiting with mom this week, taking her to a number of doctor appointments and dealing with some minor medical issues. No time for stuff I promised you like the second post on Chapter 1 of The Gender Knot.
So what I want you to do, to pass the time while you wait for me to show up again,…
June 1, 2009
By now perhaps you have heard of the Silence Is The Enemy project started by Sheril Kirshenbaum at The Intersection with help from Isis at On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess. From Sheril's post:
Today begins a very important initiative called Silence Is The Enemy to help a generation of…
May 30, 2009
Scientiae wants to know what keeps us moving forward in our science, work, and life. I am not a practicing scientist right now, and I don't have a job, so I guess this will have to focus on life.
Perhaps it's not surprising that not working makes me feel, quite often, like I'm standing still, or…
May 28, 2009
As has been noted, the recent edition of The Gender Knot has been substantially revised and reorganized, and I have been working off a 1997 edition, which is bound to cause some confusion for those of you reading the new edition. I've decided, therefore, that for the rest of the book, I am just…
May 27, 2009
Welcome to our discussion of The Gender Knot by Allan Johnson. This is the first post in the discussion series. We will be discussing Chapter 1 "Where Are We?" You can find all posts connected to this discussion here.
I just noted a potential problem. There is an updated edition of the book…
May 27, 2009
I promised you the first post on The Gender Knot today, and I still plan to get it up today if at all possible. My plan had been to work on it Monday and Tuesday but most of those days I was plagued with headache and it was difficult to concentrate on writing. So, it's not done yet.
Please note…
May 24, 2009
Longtime Zuskateers know that one of the reasons I am feel able to speak so freely is that I am not currently employed. Thus, I do not fear an employer's displeasure with what I might have to say about the sorry state of affairs for women in science and engineering in educational, academic, and…
May 22, 2009
UPDATE: There still seem to be some comment problems. Two entries, at least, are missing most of their comments and when I tried to test comment on one of them, the comment landed on another entry. Trying to get it fixed... (10:20 pm Fri. evening)
UPDATE: Hopefully the borked comments problem…
May 22, 2009
In response to my recent post on being mauled by the PA at my annual gyn exam, reader Danimal was moved by my saying this
I say if it hurts, you should feel free to yelp. And no doctor or PA should be shushing you. I am ashamed to say that when my PA shushed me, I let her make me feel embarrassed,…
May 22, 2009
Question: Did you know that there are National Historic Chemical Landmarks?
Answer: Yes, there are.
Question: What did the American Chemical Society declare to be its first National Historic Chemical Landmark, and where can you find it?
Answer: "Old Faithful", a Bakelizer or steam pressure…