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Daily Archive: 07/06/2015

Sunday

7

June 2015

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COMMENTS

What I’m Reading – June 7, 2015

Written by , Posted in What I'm Reading

Abuse of Children

– “The lessons learned from birth in homes like the Duggar’s strip children of their voice and agency. Starting with blanket training babies and toddlers understand quickly that disappointing a parent leads to swift and painful consequences. As they grow, it becomes clear that simply doing what is expected is not enough. It must be done instantly and cheerfully. Children are even forbidden to seek out the logic behind the request, as kids are prone to do, because that is seen a making excuses or delaying obedience.” Here’s how the Duggars’ patriarchal homeschool world teaches kids to shame sex abuse victims (h/t @AllisonKilenny)

– “The interview was exactly as horrendous as you’d imagine, its entire purpose to minimize Josh’s crimes, to defend Jim Bob’s and Michelle’s reprehensible shielding of Josh as parenting choices made in deference to god, and to try to redirect the conversation by suggesting the records were improperly released (which is manifestly false).” On the Duggars’ Fox News Interview (via @shakestweets)

Drought

– “On Friday, the state’s Water Board approved a deal with farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in which some farmers will voluntarily reduce water use by 25 percent in exchange for assurances that they won’t suffer reductions later in the growing season.” California Farmers Have Agreed to Water Cuts. What Exactly Does That Mean? (via @MotherJones)

Misogyny

– “A 17-year-old League of Legends player from British Columbia, Canada was arrested for several crimes including harassing phone calls, publishing of personal information and credit card data, and sending SWAT teams to the homes of (mostly) female gamers who wouldn’t accept his friend requests and their families—adding up to 23 offenses in total.” Teen Gamer Pleads Guilty to “Swatting” Female Gamers Who Turned Down His Advances (h/t @Chickowits)

– “Hours after the incident she then drove to the closest emergency room at Swedish Medical Center in Ballard. “The staff at Swedish Ballard told me they do not provide rape kits, that they did not find my injury and sent me away,” the victim told King 5”  Victim speaks out about lack of local access to rape kits (via @MyBallard)

– “This video, which spread like wildfire across social media last week, was just the latest example of the way organizations continuously downplay the impact of domestic violence and rape culture. In turn, this betrays how little we as a society care for, or even think of, victims of interpersonal violence.” The Cleveland Cavaliers’ Video of Domestic Violence Wasn’t a ‘Mistake’ (via @scATX)

– “Nearly 75,000 people in Canada signed onto a petition demanding the repeal of the tampon tax. The petition’s author, Jill Piebiak, pointed out that it’s offensive for the Canadian government to designate menstrual hygiene products as a “nonessential item” or a “luxury good” — especially because plenty of other products, like cake decorations and contact lenses, are already exempt from the GST.” After Years Of Backlash, Canada Ditches The ‘Tampon Tax’ (via @ThinkProgress)

– “Josie — a media-savvy writer, who once “updogged” writer Cathy Young — was pissed. She didn’t know how I got her name or email address, and she said she felt “betrayed.” She was mad at the Jezebel writer she thought might have given it to me. She was mad at me for the “weird” request, which should have gone through Jezebel — not her directly. The only thing is: I didn’t email her.” Someone Impersonated Me To Trick A Sexual Assault Victim (h/t @RosieGray)

– ““Excuse me,” I said, using my bony ass to crush his thigh. Outside of a horror movie, I have never seen anyone react so quickly to get away from another human being. There was terror, then disgust, then anger. I took out my book and turned to him. “Thank you,” I said, and then smiled like Kathleen Turner in Serial Mom. It would have been rude otherwise.” I Have Been Sitting on Manspreaders For the Last Month and I Have Never Felt More Free (h/t @jowrotethis)

Bigotry

– “This survey, and its wider implications of state-sponsored violence and Islamophobia, are disturbing for a number of reasons, however, I want to first focus on what it means to categorise Muslim children as potential ‘extremists’. To categorise children in such a way is a form of preconceived criminalisation. By categorising Muslim children as potential ‘extremists’, the government can justify violence enacted through laws that essentially treat them as criminals without having to provide any tangible evidence for doing so.” Schools in the UK Are Now Asking Muslim Children to Fill Out “Counter-Extremism” Tests (via @WritersofColour)

– “I asked people around me if they witnessed this discriminatory and disgusting behavior and the man sitting in an aisle across from me yelled out to me, ‘you Moslem, you need to shut the F** up.’ I said, ‘what?!’ He then leaned over from his seat, looked me straight in the eyes and said, ‘yes you know you would use it as a WEAPON so shut the f**k up.’” Muslim cleric denied unopened soda on United flight because she could ‘use it as a weapon on the plane’ (h/t @iJesseWilliams)

State Sanctioned Killing

– “Nebraska’s action to repeal the death penalty is unusual because of its traditionally conservative leanings. Maryland was the last state to end capital punishment, in 2013. Three other moderate-to-liberal states have done so in recent years: New Mexico in 2009, Illinois in 2011 and Connecticut in 2012.” Nebraska abolishes death penalty in landmark override vote (via @AP)

Diversity

– “In my opinion, if ALL your characters are White in a movie that takes place in Hawaii; if nobody properly pronounces Hawaiian words; and cultural references to Native Hawaiians are not 100% factual (you have Google now, so there’s no excuse for you making stuff up anymore!), then no, I’d have to say you were NOT and are NOT respectful of Hawaii’s people and culture.” “Aloha” and The Continued Legacy of Hollywood’s Backwards, Whitewashed Hawaii (h/t @jaythenerdkid)

Labor

– “Let’s be honest with ourselves: Compensation is one of the first things all of us scan for when looking at a posting. The expectation for candidates to not bring up the salary until the end is naïve and irresponsible. We need to live and support our families on these salaries; our payment is not a pleasant bonus we get for saving the world. As a colleague of mine says, “When you don’t give a salary range, you’re saying that you’re only going to hire people who are married to people with professional salaries, young folks still supported by well-off parents, and the independently wealthy.” When you don’t disclose salary range on a job posting, a unicorn loses its wings

Whistleblowers

– “After being transferred back to the US, I was confined at the now-closed military brig at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia. This time was the most difficult for me overall, and felt like the longest. I was not allowed to have any items in my cell – no toothbrushes, soap, toilet paper, books, paper and on a few occasions even my glasses – unless I was given permission to use them under close supervision. When I was finished, I had to return these items. At night, I had to surrender my clothing and, despite recommendations by several psychiatrists that I was not deemed suicidal), wear a “suicide prevention” smock – a single-piece, padded, tear-proof garment.” The years since I was jailed for releasing the ‘war diaries’ have been a rollercoaster (h/t @jeremyscahill)

Police Brutality

– “A federal wrongful death lawsuit filed May 11 accused the Broward Sheriff’s Office of tampering with evidence and obstructing justice. The suit alleges that the deputy who shot Mr. McBean perjured himself and that the department covered it up by giving him a bravery award shortly after the killing, while the shooting was still under investigation.” A Florida Police Killing Like Many, Disputed and Little Noticed (h/t @markfollman)

Sunday

7

June 2015

0

COMMENTS

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Written by , Posted in Reviews

Four Stars

dark-places

Damn. This was a well-written book that I enjoyed reading. I mean, it’s all kinds of messed up, but it’s interesting, and I don’t think the outcome is at all obvious. It all makes sense, when you think about it.

Libby Day is the sole surviving daughter of the Day family, three members of which were murdered in early January 1985. Her brother was convicted of the crime based partly on her testimony; she (a seven-year-old) testified that she saw him do it. As essentially an orphan (her dad faded in and out of her life) being raised by her aunt, she came into money at 18, thanks to people who had donated to a fund on her behalf when her story was in the news.

The catalyst for the story in this book is that Libby is out of money now, and has to figure out how to get some. She’s never really worked, and doesn’t want to. She comes across a letter from one of those true crime groups to see if she’d be willing to talk to them, with the understanding that they would pay her. Seeing a way to make some money, she agrees, and the story goes from there.

Like I said, this was a book that I enjoyed reading. It was a book that made me choose the elliptical over a run (because I can read on a machine), and the bus over a ride from a friend because that meant 30 uninterrupted minutes with the book. I also read and enjoyed Gone Girl, and I appreciate that Ms. Flynn creates characters that aren’t awesome, and that are sort of (really) flawed. It’s interesting.