O SXSW, Why Must You Be So Cruel?

Eleven hours of music every day for four days...by Sunday all I could do was nap for three hours and watch The Incredibles and eat cheezy poofs.

The assessment: Wristband (which I tried for the first time this year) totally not worth it. Most of the good bands I saw were at the free shows. I thought it would allow me to do more stuff with my friend who was visiting, but we ended up seeing different things anyway and if you weren't already in a venue by 11pm you weren't going to get in. Also not fun: hanging out with a drunken out of towner on a four-day drinking binge.

Impressive: The Kills, Go Betty Go, Stars, The National, Bloc Party, Drums and Tuba, bloody mary's at the Longbranch Inn

Super Fun: Charlie's Holy Happy Hour at Beerland, Passed Out Flyers, Sniffy at Lovejoy's, Smoosh at Maggie Mae's, Visqueen w/ Neko Case at the Longbranch, Pong at FXFY, riding bikes

Unimpressive: French Kicks, New York Dolls. (Yes I recognize the significance of this band, but heroin chic doesn't do it for me and I was nonplussed by all the covers).

Unforgiveable #1: Bigsby's running an hour late on their Blackeyes and Blackouts Brawl and shutting down Young Heart Attack in the middle of Frenchie's guitar solo.

Unforgiveable #2: The sound guy at the Chuggin' goddamn Monkey being too drunk and/or stupid to know how to adjust Visqueen's sound, resulting in crappy vocals and feedback throughout the show. This marks the second time Visqueen has been screwed by SXSW sticking them in a shitty venue. Always the professionals, Rachel, Ronnie (from the Muffs), and Ben stuck it out; but not before Rachel changed some of the words to her songs to how she was going to kill the sound guy. As soon as they were done Ben and Ronnie climbed out the window of the club (which was right next to the stage) onto the sidewalk to escape the horror that is the Chuggin' Monkey, only to be called back for two more songs by the sound guy who, though utterly incompetent, was apparently smitten with Rachel.

After days of street-cart food (bratwurst, anyone?), smoke and hipster-clogged bars, wayward st. patrick's day revelers, and drinking way more than usual, studying for comps never felt so good.

Pictures to follow soon...

Air America Radio comes to Austin!

Check this out Austin peeps...1600 AM "KOKE" is our new Air America station. Program your car stereos accordingly.

Austin Sides With 'Buster"

Things are getting nutty around here what with sxsw coming up next week, and comprehensive exams looming in five weeks...but I had to feature this story today because it makes me a little happy. Austin's PBS channel will be showing the much-feared "lesbian" episode of the children's show "Postcards From Buster," on March 28 at 8pm, even though the national PBS decided not to distribute it.

Of course it's silly that such a hub-bub was even made over this - goes without saying.

KLRU sidesteps PBS, joins "Buster's" visit to same-sex household

US Supreme Court Refuses to Re-Open Roe v. Wade

(From Reuters) The Texas woman once known as "Jane Roe," whose case led to the ruling that women have a constitutional right to an abortion, lost a U.S. Supreme Court appeal on Tuesday (Feb 22) seeking to overturn its historic 1973 decision.

Article

The Court rejected this most recent bid without comment or recorded dissent. You might also remember that in 1993, the Court actually heard a more significant challenge to overturn Roe, and Roe was upheld.

I am also *somewhat* comforted in all of this by the core legal notion of stare decisis, which literally means "to stand by that which is decided." Courts are generally unwilling to depart from earlier precedents, even if current justices would decide the case differently if heard today. This doesn't mean decisions aren't overruled - they are, especially if it can be shown that the earlier decision was made too hastily or if new legislation undermines the decision (U.S. vs. Washington). I just want you to know that all is not necessarily lost, even if Rhenquist is replaced with an anti-choice justice. Having faith in stare decisis is about all I can do at this point.

SXSW Day Parties

I'm probably going to buy a SXSW wristband for the first time this year, mainly because I have a friend coming in from Seattle and it will be easier to hang out. It pains me to give my graduate-student salary to sxsw. But you can have a kick-ass time sans wristband! Keep checking the Girlstown Productions event calendar, where I have been posting all the cool-sounding day parties which are free (and sometimes have free beer and food while it lasts). So far Wednesday at Emo's (WMMF, Octopus Project, other locals) is looking good, as is Thursday at Emo's (Tegan & Sara, Stars, The Wrens + lots more), Church of the Friendly Ghost (Chunklet Party with Enon, Swearing at Motorists + more) on Friday, and Tillery Street Theatre (Porchlight Pop Fest)and Longbranch Inn (Visqueen & Schoolyard Heroes!) on Saturday.

Worlds Collide

I witnessed the weirdest thing the other day, but in order to tell about it I will have to admit that I was at Nordstrom's, looking for cheap-ish clothes in the teeny-bopper section. Ok. Now that that's out of the way, there is a giant video screen in this section of the store that plays various music videos and random interview clips with people I'm too old to have heard of. When I got there, Le Tigre's "TKO" (from their recent major label debut "This Island") video was playing on the screen and it was super loud! It was the strangest feeling to walk around looking at clothes in Nordstrom's to Le Tigre. I stood there, transfixed, staring at the video screen. No one else seemed to notice the revelation ocurring in that moment. Immediately following the Le Tigre song, a clip came on with some smarmy teenage boy (a new teen idol that has somehow escaped my radar?) talking about his ideal of a "perfect girl." He said nothing mattered as much as "having class." Puke. It was so jarring and wrong and horrible to have this punk-ass kid come on right after Le Tigre and preach to the girls shopping at Nordstrom's that they can get a boyfriend if they are "classy."

It made me realize that Le Tigre really has succeeded in their quest to take their message to the mainstream. I say, good for them!!

More Project Runway Drivel

I just have to share the joy in my life that is Project Runway. O my gawd this show has me right where it wants me, salivating for more. I should note, studying for my exam makes me extremely vulnerable to the clutches of television. So if I sound like a big loser, I kind of am at the moment and I'm ok with that. Anyway -- back to the show. If you need to catch up, this article gives a good overview.

This Sunday, Bravo is doing a Project Runway marathon so you can watch every single episode leading up to Wednesday's two-hour finale!! if you have cable. and haven't killed your television which we all know we should do. i also know it's a big banana republic advertising vehicle, but just ignore that part. hee hee.

Austin Rocks Tonite

Woo-wee there is a lot going on in Austin tonight.
We have a hipster show at The Parish (I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness), a rocker show at Emo's (Young Heart Attack, The Good Looks, Rockland Eagles, The Action Is), and the down-and-dirty punk blues of Amplified Heat at Whiskey Bar. I also hear that Red River charmers Hobble will be at Room 710 tonight. Oh the choices!!

As if that weren't enough, there's the Flicker Film Festival at the Alamo downtown (hosted by the Austin Craft Mafia), and an earnest intellectual lecture on the inequalities of globalization on the UT campus.

If I can convince myself that going out will actually help me study for comps, then I will most likely be at Emo's and Room 710.

p.s. tonight is the sold-out Duran Duran show at UT. Who was your favorite band member? I was a Roger Taylor girl, all the way. 8th grade was pretty much spent watching Duran Duran and Wham! videos on MTV at my friend's house after school. (sniff)

A friendly valentine's day message...

Sales of gold jewelry in the first two weeks of February will create 34 million metric tons of waste worldwide. To put that in perspective, according to Oxfam America, the production of a single 18 Karat gold ring weighing less than an ounce generates at least 20 tons of mine waste.

Yay.

How many female chemical engineering professors are there, anyway?

If you've been dying to know, it's your lucky day. All the hubbub over the Harvard President's recent gaffe has renewed public interest in the underrepresentation of women in the sciences. This website, which was created prior to the recent fracas, lets you look up fairly detailed demographic information on 150 research universities in the U.S. to see what percentage of their math and science faculty are women. The site is set up to send a letter for you to the University President of your choice, among other action-oriented things.

Did you know there was a GAO Report last year recommending that federal agencies need to do more to ensure compliance with Title IX (that's the one about sex discrimination being wrong and bad)?

"I'm not a woman in rock, I'm a force of nature" - Courtney Love

Are we already going to be talking about the 'good old days?' I am so depressed.

"Fast forward 10 years and there's barely a female rock voice left. Of the 23 categories contested at this year's NME awards, a British female artist is nominated in only one: World's Sexiest Women. How has it come to this? Where is the female Alex Kapranos? Where are the female Razorlight? Didn't we make it easy for girls to become rock musicians and gain the respect of their male peers?"

full article from the Guardian

Boxing is Good For Us

I heard this great review of Million Dollar Baby yesterday on the radio. The reviewer talked a lot about girls' aggression and how we're socialized to repress it at our peril. I got excited because my dissertation (hey! stop yawning!) will be about similar stuff and she articulated the issues really nicely. I saw the movie a week ago and the whole theater was crying by the end. Seriously! Clint has no shame when it comes to manipulating our emotions.

"Million Dollar Baby's portrayal of a female boxer resonates for Leah Hager Cohen, who sees a greater victory in the triumphs of women in the ring. Cohen is the author of the book Without Apology: Girls, Women, and the Desire to Fight and trains at the Ring Boxing Club in Boston." --NPR

You can go to this NPR page and click on the audio link to hear the story.

Flying Blind or Who Needs Social Science, Anyway?

The connection between social science research and policy is usually tenuous at best, but here's an example of how policy completely disregards empirical evidence: the recently published study that suggests abstinence-only education programs don't work, and actually might increase sexual activity among teens, and the subsequent proposal from the Bush administration to increase funding for these programs by $38 million to a total of $192.5 million in 2006 ("Bush Budget Calls for Cuts in Health Services," New York Times, February 5, 2005).

The study referenced above has its methodological flaws, the most obvious of which is the lack of a comparison group, so we can't rule out other explanations for the results. But to increase funding for this crap? Oh, and by the way, mr. prez, your freaking boot camps don't work either.

Project Runway Rules!

This is the best reality show ever. Period.

This is Just Plain Nutty

A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services" at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefits under laws introduced this year.

Full article:
If You Don't Take a Job as a Prostitute, We Can Stop Your Benefits

*Thanks to secret pal steve for bringing this to my attention*

Currently listening to...

Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the 80's Underground

A four-disc box set I bought with the gift card my brother sent me (thanks Pete!). One thing I've learned is that I wasn't as completely out of it as I thought I was in the mid-to-late 80s in Anchorage, Alaska. Thanks to a friend's older sister who lived in Chicago and sent music back to her siblings, I was listening to Bauhaus, Love & Rockets, The Church, Ministry, The Smiths, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and Sisters of Mercy (I wasn't goth, I swear!), all of which can be found on Left of the Dial.

Thanks to my pen-pal Steve, who was living in Port Orchard, WA at the time and made a mean mixed tape in his day, I discovered Left of the Dial bands the Meat Puppets, Violent Femmes, The Replacements, Husker Du, Dead Kennedys, Hoodoo Gurus, and The Stone Roses, among many others.

If it wasn't for these two people in my life, it would have been all Kasey Kasem, all the time.

But it's free speech, man!

This is a short, smart article that suggests we take the porn debates a little further than the same old obscenity vs. free speech quagmire.

Revisiting the Porn Debate
by Chyng Sun, NYU

"Most liberal-minded people rush to defend pornographers' right to free speech. Maybe we should stop and ponder what we are defending."
More

Gender & Science

Here's some interesting follow up to this story. First, a story that ran on NPR's All Things Considered today:

A Look at Research on Gender and the Sciences
David Kestenbaum, himself a particle physicist, examines what the scientific evidence shows about this subject.
click here for the link to the audio

And second, from the Feminist Majority Foundation's newswire:

Under Pressure, Harvard President Announces Program to Recruit More Women
Succumbing to pressure by women's rights groups and prominent women scientists and academicians like Sally Ride and Donna Hopkins, Harvard President Lawrence Summers has announced the initiation of a new program at the university to recruit women a week after suggesting at an academic conference that women have less innate ability to perform in science and mathematics than men. Summers defended his comments over the past week, maintaining that he was merely suggesting that the role of discrimination and innate abilities of women and men in the sciences need further research. However, in an open letter to the Harvard community, he committed Harvard to “recognize and reduce barriers to the advancement of women in science,” including making it easier for faculty to balance work and family.
Full article

The evidence just keeps pouring in...

So some guy wrote in about my last post and told me to "take it like a man and shut the fuck up." Wow. Where to even start with that one. Take what, exactly? Gender discrimination? Uh, ok. Like white men would put up with that for one freaking second. The funniest part is this guy keeps his blogger profile hidden, which is so...manly.

Harvard University President Revealed to Be Not That Smart

This is why everyone should be required to take a sociology of gender course: the president of Harvard University, an economist by training, dredged up the quaint notion that women are biologically inferior to men when it comes to math and science ability. There is no defensible research to support this! Furthermore, he questioned whether the low proportion of female professors in these disciplines relative to the proportion of females who are actually getting doctorates in these disciplines is really due to discrimination. (Christ. The academic tenure system is completely based on the historical model of male academics with wives at home to take care of their children and type up their manuscripts. It's institutional sexism. For female academics, it pretty much boils down to a choice between getting tenure or having children. Very few tendured female professors have children, while most of the males do.)

This Harvard guy eventually apologized to the accomplished female scientists that were at this meeting, but whatever. Biological explanations for why women are second class citizens - haven't we been here before?