We managed to get the car out to dry(ish) ground, so we're leaving town. Hopefully we'll have power when we get back. Houston and Dallas here we come.

We were gonna leave the state and go get my new car, but it started raining again and we're flooded in. I'm bored! And warm.

The storm is past. It's hot & dark for us & some 700k other folks. Things are otherwise good. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers.

We just lost a window in the utility room in the back. Got it covered with a cut up box... for now.

And there go the lights...

Lights have flickered a few times, computer off now, winds are pretty strong, rain not too heavy. About to curl up with a book.

Musings on Masculinity: Michael - This guy's about as far removed from my experience as I've seen so far. It's an interesting read.

Hanners likes porn! Men in kilts porn!

Harrison Ford's less successful ad libs

NY Times section on Class

Swedish bastard is gonna mess up my awesome weekend...
( Gustav )

So I'm writing my first letter to the editor of the student paper here at LSU in response to this. Any thoughts before I send it off? That is if I can find where to send letters to the editor.

I should have known better than to try to read a column with the phrase "hot tranny mess" in the headline, but there it was, right across from the article about GBLSU working to become more active and being more open about their inclusiveness so I had to see what was going on. It seems columnist Caitlyn Scott is shocked and appalled that America's Next Top Model will be featuring a transgendered contestant. Ms. Scott gives lip service to the contestant's gender and right to be considered alongside the other women, saying "transgendered persons have just as much right to be America’s next top model as anyone else" and clearly referring to the contestant, Isis, as a woman at least once, but what acceptance and understanding she shows transpeople stops there. Apparently Ms. Scott sees Isis as a woman of some sort, but not an "actual" woman like those she beat out for the spot on the show. She then goes on to cast doubt on Isis' gender identity by wondering if she's "pre-op or post-op" as though a single surgery is the defining factor in a person's gender. Ms. Scott trivializes Isis' gender by saying that if the show would just allow men, then "Isis could stand and deliver without the surgery" as though everything about Isis' gender identity hinges upon competing on a reality TV show. A transwoman is not a man. She is not a failed attempt at a woman. She is not defined by medical procedures. She is a woman. The blatant disrespect shown by Ms Scott in not respecting another person's basic identity is reprehensible.

Update: The letter has been sent. We'll see what comes of it.