As many of you may know, I have traveled to Cuba to protest the US Embargo that is stifling their economy because we are violating their human rights preventing them from accessing essential resources.
In short, I’m glad to see there’s a petition out there for us to get involved in ending this archaic legislation.

I’ve added a few links on the side for those regular readers who are keeping tabs.

While doing research for my thesis, I have decided on my favorite scholars who study much of what I am interested. Kathleen Hall Jamieson of UPenn and Pippa Norris of Harvard. They engage in research in, exactly, the topic areas that keep me up at night: media, politics, elections, electoral engineering, voting, political communication, education – you know, the most important responsibility of a citizen in a democracy. The responsibility to think – analyse and critique what you’re being told, what’s happening, and what’s not happening.

Jamieson is the director of the Annenberg Center at UPenn. She has written a number of books: “Dirty Politics: Deception, Distraction and Democracy”; “The Press Effect: Politicians, Journalists, and the Stories that Shape the Political World”; “Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good”; “The Institutions of American Democracy: The Press,” among a great many others.

Norris is a fellow at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She has also written a number of books: “Public Sentinel: News Media and Governance Reform”; “Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty and the Internet Worldwide”; “Electoral Engineering: Voting Rules and Political Behavior”; “A Virtous Circle: Political Communications in Postinudstrial Societies”; “The Politics of News: The News of Politics; Women, Media, and Politics”; “Electoral Change Since 1945″; “Critical Citizens: Global Support for Democratic Government”; “Politics and the Press: The News Media and Its Influences”; “Elections and Voting Behavior: New Challenges, New Perspectives”; and “Democratic Phoenix: Reinventing Political Activism” and others.

These women are phenomenal. I want to know why I don’t hear from them on a regular basis on CNN or any other news outlet. Even, PBS neglects these ladies. In fact, they should be besties with Jon Stewart. Their research is his material.

Read their books and be enlightened.

Check out the report, it is a good read.

As for her resume, which the MacLaughin Group laid out so clearly for me:

BA Princeton, MA Oxford, JD, Harvard

Court Clerk Circuit Court Judge Mikva – 1 year

Court Clerk Justice Thurgood Marshall – 1 year

Attorney Williams and Connolly – 2 years

Professor University of Chicago Law – 4 years (a contemporary of Barack Obama)

Associate Counsel Clinton Administration – 4 years

Professor Harvard Law – 4 years

Dean Harvard Law – 6 years

Solicitor General – 16 mos- currently.

There had been a lot of criticism about her views on affirmative action and diversity.  Roland Martin of CNN mentioned during her tenure at HLS, she did not hire any professors who were people of color.  Here, someone didn’t do their research – as Dean she didn’t hiring power.  Anecdotally, through a friend I have heard the students really liked Kagan as Dean because she greatly improved the quality of life on campus.

There have been rumors about her sexual orientation.  She’s a lesbian.  So what?  This is not a negative nor is it relevant nor is it anyone’s business if she is or isn’t.

Basically, everything you can think of to degrade someone in the public eye has been hurled at her from one corner of the blogosphere to the Fox News newsroom (if they have one of those):  Pat Buchanan insisted her not having written a book renders unqualified to hold the post.  Really? There has been mention of her undergraduate thesis which evaluated the state of socialism in New York City as the smoking gun for why she is unqualified.  Again, who cares?! While I wouldn’t hold her lack of courtroom experience against her because – after all – she has passed the bar and has taught the law for quite some time; I understand the impulse to understand her views.  But, again, it should not become some sort of a litmus test the way the Republicans harassed Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

What I would like to know is what her relationship is with President Obama?  They were contemporaries on the faculty at University of Chicago Law School.  Did he pick her because she’s his friend and he knows her?  Whatever.

I am not excited about her.

One particular product really stuck out.  The diva cup.

The diva cup (Or the Moon Cup if you want to support a competitor) is a silicon cup you insert into your vagina.  When it’s full you pour it out, clean it, and pop it back in.  With the diva cup you can recover the blood and pour it on your plants!  If the blood is nutritious enough to facilitate an environment to grow a human, then it is certainly more than good enough for our plants.  Additionally, the cup is cleaner and more comfortable.  Not to mention, all the savings, from relinquishing the use of disposable tampons and pads makes the diva cup priceless.  In this same vein, the author mentioned using sea sponges which would work more or less the same way as the diva cup but I cannot seem to find much information about menstrual sponges.  What I have found is negative and often cites bacteria problems with the sponge.  Gross.

Since we’re on the topic of vaginas, I was reading Bust’s blog and there was a post about a scientist inventing a female condom with teeth (Vagina Dentata, anyone?).  She invented the device out of frustration, desperation, and need because South Africa has one of the highest rates of rape in the world.  Additionally, HIV/AIDS rates are some of the highest in the world in South Africa. Turns out the condom can only be removed from a man’s penis by a doctor.  If he pulls on it, the teeth grasp tighter; Nor is he able to pee while wearing this condom.  So, it is imperative he see a doctor which will give the hospital staff a chance to alert police and make a report.   I think it’s a fabulous device.  It’s empowering to know there is a way to protect yourself.  However, there is controversy.  First, What keeps a man from pulling it out before raping?  Secondly, the violence could escalate into death when he realizes his error.  In my opinion, violence is violence, there is always a chance that rape could end in death; the purpose being to eliminate complaining victims and witnesses.  Personally, I would rather have the condom than not.  More importantly, women should have the choice to protect themselves in that manner if they desire it.

Well, while we’re on the topic of choice regarding our lady parts, I plan on attending music festival or two.  I plan on avoiding the public bathrooms, which will inevitably be disgusting. To get around this, I thought I could bring some magic cones.  While I was interning at Bust way back in late 2007 and early 2008, I heard about the disposable urinary device.  It’s pretty much a funnel.  What’s great about is it enables a woman to discreetly relieve herself without exposing herself to dirty germs or popping a squat.  I was reading a few articles and observing comments about the products and women were disgusted.  They included the product in a list of ‘ten worst items ever manufactured for women.’  They wanted to know why women could not continue to squat.  Those comments are inconsiderate and unimaginative.   One, not everyone has a great stream or the ability to force it out in a straight way.  Two, not everyone can squat.  Three, what does a woman do when she’s wearing pants?  She can remain covered while she’s using a magic cone or go girl! And, lastly why do women care if someone cannot squat, what do they expect a woman to do?

There are many brands: Urinelle, the Go Girl!, the Magic Cone, WhizBiz, p-mate, pstyle, and Urifemme are some of the products I found when I typed in “female urination device.”  Personally, the p style is the most attractive option, but the magic cone probably makes the most sense being disposable and all.

Of course, there’s the stupid joke about God offering man and woman a gift after creating the universe.  He offers the ability to pee standing up or- Man cuts him off before he hears his second option and chooses that.  God resumes, then, says brains was the other gift and gave that to woman.  Ha.

Not funny.

Sure, I saw the film, Afropunk, in college when it was making its rounds on the college and university circuit, but I still felt so isolated.

And then, I saw this post and investigated the 37 bands and fell in love with so many.  It’s nice to have a choice.  I knew it wasn’t radical to be Black and like rock.  How could those two be incompatible?!  Rock is inherently subversive.  In the beginning it was Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley (who was banned from early television for switching his hips about).  Was anyone really listening to their lyrics?! I mean, there were bands like Rage Against the Machine talking about the awesome radical agenda and speaking truth to power.   Killing In the Name Of? “some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses.”  That’s some powerful stuff.

P.S. What happened to Rage?  Did the FBI finally get them?

Anyways, that tangent was great.  This list was populated by such known entities as Janelle Monae, TV on the Radio, and Res (Although, I’m not sure I would classify her as rock or alternative), Bloc Party’s lead singer Kele Okereke, and The Noisettes.  Even more intriguing its list was dominated by a ton of people even I didn’t know.  As desperate as my search has been for some folks who look like me rocking out with a guitar, I finally found some.  God bless the internet.

Ebony Bones rocks my socks.  She is fantastic because she’s strikingly original and down-to-earth.  Her image is just straight up fun, you can’t help but smile and her accent is charming.  But, she’s intelligent because she acknowledges most music, especially pop music is about nothing. NOTHING AT ALL.

I recommend Don’t Fart on my Heart to get you started:

BLK JKS

Here we have BLK JKS, a South African band, who performed with Alicia Keys at the opening of the 2010 World Cup.  They have a few videos up in various places (youtube and myspace).

The Bots is a band consisting of two brothers, 16 and 13 from Glendale, CA who are very good at what they do.  In fact, these kids are way cooler than I will ever be.

The Noisettes

Old news.  But, if you don’t know, you don’t know.  Go listen to ‘em on their myspace page.  Wonderful.

Game Rebellion

Another band I wish I could hear on Live 105,  the Bay Area’s rock station,  or on Alice 97.3, the Bay’s alternative station.  Heck, I don’t even hear these guys on college radio stations. Game Rebellion is from Brooklyn.  They covered the Red Hot Chili Pepper song, Under the Bridge, and I have to admit it’s better than the original.  Check ‘em out, you will not be disappointed.

Tamar Kali

Tamar Kali is from Brooklyn and she has a great song called Ocean.  Rock out and love her voice.

Earl Greyhound

Earl Greyhound reminds me of the good times and the hopes of a bygone era.  Their new album is Suspicious Package which was released in April of this year.

Here’s their video for Shotgun:

Fishbone

They were rocking out in the great year of 1985.  Long before Sublime who sounds like them; not the other way around.

Fishbone – Sunless Saturday (Official Music Video)

Truly a splendid day due to all these electrifying finds.

Femocracy.net is a blog that is new to me.  Amanda is the authoress who apologizes to no one and is well informed about the topics she discusses.  Her ‘About’ section is as follows:

“Femocracy includes commentary about politics, news and the media, with an interest in social issues and civil rights. The site is written by a so-called East Coast liberal elitist living in New York City that refuses to stop drinking lattes and doesn’t think “feminist” is a dirty word. But that doesn’t mean there’s a “No boys allowed” sign hanging on the door – because feminism is not about man-hating! All are welcome. Except trolls.”

Femocracy is fantastic. I am not even quite sure how I ran across it – perhaps, it was linked to feministing.com at some point.  But, I simply do not remember.

I quite enjoy it for a number of reasons.

1. Femocracy is not only a clever title, but it gets at quite, economically, what the blog is about.  She is a lady who loves politics and adds a feminist lens on top of the current affairs of the day in an informed manner.

2. Politics as its taught in higher education neglects to include women in the conversation.  Often, it focuses on historically under-represented and marginalized groups.  Even in certain sectors you can study precisely this if you focus on social movements, but rarely do women come into the conversation.  Female scholars and experts are rarely cited.  They are rarely cited as figuring into the debate about larger issues like democratization and electoral engineering, etc.  They only come up if the topic is about women rather than including them into the mainstream discussion.  Amanda does this well in her title and writings.

3. It is the blog I would write if I had the energy.

P.S. the image is from the exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in London, early Summer 2008.  I enjoyed that, too.

So, watching television, sometimes, has its virtues.  I learned watching the IFC channel, they’re hosting a photography contest.  It is called the Independent Spirit Photo Contest.  There are three categories: people, places, and everything else; and four judges.  Each judge hails from a magazine, two are photography magazines, PDN, and JPG, and one from Paper Magazine.

The deadline is August 31, 2010.

The fee for each photograph entry is 12.95 and for a series of 6: $17.95. There is a late deadline that extends to September 10, 2010 with an additional $5 entry fee per submission.

The grand prize is a digital SLR camera, professional camera bag, and spotlight on IFC.com and Hollywood’s THR.com.

And, a trip for two to Los Angeles to attend the Independent Spirit Awards Show.

Additionally, the first prize winner in each category wins the same without the trip to the Independent Spirit Awards in L.A.

Also, there are the monthly people’s choice awards.  So, we have three months left: June, July, and August.  The winner receives the IFC prize pack which is a branded logo t-shirt and a pack of DVDs.

So, far from what I have seen of the entrants the photographs are of the ‘snapshot’ variety.  They could use an injection of quality, someone to really lift the competition up to the level of art.

I’m going to do it.  So should you.

One, I seem to behind the boat about New York Magazine‘s little narrative about home births.  This is another reason why being subscribed to the print magazine doesn’t always cut it.  I had missed several responses (not all negative, but some irrelevant) to the article, “Extreme Birth” which I had written about earlier (I think).  The original article was published 3/30/09.

Then, October 22, 2009 there was a post on their blog, Daily Intel about Cara Mulhahn (the midwife interviewed in the original article, Extreme Birth and featured in the documentary, The Business of Being Born).  She is being sued for the result of a stillborn birth.  A lawsuit was filed by the couple who hired her against Ms. Mulhahn for “alleged malpractice, unauthorized practice, deceptive business practices, and false advertising.”

This is disappointing.  This one tragedy may put off a lot of people from home births, thus tainting the whole movement.  And the negative publicity is coming before have the details of the birthing experience.  Was the couple forthcoming with their medical history so Ms. Mulhahn could help ‘Mommy’ make accurate choices?  Why was the labor three days?  Did the couple and Ms. Mulhahn follow their normal procedures?  What was different about this birth?  Not to mention, shouldn’t the couple have been doing all their routine prenatal care with an OB/GYN prior to the birth?  The stillbirth could have been detected earlier. There are so many questions that need to be asked and answered before anyone can draw a conclusion about the merits of home birth.  Furthermore, it would be unjust of us to extrapolate from one tragedy and condemn the entire practice of home births when the majority of them are very safe.  What needs to be understood is that home birth is not for everyone.

Particularly frustrating is the lack of information, the misinformation, the internalized hatred and mistrust of our bodies that women support fervently surrounding alternative birthing practices.  For instance, a family friend of mine is pregnant and thinking of home birth.  She isn’t doing research and she is using someone with a poor track record.  That frustrates and angers me.  Also, the comments on these articles infuriate me.  Many in favor of hospital births cite the risks involved.  Again, no one in the movement is advocating to leave out medical treatment.  In fact,  a good midwife, which Ms. Mulhahn has attested to in the documentary, BOBB, recommends putting a doctor on standby in the event of an emergency during birth.  She also recommends going through the prenatal treatment with your doctor in order to ascertain whether or not you will have complications during birth because a great deal of them can be seen beforehand.  Again, this is about doing the research.  This is not a one size fits all gig.  One commenter implied that birth is not about the mother, but also about the child.  To say this is to assume selfishness on the part of the mother.  To assume selfishness to the point of putting the child at risk.  There is not enough that can be said about that comment, other than its brimming with ignorance.  The majority of European countries have midwives stationed in their hospitals attending 90% of their births.  Our infant mortality rate is quite high as compared to other industrialized nations in Europe; facts no one wants to hear because the United States is rarely compared within a global context.

Even worse is the article in New York Magazine responding to the New York Times article about home births, asking why a woman in her right mind would want to have a home birth in New York City.  This implies that if you embark on the wonderful journey of birthing outside the hospital that you are insane.  She also equates living in New York City with materialism, an anti-nature viewpoint, and an evasive move so we may forget we are “fragile bags of blood, guts, and gore.”  At this point, I had to think the writer was being facetious. And maybe she was. However, I don’t think so looking over the few articles that have been printed in the magazine which exclaim bewilderment and a more than hostile skepticism.  Her comment has been dismissed in my mind for its utter absurdity.

For a completely different perspective from across the pond here is an article from The Guardian, click here.

Obviously, none of these women have done the research involved in order to be a viable candidate for home birth.

Worst  of all, it seems these women are scared of the power contained within their bodies.

For more resources on home births:

http://www.realbirth.com/

http://www.choicesinchildbirth.org/

http://www.doulaproject.org/

http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/index.php

http://www.birthingprojectusa.org/intro.html

http://sacredbirthplace.com/

http://www.sagefemme.net/

I’m sure there are more that I’m missing, but have at it – support a woman’s choice in her birthing process.

So, now – why the name change?

Well, the moniker LadyPolitik is one I have been using for years to comment on news boards about articles that particularly made my skin crawl; you know the ones where you had to leave your two cents or else there would be a fire burning on your block.  And, really it is all part of the marketing and the fact that I may lose the name if I’m not careful.  I have added a new blog to my blogroll called Femocracy by an author who seems frighteningly similar to me. .

Why the name LadyPolitik at all?

Well, as some of you know I was/kind of still am a graduate student at NYU in politics.  In international relations theory, realpolitik is a worldview, an approach to politics, a guide to making policy decisions.  The definition of realpolitik has been advocated by the likes of our dear Machiavelli to Henry Kissinger to Barack Obama.  It is theory of pragmatism.  There are no lofty goals, no there trying to be reached, no moral or ethical principle to follow, but serving the interests of your nation-state in the world as it is.  Well, I thought LadyPolitik would be a woman’s version of politics because after all, “the political is personal and the personal is political.”

So, there that is.