but naming the Spitzer headlines from the NYC tabloids

NYPost: Ho No!

New York Daily News: Pay for Luv Guv

AM New York: “Client 9″

Metro New York: Eliot’s Sorry State 

I didn’t really feel compelled to post on this until I saw newspaper after newspaper dealing with it on my walk to work this morning. Then I signed online and saw a list of blogs with entries bemoaning the fact that his wife stood by him.  I, like a lot of bloggers, feel for her, but I don’t see the point in questioning her actions. I do think its interesting that the language regarding this news story thus far deals with words like ho and luv.  I sincerely doubt that this story will do much to bring the plight of sex workers to the media’s attention.  It will just be a continuation (like other similar stories, i.e. Clinton) of humiliating the women in the cheating man’s life.

I hate to report on celebrity death but this deserved a post:

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., are trying to find out where the 28-year-old actor’s funeral will be held and have already made signs to hold outside the Oscars that read “God Hates Fags and Fag Enablers,” “Heath in Hell” and “Mourn for Your Sins,” Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of the church’s controversial founder Pastor Fred Phelps, told ABCNEWS.com.  via

This article on the fox news homepage is priceless.
(Don’t ask why I was on foxnews. I just was.)

Sylvester Stallone made a positive statement about McCain.  The statement was enough for McCain to feel vindicated and threaten Huckabee’s Chuck Norris support:

Campaigning later in West Palm Beach, McCain told reporters, jokingly: “Look out Chuck Norris, Sylvester’s comin’ after you. He’s comin’ after you and he’s going to get you. You better run! Chuck, you can run but you can’t hide!”

Wow, this is excellent press as the latest Rambo movie is about to open.  I also like the way they are quick to turn Stallone’s comment into an actual endorsement.  Usually, one has to say “I unequivocally support or endorse black” to count as a true endorsement. Stallone’s statement seems wishy washy, and it coincidentally drums up press!

I like McCain a lot,” Stallone said in an interview that aired Thursday. “Things may change along the way…

Clearly, Chuck better hide!?!?!?

With the writer’s strike going on, I find myself perusing the “other” channels aka MTV, VH1, and all the learning/how to channels. While I watched an America’s Next Top Model marathon, I kept seeing ads for Scott Baio is 46 and pregnant, My Fair Brady, and Rock of Love Two. My husband was the one who commented “Why are all of these shows demeaning toward women?” That got me thinking.

One of the commercials for these programs shows Scott Baio, Chris Knight and Bret Michael’s watching the other television shows usually commenting on the women featured in the shows. It occurred to me, all of these shows have the exact same theme, washed up 70s or 80 child star/rock star/ teen heart throb who can’t deal with commitment. These shows basically poke fun at all of the men but despite their flaws, wanabe machismo, and standard chauvinism, they all still get to go home with the “hot babe” of their choice.

Ironically enough these shows is built around the premise that each of these men needs to grow up. Bret Michaels is doing it by trying to find his soulmate by having women compete with each other through sexed up activities like pole dancing. Scott Baio has to settle down with his ex playmate pregnant fiancee. And Chris Knight gets Adrienne Curry, the first ANTM winner, as his wife. In past episodes of My Fair Brady, Knight usually cuts Curry down in a verbal way by commenting on her behavior and intelligence level.

This is an interesting approach from VH1 that has usually considered itself the more mature of the music networks (when they actually played music videos.) But now it has reduced itself to a mere freak show of hasbeens and reality TV stars. Obviously, it has been this way for awhile but its odd that three of its newest shows feature the same sexist storyline. Man wins hot girl(s) despite their own downfalls, hot girl compromises for guy once he refuses or fails to compromise for her…the end.

Its bad when I Love New York looks like feminist programming, but I won’t ever go that far!

The NYTimes had a spot on article about masculinity in today’s times. It featured Chuck Norris (how he infused Huckabee’s campaign), Sylvester Stallone, and Hulk Hogan, three solid male protectors from the 1980s.

Indeed, at a time when the country is faced with a new tangle of problems, the return of the ’80s action hero suggests that some Americans, particularly men, are looking to revel in the vestigial pleasures of older times and seemingly simpler ways. (Witness the popularity of the best-selling “Dangerous Book for Boys,” a celebration of the traditional rugged joys of boyhood.)

The premise of the article is that men who are uneasy about new, complicated issues like the economy and the war are turning to older heroic, mythic figures from their childhood and youth. This is a compelling contrast to the media perpetuated notion that women are acting out unexpectedly in this election by choosing a male candidate (Obama) in Iowa over the female favorite (Clinton). Of course, this notion changed after New Hampshire primaries but still shows how in a time when change is the hott, new key word some of our population is trying to revert to an older, “simpler” time.

But Mr. Koops, speaking on Tuesday, New Hampshire primary day, said the appetite for these action figures represents more than a joke. Rather, it speaks to a sincere desire among some men — likely not Hillary Clinton supporters — to return to what he called “a comfort zone” symbolized by heroic characters of yore.

If I’m reading this correctly, Clinton voters represent those who are not seeking “a comfort zone.” At least not yet.

This article reminds me of a book last year Vietnam and Other Fantasies by Howard Bruce Franklin, a professor at Rutgers University Newark campus. Part of Franklin’s hypothesis was that the character of Rambo came about as a reaction to the Vietnam War and the anti American sentiment that followed it. President Reagan hailed the Rambo films as quite American and many men and other admirer’s followed suit and agreed, creating a phenomenon that carried well into the 1990s and into the twenty-first century. If shaky times are any sign of a desire to seek out old well-known historic figures worshiped, it is no wonder that shows like “Hogan Knows Best” are popular and celebrity endorsements via Chuck Norris carry significant weight. Ultimately, while women are gaining certain attention lately in the political arena, it is noteworthy to pay attention to how men, who were coming of age in the 1980s, are voting and reacting to this desire for change.

I don’t usually plug CNN but their special investigation on tonight about women in Afghanistan Lifting the Veil is very informative and unrelenting in its journalistic methodology. The contrasts the program makes between 2001 when the Taliban ended and six years later, today, are historically potent and relevant.
It is directed and narrated by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy who seems pretty cool!

“Making Mormon History” published in the Boston Globe over the weekend was written for me. Or so I like to think! Its been obvious for the past few years or so with Jon Krakaur’s book, the series Big Love, the pbs special, and the notable politicians Harry Reid and Mitt Romney that Mormonism is an official part of popular culture.

What I’ll concentrate on in this post is how Mormon and non-Mormon scholars approach the religion’s history.  One of the main but overlooked differences between Mormonism and other Christian religions (yes, I label it as a branch of Christianity) is that Mormons are not open about their history.  Mormons are quick to tell you about their religion but they are not open to various interpretations of it.  In fact, their archives are not free to the public.  What else sets Mormonism apart it the secretiveness and ritual of the religious ceremonies.  Additionally, Mormon officials are quick to officially exclude, or excommunicate, members who write questionable materials about the religion’s history.

A decade later, in 1993, the church excommunicated several scholars, including D. Michael Quinn, a tenured historian at Brigham Young University who had written a number of controversial works, including one about the persistence of church-sanctioned polygamy after its official ban in 1890. via

It’s not only a scholar’s research about Mormon history that raises eyebrows but its an individual’s political identifications that also causes potential issues.  It is believed that an invitation to speak at BYU was denied to acclaimed historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich because of her self-identified feminism.

The Mormon unwillingness to discuss the past was also evident in Mitt Romney’s speech last week.

Serious analysis of Mormonism has never been more important, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy. In Romney’s speech on faith last week, for example, the candidate spoke movingly about religious tolerance, and tried to highlight similarities between Mormonism and mainstream Christianity, but he said nothing substantive about Mormon theology or history.

I couldn’t agree more that now is the time that real work into the historical analysis of Mormonism is needed. It is also time to do some real comparative studies into similarities between Mormonism and other religious groups/minorities that are unique to the United States.   I hope to do some of that work.

Over at feministing today there was a great piece “There are better ways to keep mama happy” about a recent NYTimes article about men buying presents for their wives for giving birth. A push present.  I saw this term for the first time while reading Momzillas, a book about competitive motherhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

That’s “push” as in, “I the mother, having been through the wringer and pushed out this blessed event, hereby claim my reward.” Or “push” as in, “I’ve delivered something special and now I’m pushing you, my husband/boyfriend, to follow suit.” via

What the piece over at Feministing brings into the mix is how the NYTimes usually leaves socioeconomic class issues out of their articles that center around women’s issues. Of course, a family from a lower income bracket won’t be able to afford expensive jewelry or art pieces when there are more pressing financial to keep in mind as the family expands.

This piece also got me thinking of how often I link to pieces from the NYTimes on the space. It’s true I am a NYTimes fanatic. I love reading it every morning and reach for the Style section on Thursday and Sundays.  But I think its time to branch out and examine pieces about women and issues affecting women in other major newspapers to perhaps do a comparative analysis of the way women are being covered.  For example, would an article about a “push present” occur in a newspaper in Montana. I don’t know but I don’t think so.  I think its time to start looking at this more closely.

I am not saying I’m going to STOP linking to the NYTimes but I’m going to be more careful in how and why I link to certain stories in the future.

(1) Prez hopeful Romney is finally going to address the ISSUE at hand!

Trying to save his presidential campaign from an Iowa swoon, Republican Mitt Romney on Thursday will take on the issue of his Mormon faith by stressing America’s tradition of religious tolerance.

Romney is to make remarks at the presidential library of former President George H.W. Bush in College Station, Texas, not far up the road from Houston, where Democratic candidate John Kennedy in 1960 used a speech to ease concerns about his Catholic faith and went on to win the presidency.

I love how everyone is so quick to compare him to Kennedy on the religion issue and obviously his PR team is doing some great work by having him give this speech in Texas, at a presidential library to boot. But here is what I don’t understand, the complete disregard (on the side of the media) to weigh in on differences between Catholicism and Mormonism. The first one being that Catholicism is a VERY, VERY old religion and well Mormonism hasn’t even hit its second centennial (is there a better way to write that?)

I’ll be looking into that news story tomorrow!

(2) What is going on with beauty pageants?

Miss LA gets told she ain’t Miss California THEN has to call the actual winner and tell her. 

And then the whole pepper spray incident… 

Maybe this is the universe’s way of telling us that there is more to life than winning beauty contests. I am so a feminist!

I have gotten a lot of interesting responses to my decision to keep my last name upon matrimony. My father wishes I would have taken my husbands last name even though I am the last generation left with our last name of Rose. Many women my mother’s age think its cool and appropriate I kept my name. And then I have met those people who think it’ll be just a little time before I take my husband’s name or hyphenate it before having children.

I come from a long tradition of women keeping their last names. My mother and Aunt kept theirs and a lot of my mother’s friends reclaimed their last names after divorces or even reincorporated them into their married names while they were still with their husbands. Yet, I still have women in my life who question my thinking.

This is something I think about a lot as other friends of mine are becoming married and making decisions about changing the names they were given upon birth.

An article from yesterday’s NYTimes discusses different approaches couples are implementing to decide how to proceed with the name changes. One couple played a game of softball between families. The couple took the winning family’s name. Other couples chose a whole new name for both of them.

One aspect that often gets left out of this discussion is the emotional toll this choice takes on one’s identity. How does it feel to change one’s name? It’s a feeling I don’t know. I’ve heard women give into changing their names when they haven’t wanted to because their husband to be thought it was proper. The decision to change one’s name shouldn’t be taken lightly and it should also be seen as a gender issue given that women are the ones that are expected to change their name or at least consider the option.

Additionally, this article also brought up the point that many women who are only children don’t want to change their name. I am an only child but did not consider how that affected my decision.

Ultimately, I was always certain of my decision to keep my last name when I was a young woman. However, I am interested by the idea that this decision must be pondered at all.