Female Genital Mutilation at Cornell University?!?

Female Genital Mutilation at Cornell University | Slog | The Stranger, Seattles Only Newspaper.

After reading this article, all I can say is… wow. I mean, I think of “female genital mutilation” as something that occurs in African tribes, not in an American university. I can understand, maybe, if the clitoris was large enough to look like a penis and the parents wanted the child to be comfortable in her femininity. MAYBE. But this seems to be for cosmetic reasons.

And don’t get me started on the annual “follow-up” exams. Applying vibrators and otherwise stimulating the clitoral areas of six-year-olds? And it’s only one doctor doing this, so why hasn’t his medical license been revoked for being a pedophile?

Poor, poor, girls.

You can’t even compare this to male circumcision; as far as I know, little boys don’t get handjobs during their physical exams.

Tags: wtf

New Jersey School Redefines “Fundraising.” 

I understand that schools are strapped for cash. Hell, everyone’s strapped for cash nowadays. Therefore, I can totally see how the school can end up not having enough money for a end-of-the-year trip to the zoo.

However, the school sent letters home basically requiring parents to pay their kids for doing chores around the house, and that all the proceeds ($20) go to the school for the field trip.

Umm, what? That’s going a bit far. I can understand a school trying to tell parents how to help their children with academic work, but with chores? That’s getting a bit too invasive. As one of the moms, Laura Wellington said, paying her kids for doing household chores goes against their values.

Even worse is that the school said it was mandatory that the families do this.

I can understand if they just said, “We want to take the kids to the zoo. Please contribute $20.”

However, they have to expect to receive some “no” answers from families. Families are struggling; many parents are unemployed or underemployed. And according to Wellington’s statement, the kids already went on a trip this year. What would the kids really miss by not going to the zoo? They could spend another day in the classroom, or maybe even have an assembly or field day that would cost less money. Better yet, how about a lesson on fiscal responsibility? I think that, in the fifth grade, I understood the concept of negative numbers. Teach the kids that, since the grown-ups spent too much money, the school has negative money to take them on trips.

Oh, Bergen County. I know you’re one of the richest counties in the nation, but couldn’t you have thought this through for five minutes, like I just did?

New Jersey School Gives New Meaning To Fundraising – 1010WINS.com .

Tags: wtf

The MTA is frakkin’ with my service… FML!

The MTA is making lots of service changes in the next couple of weeks. One of them is the elimination of te V line, which usually runs along 6th Ave with the B, D, and F lines. Instead, they are extending the M train and changing its color designation. So, at 6th Ave and 14th St, you can now see the following sign:

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Read the Guest of a Guest article here.

In case you didn’t know, FML can stand for “F*ck My Life.”

Unfortunately, the MTA doesn’t have a sense of humor, and is working to change the order of the signs.

Tags: M.T. Fuckin' A!, only in ny, transit

World Cup: Dee Shows Her True Colors

Those colors are green and white.

As you may already know, I was born to a Nigerian-born father and Jamaican-born mother. Jamaica doesn’t make it to the World Cup often, so I root for Nigeria. When they crap out, I root for my country of birth, the U.S. of A.! That’s that. If you don’t like it, deal.

For everyone who thinks it’s too late to return to get a GED/go to college/go to grad school…

I hear it a lot: “I’m too old to go back to school.” “I have children,” etc. While I admit it is hard work to raise kids, go to school, and have a job, I just want to let you know the ultimate refutal for the age excuse:

Back in 2004, The New York Times published an article about an 84-year old man who took advantage of Kenya’s newly adopted free education system to go to the first grade.

Yes, that’s right. You had an 84 year old man taking classes with his grandkids.

Now if he can do it, why can’t a 30 or 40-something go to college?

BTW, I just found out that he died last August, and went up to the sixth grade. There is a movie in the works about his educational life.

Kimani Ng’ang’a Maruge is truly an inspiration.

Texting has its boundaries.

I’m not that huge a fan of text messaging. I’ll tweet, sure. Put in a Facebook blurb while on the go if I see or think of something interesting while on the bus or something. But generally, if I’m with other people, I go by the climate of the group. If others are whipping out their iPhones, I’ll take out my Crackberry to check in on Foursquare or my email for a hot minute. If nobody’s doing that, I won’t be the first.

And what’s with the 6-10% of people who don’t mind getting interrupted by messages during sex? I, for one, would not be interrupted, since my emails and text messages aren’t even set to vibrate, they’re silent. If something super important is going on, then you can actually make a phone call. And I’m certainly not going to answer in the middle of the deed. In fact, the jury’s still out on whether I’d even bother to press “cancel” on the call, or just let it ring out. Probably depends on what exactly we’re doing and the location of the phone.

But I’ll check my voicemail and give you a call back once we’re done.

Texting during sex? Some say it’s OK – SciTechBlog – CNN.com Blogs.

Potholes in the Spring.

NYC may have filled its 2 millionth pothole, but there are another 20 million to go. Meanwhile, a Briton has a prettier solution.

Spring Is Here, and the Potholes Are in Bloom | Architecture & Design | Fast Company.

Tags: only in ny

From victim to advocate

This awesome woman is a truck driver-turned DV advocate. She actually got started by standing up to her brother and making sure he was prosecuted for sexually abusing a relative.

Tags: advocacy, DV

Health Insurance Co Calls Class Of Muscular Dystrophy Patients “Dogs”

Health Insurance Co Calls Class Of Muscular Dystrophy Patients “Dogs”

Now I remember why I had that “HMOPHOBIC” bumper sticker…

Evicting a six-year-old? WTF?

Video – Breaking News Videos from CNN.com.

A retirement community wants to evict a 6-year-old grandchild for violating their 55+ rule. That kid will go into foster care because the homeowners’ association is being a bunch of assholes?!? The family has been trying to sell the place in order to keep their granddaughter, but the market has been crap.