Men, it’s well past time that we stop tolerating our culture’s attitude on rape. I believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. I believe her when she says, when she was 15, a then-17 Brett Kavanaugh tried to rape her. I do not excuse his behavior because he was “young”; at 17, he was old enough to…
Month: September 2018
Why Do We Romanticize Pirates?
This Wednesday, September 19, is the annual Talk Like a Pirate Day. So it seems like a good time to rant about our culture’s infatuation with pirates. I’m about to ruin Pirate Santa Claus for white people. Why do we romanticize pirates? I was thinking about this recently, regarding a teacher education book called “Teach…
The Complications of School Bathroom Policies
I’ve written in the past about school dress codes. There’s another topic that’s just as complicated, and that’s also getting attention in the news lately: Bathroom pass policies. Last month, a middle school teacher’s policy notice went viral. For people outside of education, the policy (two passes a month, no more) might have seemed draconian….
A Product of His Times
My father said the n-word when I was young. Often. Casually, and sometimes in anger. My father was not a terrible person. He was a liberal Christian minister. He did good works for his community, and he did extensive missionary work in Liberia, a country whose modern culture was built by freed slaves. The common…
R-E-S-P-E-C-T and the Toxic Man
Okay, men, listen up. Many of you claim to not understand what “rape culture” and “toxic masculinity” are. So here’s a lesson. This weekend, the nation honored Aretha Franklin, one of the greatest musicians ever to grace us with her presence. The Queen of Soul brought a consistent woman-empowering message, including through her most famous…