From the Department of Blindingly Obvious Scientific Findings: A hundred-plus page report, The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior, came out recently, documenting self-reported information about the sexual activity and behaviors of thousands of adults and teenagers. Among a myriad of results (some others are detailed here, there was this shocker: About 85 percent of men report that their partner had an orgasm at the most recent sexual event; this compares to the 64 percent of women who report having had an orgasm at their most recent sexual event. (A difference that is too large to...
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Weekend Roundup
I\’m reading Freedom, and it\’s way better than The Corrections, which I read and promptly forgot pretty much the entire contents of. Yeah, I know, pretty novel for me to rave about Jonathan Franzen\’s latest, but there you have it. It\’s quite riveting. I always forget, though, when I embark on a Serious Contemporary Novel, how such books never ever have happy endings (or beginnings or middles, typically). Sometimes this bums me out. Like, there\’s enough true sad stuff without having to spend one\’s leisure time reading about fake sad stuff. I watched The Social Network, and...
Continue reading...Florida and Gay Adoption Laws
Kudos to Florida\’s Third District Court of Appeal, which last week overturned the state\’s thirty-year-old blanket ban on gay adoption. According to NYT, Florida was the last state in the country to have such a law, and Newly Progressive Gov. Charlie Crist came out in support of the decision, saying it was \”a great day for children.\” It was an especially great day for plaintiff Martin Gill and the two boys (biological brothers) who he had been trying for years to adopt. Ironically, the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) strongly urged Gill to take in...
Continue reading...From the annals of minor hypocrisy
I know some enterprising young girls who like to set up lemonade stands on warm days. Lucky for them, they live in a well-to-do neighborhood where folks tend to tip high (“a lot of times,” they tell me breathlessly, “people give us a dollar and say to keep the change” for the 50 cent cups). It’s also a well-trafficked area. Among other things, there’s a large synagogue just down the street. On Saturday, the girls tell me, they made “so much money.” “Lots of people who were going to services got lemonade and cookies,” they inform me. ...
Continue reading...This is not okay
True story. In the early evening; still really light out, I was walking near my apartment a couple nights ago when some creep waggled his penis at me. It was kind of awful and also so absurd. Why would anyone want to do that? I wasn’t very scared for my safety- he seemed content to just stare at me walking by, from about two feet away, while displaying his penis. Here’s how you know I’m a bleeding heart liberal. Amid my shock and disgust and anger, part of me also feels bad for the guy. My evening kind of...
Continue reading...Police News of the Weird
This afternoon I stopped by Adams Morgan Day in DC, an annual street festival. B. and A. and I ate at Amsterdam Falafel, always a treat, and then I was talking to a couple friends while B. and A. walked around checking out the assorted booths. At around 1:15 pm, things got weird. Reports vary, but one thing is for sure: “There was definitely a gun involved,” says B. According to eyewitnesses, two dogs (a poodle and a rottweiler or pug) got into a scuffle. The poodle and its owner left the scene, while the man with...
Continue reading...Girls who wear Abercrombie & Fitch
…I’m not one of them, and never was. I never imagined the song could be about me. Actually, I’ve never been inside an A&F store, on some sort of vague “principle” formulated when I was about 14. That was also the age when I became a teeny bit obsessed with the band LFO. My years of listening to top-40 radio were limited but intensive. In particular, I would often listen to the top 8 at 8 on Q102, and then call in to try to be the 8th caller and win a prize. One night this worked,...
Continue reading..."Well, excited and scared."
Happy Friday! Congratulations, you’ve almost made it to the long weekend. It’s an especially eventful Friday for me, because today happens to be the last day at both my current job and my current apartment. Neither of these are bad things, and in fact I’m excited about changes on both fronts. But at the same time, the transitions feel bittersweet. I like to blame my mixed emotions on being a Libra: I always have a lot of feelings even about a single situation. I know people who wholeheartedly embrace big changes and jump headfirst into the unknown,...
Continue reading...Poem of the Week
On Saturday, I\’m leaving for vacation! On the beach! I\’m rather excited. In this week\’s poem, Ogden Nash celebrates the joys of doing nothing. On the beach. Thanks to my friend K., who introduced me to this very pleasant piece. Pretty Halcyon Days by Ogden Nash How pleasant to sit on the beach, On the beach, on the sand, in the sun, With ocean galore within reach, And nothing at all to be done! No letters to answer, No bills to be burned, No work to be shirked, No cash to be earned, It is pleasant to...
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