I was gunfoddering in Baja when the marks began to appear again. The first time I saw the marks, they gave me six years if I could afford it, ten if I joined up and got myself the best.
Well, what was a poor boy to do? Take my black card, let them stick me in a Quarantine Zone, and take my chances? Go underground and try to dodge the Sex Police until the Plague got me? Hell no, this poor boy did what about two million other poor boys did &mdash he signed up for life in the American Foreign Legion, aka the Army of the Living Dead, while he was still in good enough shape to be accepted.
—N. Spinrad, Journals of the Plague Years
For the upcoming trip to Azerbaijan I had to get some new clothes. This is because I'm going to represent others than myself, and for that I can't look like a bum. I got the blazer, vest, tie and pants cheaply from a thrift shop, but the shoes proved to be more problematic.
I needed shoes fit for summer usage, of subdued appearance, which are machine washable. The fashion of this season seems to favour leather, though, even with sneakers, and shoes made of fabric were on extremely short supply. I finally found appropriate ones from maybe the seventh shoe store, and for half price even (apparently of leftover stock from the previous season). The broblem was, they were the franchise brand of the world's dominating earth mover manufacturer. As the time was running out, I was forced to abdicate some of my political principles. However, let every blister on my feet remind me of the sad destiny of Rachel Corrie.
I tried a Test your gender
-test on SETA webpage. Here's the result:
You are a man. You have masculine personality traits and styles of action. There is much more masculinity than femininity in your personality. You have hardly any feminine qualities. You are a natural man who doesn't make much fuss about his gender.
You want to some extent to associate with men's group and separate from women's. You have chosen a masculine and non-feminine way. That is, your masculinity and femininity are not in balance, but masculinity dominates your character. You may have have fears and anxieties concerning feminity. If you want to be more harmonous and balanced in your gender, you should develop your masculine sides.
You cope well people combining masculinity and femininity, with those who are gender-neutral and with women, because your gender profile doesn't differ much from other groups.
To be honest, I don't find the analysis all that fitting. On the other hand, many of the questions seemed to lean heavily on gender stereotypes. There are good reasons to ask what questions like I like to dress up
, I like chopping firewood
, I often change my mind
or I want to cuddle on the arms of a big, hairy man
actually measure.
Today the International Women's Day was celebrated (I guess the rest 364 belong to men). In Helsinki, a demonstration by the theme Women's rights are human rights — at home and in conflicts
was organised by the women's group of the local chapter of Amnesty International. Some 100–150 people attended.
Reasons for demonstrating are still plenty, here's some from the top of the heap: