guided by a new era

Dude.

Yesterday a gallon of regular unleaded gas was $3.87. TODAY IT IS $4.19.

I hate to jump on the bandwagon of Americans complaining about rising gas prices, but Jesus Christ. That's a $0.22 increase in one day.

So I was watching America's Next Top Model, and during the judging panel of today's episode, both Paulina Porizkova and Tyra Banks used the word "tranny" in reference to one of the girls in the competition.

It's not like I have high expectations of ANTM or anything (and it's also not like Christian Siriano and Chris March didn't use that word on a regular basis during Project Runway 4), but to hear a slur used like that on national television was a little jarring. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but it still made me angry enough to turn off the television and come up here to write this post. It really bothers me that people--whether on television, in books or in everyday conversation--will use that word like that, as if it's a perfectly acceptable word. It's not.

Today was a good day until after six o'clock. That was when I started driving our new Honda Civic LX manual transmission home from driver's ed. I stalled no less than twenty times at a stop sign because I couldn't figure out why it was stalling (seriously, I took my foot off the clutch the same way I did before when it *didn't* stall) and then when I got to a major intersection, I missed the green light four times because the car kept stalling and it turned red before I could take off. My mom and I ended up switching places at the light. I was bawling in frustration, and she was all mad at me for doing that. Blehhhh. They keep saying, "You'll get the hang of it, you'll get the hang of it" but I've been driving manual transmissions for two weeks now and I've been driving them on an almost daily basis. I finally got used to our Volvo and now the new car is screwing me over. Aughhhh so frustrating. I wish we could have gotten a Prius. :(

So then I got home and checked my email, only to find that my supervisor for the online says that I "need frequent reminders to submit required assignments", "procrastinate and do not submit assignments according to the class schedule", "don't show any effort in the class" and that I'm failing.

What. the. Fuck.

I emailed my teacher about this a few weeks ago, because my supervisor was bugging me about this, and my teacher said that she had graded everything I've turned in. I am completely caught up, it's all on the grade page on Blackboard. I shouldn't be failing the class. I've worked hard on all of my assignments, and I've done all the assignments I should have done by now. My teacher acknowledges it, but my supervisor is ultimately the one who gives me the grade. And right now, he's failing me. It's complete bullshit, I've told him several times that I'm NOT behind and my mom has told him the same, yet he insists that I've done no work since the beginning of February.

Dear Calvin College and all other religious universities that keep emailing me,

GO AWAY. I specified on my PSAT that I want to go to a NON-AFFILIATED SCHOOL. Non-affiliated =/= Jesuit. Non-affiliated =/= Catholic. Non-affiliated = no association with a specific religion or faith. I do not want to strengthen my relationship with Jesus. I do not want to broaden my faith. I do not have a faith. Kindly stalk the students at some Catholic school instead of me, the lesbian who attends a hippie liberal arts high school.

--Ernie

I gave St. Mary's a chance. I looked at their list of Student Organizations to see what the student body was interested in. Not only was there no GSA (surprise, surprise), but there was no College Democrats. However, there was a College Republicans and St. Mary's Right to Life! :D

Oh, Prentice Hall. How much your outdated textbooks on human sexuality suck.

Part of testing out of Health in the state of Michigan includes reading a few chapters from Human Sexuality. Guess what it's about. The copyright date for some of the information is 1985; but most of the book was written around 1996.

Here's what high school students were taught twelve years ago:

Homophobia

Some people fear homosexuals. Others fear becoming homosexuals. These fears, called homophobia (hoh muh FOH bee uh), are usually the result of prejudices and misconceptions about homosexuality.

Despite what some people think, except for their sexual preferences, homosexuals are no different from heterosexuals. Homosexuals experience the same range of emotions and feelings, the same level of fulfillment in relationships and accomplishments, and the same aspirations that all people experience. Nonetheless, some people regard homosexuality as dangerous. Some of these people think that homosexuals attack or recruit children to become homosexuals. However most pedophiles--people who force or lure children into sexual activity--are, in fact, heterosexual.

People who fear becoming homosexual do so because they recognize the negative attitudes that some people in society hold toward homosexuals. After all, much of our society is geared to promoting or encouraging heterosexuality. Deviating from this standard makes a person vulnerable to discrimination or abuse by those who resent or fear homosexuals.

Whatever an individual believes about homosexuals, no one has the right to physically harm another person. Individuals who assault or threaten homosexuals are committing a criminal offense.

It's reminiscent of the seventies, that's for sure. Don't you love being talked about like you're an alien? "We come in peace, with an agenda."

The sweet irony of this is that this book--which mentioned above how society is "geared to promoting or encouraging heterosexuality"--is one of the most heteronormative pieces of crap I've ever read. People keep telling me that Robbie's class is better, but I honestly don't trust Robbie to teach a curriculum that isn't heterocentric, and I really don't want to have that hanging over my head next year when I'm trying to fill out college applications.

Maybe I should have written one of my research papers on a lack of health education for queer students.