OBESITY CRISIS: more interesting than talking about poverty

Sorry, I am on a serious anti-media jag today. And Keyser is still out of the country, so the internet is my only available repository.

The headline: Shrinking Snacks Concern Consumers.

The story: food prices are climbing in sort of a scary way. Rather than raising the cost of individual items, producers are often decreasing the package sizes, e.g. selling a 45 oz tub of butter with the same design as the old 48 oz tub for the same price. The article claims that most consumers don't notice the small decrease in the amount of product they receive, but would notice a price hike for a package of the same size.

It's an interesting and important story, frankly. Unfortunately the reporter chose to frame the story with a four paragraph introduction about ice cream, and a title that resonates with the weight / diet / obesity crisis meme rather than the actual issues at stake. The cost of eggs and milk are sky rocketing. These are staples. Expensive ice cream is a little sad, but won't negatively impact the lives of millions of Americans. And this has nothing to do with "snacking," a term only used to sell you things or lambaste you on "The Biggest Loser."

Dear media: I promise to read you even if you report things the boring old accurate way. Leave the spin to O'Reilly and the bloggers. I want the news. And that means reporting difficult and scary stuff too, like how hard it is for real people to make ends meet.

Sex and the City: you can't come unless you like the penis

Boy, I am getting mighty tired of this kind of article. Did you know: Sex and the City is for WOMEN? And HOMOS? And if you have a penis but don't like to interact with other penises, there's no excuse for you to be at this movie.

Listen, I know SatC is far from perfect as a woman-oriented film. But how long is the media going to keep feeding us this bullshit line about men's stories being universal, while women's are a special interest draw? More than half the population is women! That is not a niche, that is your audience! Cut it out with the hemming and hawing over whether you can "afford" to put your massive resources behind protagonists who look like the majority of your audience. It's just embarrassing.

And furthermore, you'd think it's plain old bad marketing to so blatantly push men away from the theaters. Why yes, we are still invested in a notion of masculinity that is directionally proportional to Things Blown Up in the movies we enjoy. If a dude wants to watch vapid characters make fools of themselves onscreen, by all means he should be encouraged to do so.

HOLY SHIT WHY IS THIS NOT ON THE NEWS

A HUGE NUMBER OF WOMAN-HATING DOUCHE BAGS WORK TO INSTITUTE A DOMESTIC GAG RULE

If you aren't familiar with the global gag rule (shame on you), it's a matter of foreign policy instituted under every Republican presidency since Regan which denies any US aid to international organizations who counsel women on issues of sexual health and make any mention of abortion. It applies not only to abortion providers, but educators and doctors whose job is to disclose a full range of options to women in a bind. As a result of this policy, vital services for women run out of funds and become unavailable.

AND NOW THEY ARE TRYING TO APPLY IT HERE. IN AMERICA.
Family planning clinics would be absolutely fucked without the federal and state money that keeps their doors open. I don't understand why I am reading this a week later on a blog when I read the paper every damn day.

[in which we consider the merits of the Scientist Church of Christ]

SOMETHING THAT IS NOT GREAT DURING TECH WEEK
I am 98% sure that I have mono. I have not swallowed properly in a week, and three days ago I started to feel like someone had drained all the blood from my body and replaced it with slightly heavier blood. I'm sure this will make five hour marathon rehearsals all the more enjoyable, especially when I am passing out after trying to stand for more than five minutes at time.

Three people a day, give or take, try to send me to the doctor. There is no reasoning with these people. Why yes, it does make perfect sense to drop serious cash so a dude with a degree can tell you what you already know and offer nothing by way of treatment, why didn't you put it that way before. Also, doctors are TERRIFYING and I do not like it when they touch me.

SOMETHING THAT IS GREAT DURING TECH WEEK, AS WELL AS ALWAYS
I took the kitten to the vet today to get her sutures removed. Apparently she threw such a tantrum last time she was in, they sewed her up with dissolvable ones so they would never have to touch her again. My daring warrior cat had those vets and nurse-vets so shock-and-awed, they would not even take her out of the cage. They just shook it a little 'til Sadie showed her belly and they could see that she's healed. 'Atta girl, Sadie. You know how we feel about doctors in this house.



I have a number of ranty, ranty half-written posts about backlash-y articles that may or may not ever make their way into the interwebs, depending on if I survive my various ailments of body, patience, and dignity. The clamouring of a hungry public for this sort of discourse, however, will surely steel my determination to Get Them Up.

(If you live in or around Evanston, you are cordially invited to see this staged reading I directed. It is on Friday. It is about robots. One of them loves to garden. It's pretty charming.)