This has been an extraordinarily busy month.
Even though I'm on vacation from my substitute teaching job, I am taking summer school at UH-Manoa.
I was originally planning to take a Moving Image Archive class, basically to fulfill a technology class requirement in the LIS program. That class got cancelled due to low enrollment.
But when one door closes, another one opens. I was able to enroll in an independent research class, on any library-related topic that isn't covered extensively in an LIS class. Since I was once a student helper at the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (LBPH), I decided to do the research on library resources and services for the blind and visually impaired. I was originally going to focus on disabilities in general, but it eventually got narrowed down to the blind and visually impaired.
Independent research projects take a lot of work. You have to find your resources, set up interviews with experts, do observations and look up books and databases. That is much more work than your average class where the books/articles/assignments are provided for you. Which is why I haven't had time to blog much this month.
2) Sports news
I haven't had time to watch much sports games. I wasn't able to catch the NHL and NBA championship games.
For the NHL, there was an East Coast-West Coast battle between the New York Rangers and the Los Angeles Kings. The westside won with the LA Kings as champs!
--
For the NBA, it was a rematch between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. Last year, everyone thought it was the last chance for Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli and Tony Parker to win another championship before they get "too old" and retire. They lost last year, and everyone was talking about that as a final goodbye. Well, this year, they came up strong and crushed the Heat!
But don't count the Spurs out for the future. Duncan, Ginobli and Parker may only have a few years left, but Kawhi Leonard is a rising start. The Spurs have been able to find under-rated talent and turn them into stars. Just like how the Spurs had a smooth transition from David Robinson to Tim Duncan, I expect the same smooth transition to Kawhi Leonard. The Spurs is a strong organization with consistent levels of success. They don't rely on mega-stars who were hyped from little leagues. They don't rely on mega-star free agents. They find under-rated talent and make them household names.
---
For the World Cup, I haven't had time to watch entire games, I only saw the final minutes of Brazil vs Mexico and Netherlands vs Australia
But I was glad to see the USA finally beat Ghana after the heartbreaking defeats the last 2 World Cups.
3) Team Names and Censorship
Keeping with the sports theme, the Washington Redskins lost their trademark. Some see this as a victory for racial justice. While I do agree that "redskins" can be a racially offensive word, I don't think the government censorship is the right answer.
Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/the-team-and-nfl-should-change-the-redskins-name-not-the-federal-government/2014/06/18/f6d6837c-f728-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html
The Washington football club ought to ditch its slur of a trademark, voluntarily. It ought to do so on the grounds of basic decency and good taste, and, you’d hope, with an intelligent sense of history, context and place. If they won’t do it willingly, then the rest of us and their colleagues in the NFL ought to embarrass, jeer and cajole them into it. But the method currently being employed, the mobilization of the U.S. government in favor of a correct sensibility, is wrong.
and more
“At first blush, it might seem obvious that the USPTO should have the ability to deny registration to racist or vulgar trademarks,” wrote Gabe Rottman, a legislative counsel for the ACLU, last December in an essay considering the team’s trademark question. “But, as with all things free speech, who gets to decide what’s racist or vulgar? That’s right, the government, which is just ill-equipped to make these kinds of determinations.”
You don’t really want government agencies to become the arbiter of acceptable words and images. You really don’t. The main reason you don’t is because, like it or not, what’s offensive is subjective. It creates “a morass of uncertainty,” Rottman wrote. Consider how many offensive violations someone could find in one episode of “The Family Guy.” Or “Game of Thrones,” or “Orange Is The New Black.”
4) Men can be sexually violated by females
In other news, Tucker Carlson, whose theme seems to be "hey, look at me everyone, I'm being politically incorrect" thinks that all "female teacher and male student sex" is wonderful and great. Maybe he would've loved doing it with his female teacher. But Carlson does NOT speak for all males, regardless of his "hey look at me everyone, I'm politically incorrect" shtick!
Micheal Skinner was sexually assaulted by this one crazy woman, and there is nothing funny about the experience.
http://www.salon.com/2014/06/19/fox_news_destructive_ignorance_network_gets_schooled_by_male_rape_survivor/
As a teen — maybe around 15 or so — I was babysitting for this couple with four young children. He was an engineer and she worked part time, and they were living the American dream, if you will. And then they separated. One night, the woman came home, and as she was about to pay me, she pinned me up against a wall. Now, keep in mind, I’m 6 foot 4 and I’m a big guy. Back then, too. I could take care of myself. I wasn’t afraid of anyone. And I’m not saying that to try to sound macho, I am saying this because when this woman pinned me up against the wall and put her hand down on my crotch and stuck her tongue in my mouth, I froze. I literally froze. I was scared. I was in deep fear.
It seemed like an eternity but I know it wasn’t, it was just that split second or so. It took me a while to compose myself and push her away. And I couldn’t run out of that house fast enough. And it left me in fear, it left me feeling like I wanted to throw up.
She was the perpetrator. This was an adult. This was a woman in her mid-thirties to early forties. There was a power dynamic. It was wrong. If a male did this to a female, it would be called rape or sexual assault. It was sexual assault. It was a violation, period. I understand people on these shock radio shows and talking heads on television — they’re saying stuff just to get ratings, but saying [teenage boys can't be sexually assaulted] is so wrong.
It also reminds me of this one feminist writer ( I forgot who) was belittled the idea of men being hurt by women in domestic violence situations by saying that "men are bigger, off course they can take it".
But size isn't everything!
Most of us remember some small but psychotic kid picking on a bigger but passive kid during our school days. It's not the size, it's the mentality!
Some people live for fights and power-plays, even the little guys.
Others are passive and fear confrontation, even the big guys!
So the idea that "men always violators, women always victims" is BS!
Plus, not every man is big, not every woman is small!
