Opening doors and giving up seats

This bred this which leads me to this:

Back in the ’90s, I was walking to my car with a male colleague when I noticed my back tire was flat. Without thinking, I mentioned it.

That was a bad idea, mentioning it. I knew that immediately because even though my male colleague is more evolved than most, he still possesses that bell that goes off in his head when he sees a woman and a flat tire. He must answer the call for help, even if none was issued. I just had time to dig out the jack from the trunk before my friend took it from my hands and got down on his knees and started to take the lug nuts off my tire.

I protested that this was not his car and, therefore, not his problem and that he was probably on his way somewhere, and maybe he should just go along and let me do this. He said he could change the tire fast and that it was no problem, so he wallowed in the dried crud from the snow as he wrestled with my tire while I stood nearby trying to helpfully anticipate which tool he would need before he even asked.

Mission accomplished, I left the parking lot feeling vaguely guilty, although I understood that he could no more leave me with a flat tire than I could have shot him in the leg to prevent his helping.

This has happened before. More women than you can imagine know how to change their own tires. Our grandfathers taught us. They told us that no self-respecting woman should pilot a car unless she could at least take care of rudimentary maintenance like oil changes and flat tires. I listened because my grandfather loaned me the money for the car, and I wasn’t about to make him angry. I even crawled under the car with him while he tapped out points of interest with a stick, and then he handed me a tub of grease, which I carried around in the trunk with the other flotsam for which I had no use, but might one day.

Despite the notion that women should have equity, the stronger, more accepted notion prevails that we were were made to drape over cars, not crawl under them. Anyway, I know how to change tires, but I can’t remember the last time I actually changed one. There’s always a male nearby who just isn’t quite comfortable with his role (or mine).

The same thing happens at doors. My favorite example of the sex-role confusion came years ago, when British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was going through a door with then-President Ronald Reagan. Instead of waiting for him to pass — he was the visitor, after all, and deserving of a little special treatment — she walked through first, but backward and with her arms outstretched, as if imploring him to dance. It was kind of an “I’m a world leader, sure, but I’m a girl, too.” I felt sorry for her and at that moment vowed never to be a world leader.

Wait, I take it back. I do remember changing a flat tire. I got to it before anyone else was around, but by the time I was finished, I had an audience of four men standing around, foot- to-foot, discussing great flat tires they have known. They were not aggressive enough to wrestle the tools from me, but they couldn’t bring themselves to just walk away and let me handle it.  And I appreciated the company. There we all go, dancing backward through the door again.

For some of you, this is inside baseball

But for those of us who are refugees from the One True Church, the church of Christ, this is pretty awesome.

For us refugees, adding a piano to the worship service isn’t a big deal, but fellowshipping with other churches is huge.

And thanks, Bro. Tom, for the link.

A picture is worth 1,000 words.

So I’ll stop here: San Francisco’s answer to Westboro Baptist Church.

And thanks, Sis. Vegas, for the link.

Queen of England ends poverty! Queen of England ends poverty!

Oh. Wait. Sorry. My bad.

Here’s more on the Yes Men. And thanks, BuzzFlash, for the link.

No more cooking!

Two MIT grad students have come up with the Cornucopia, which eliminates the whole process of cooking.

No muss, no fuss, and no waste. There’s more here. And if I’m acting like I understand how this is going to work, I’m faking it.  And thanks, Bro. Jay, for the link.

Haiti for Haitians, not corporations

I’m telling you: The book, “The Shock Doctrine,” is prophetic.

Read more here by Isabel Macdonald at The Nation, linked at Common Dreams.

Does the First Amendment apply only to monotheists?

A case before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals may answer that.

A Wiccan chaplain is trying to overturn California’s “five faiths” policy, which limits hiring chaplains from five different faith traditions — not Wiccan.

And thank you, Sis. Susannah, and Bro. Mike for the link.

Simply add boiling water

That’s the cutline on the photo from a 1937 New York fire. You can see more New York in black and white here. And thanks, Bro. Jay, for the retrospective.

Ten Americans detained in Haitian adoptions

The Americans, from New Life Children’s Refuge in Idaho, are charged with trafficking after they tried to bus 33 Haitian children without proper documentation over the border to the Domnican Republic.

The Americans say their hearts are pure.

Atlasien at Racialicious has another view. She writes:

There’s a certain group of white adoptive international parents that dominate much of the discourse around adoption in this country. The most organized of these are evangelical Christians, but many of them are secular in their beliefs on adoption. They’re across the political spectrum, ultraconservative to ultraliberal, though if I had to hazard a guess, most of them are center-right in politics. I believe these people are, basically, a force for evil. If I put it in any nicer words, that would be a lie. Examining their belief system, and their potential political influence on the recovery efforts in Haiti, is a pretty terrifying process.

UPDATE: This just in (thanks to Bro. Jay): A pastor is defending the actions of the detained Americans, some of whom are members of his church.

ANOTHER UPDATE (again, thanks to Bro. Jay): Haitian officials say the detained Americans may be tried here, in America.

 

 

Well, seemed like a good idea at the time…

Thanks to Sis. Cynical for the photo.

Our mutual friend Ed McKeon (here’s his blog) suggested a few days ago on his radio show that members of Congress do this, and now some Interweb wag has made it happen for the justices who voted with the majority in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.