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Acts of Omission et al: Prop 8, Racism, etc

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Acts of Omission I am typically not one to speak of anything political publicly. However, in the back rooms, I have been privy to a conversation that sympathizes with the highly-publicized fight for gay marriage but finds itself unable to overlook the acts of omission that have come with it. As a person who has lived the predominant part of her adulthood in rural areas as a triple minority, I find several things lacking in the modern gay rights movement that if addressed would assert a more inclusive and progressive agenda. First , I would like someone to take more seriously the prosecution of hate crime statutes that already exist, statutes that have been unable to cease the physical brutality enacted against gay bodies, particularly racialized ones. Second , it would also be nice if someone attended to the spread of AIDS to previously-uninfected communities, an epidemic spread that is exacerbated by the inadequate screening practices of prisons, the patronizing attitudes of scient...
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The Nerd I Am: Books in Europe

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So, this post needs a bit of an introduction (short, I promise). Last summer, I went to Berkeley, CA for an internship at The Warren Institute (UCB School of Law). As a typical nerd and book lover, I bought a box of books with me. It costs me about $30 to ship in there, and another $30 to ship it back. Many of these books were on topics for my dissertation idea at the time. I brought so many books that I swore I wouldn't buy any there. That plan failed. I bought 15 or so books from local used bookstores. I couldn't help it. And I was angry at myself as I bought the books, because I knew I didn't really have the space for more books. But I just couldn't pass up on these deals. Much of these books were also for my dissertation topic at the time. I also couldn't pass up some old Talcott Parsons and Marx books, which have nothing to do with my dissertation. Anyways, I say all this to say that I learned my lesson: Don't bring books on long trips. On this trip, I brou...
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