women and men in a "rape culture" event in november

here's an event announcement i ran across at work and thought i'd share here in case anyone in columbia is interested in attending.

WOMEN AND MEN IN A “RAPE CULTURE”

A Presentation by: Matt Ezzell

NOVEMBER 15, 6:30 PM

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FELLOWSHIP,

2701 HEYWARD STREETS (corner of Woodrow St)

Matt Ezzell has spoken internationally on issues related to men’s violence against women. As a graduate student in sociology and PHD candidate at UNC-Chapel Hill, his scholarship and teaching focus on race/class/gender inequality. He has over 10 years of experience in anti-rape and anti-violence advocacy.

Using frank and honest discussion, he will present a program addressing what it means to live in a “rape culture” and how media representations of men and women are involved. From mainstream ads to mainstream pornography, what messages about sex, sexuality and violence are being constructed, marketed, and sold to the public? And, what we can do about it?

The program is an effort to analyze these images and promote media literacy. It contains examples of media ranging from magazine ads to explicit pornography. Many people may find some images disturbing; therefore, due to explicit content, attendance is restricted to persons 18 and above.

The Greater Columbia Chapter of NOW, The South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SCCADVASA) and The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship are proud to sponsor this important discussion.

For further information contact the UU Fellowship office at 779-0845, email uufc@bigfoot.com, or call NOW at 782-7623.

not that kind of power company

last night i pulled myself from my homebody-ness and joined a friend for a taste of columbia's art scene. my friend is a member of columbia's new audience road show. for lack of better words, the CNARS is a "gimmick" to get people involved in the local art scene and it has an added bonus of increasing attendance at various art shows and exhibits.

for the past three weeks, my friend and her fellow "roadies" have been going backstage with the power company, a modern dance ensemble based out of columbia college. said friend invited me to join her last night for the one-night performance where the roadies would have a small part and share in the action onstage. i fell in love with CC a few weeks ago at a girl's empowerment conference which i attended for work so i don't know why i wasn't more sure that i would be just as equally impressed by the PC. the performance entitled "blaze! a shakti rodeo" was narrated by the ensembles director, martha brim, and a good number of the pieces were set to patsy cline, which was fun. the dance numbers were unique in my opinion and all the ladies were total powerhouses! all-in-all the show was totally awesome and it was fun to have someone i know play an active roll. plus, we got free appetizers and drinks with our admission. bonus!

i am ashamed to say that i had no idea that columbia had a modern dance company. and, honestly, if i knew we had, i probably wouldn't have had high hopes that their performances could have been that good. so thanks to my roady friend foo dragging me out. and if you're around for their next show, check out the power company. it's well worth it!

soon, friends

i'll soon post pictures of this past weekend's adventures. i've been so busy since i got back sunday night. i've been in trainings for work every night this week and will be there over the weekend too. they're interesting trainings so i don't mind, but i sure am tired and behind on all my personal business. until then...

home-ish for the weekend

i leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow to go sort of home. i'll be outside philly for my niece's confirmation. i've been honored to be her sponsor.



i can't believe she's in the 6th grade already and going through this sacrament. before we know it she'll be driving and leaving for college!

fall fun

now that we live only blocks from the state fairgrounds, we took the opportunity last weekend to partake in the festivities.



we invited some friends with their 2 adorable children to join us and we had a great time looking at the farm animals, watching pig racing contests, and being awed by the spectacles.



chris and i couldn't let the day go by without partaking in some juuuuunk food.

there aren't enough hours in the day

that seems to be my mantra these days. i have so many things i want to/intend to do in the house and it feels like i never get everything done. but the house is slowly coming along. we now have about 6 pictures on the walls. we've unloaded most of the boxes. we finally relocated the fridge to a spot i've been wanting it. we've purchased all our curtains, though have not put them up yet. so we're chipping away at it.

work has been great too. last week i had 3 presentations. one was at a college in newberry (about a 45 minutes drive from columbia). one was at a battered woman's shelter. one was in a prison. this week i have all-day presentations for 3 days of the week. monday and tuesday i'll be at the local catholic high school. i love the diversity of people to whom i'm speaking. it's just so fun and every audience makes it so lively. everyone always has good things to add and i feel like i learn so much. it's just been great!

befores and afters

i've finally unpacked enough to locate the camera and the adapters so i thought i'd post these pictures of the new place. as you can see, we've still got a long way to go. no pictures hung yet or curtains. heck, most of our furniture is still not in place. but it'll give you an idea...

kitchen:

before


after


so far we've built a half wall to help close up the kitchen and add more wall space. we still need to repaint, add an island or more cabinets along the wall, get a new stove....

living room:

before


after


we painted in here and love the color (despite some early apprehension). we're still working on the furniture. right now we don't have room for all the chairs in other rooms so they're hanging out in here until we can make space. we also need to hang curtains and blinds.

dining room:

before


after


we painted this room a green color similar to the color of the wallpaper on this blog. the color doesn't really show in this picture. we plan to paint the kitchen this color as well.

front bedroom:

before


after


the room's a little messy and the pictures are taken from opposite angles. but you get the idea.

we're in and still alive

the husband and i have been absent from the blogosphere because we've been packing boxes, painting rooms, moving stuff, and all sorts of other things. but as of yesterday, we're officially living in only one house and all of our stuff is inside it. now all we have to do is unpack and put things away. but at least we can do that on our own pace. so things will, hopefully, slow down now.

thanks to a great group of friends who spent a good portion of their sunday to help us transport and move all our junk. michele even took some pictures, which she's posted here. we'll post more pictures of our place once we take some. oh, and after we find the cords and adapters to download the pictures to a computer. that may take some time...

homeownership 101

well, we're homeowners now. the settlement was this past friday and it went off pretty much without a hitch. the only hitch, if you can call it that, is that the seller had surgery that morning so she was all drugged up. but i guess the deal's still legal...

anyways, since pretty much the moment we bought the place we've been putting work into it. we spent all day yesterday buying stuff (washer and dryer, paint, tools, lumber) then spent today painting and fixing other things. we didn't even get done 1/2 of what we thought we would. and i'm wondering why we decided to do this again.

no, not really. it's going to look so cute when we're done with it. but it is (and will continue to be) a lot of work.

* special shout out to mom and jim for helping to shop yesterday and fix up today. and to margaret and angela who helped out today. you guys are the best! thanks for helping to make our new house a home.

excitement is mounting

in one week my parents will be here. chris and i will be homeowners. and (hopefully) we'll have a good portion of the house painted.

in two weeks we'll be moved in to our new house.

yipee!

right now, the apartment is almost packed. we've got a few paint color ideas picked out. the attorney has been secured. things are moving along.

in the meantime, if you know of anyone who wants to help paint the interior of a house next weekend, or help move the following weekend, you know where to post a comment!

i ate meat tonight

well, it sure felt and tasted like meat anyway. chris suggested we venture out of our comfort zone of the few familiar restaurants we always eat at and try the lamb's bread on hampton street. we had passed the one on north main many times and always wondered what the deal was. then chris discovered another location and was up for the adventure.

i'll tell you what, that food was darn good (except the vegan mac and cheese. it tasted like feet)! this place is a vegan and vegetarian restaurant (one of the only ones in columbia), for those who don't know, and i would post a link here but it seems they don't have a website. this is not really a surprise when you see the join. it screams of hippie and pot, jamaica and a hint of africa. it's all laid back and cool though. they offered a large plate and a small plate both with a protein, 2 veggies, cornbread and a drink. the guy said there really was only enough food left for 2 small plates so we got that. but it ended up being a good amount of food. chris and i both opted for the "mock" bbq chicken. holy crap it was so good! it was like a good ol' leg o' meat, only instead of bone it was on a stick. but it had the same consistency and taste as meat. i enjoyed it because it satisfied that constant craving i have for chicken (despite being a vegetarian for 9 years i still have cravings), but i couldn't get over the fact that it wasn't meat. it was so "realistic" that i keep thinking that my stomach hurts from eating meat. and then i realize, no that's just the feeling of being full.

circle completed

as an updated to the previous post, the sellers agreed to work with us to fix the roof. so we're still moving forward with the purchase and in 11 days we'll be homeowners. yikes!

going 'round in circles

just like mom on this circus ride, seems like we've been getting nowhere lately. we've been going back and forth with the sellers of the house we want to buy. after the inspection last week we found out that the roof is in a whole lot worse shape than we anticipated. so we're trying to haggle that out. we think they should pitch in to help with paying for a new one. they do not. i'd like to think that we won't lose the house over a matter of like a couple hundred bucks. but we just might. hopefully we'll know more before the weekend is over. but in the meantime, we're still packing so that's a sign of our positivity that this will all work out in the end.

some sunday evangelizin' for ya

on friday night chris and i went out to eat in five points. when we came back to our car we found this note on our windshield.


SIMPLE- Proven Perfectly- By MASTER'S LOVE.

***THEY SEEK US--DAILY!!!

***COME ON NOW.....WEARY SOUL AND HE MAY FORGIVE YOU, IF, WE SIMPLY & SURELY NOW DRAW NEAR, ACCURATELY, TO HIM!!! Churchianity, various other greco-roman, american, etc. ways...are at best only temporary!!! NOT AT ALL MEANT...TO BE OUR MASTER, OUR GREATEST DESIRE, LOVE AND GLORRY!!! ***CAN YOU STILL HEAR HIS HOLY BIBLE SCRIPTURAL AND PURE CALL DEAR SOUL?? ONLY OUR MASTER YAHSHUA CAN SET AN SOUL TRULY FREE & NEVER LOOK BACK!!!***HIS PURE ONES SPEAK CLEARLY & IN MORE & MORE SCRIPTURALLY COMMANDED REWARDFULL OBEDIANCE-PERFECT LOVE & ALL TRUE, LASTING...OF ALL PERFECT DESIRE...FOUND ALONG...IN THE ONE WAY YAHSHUA OUR MESSIAH!!! SAY NO NOW

TO ALL imitations & come in now!


so there you go. in case you wanted to know. my favorite part, of course, is the word "churchianity."

long overdue

my apologies go out to brian and the general public for not posting this link many, many months ago. i have no excuse.

but readers who like their beers as i do should check out brian's blog with reviews of beers available to the general public and commentaries on his experiences as a novice home brewer.

i'll be posting the link in the toolbar to the right of this page as well.

progress

home inspection scheduled (for this thursday).

mortgage applied for and letter sent to realtor.

we're taking steps forward.

the 5th annual reid chrismas party...

will be held in a different location this year, as chris and i have just put an offer in on a house. those of you who know us (which is pretty much anyone who reads this blog) will probably be thinking, what the ...! buying a house. but yes, folks, that's true. and here she is.



it's been a rather quick decision on our part. but we found an excellent deal and just couldn't turn it down. plus, because chris is in school we qualify for a low-income loan, so we're getting a really good deal.

the house is in olympia, which promises to be an up and coming community. so we're hoping it'll be a wise investment which might fund us to africa in a few year's time. but until then, it's a real cutie. 2 bedrooms, living room, dining room, bath, kitchen, and screened-in side porch. plus a pretty big back yard. it'll need a little bit of aesthetic repairs but otherwise, it seems to be in good shape. so anyone who has tools and wants to practice some minor home repair, please let us know. we'll be making settlement (if all goes well) september 21. yikes!

superbad and supergood

this friday chris and i went to see the opening night of the much-anticipated superbad movie. i didn't realize that it was opening night when i agreed to go see this, otherwise i might've opted for another night. but we had to head up to the mall to get my haircut earlier that night, so we decided to shoot over for a later movie afterwards.

despite the massive crowd and a totally packed theater, it was a great movie. actually, the crowd made it fun, too. though, everyone was laughing so hard at some parts we couldn't hear the dialogue following. but it was very well written and the boys were lovable and hilarious. both chris and i thoroughly enjoyed it.

having said that, i just have to comment on the state of society that we go to movies and are (highly) entertained by watching teenagers participate in underage drinking and unscrupulous sex. i mean, i was a teenager myself once and i have continued to work with teenagers so i know how life is. i've done my fair share of misbehaving. and i am not surprised or shocked by this kind of behavior. but during the movie i could not help but feel slightly uncomfortable that by watching the movie i (and the tons of other folks in the theater) was somehow advocating this kind of life for these young men (and women) and cheering on their poor decisions when the nerdy guy got some action. and the scenes during which he was getting said "action," well they were so young. is watching that somehow advocating child pornography or something? i doubt it, but i felt weird none-the-less.

i will give it to apatow and the whole gang. as with the 40 year-old virgin and knocked up, they always end up having a relatively healthy outlook on controversial issues such as premarital sex, unwed pregnancy, underage drinking, etc. so i guess that's good. but somehow, it still doesn't take away the fact that millions of people are watching this and many are probably missing that message and just remembering the teen partying part. and that instead of being upset by all this, we find it uproariously funny. of course, that could have something to do with the fact that the movies really are uproariously funny. but still.

day 2 at new job

some things i like about my job so far:

my office is awesome. i have huge windows from floor to ceiling on one wall. i also have "adult furniture" and a real computer. in my last job i didn't have an office and i did have a real computer, but it was shared. the job before that i had offices but they didn't really have nice furniture and the computers were old and didn't work that well. and, since you're wondering, "adult furniture" is like a real desk made of fake wood and file cabinets that look like dressers and stuff. real classy-like.

the people are actually nice and they seem professional. a group of women (with the exception of 1 male, i work with all women) asked me to join them for lunch yesterday and today, and they really seemed to mean it.

there's a wealth of information about topics that really interest me. i've spent the past 2 days just going through material in my office and i've not even scratched the surface yet. there's just so much out there about sexual assault, rape, domestic violence, relationships, etc. and everything i have read so far is so interesting.

the office is only like 5 miles from home. so i can leave less than 20 minutes before work and get there early and i leave a little after 5:00 and get home before 5:30.

browncoating it

when chris visits his parents' house they have a common practice of showing him various tv shows and movies that they really like. this past time when chris went home his parents showed him, among other things, the tv series firefly and its subsequent movie counterpart serenity. i don't know if chris had much hope of it being anything he would be interested in. but it turned out he really liked it, so much so that he brought the dvds home to show me.

now i'm not much one for science fiction (though i think that's changing slowly as i get older). although i have grown up with star wars, i've never watched star trek or aliens or most of the really science-fictiony stuff. but i figured i'd give firefly a chance since chris said it was so good.

boy was i surprised! i loved it. in fact, there were 14 episodes (including a 2 hour pilot) plus the movie and we watched it in less than a week. it was that good. and now that it's over i've been missing the characters and thinking about them a lot. that doesn't happen often with me and if it does, it's usually about book characters i'd just read. i think that's attributed to the great writing and acting in this series, and really fun stories too.

the deal with firefly is that it played on fox and the network pretty much screwed them over in various ways and then ended up cancelling the show half way through its first season. well, the show already had such a strong fan-base and the creator/writer/director, joss whedon (a la buffy the vampire slayer and angel), along with others, pushed really hard and were able to sign a movie deal with universal to finish up some of the story lines. so that's where the movie serenity comes in. it definitely would have been better to have the show continue, but since that wasn't going to happen, the movie did a good job of giving some closure to the whole deal.

in any event, if you've not yet seen this series, check it out. i think you'll turn into a browncoat too.