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Diary of a Married Call Girl Reason Online: My conversation with Kerry Howley about seduction, trafficking and the anti-prostitution problem. Am I My Brothel's Keeper? Dip Into Chapter One |
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| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 Recommended! Thomas Jefferson was aghast: In 1791, Haitian slaves revolted against France. The principal author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence cut off all trade to the new state, and refused to extend it diplomatic recognition, expecting to bankrupt its future. Eerie, no? This tactic has a history, alas. And tragic. Char Miller's take on Michael Deibert's Notes From the Last Testament is well worth reading. And so is "Notes." Deibert didn't just report when he was a Reuters' correspondent in Haiti. He lived in Port-au-Prince, knows his stuff, and, I think, truly cares about the fate of "the Western Hemisphere's second republic." I'm no expert and haven't been there yet. I've read only two other books about Haiti: "The Black Jacobins" and "The Comedians." (I also invented a cocktail which is named for the latter.) "Notes From the Last Testament" is, for me, the natural, in-depth sequel to these historical and fictional treatments. Read the review and let me know what you think. Monday, February 13, 2006 Valentining in the UK http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article344955.ece Two STDs are spiralling madly, badly and dangerously out of control: syphilis (from 141 cases in 1995 to 2,254 in 2004) and chlamydia (cases have risen by over 200%.) Chlamydia is the biggest worry, though, and Caroline Flint, public health minister, is looking at some innovative testing methods. Self-test kits at your local petrol station, supermarket, and so on. They have already handed out 6,000 kits at Boots... What happened in those ten years? Is this just coming-of-age demographics? A shift in behavior? In condom use? Yikes. Saturday, February 11, 2006 Bridget Jones: strangely germane? In the latest episode of her diary, Bridget Jones asks: "How can people ever get over hearing what you really think about them?" It seems that Bridget was saving those thoughts in a Send Later folder and, lo/behold, quite by accident, sent 15 "mad, ranting e-mails" to the most important people in her life. She is many months pregnant, has alienated her best friend ("What previously seemed like interesting feminist theories now seem merely the tragic, bitter ramblings of a disappointed old bag.") and has been fired from her job at Sit Up Britain. Well! If you're looking for contrarian dish on Betty Friedan's life, Germaine Greer's The Betty I Knew will make you sit up, that's for sure. A feminist hero at home, Friedan was a problematic ally whenever she left her American turf. Some choice bits from Greer's essay: In 1972, Betty and I, and Helvi Sipila of the United Nations, were together in Iran as guests of the Women's Organisation of Iran, and once again I had difficulty in dissociating myself from Betty... Her line was that American feminists had taken power ... and the Iranian women should follow suit. Betty swept into my room, fetchingly clad for bed in a cascade of frills and flounces. "Whuttzes extra trip they've laid on for tomorrow?" she shouted, trotting back and forth in a continual frou-frou. "I've told them to cancel it!" I let her think it had been cancelled, went to Shiraz and met Islamic Marxist women, dressed head to foot in heavy woollen chadors, who told me that no truth could come from the mouth of a western doll. Four years later those same women surrounded the American embassy in Tehran, and the world really was never the same again. Some Guardian readers were enraged by Greer's tale of a sisterhood that never was. But what do these Friedan partisans expect? Celebrity feminists are contentious, competitive creatures. Greer's obit may be one of the few which offers an international perspective on Friedan's decade. For those who are miffed by Greer's evocative memories of a bygone era, here's a similarly atmospheric piece by Midge Decter (who famously opposed her feminist peers back in the day.) I never met Germaine Greer, but I did see her once in live performance -- and a most diverting performance it was. The year, as I remember it, was 1970...In those days Norman Mailer was a friend, and I had by then with the same kind of amusement watched a fair number of women go after him in pretty much the same way. Decter's critique of Greer is interesting. Read it with a non-partisan mind! (If you can.) Sunday, February 05, 2006 A New Approach? http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20060204/QUEBEC04/TPNational/Canada "PQ no longer the only separatists on the block" This new political party sounds like fun. Taking Quebec separatism to another level and getting away from the divisive, ethnic approach: good idea. I spent some of my childhood in Quebec and grew up in a somewhat bilingual town, so this issue is close to my heart. I've always had a perverse fondness for the Bloc Quebecois (the national separatist party) because I think they can play an important role in balancing out the party in power (whether Liberal or Tory.) I don't agree with their desire to separate, and I don't identify with the extreme leftishness of the Quebec solidaire party, but I wish them well. As one Globe & Mail reader put it, "Good for them, keep stirring the pot." I wonder how long they will last, as they refuse to have a traditional leader. They intend to have two spokespeople (one male, one female) and a 16-member committee. My experience with collectives has been mixed -- sometimes downright annoying! But I belong to a sex workers' group (PONY) which has survived more than ten years without a top-down leader, so I know it can be done. What's next for the Quebec solidaire party? You can read the manifesto in English and French. I admit there's an eye-glazing quotient but yeah, good luck to them! And, as always, I'll want to see how they perform on the question of sex workers' rights. Manifesto: http://www.pourunquebecsolidaire.org/index.php?index# |