There were so many things this week I could have written about. Anti-choice groups are increasing efforts to make accessing abortions more difficult without being illegal. A Senegalese organization is getting villages to agree to stop the practice of female genital mutilation.  But when I read about an elderly lesbian couple that staged a sit-in after being denied a marriage license in North Carolina, my topic was picked.

Coming across the We Do Campaign video, in which non-heterosexual couples go to apply for marriage licenses in North Carolina, a state in which gay marriage has not been legalized broke my heart. Writing about the divide in belief about same-sex marriage last week, brought up the point that there in some parts of the United States there isn’t a lot of support for legalization. Currently NC is waiting until May to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment that could ban both gay marriages and civil unions. Read More »

In conjunction with the Occupy Wall Street movement, “Occupy Colleges” has taken root and will offer college student across the country a chance to have their voices heard. The official OC website has posted a list of the colleges and universities participating in a walkout, to take place today, October 5th, at noon.

Will you be joining the thousands of students in today’s walkout?

Our parents are always talking about their political activism in the 60′s: the sit-ins, the rallies, the demonstrations. Our generation, according to them, is just lazy and not willing to stand up and fight for what we believe in.

Well take that, parents! Some members of our generation are doing just that!

Students at The New School in Manhattan are fed up with the inefficient leadership at the university and decided to take matters into their own hands – by barricading themselves in the school’s cafeteria. The group settled in last night at 8pm and blocked the door with recycling bins, tables and signs.

What do they want? According to the New York Times:

As word of the protest spread and the group grew larger, a list of demands was produced. Those included [Bob] Kerrey’s removal as well as the ouster of James Murtha, the university’s executive vice president, and Robert Millard, the treasurer of the school’s board of trustees. The students said they wanted more of a voice in school matters and full disclosure of the school’s investments.

The students don’t plan on leaving anytime soon, so we will see how things pan out. Especially considering Christmas break is coming and most of these people – no matter how politically motivated – will probably want to head home at some point. Until then, let’s all take notice of what they are doing and be inspired to stand up for causes we believe in.

I tend to think the best of people. Overall, I think strangers are more friendly more often than they’re not, and if you give them a smile, you’ll get one back. I tend to think that with most store employees and the lot, if you’re friendly, they’ll be friendly and helpful in return. It was only recently that I learned I might just be horribly naive.

A male friend of mine was talking about how the mailroom guy on campus was so grouchy. “He gives you this glare and doesn’t say a word even when you say hi,” he said.

I was surprised. “I’ve seen him smile and say hi.”

My friend rolled his eyes. “Well of course. You’re a girl.”

I protested, but as I interacted with him again and again I realized that the mailroom guy was just nice to girls. And it was the same with the post office workers, the cafeteria workers, and a handful of other strangers I interact with on a regular basis. Before you think I’m padding my own ego and saying I’m smoking hot, let me assure you, it wasn’t just me. People are just more likely to treat a girl politely, to smile and be more helpful.

At first I thought, What luck! Girls can finally enjoy something about being a girl! But as the overactive-feminist part of my brain worked on this new idea, I liked it less and less. Read More »

During next month’s Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, hundreds of the city’s homeless will be given movie tickets, passes to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the Denver Zoo in an attempt to spare them “being caught up in the mayhem” of the convention. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless will also be providing bus passes to get to events outside walking distance to facilitate the exodus. Read More »

Its science fiction time, friends!

A small lab in California claims to have cloned the embryos of two men, making it the “first documented demonstration that ordinary cells from an adult human can be used to make cloned embryos mature enough to produce stem cells”.

Although the lab says it destroyed the embryos after 5 days, they insist they have all their records and assure the public that the tests were performed numerous times. Experts have supposedly acted very “coolly” to this announcement, partly because of a clone hoax executed by Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk a few years back, and partly because the creation of cloned embryos has happened before. The big announcement, researchers agree, would be if a new stem cell line has been created. Read More »

• Naked Britney protest? Sure! …Britney won’t be there right? (pugbus.net)

• Speaking of nudity, CollegeCandy doesn’t necessarily condone streaking, but if you’re a hot babe and you wanna go for it…at least do it naked. (news.com.au)

• If people are looking to get rid of mysterious goo they should just call Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd. Duh. (ktvu.com)

• Oh my God. Please let this happen. Please let this happen. (theoildrum.com)

• Crap, they’re on to us, ladies! Thanks a lot Peteuse! (COED Magazine)