Via

On Nov. 18, Bernstein was discussing the conditions under which African captives were taken to America in slave ships. She bound the two students’ hands and feet with tape and had them crawl under a desk to simulate the experience, Monahan and Shand said. Monahan said the girls were not the only blacks in the class.

Gabrielle Shand burst into tears at home, her mother said.

“There are other ways to demonstrate slavery,” Christine Shand said Friday. “It doesn’t matter the color of the kids, it’s just not right to tie them up. My daughter is still upset, still embarrassed. She didn’t go to school today.”

Wow. I can understand why these children’s parents would be upset!  There is nothing wrong with the usual just lecturing about slavery…clearly.

Was browsing some blogs when I came across the Religion in American History blog and this hilarious list You might by a graduate student if…

Some of my favorites:

…you’ve ever traveled across two state lines specifically to go to a library.
…5:00 p.m. Friday means you are now scheduled to work for the next 48 hours.
…you find the bibliographies of books more interesting than the actual text.
…some of those continuing education classes sound interesting.

And to think I thought I *really* understood this when I was finishing my M.A. Yeah right! I’m in for a real treat!

On the relationship between internet social networks and professors:

Some do so in hopes it will attract attention for a book or paper they have written; others do so inadvertently, joining Facebook to communicate with students and then finding themselves lured deeper by its various applications. via

It sure is a different time than I was in undergrad!

To commemorate thirty-fifth anniversary of Roe V. Wade, it’s Blog For Choice Day!

This year’s theme is why it’s important to vote pro-choice…

Why I vote pro-choice:

• To ensure that we maintain the legacy of American feminism started by women before and after Seneca Falls by allowing women to have complete freedom over their bodies.
• To ensure women have complete access to health care which includes reproductive rights.
• To ensure that there is comprehensive sex education available to women of all backgrounds, ages, races and socioeconomic stations.
• To ensure that women and men know what options are available to them.
• To ensure that Roe V. Wade is upheld by congress and the government.
• To ensure that Roe V. Wade decision is respected by the government.

These are just some of the many reasons, I support and vote pro-choice.

- Ms. Rose

My husband and I went to see Laurel Thatcher Ulrich at the Tenement Museum in New York. He bought me her new book which I, of course, had autographed.

There was some very intriguing points made:

• Idealization of women in the past. Having to live up to those who came before us.
• Public records, such as a census, determining and informing what history is.
• History is not created by action alone.

• Feminist activism made women’s history as a field of scholarship possible.

Professor Ulrich also shared the panel with Deborah Siegel of Girl with Pen and Pamela Thompson who wrote Every Past Thing (Great video link here too.) It was a great talk that I really appreciated, having been out of academia for awhile. Also, I am reading Siegel’s book Sisterhood Interrupted. Such a resource! I wish I had this when I was writing my MA thesis about women’s history as an academic field and its relationship to women’s studies!

For what reason does the ACLU and the Justice Department come together?
A Mormon missionary!

A Mormon student who left university for two years to fulfill his Mormon missionary duty is suing his school for taking away his scholarship. For Mormon males, becoming a missionary is akin to a Jewish person’s Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah, a Catholic’s communion etc.

One article via the Charleston Gazette points out that the defense is using the argument that Mormon men are NOT required to take a mission when they are nineteen.

However, in its Aug. 9 motion to dismiss the case, the HEPC claims that Haws’ constitutional rights were not violated. Also, it contends the Mormon Church does not require its male members to serve a mission when they are 19 years old.

If a male chooses not to take a mission, hes basically stating he is not a proud Mormon which brings up a heap of trouble in the Church. There is also the question of financial freedom–the more money a family has the further a missionary goes. If a male cannot go far then his family arranges for him to serve his mission nearby but he still serves a mission.

I think this student should receive his full tuition, as under the constitution a person should be able to practice their religious freedoms. But it also points to the larger issue of Mormons functioning within larger society. Should they change their rules to abide by universities outside of the Mormondom? Or should everyone follow them? These are large questions that can’t be answered quickly.

A word about female missionaries, for the longest time it was only understood that men were to go on missions but women were allowed to serve finally. They typically begin their missions at age 21 by the time they could easily finish school in time. If these rules can be adjusted for women could the same be down for men?

There’s something about the age of 19 I don’t understand. I’ll have to get to the bottom of this through reading!

Male students debut at Randolph College

One of my graduate student classmates went to Randolp Macon for undergraduate and really enjoyed it. She transferred there after attending a larger state school. Whenever we discussed our undergraduate experiences, she always had positive things to say. I remember emailing with her when I read about the college’s decision to become coeducational. Many alums were angry, believing the school was betraying them and current students along with the overall integrity of the institution, while others knew it had to happn because of financial reasons.

Well, its a different school now. This past week it opened its doors to female and male students. In recent historical memory, we have heard a lot about schools like Harvard and Yale opening up their doors to female students in the 1960s and 1970s but one rarely hears about the reverse.

Certain schools that were once all female like Vassar did start accepting men but are still referred to as being mostly female, for low female to male ration and the like. Rumors abound that only gay men or straight guys looking to date a lot of women attend these schools. While that may be true, it must take a lot of guts to be one of the first, female or male, to attend a school that used to be single sex the year before.

Hopefully, the new students, all of them, at Randolph Macon will learn a lot, have fun and adjust accordingly. But its hard to say the school won’t be changed dramatically.

I know this for a fact, as my own alma mater went throught the same transformation back in the 1970s.

Funny thing is you don’t hear the rumor that girls attend Yale to get laid.