Dunwoody expressed amused surprise at her promotion:
There is no one more surprised than I — except, of course, my husband. You know what they say, `Behind every successful woman there is an astonished man.’
Of course.
But seriously—this has been an amazing year. Hilary Clinton had a viable chance to become the Democratic nominee for president. Sarah Palin was the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Barack Obama is the first African American president-elect—and possible president—of the United States. With Dunwoody, another barrier has been broken. Young women can look at her and tell themselves that the dream is real.
I usually don’t bring attention to politicians’ birthdays, but this story was just too cute. Yesterday after lunch, Obama presented twelve candlelit cupcakes to Biden for his 66th birthday. Then Obama and his staff sang “Happy Birthday”.
Now that my piercings have healed, I’ve been looking for some more colorful jewelry. One of my favorites is this flower navel bar. Too bad it’s out of stock! Otherwise, there would be some serious flower power bloomin’ in the middle of November.
I’ve been so fixated on national news, I completely missed this little tidbit right in my home county: 20-year-old Democrat Vanessa Sievers is the new Grafton County Treasurer. Three-term incumbent Republican Carol Elliott is not-quite speechless, calling Sievers a “teenybopper” and attributing her defeat to those meddling “brainwashed” college kids. Grafton County Democratic Chairman John Chamberlin says that Sievers seems like a “very level-headed young woman”. Across the aisle, Grafton County Republican Chairmain Ludlow Flower does not support Elliott’s remarks, but says that the college vote distorts the outcome of local politics.
At the polls, I did notice a growing interest in local politics among the college population. A number of these students are here for four years (and some for more). Should they be allowed to participate in local elections? On the flip side, should college students be allowed to vote in elections back at home when they don’t live there?
I couldn’t find any figures that show how much the college vote actually affected the outcome, but looking at the raw numbers, it is obvious that Sievers carried the areas around Hanover (home to Dartmouth) and Plymouth (which houses Plymouth State). Many of the other paired figures give Elliott the advantage, or are too close to tell. Out of morbid curiosity, I may conduct some statistical analysis to see if there is any significant difference in votes. Elliott may be right: These brainwashed teenyboppers may have taken over Grafton Country after all.
Look at this, geeks. You can now burn the image of Darth Vader onto your morning breakfast with this really nifty toaster. But be careful: Hunger leads to the crispy side.
There seems to be a social idea that a man that has a feminist out look on life is somehow emasculated. The idea that a man can retain all aspects of his masculinity, while at the same time wholeheartedly agreeing that women are his equals, is attacked by patriarchy because the very idea destabilizes the male inalienable right to control and power based in sex and gender construction. The opposite is in fact true.
The sorry state of American atheists, then, may have nothing to do with their lack of religious belief. It may instead be the result of their outsider status within a highly religious country where many of their fellow citizens [...] find them immoral and unpatriotic. Religion may not poison everything, but it deserves part of the blame for this one.
Amber Ying is a figment of the Internet. In real life, she is an undergraduate student of biology and chemistry at Colby-Sawyer College. Amber likes kittens, postmodern American literature, public policy, and cheesecake. She dislikes eggplants, parking tickets, and cobblestone streets.
