tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87356989548963711742024-03-05T04:57:40.865-05:00RiledOn some paradoxes that comprise my life: feminist engineering, queer Presbyterians, liberal knitting, black-thumbed gardening, and other contradictory passionsRiledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10311983571926145776noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8735698954896371174.post-30061172239859846242009-05-14T08:46:00.021-04:002009-05-26T16:45:45.602-04:00Moving ForwardAs a sophomore engineer dealing with the onslaught of misogyny at Patriarchal University, I was deeply angry. My high school math and science teachers were all women with advanced degrees in their fields, true scholars and quiet exemplars of what I assumed I could become. So it was a shock when I learned that some of my male peers in college thought women couldn't do science and went to great Riledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10311983571926145776noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8735698954896371174.post-62277619884414867622008-11-15T14:29:00.010-05:002008-11-15T15:11:21.962-05:00Knitted Plant Hanger - my first design!<!--[if !mso]> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false false EN-US ZH-CN X-NONE <!Riledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10311983571926145776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8735698954896371174.post-41417430484423683682008-10-20T19:59:00.005-04:002008-10-20T20:54:26.762-04:00Sisterhood is Powerful at the Esteemed Engineering SocietySo, my college years were in the early 90s, the age of AIDS awareness for GenXers, when we knew we were vulnerable, we could no longer deny our own susceptibility to the virus, regardless of sexual orientation, gender, race, etc. Condoms were being freely distributed in a lot of places - outside student health services on my campus, and popularly in men's bathrooms. Oh sure, sometimes you had Riledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10311983571926145776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8735698954896371174.post-73852395208754271992008-08-21T17:34:00.003-04:002008-08-25T21:08:05.395-04:00kittens!There is nothing cuter than a bundle of kittens. Is this what compels people to fall down on the job when it comes to spaying cats, contributing to a huge cat overpopulation problem?Because people seem perfectly capable of feeding stray cats when they come by - in fact, they believe they are doing a good thing. And when the cat then turns up pregnant, people are perfectly capable of caring for Riledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10311983571926145776noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8735698954896371174.post-90295763088697950732008-08-12T09:40:00.001-04:002008-08-12T15:27:00.058-04:00I didn't sign up for thisWhen I joined facebook a few years ago, it was only open to college community members - mostly students, but the occasional faculty member or staff person with a university email account would join. It was a way for me to keep in touch with campus culture, to better understand and relate to my students. I logged in only on those rare occasions when students sent me a friend request. Most didn't Riledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10311983571926145776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8735698954896371174.post-74623331935395798382008-08-05T08:16:00.036-04:002008-08-07T19:43:06.407-04:00conspicuous consumptionI was raised by parents who very logically and frugally dressed me in hand-me-down clothes. Not just from my older sister, but also from babysitters and neighbors' kids -- all of whom were many years older. These clothes were long out of style. We're talking big 70s collars when Izods were de rigeur, olive green suede addidas when I should have had topsiders or docksiders (I still don't know the Riledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10311983571926145776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8735698954896371174.post-64600314500002038462008-07-31T10:13:00.005-04:002008-07-31T16:08:23.019-04:00Queer PresbyteriansSo, I've been meaning to blog about this for a month now -- that is, since I started the blog, I guess, but it's hard to know where to start. A big thing happened about a month ago, when the Presbyterian Church voted to immediately overturn previous rules barring "self-affirming, practicing homosexuals" from serving in ordained positions in the church, and proposed an amendment to the Riledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10311983571926145776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8735698954896371174.post-21141419065062866842008-07-29T07:58:00.002-04:002008-07-29T08:27:32.332-04:00Blogging in a vacuumHere's another contradiction -- I have this blog, but no one is reading it (except maybe Alice). I know this is because I haven't really told very many people that I'm doing this. Right now, I like it this way. I don't feel like I'm saying anything particularly interesting or important, while the more interesting stuff of my life, I don't feel like I can put on the Internet, for fear it will be Riledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10311983571926145776noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8735698954896371174.post-19426265395063394502008-07-24T10:48:00.004-04:002008-07-25T09:03:19.822-04:00gardeningMy big project this year was dealing with a narrow, weedy slope between my house and my neighbor's fence (about 10 ft across). Solution: a small flagstone patio just large enough for a bistro table and two chairs. Perennial plantings all around with a flagstone path meandering through the space. I didn't think to take a before photo, but believe me it's a huge improvement.The best part is that Riledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10311983571926145776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8735698954896371174.post-40563957642750002912008-07-21T15:34:00.004-04:002008-07-21T15:44:42.138-04:00fundraisingI've committed to raise $1000 for Barack Obama's campaign. I figure if I find 20 Obama-supporting friends who can each give $50 (or 50 who could each give $20, etc.) that would get us there. I don't have the funds to just whip out my checkbook and write a single $2300 check (the federal limit for a candidate in an election). But by pooling the resources of myself and others like me, we can Riledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10311983571926145776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8735698954896371174.post-86857791382669305022008-07-15T13:34:00.006-04:002008-07-15T14:01:33.993-04:00first sweaterAfter a close call, I finished my first sweater project. You have to celebrate the small victories.... I used a free pattern in Berroco Zen Hako Mix. It's labeled "easy" by the folks at Berroco, but the cabling suggests otherwise. Although, while I think cabling should earn it an "intermediate" rating, I have to say that it was fairly easy for this novice knitter to learn cabling - the Riledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10311983571926145776noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8735698954896371174.post-19165100786096814212008-06-30T17:25:00.002-04:002008-06-30T18:07:14.764-04:00I have to start somewhereSo I created this blog about 18 months ago, but never took the plunge for that inaugural post, until Alice asked me what gives. I couldn't decide - do I want this to be a blog about my work as an engineering professor, my heretofore less public activism for queer equality in the Presbyterian Church, or other, still not public direct actions for a variety of social justice causes... or do I wantRiledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10311983571926145776noreply@blogger.com0