Intimacy and Teens

I already ruined advertisements for my students with Jean Kilbourne's Killing Us Softly, and now I want everyone to read this story of porn educators and how they're attempting to unpack and expose the sad, porn-inspired performativity of  teenage sex. It's awful enough that we have no good sex ed, but worse that there's seemingly universal and facile access to bad porn:

"It’s not surprising, then, that some adolescents use porn as a how-to guide. In a study that Rothman carried out in 2016 of 72 high schoolers ages 16 and 17, teenagers reported that porn was their primary source for information about sex — more than friends, siblings, schools or parents."

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Nerd and Proud

The literature nerd in me sees the literature nerd in you.

Type in an author's name, and you can keep on finding others to follow. 

This must be what a rabbit hole feels like.

http://www.literature-map.com/ 

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#HamiltonNerds

Content

Your mouth bleeds curses,
nurses wandering silences

Technology's flashing ghost
in the turn and tap of keys

skimming the round
in-line like dancers

circling like sharks
inland, inaccessible

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A Study of Men Throwing

the man throws coffee

it snakes tendrils over her

the man throws acid

it pools pits across her skin

the man throws kerosene

under his gaze, she is afire

the man throws her off (the bus)

the man throws her out (the house)

the man throws away (her phone)

the man throws down (her kids) 

the man throws a ball

the man throws a party

the man throws bombs

the man throws his ire 

the man throws
throws it all away
the man throws
the man throws
the man throws
until overthrown

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The Shape of Water

I kinda liked The Shape of Water, but At made me chortle because he had a point when he termed it "Ponyo for adults."

And a bit Alf, I might add.
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Growing a Family

I’m very happy for some old neighbors/ex-colleagues/FB friends who adopted three children from the foster-care system today. We’ve known about the ongoing process, but they weren’t able to share pictures of the kids until the adoption was final (today!).

And I’m sad today, because it feels like I’ve waited all my life to adopt, and Big A is finally on board, but none of the agencies will follow up with us. I finally caved and did what I swore I wouldn’t do—called in for help from my CASA director. She’s called around and left messages; let’s see how far we go.

At least I get to take my oldest home for the weekend : )!

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