Monthly Archives: November 2012

Ways to Procrastinate: UBC Compliments!

Happy Friday! I guess we’re all gearing up for finals, but NEVER FEAR BECAUSE COURTNEY IS HERE TO SAVE THE DAY with her procrastination tips.

There’s this neat little page on Facebook called UBC Compliments  that I just discovered.  The description is as follows:

This is a social experiment that started at Queen’s University in Canada. Brown, Washington University in St. Louis, and Yale have all done similar [projects]. This page is a place for you to do something nice for your friends or peers anonymously in a way that you cannot do in person. Inbox us and we’ll post your compliments right away!

It’s a really cute concept, and it’s already taken off quite nicely, with 448 likes at the time this post was written (yup, I queue my posts). I’ve already flipped through all the compliments and recognized one student and one professor (the much-talked-about Professor Gateman, of course!). In case you were wondering, I have yet to submit a compliment.

Another site that could go viral is 48,000 Secrets, which is run by a group of UBC students. The concept is a bit like PostSecret, but without the pictures and the fanbase (yet). I’ll have to check back in a month to see how it’s going!

Both projects are definitely ways to blow off steam for finals season! So go out there and show some love 🙂

This Sexist Joke Ain’t Funny

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when I saw somebody had shared someone else’s picture:

Sexist Joke

Women as an element? Oh no you didn’t.

Women aren’t elements. We are not simply objects to be used by men, nor are we ornaments to be dangled from mens’ arms. We do not exist for your possession and your sexual pleasure. We are not whores and sluts and bimbos and gold-diggers.  We have brains, and it should not matter what we look like, or what we weigh.  I do not find this picture funny, and neither should you.

Immediately after I saw this, I reported it to Facebook and privately messaged the user, explaining that the post was sexist and that I found it offensive.  To his credit, he apologized and deleted it right away, thanking me for notifying him of the error. It still irks me, however, that the original post is still out there somewhere.  I’d like to find the creator of this picture and give him a piece of my mind.

Lately, I’ve been doing research on the topic of slut-shaming, rape culture, and sexism. Originally, my goal was just to finish a well-written paper for my English class and get a decent grade.

However, by doing this research I’ve been becoming more aware of what our post-feminist culture is really like—that though women might feel more empowered now than we did a century ago, we’re still facing oppression on a day to day basis. As a result, I’m seeing examples of sexism everywhere.  I’m thinking more critically of things now, including the things that my friends say.

My goal now is to raise awareness of this seemingly invisible problem. It’s a slow start, but I think I can make at least a little difference—starting within my circle of friends.  More easily said than done, as I don’t want to purposefully alienate anyone. But if you’re reading this post, then that’s a start for both me and you.  Awareness first, then action!

I’m back! But only sort of.

So I still have a ton of school work left to do, but I missed blogging too much to stop <3

Surprisingly, I’m not feeling the stress of final exams yet.  Maybe it’s because mine don’t start until December 12th? Which is relatively late… My final final exam is late too; it’s on the 19th.  Of course I would have exams up until the very end.

I’m really looking forward to the end of the week! Once we’re done class, I’m going to do two things:

  1. Sleep through more than two circadian rhythms.
  2. Rub it in the face of my younger sister, who has school until the 21st.

Anyways, got to go back to bullshitting writing beautifully crafted pieces full of excessive wordiness, needless verbiage, inordinate jargon, redundant loquacity, and general beating-around-the-bush. Will write soon, I promise!

5 reasons why I won’t be blogging for the next week

  1. I have that darn Chemistry lab test tomorrow. As if labs weren’t stressful enough, we have to come up with the procedure ourselves.  Joy.
  2. I have a research paper due on Monday. I was not notified it was due on Monday until last Sunday.
  3. I have another anatomy bellringer on Tuesday.  This means I have to memorize the locations of 79 muscles and goodness-knows-how-may bones in the arm, hand, pelvis, leg, and foot.  Good luck to me indeed!
  4. I have a writing assignment portfolio for English class due on Wednesday. This means many, many pages of hastily-written nonsense.
  5. My boyfriend is coming home for the weekend tonight and I’m so excited a;sdklfja;lsdfja;lskdfj;alkfj;lasjfla.
Regardless of whether you read the above list, I’d like to let y’all know that I’m not dead (hopefully), but rather very very busy.  In the meantime, why don’t you read some of my older posts? 🙂 I don’t care if this is shameless self-promotion, you know you like it.  

Happy Monday!

Here is a picture to kick-start your week! 🙂

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