The Goddess Professor Speaks

The post below was my comment to the petition to repeal Amendment 1 (with some adjustments for this blog post). Amendment 1 is the recent addition to the Tennessee Constitution that allows legislators to insert whatever laws they can get passed into women in Tennessee's lives and uteri. If you'd like to sign the petition, please go here: Bill Haslam: Repeal Amendment One . Women are intelligent beings. We are capable of making medical decisions that affect our lives. The decision to terminate a pregnancy should only be affected by the woman seeking the termination and the doctor performing it, and if the woman is married or with the father, perhaps her mate. No one should be forced to carry a fetus to term if that isn't what is best for their life.  Women are human beings. In this day and age, balls of cells are given more rights than a living, breathing, functioning, working person.  Nowadays, deceased bodies have more rights than a pregnant woman. If a person has not

I just had an interesting conversation with a colleague from another department. Through this conversation, I uttered the phrase: "they're the app generation." His reply: "I think you just coined a phrase." Well, while I realize I didn't actually coin this phrase (there's already a book out with that phrase as the title), this conversation did  make me think about what this means. So, what is  the App Generation? We are so busy calling the current age of people the Millennial Generation, but how long will that phrase last? Is it more apropos to call them the App Generation? Is it fair to label only the Millennials the App Generation or does this label fit to many more people than that? We're so tied to our mobile devices and the latest app and what it can do for us, to us, with us. We're so tethered to the electronic leashes and those little icons that connect us to various things. Apps rule our lives. They help us connect to content, f

Warning: This post contains spoilers about the show Vikings .   Anyone who knows me knows that I'm an info junkie, TV addict, and a feminist. A few months back, I was fortunate to watch the History Channel show called Vikings . I'd seen advertisements for it, but largely ignored them. Friends encouraged me to watch the show, and I'm so glad I did. Watching Vikings, I was instantly impressed by the main female character Lagertha . But more importantly, I was intrigued by this slightly more accurate portrayal of the Viking culture; it is after all, a TV show.  As an info junkie, I frequently paused the episodes to fact check things the show portrayed. I'm happy to learn more about any culture, but I'm especially appreciative to see that not only were the Vikings NOT a horned helmet wearing , beer guzzling, raping, pillaging, killing, maiming, destroying people who treated women like shite, women actually had prominent places in their society and what's mor

This morning I awoke to news that not only does the GOP now control the Senate (that had been predicted for months) and many GOP governors maintained their seats (include Florida's Scott, Wisconsin's Walker, and Kansas' Brownback) but also, now in Tennessee, women may completely lose access to abortions--regardless of the circumstances. Last night (as on many previous Election Nights), I purposely distracted myself until well after polls had closed. Being a mom with a kid in school means around the time polls close, I have little people to bathe, clothes to prep, backpacks to check, etc.  I'm thankful for that distraction because it means I no longer have the leisure time to sit in front of a TV and watch as the results roll in.  And even after everyone was put to bed, I purposely  resisted the urge to check election results every 30 minutes before going to bed.  I checked once or twice, so I knew GOP had gained the Senate. That was enough upset for last night, so, I