The Old School Lunch

A rookie fresh from the minors is about to change the face of baseball: A female umpire is set to work a major league exhibition game for the first time in almost 20 years.

Ria Cortesio, ready to start the season in Double-A, will be on the bases Thursday for a game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago Cubs in Mesa, Ariz.

“I’m looking forward to it,” she said Monday night. “There will be a lot more people in the stands than I’m used to.”

No female umpire has ever worked in the majors during the regular season. Pam Postema was the last woman ump to call big league exhibitions, back in 1989 — she was in spring training for two years before getting released.

Cortesio is the only female umpire in professional baseball. At 30, she is starting her ninth year overall and fifth in Double-A.

Slender and athletic, she cut her ponytail a few years ago so she wouldn’t stand out on the field. She also uses a low grunt to call strikes.

“It’s awesome,” Cubs star Derrek Lee said. “I think it’s about time. Female eyes are as good as male eyes. Why can’t they be umpires? Good for her.”

Triple-A and Double-A umpires routinely join major league crews in spring training, especially when extra games fill the schedule.

“I was kind of expecting it,” Cortesio said. “Umpires with my seniority usually get picked.”

Cortesio has been working minor league exhibition games in Arizona this month. This week, she’ll move over to HoHoKam Park when a Diamondbacks split squad plays Chicago.

Cubs reliever Scott Eyre liked the idea.

“She’s doing our game? Oh, cool,” he said. “How do I feel about it? I could care less. If she can call a game, she can call a game.”

“If she rings somebody up for me, I don’t care. You know what I mean? I wouldn’t have a problem with it,” he said.

Cortesio was on a big league field last season for All-Star festivities at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. She called the Futures Game for minor league prospects, then worked the Home Run Derby the next night.

Cortesio started her umpiring career in the Pioneer League, yet doesn’t trumpet herself as a pioneer in a profession dominated by men.

“I don’t do this job to get on TV,” she said last July. “But I hope it will raise the awareness a little.”

Pretty shady that the author felt the need to describe the ump as “slender and athletic” (because, that matters how?) and I really wonder if her ponytail cutting was a decision on her part or, more likely, pressuring by ballclub owners. Seems like a big pile of bullshit to have to basically hide one’s gender by deliberately altering appearance or sound as to not “stand out” (read: tear away the idea of baseball and officiating being a boy’s club).

But glad to hear some ballplayers not pulling the old Tim Hardaway…

The full article.

I didn’t go to my undergrad commencement last Spring. All my graduation paperwork was in order and I was all ready to go. Or so I thought. After months of not receiving my diploma, I started to get a little suspicious. Turns out, somewhere my 80+ year old department advisor goofed up on some paperwork and the school has no record of me ever graduating. I went straight to someone at the undergrad affairs department and they said they’d get it cleared up on the double.

Well, shit.

The front page Yahoo! caption to this article reads “Beauty companies tailoring products to minorities” while the actual title is “Beauty products for minorities move to front shelves.” Both are pretty problematic. Anyways, I don’t think things are anywhere near as hopeful as the article seems to suggest, but eh.

I still will never forgive that one company for their bullshit commercial for some hair care product. “We’ve got all your hair needs covered for the red, brown or blonde in you!”

And, wouldn’t you know, the “somewhat related” photo on the left column happens to be of young, Black women trying on different bridal gowns. Someone should’ve told those ladies that, you know, Black women don’t get married and they especially don’t wear white wedding gowns. Doesn’t anyone read bridal magazines?

And finally, the worst bit of the article (my bold):

Executives at CVS/Caremark Corp. and Walgreen Co. also said they see some growth in this area.

Walgreen markets an exclusive line of skin-care products priced under $15 — including the best-selling skin lightener and a trendy microdermabrasion kit — under the Dr. Jan Adams Women of Color Total Skincare label, a spokeswoman said.

You know car-shopping does not get off on the right foot when, after you sit down with the car salesperson, you’re kicked out of your seat/table you were sitting at because some other high-ranking salesperson had some large family with kids who also needed to use the table.

But anyways, the co-worker friend who was doing the car buying was pretty set on what car he wanted and how much he was going to pay (in cash) so I thought this was going to actually be not that bad.

At the first stop, we encountered Booger who at first we thought was a mechanic or a detail person. Turns out he also sells (sort of) and so he got us straight to the model of car my friend was looking for. One wrong color later, we’re driving to the other Toyota lot a block down the street to where we encounter the right car (though used, but certified) at which point Booger goes out of his way to point out some of the more complicated features of the automobile (”here’s the stereo. Good sound, huh? Here’s the defrost control, the emergency light button, the CD player…”). After a cramped ride int he back, the pointless haggling begins. Well, turns out Booger doesn’t even call the shots so at 2 minute intervals, he had to run over to some sour looking middle-aged turd who kept saying “No” and then “NO!” and even at one point throwing in “Alright, you’re not interested in buying a car today. Goodbye.” And of course, during about 3 points when we were walking away from the table Boog (with some direction by his boss, I imagine) comes running after us trying to negotiate (”I don’t like to lose a deal! Don’t worry about my boss. I don’t like him, nobody like him!”). Booger shows us around to almost everything else in the lot and strangely tells us about how he doesn’t want to sell us a new car because they wont make any commission on it (”i’ll get about $40 bucks! That’s crazy!”) whereas with a used car, he rakes in $1000. We then go back to the original (nicer) lot with Booger and while I munch on some Chili Cheese Fritos, he hands off my friend to the new Salesman and they go to the “Scion station” and get down to business. Now this guy knew how to sell cars because, shock of the cenutry, he actually was diplomatic and articulate and came off completely unconcerned about moving products or making a commission (he even sympathized with our experience with the Asshole and said “that’s why he’s exiled to that car lot,” ha!). Long story short, friend makes a deal for the new Scion tC which ends up being cheaper with much less mileage than the certified used at the other lot which came with 33,000 already on it.

The lesson learned: The Scion xB actually looks a lot better in person.

About the America’s Next Top Model “CSI” pictures thing…

Coincidentally, I just saw 13 Going On 30 which actually was pretty good (if you completely ignore the movie’s awful stereotypes and cliches) if I do say so myself.

But anyways, I swear, the ANTM thing was straight out of Lucy aka “Tam Tam”’s redesign of Poise magazine. If you haven’t, basically (spoilers) the magazine that she and Jennifer Garner’s character work at is sinking lower and lower in popularity and losing to their competitor, Sparkle magazine. So when the big-wigs asks for a complete magazine identity redesign, the two friends give each other the big fuck you and work on their own ideas. Lucy’s redesign looks almost exactly like the CSI “fashion” photos with phrases like “fashion so chic, it’s lethal” (or some shit) with pictures of Kate Moss types in dead or near-dead states while Jennifer’s redesign is “fun” with “memories of my best-friends sister” which still coincidentally meant that models/fashion/glamour would basically be Kate Moss except that she’s smiling (really smiling) and maybe posing with some old folks next to a Volvo 240.

Today’s count from work:

400+: About the number of business cards I have left.
15+: The number of times being called “fag” or “faggot” today. By the same person.
3: Total number of people today banned from our building and banned from any further services.
2: People who said I, along with my coworker, were “crazy.”
2: Threats of robbing the bank.
1: Number of things thrown at me.
1: “Fuck you”s.
1: Utter denial of having said “Fuck you.”
3.5: Hours in length of my shift today.
5: Minutes it took for me to type up my resignation letter.
10: Minutes I spent on the phone with my boss talking about work and then, to her surprise, my decision to quit.

[I’ll admit, I had to do a quick wiki to see who she was :/]

What are you doing to empower women in your community?

Some pretty encouraging and “think globally, act locally” answers which are near the top.

I volunteer in local shelter for battered women. Small steps can help make a huge difference for these women who have nowhere else to turn for help.

In addition, when I have children, I will make sure they are well aware of the hardships women all over the globe have been experiencing for ages. Education is what we all need.

Then it gets bad.

Nothing. Women have enough power in my country as it is. They have equality, now they want dominance and that is not fair.

Then it gets real bad.

I’m sorry, international womens day? Just in case you wonder before i start my rant, i am a woman, i dont feel over powered by men, not in the slightest. I’ve worked with men all my adult life and have been treated as ‘one of the lads’ as i dont take it to heart if one of them were to say ‘its coz you’re a woman’ which they have done in jest, quite a lot. I dont feel that i’m victimised because i’m a woman and if i did people would sure know about it. My daughters legacies are mapped out and they will be strong powerful women, just as i am.
Yes it annoys me that women are treated as 2nd class citizens in mostly muslim populated countries, i know i’m going to get abuse for this but isnt the reason for that because they have let themselves be dictated to and victimised?
Do we have international mens day? and if we did would it be considered sexist?

And then it just gets ridiculous.

International Women’s Day is my birthday. I will be letting anyone who knows me be nice to me for the day…..
I’m not sure who needs empowering round here : I value my privacy , and might not appreciate anyone trying to improve my life for me. We make contributions to Comic relief charity and also Action Aid,where I am particularly concerned about young girls not being allowed to go to school because they are girls and not considered worth schooling.
M : )

And then there’s something like this which is disturbing despite the sarcasm/attempt at a joke. Despite reading the question which specifically talks about inequality and discrimination, this Yahooligan equates that with “Well, I guess it’s really about pampering!”

work hard to keep her in shoes and chocolate

Then to top it all off we have this piece of confusion.

sorry …. but you can NOT empower people…… people can only empower themselves, thats what it means…. “to give yourself power” if you do it for them then it is not empowerment, as you have taken the power away….. all that you can do is provide or facilitate a place or environment that makes that empowerment conducive and possible…..

Jesus H. He equates empowerment, ending inequality and fighting discrimination with doling out some sort of privilege. Seriously.

Junichi over at Poplicks raised the question of whether this ad from Dolce & Gabbana is a depiction of gang-rape. Love Your Body, an awesome website (in the same spirit as Killing Us Softly) that he links to in his post, writes:

This ad is beyond offensive, with a scene evoking a gang rape and reeking of violence against women. In an interview, NOW Foundation President Kim Gandy said, “It’s in Esquire, so they probably don’t think a stylized gang rape will sell clothes to women, but what is more likely is that they think it will get them publicity. It’s a provocative ad but it is provoking things that really are not what we want to have provoked. We don’t need any more violence.”

Junichi raises the question of the ad’s depiction on his website and the (I hope) non-moderated comments in response aren’t a reflection of what I believe Poplicks to be about but they are nonetheless, in two words, pure shit.

Yeah, but it looks like the bloke with the glasses who’s going to be on the end of the gang rape in question. None of those greased pretty boys seems to be interested in the woman at all. - Paul Herzberg

So right off the bat Paul has told the world in two sentences that #1. Guys who are bare-chested, slim, white and “clean cut” are gay. #2. Guys who looks, by suggestion, “gay” could never rape a women. #3. If there’s going to be any sort of real rape going on, it’s going to be men raping another man.

NO. No they should not. They shouldn’t show ugly-ass skeletons humping ugly ass-high society skeletons. God I hate advertizing. Actually they should have a full out gang rape, only it’s the clothes they’re trying to hump. - Squish

OK, so let me get this straight. Beyond the obvious gang-rape in the scene, you’re going to make the “high society skeletons” the priority in your scathing analysis? You’re mad that Dolce & Gabbana uses “ugly-ass skeletons” as models but you don’t care so much for, oh, the woman that’s about to be raped in the scene?

no. what they should do is lower the prices on their damn clothes so that I can afford the shit. advertisements annoy me. it never makes me want to buy stuff. - eric

Oh wow, you too? So now you’re angry that Dolce & Gabbana have prices your ass can’t afford? That’s the outrage here? And you, like our friend “Squish,” hate advertising because, what a pity, it just doesn’t make you want to whip out the old Visa and fill up that shopping cart? So now you’re angry that the advertisement doesn’t pull you in? That’s what you’re angry about?

If an ad is banned, it would only become more attractive to a public that loves forbidden fruit.

Besides, the ad appears to be more homoerotic than misogynistic. Most of the prettyboys are standing far away from the woman and appear to be utterly uninterested in her.
MAC

So…let me get this straight. If an ad is offensive, regardless of how sexist or racist it may be, what we should all do is just put our hands in our pockets and look at the ground? That works for dinner guests, MAC, not for a multi-billion dollar advertising industry. What burns my toast more than you saying that is you suggesting that the people who are protesting the ad, the people who are sticking their necks out there are the ones at fault for “just giving the ad more publicity.” I guess we all just should’ve shut up about Kenneth Eng, huh? And you too, with your “they must be gay, their flags aren’t at salute” argument. Honestly, what do you think they were going to put in the ad, the guy in the corner is supposed to sit there with a handle-bar mustache and fiendishly rub his hands together?

definitely homo. erotic. - chrisisaballer

Now obviously he’s just piggybacking on the “duuude, lol they are sooo gay” comments but this all I think shows a very, very dangerous start to a mentality when it comes to perceptions of men raping and gang-raping women. I think as Duke LAX, the OC rape case, and almost any other rape case in which a woman was attacked by more than one man showed, the belief is (if it isn’t that the men couldn’t have possibly raped the woman because no straight man does anything like that when it’s 5 men and 1 woman) that any woman who is in any situation remotely sexual with one or more man always must be fully consenting (and if she says she didn’t, then she’s just a “slut and a nut”).

The ad could not be more cut-and-dry. He’s pinning her down, he’s restraining her, and it clearly illustrates a strength and weight advantage that he has over her. It’s about his power and his control of her. And to make it even worse, the depiction is that the men are going to watch this man rape the woman or they’re going to rape her as well.

Ron Artest who was recently arrested on “suspicion” of domestic violence and then released on bail, returned to the Sacramento Kings’ lineup after a tearful press-conference in which he referred to hitting his wife as “another incident” in his long rap-sheet. While watching the Kings/Nuggets game this morning, everyone wanted to talk about Artest and his return to the Kings. When asking one of the Maloof brothers about whether Ron’s quick return was deliberately for the playoffs and not taking domestic violence seriously, Idiot Maloof said (from what I can remember, I wish it was on YouTube) this (my de-bullshit transations follow below).

Maloof: Well, we still need to get the facts in order on exactly what happened.
Translation: I don’t think he really hit her. [His wife] probably got angry and said he did.

Reporter: Are you worried that his quick return to the team appears to not take the issue seriously?
Maloof: No, no, absolutely not. We take this very seriously but it’s also important to get things back to normal and make sure we can help Ron at this time and take his attention off things.
Translation: Are you kidding me? Who cares if he hit some woman. We’ve got a playoff chase here! The whole western conference hangs in the balance!

Other sports commentator: Yea, it’s important right now to get Ron the help he needs because even though he was obviously remorseful after the fact…at the press conference…we’ve seen that face before. We just hope he can work out his problems.
Translation: Woman victim? What woman victim? It looks like he’s really sorry so he’s learned his lesson…IF…he really did it. He just needs to go to some anger-management classes, you know, like Jason Kidd.

Sports commentator: Of course, right now we’re all very concerned about this situation and it’s important to remember the kids at this time because they should be the focus right now in a time like this.
Translation: Nah, don’t worry about her, she’ll be fine. *

Jesus Christ, didn’t Qyntel Woods get a bigger suspension from the NBA for participating in some illegal dog-fighting ring? I swear, you get more shit and condemnation from the NBA (and society in general) for smoking a bowl (see: Portland Trailblazers) than you do for domestic violence.

*I know that men who beat their wives/girlfriends very well may also beat his/their/or her children but seriously, there wasn’t one mention of concern for the woman here.

Every other day, volunteers come by our office to drop off donations. Blankets, clothes and kitchen items make up most of the stuff. However, once in a while (when they actually read our website and look at the type of donations we’re in need of) folks donate hygiene items or (if they’re really ambitious) hygiene kits for our clients. It’s usually a ziplock baggy with maybe a toothbrush, bar of soap, a travel thing of shampoo, etc. Yet without fail, donations like those never come with tampons or pads. They’ll throw in q-tips or mouthwash–even conditioner, but they forget the one thing that half of the world’s population uses. It’s yet another form of the sort of male-privileged and male-centered approach of social services and specifically, the cultural attitude when it comes to homeless and low-income folks.

Which is why something like this is very important.

“Women’s shelters in the U.S. go through thousands of tampons and pads
monthly. Assistance agencies generally help with expenses for “everyday
necessities” such as toilet paper, diapers, and clothing, but one of the
most BASIC needs is overlooked: feminine hygiene products.

I just did this and it was just a click! Choose your state then click on the
heart. Take a moment to give something to someone who needs it.”