Essential Estrogen

The song that's been stuck in my head for the past few weeks is "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor:

I think the first time I heard that song -- or at least the first time I remember hearing and thinking about the words to that song -- was when I was few summers out of high school. I was with a group of friends and we were on our way out to the lake for swimming and general mischief. My niece Debbie, who died this year, and I were singing and trying to harmonize as the summer heat and humidity swirled around us. We met with applause from the others in the bed of the truck, but I imagine they were primarily happy our makeshift rendition of the song was over.

Back then I was the wild one, and although it would have saddened, I doubt it would have completely shocked many if I had met with an early demise. It's still difficult not to think of Debbie being alive, hard to believe that I won't ever enjoy laughing or harmonizing with her again.

Meant to have this post up earlier today, but I think I broke a few things while trying to do a software upgrade. Of course, that's what I get for adding custom code and not using basic templates. I think I'm going to take the whole operation to a sand box until I can get it figured out.

Been covering the situation with Kyle Payne for some time now, although I think Eleanor's Trousers was the first blog to start discussing him and the January 2007 incident at Buena Vista University. I'm really curious why other Iowa bloggers, especially feminist bloggers, haven't picked up on the story. Then again, the truth is that there really aren't hordes of feminist Iowans who blog -- which brings me to my second thought: It is during times like this that I'm so thankful for an active feminist blogging community.

I'm not sure how many blogs, domestic and international, have made comment about Payne's unusual situation. Here's a sample (trigger warning applies for many of these links):

• The F Word
• Doing Feminism
• PhysioProf
• mirabile dictu (alterwords)
• Womanist Musings
• Hoyden About Town
• The Curvature
• Bookworm
• The Corvid Diaries
• Renegade Evolution
• Bastante Already
• Fetch Me My Axe
• Sex, Life & Frilly Bits
• bastard.logic
• The Mustard Seed
• The Legal Satyricon
• The Secret Chord
• Rage Against the Man-chine
• Buried Alive
• Galling Gala
• Editorializing the Editors
• Shakesville
• Modern Mitzvot
• Safer

... and that's just a partial list. To date, I've stayed with straight reporting coverage of the Kyle Payne situation. It's getting harder every day to continue that trend -- especially when I see similarities between the Payne story and Agriprocessors, another reporting assignment. I'm going to have to make a point of doing some nice, sweet feature stories in the coming days and weeks. Since the stories I've been doing lately seem to lack a "good guy," my mood has taken a downswing.

Speaking of news I really don't want to hear/read, there's a report in the NY Times that HIV infection rates are 40 percent higher than previously thought.

I'll be the first to admit that I've not been following the 2008 presidential race as well as I did before and right after the Iowa caucus. But I must have been in the right place at the right time, because I caught this excellent piece -- McSexist by Kate Sheppard. Go. Read.

For those interested in blogging as a profession, there's a post at Viva La Feminista that you need to read. At least in my opinion, one of the great things about being a primarily political blogger is that I don't have to do the corporate thing. (I had more than my fair share of looking out for advertisers' interests when I was a newspaper journalist.)

So, if you've been losing sleep due to wondering what types of freebies have been coming my way, let me ease your mind. Last winter I was given a coffee mug after I did an interview for a political organization. And, like all politically-active souls in Iowa, I've been given t-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, fans, hats and other various items by the presidential campaigns on either side of the aisle.