I'm Just Sayin'

Updates on what's happening in my life. Thoughts about current events, politics, books, and anything else that I find interesting. Intended for those who know and love me.

Name:
Location: Albany, New York

Friday, June 30, 2006

Keeping up with the Times

I love the Beloit College annual college mindset list, although it is a bit scary sometimes. This is a must-read for college educators and anyone else who interacts with young adults either personally or professionally.

My favorite from this year's list:

They don't remember when "cut and paste" involved scissors.

Wow! I was already in college a couple of years when I first experienced "cut and paste" without scissors!

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Where Are All the Female Plumbers?

We've been having a lot of plumbing problems at our house the last couple of months and so plumbers have become regular visitors. It occurred to me that I have never, in my life, seen a female plumber. So, of course, I had to investigate this further:

According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, using Current Population Survey data, in 2004 only 0.9% of the people employed as "pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters" in the U.S. were women.

This was not, however, the most male-dominated occupation. Women are only 0.1% of all "dredge, excavating, and loading machine operators" and 0.2% of all "cement masons, concrete finishers, and stonemasons."

On the flip side, women constitute 98.8% of all "dental hygienists" and 98.1% of all "preschool and kindergarten teachers."

And now the investigation gets even more interesting. Here are the median weekly earnings for employees of both sexes in those industries:

plumbers -- $690
cement masons -- $556
pre-K and K teachers -- $521
dental assistants -- $474 (for some reason, hygienists were not listed as a separate category)

Hmmmm ....

Rad Chicks?

Last week when I was at the dentist I was drawn to the Time magazine cover of the Dixie Chicks that was accompanied by the title "Radical Chicks." I was a bit surprised by the title. After all, are they really that "radical"? Is declaring dislike for the President and his current policies that extreme (politically or otherwise)? I suppose it is in the world of country music, which helps explain the backlash against the Chicks.

I've been torn by the whole Chicks controversy. On the one hand, I agree with them politically and I agree with their right to free speech. On the other hand, I also think that people can and should commercially boycott those products that offend them. I used to do this a lot more as a college student than I do now; but I think money is an important political tool for all people, not just the elite and the corrupt. So if country music listeners want to abstain from buying Chicks' products as a political statement, then let them exercise that right. However, when radio stations refuse to play their music they are exercising a form of censorship that not only inhibits free speech (or free listening, in this case), but also free markets. It's patronizing not to let consumers of country music decide for themselves if they want to listen to the Chicks or not. Additionally, the article had an interesting take on the culture of intolerance that is part of the country music scene and that is quite different from other music genres.

Although I'm not a big fan of country music, I have been known to like a few Chicks songs over the years, and I'm going to go buy my first Chicks CD to support the "radicals."

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Albania Casts the Deciding Vote

I've been debating with myself for a while about whether or not I was a blogger. I'll save the gory details of that discussion for another time. The deciding factor was Albania. Okay, to be more accurate, the deciding factor was the Frugal Traveler from the New York Times who published an article today about Albania.

I've been thinking a lot about my next research trip to Eastern Europe and I keep coming back to the thought (desire, compulsion) to go to Albania. It's very likely that I will go to the Balkans for at least part of my trip, but I was considering Croatia, Slovenia, and perhaps, Macedonia for lots of practical considerations. But Albania has been pulling at me. Perhaps it's because I've recently read a couple of Kadare novels. Perhaps it's because I've always been fascinated by Albania from having grown up in Hamtramck with a fairly prominent Albanian community situated among other Eastern European enclaves. Who knows? But it has been a nagging, gnawing thought lately and I've interpreted the Frugal Traveler article as a sign that I should go. And, my excitement over the article was the final reason to enter the world of blogging.