the PSU sex abuse scandal: a few thoughts

Growing up, I hated Penn State. HATED THEM. They embodied everything that young angry punk rock Sheriff hated: overly happy, athletics obsessed, beer soaked, and hard mentality driven fools in Pennsylvania (not that I was stereotyping or anything). I always doubted Joe Pa's squeaky image for the team, having heard many lurid urban (really rural) legends of the craziness of Penn State football team party antics and such. Most of the kids who did have the grades to go to college from my high school went to Penn State--getting into main campus was achieving the dream for some. I sneered at these minions and went to my fancy pants lady college and had a ball and became actually less of an asshole towards PSU folks. But the herd mentality still made me uneasy, as I've discussed here before.

So the sex abuse scandal that's going on right now is shocking but somehow also not entirely unexpected to me. How could a patriarchal, old boys club not cover up something of this proportion? If you can stomach it and are not easily triggered, I suggest you read the grand jury indictment. It makes the whole institution look negligent for not doing more to stop it, and frankly, I absolutely include Joe Pa in that group. He was the figurehead and he had to be fired if for nothing else to make the trustees feel better, but he also did one of the worst things someone can do when things are going wrong: doing the minimum required to stop the badness. It's not quite the Kitty Genovese effect, but it's enough that he absolutely deserved to get fired for his lack of action. I don't care if he's the winningest man in college sports. I don't care if he's ancient. I don't care if this team has been his life and the season's almost over.  A BOY WAS RAPED IN THE SHOWER AND HE DIDN'T CALL THE COPS. Period. The efforts of PSU students to raise money/awareness for child abuse survivors are a touching gesture and genuinely seem to be coming from a good place, but the riots the night of Joe Pa's firing? Less so.

I'm still so angry about this it's hard for me to think straight. What say ya'll?

Much love,
The Sheriff

PS--this adds some good questions to stir the pot further.

farewell

I am incredibly sad and pissed that this day has come.

But here it is.

FF readers, you've been with me (maybe) for a year and a half. And you've read good and less good posts (some quite excellent, if I may get my brag on for a hot sex), explicit and theoretical posts, my ramblings and guests eloquent words.

But, for at least the foreseeable future, I gotta say good-bye.

Which breaks my heart and is actually making me tear up as I type this.

My life right now is very full, and delightfully and stressfully so. I've got an awesome city to get to know, and amazing friends both new and old, and a very intense job that not only has me physically at work breaking up fights and attempting to teach from 7 to 3 but that also includes planning engaging lessons and taking certification classes and scrambling for supplies.

I just cannot give this blog the love and attention and posting it deserves right now. And as much as I still fight for women and body image love and feminist yearnings all over the place, these causes have been supplemented with also fighting the achievement gap and poverty and racism.

I have so much enjoyed reading your comments and hearing about discussions spurred by postings here, and I hope that you all continue to keep these conversations going in your own lives. Activism doesn't have to be protests and pins on your backpack; talking to people and calling them out on their bullshit is equally, if not more, important!

Keep fighting the good fight. Hopefully I'll be back here someday.

Much love,
The Sheriff

friday links

I'm happy and my friends can't stand it!

Bisexuality and hiphop---this piece is good ish.

Beyonce's pregnancy and the debate over its meaning is sorta silly. But I'm pretty excited to see how damn cute this behbeh is.

Just married 'mos! HAPPINESS.

Who falls to addiction and who gets past it? This one hits home.

Adventures in open marriage.

5 things ya should know about marriage.

Ladies, does your poop smell? Here's a cure!

Much love,
The Sheriff

self-consciousness in pictures: facebook vs the yearbook

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 Remember when you were a baby-child (or ya know, in high school), and you had picture day? And it was a really big deal because it was going to be in the yearbook and it's how everyone would remember you for all time and they gave you those awkward impotent little combs to yank through your hair before having your chin posed at strange angles. Good times, friends.

Of course, yearbook photos did and still do cause anxiety and self-consciousness, especially because they're so posed and often tend to capture us at our most strange and adolescent, with bad haircuts and pimples and oddly fitting clothes. Smith, unlike apparently a lot of schools, still does yearbooks and sends them out to the graduated seniors families.


My dad flipped through it and texted me that myself and Lady Lola looked cute on the convocation page. Convocation? That night when we rampage around campus half-naked and yell chants about house pride and booties and whatnot?

Oh shit.


What if I look fat?

I hate to admit it, but those were the first thoughts to run through my head. My primary concern was if I'd be immortalized in the consciousness of my graduating class as tubby girl in a bikini top, sarong, and a leopard print pink plastic fedora.

Some of the issue with this is that with Facebook, you are immortalized on the Interwebz for all time...but you untag with abandon. And trust me in that I abuse that privilege. A little bit of a tummy in one picture? Untag. One eye half-closed (perhaps drunkenly)? Untag. Photo taken from below, the never-even-a-little-flattering angle? Definitely untag.

But has anyone else scrutinized these photos? Would other folks devote half the energy to hatin' on my body that I do to myself? Perhaps, but I doubt it. When friends whine about how bad a picture is that I've put up of them, rarely do I even see their supposed imperfections until they show me them. And even then, who cares? One bad photo among the dozens (hundreds?) of good ones doesn't mean that everyone will forever remember you in that light.

And I finally saw the dreaded yearbook convocation picture (via Skype, thanks to a good pal). And while it is not the most flattering photo of myself, above all else, I look deliriously and genuinely happy to be frolicking with my Albright ladies. And that makes it a beautiful photo all in itself.

What say you? Any Smithies find questionable pictures of themselves in the glories of the yearbook? Does everyone scrutinize their yearbook photos with such nastiness?

Much love,
The Sheriff

BONUS--Celebrity yearbook photos. Why is J Lo so hot always?

friday links

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The evolution of tampon ads...we've got a long way to go, ya'll.

I, surprisingly, really enjoyed reading Sally's body hair management system. Mostly because it made me feel less crazy about my own. And also made me realize how little it matters!

"Assume good intentions"--I've heard this said many times before as a norm during group sessions about tough topics, but it is also a great general life reminder.

Is 25 old now?

NOOOOOOOO. I don't normally give a shit about celebrity relationships, but this makes me sad (maybe because I taught summer school at his alma mater?). NOTE--this may or may not be a real thing, since the Smiths are denying it.

Females--Do you masturbate? These folks can cure you! Shaking my head...

Humorous post about pooping and childbirth. Still does not make me feel great about the fact that this will probably happen to me one day, but it did give some LOLs.

College students use drinking as an "excuse" to have sex and not have to be labeled sluts. Sad, but true....but it still enrages me! NO ONE NEEDS AN EXCUSE TO HAVE CONSENSUAL SEX!

Much love,
The Sheriff

the faux-independence of college: is it a bad thing?

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I have a lovely, much younger friend (psst--she blogs over at PenisEnvy as Dr. Kinky) who is about to leave for Smith. Talking to her recently made me remember all of the excitement and insanity of leaving for college the first time--the anxieties over making new friends and saying goodbye to old ones, PACKING, the thrill of independence.

But are ya really that independent at college?

This is the interesting paradox of Smith, in particular, that I am realizing post-graduation. You go to this fantastic college, full of strong, smart, sassy women with their own thoughts and ideas and achievements and anxieties (so much anxiety. But that is another post!). You can do ANYTHING you want, take any classes you want thanks to the open curriculum, skip any classes you want, sleep with anyone you want (all the men in the Valley! All the women! No one at all!). You make your schedule, choose your extracurriculars, make big decisions about your future, take out big loans. Delicious independence.

Except...no.

There are TEAMS of folks at Smith (and every college) whose jobs exist solely to make your existence easier. IT people you call when the internet is funky or slow or down entirely, electricians who come out at 3AM to turn off your beeping fire alarm when the school is running on generator power, facilities management workers who get out there at the crack of dawn to shovel all that damn New England snow, the housekeepers who not only scrub the tubs but are always there to give you the college gossip and friendly banter on your way to class, the lovely people feeding you....the list goes on and on.

And as much as I thought I was an independent person, and not pampered, I was so so wrong. Waiting for the electric company to come cut on my service during a heat wave, sitting in a chair pressed against the open window, I fully realized the blessing of letting other people take care of things. Sitting in a pool of my own sweat, I once again was faced with how much of a fucking privilege college is, especially the Smith experience (Smith, btws, got a score of 96/100 for quality of life among America's top colleges...probably thanks to all the lovely people taking care of our needs).

It's interesting that colleges put so much work into taking care of these logistical aspects of life for their students while they're being prepared to go into the world and take over on their own. But they do this so you can go about your intellectual life unfettered by the annoyances that people who aren't just full-time students often have to deal with. It's not such a bad thing to not really be doin' it for yourself. So appreciate it and soak up the faux-independence, first years!

When did you realize you'd been maybe just a wee bit spoiled, either in college or before going off?

Much love,
The Sheriff

friday links

Michele Bachmann is an interesting woman. By which I mean I really really disagree with most things she says.

This case, while miraculous, shouldn't be used to justify limiting abortions to everyone because a one-in-bazillion chance baby survived.

For the LOLZ: If male superheroes posed like Wonder Woman.

Jess Weiner (body image goddess) and her story about losing weight to be healthier despite her message of loving one's body at all sizes. The sensationalist title aside, I think it raises some good questions!

And so does VA's take on it over at NeverSayDiet.

Much love,
The Sheriff