elanya

This is an excerpt from the provenance information for a painting I was working on cataloguing today, with identifiable names edited:

Mr. Stephen C. M------ wrote: "At the 1939 Knoedler exhibition, Mrs. H----- came to the opening and talked to my wife. Mrs. Hassam was interested to find that Mrs. M------ was the owner of the painting. Mrs. H----- told Mrs. M------ that in her opinion she considered [This Painting] the finest picture which her husband, the late Mr. C----- H-----, had painted in his lifetime." (The preceeding paragraph is recorded in the archives of the [gallery that acquired it from Mrs. M------], as part of the history of this H----- Painting.)


...and this is how women get erased from the historical record! :/ I couldn't find any solid identifying information about the husband that would let me know it was the right guy and so track down his wife's name :( Even the provenance information we have from the gallery where it was purchased (in the 70's) by the people who donated it to us says Mrs. Stephen C M------ -_-

So I backed the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter yesterday because.... Reading Rainbow, fuck yeah!

So I have been getting the backer updates (only 2 so far) which have mostly been sort of excited flaily disbelief. I think LeVar Burton almost cried in the first little video.

I think the second one (both were written by the RR CEO) could have used a second pair of eyes though... It seems to be missing a word:

"My wife, Jane, heads up Customer Service for Reading Rainbow, and wants you to know that our email problems should be fixed by tomorrow. She won't let me come until I tell you that, because she feels horrible that we haven't been able to respond to more of you."

...

Best thing - from HopefulNebula on #Yuletide: i didn't think they'd be reading lysistrata!

(The missing word is clearly 'home' >.>)

In other news, I went and say Days of Future Past! \o/ It was fun!

There was an ad at the beginning from a bunch of male Hollywood actors talking about THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSENT! \o/ And men being responsible! It was a don't be a rapist video and it was lovely! \o/ It warmed my heart, it did :)

Then there was the trailer for the fake cops movie, which was utterly disgusting. Two bro cop-impersonators whose faces light up at the thought of 'intervening' in a domestic violence instance involving three young women? Disgusting. But oh ho, the tables are *hilariously* turned on our hapless wanna be white knights because two of them aren't even pretty - they are large and angry and violent, ha ha ha *puke*. Disgusting! /o\

But the movie was fun!

And now I need to go to bed. G'night!

I am so excited! naryrising managed to find an article that tells me George Phenney's wife's name! (That link goes back to a 2009 lj entry wherein I first got obsessed by this mystery @_@)

The answer is Mary, and we know this because she applied for an apprentice from Christ Church and listed her husband's occupation as Governor of the Bahamas :D From "Married Women's Occupations in Eighteenth-Century London" by Amy Louise Erickson, Continuity and Change (2008), 23 : pp 267-307.

In additional Internets Weirdness, this random Pirates of the Caribbean fanfic contains references to a couple in Nassau named George and Mary Phenney. I skimmed enough of the chapter to be able to decisively say that the author knows (or okay, I will be fair) or is not using any other pieces of historically accurate information to describe Nassau in the vague period during which the PotC franchise is set.

(The Life and Times of Bootstrap Bill, by Istani).

Bedtime for me :)

Dear Dr. Schlegel

A friend of mine forwarded me a link this morning reporting on some very disturbing research being conducted through your department. I hope that I am only one among many writing to inform you of how appalling they found Dr. Dix Poppas’s “research” and practice of clitoral reduction surgeries, and the even more disturbing follow up practices.

While I can’t condone the practice of clitoroplasty on its own, I cannot find words to describe the visceral negative reaction that reading about the follow up procedure causes me. The idea that using a vibrator (however clinical the language used) to sexually stimulate a six year old girl so that, after having her clitoris cut up to suit his tastes, her doctor can then turn around and tell her she is now capable of normal sexual development is as absurd as it is appalling.

I hope that word of this research spreads, and that as department head you will do what you can to shut down this project and call the “scientists” in question to task for their involvement in this atrocity.

Sincerely,
Heather Hatch
PhD Candidate in Anthropology
Texas A&M University


Links:
Bioethics Forum: Bad Vibrations
Psychology Today: Can You Hear Us Now?
The Stranger: Female Genital Mutilation at Cornell University

From The Shadow Unmasks (1937):

"There's a man for you, Burke," declared Weston. "Twelve years ago, his plane crashed in the jungles of Guatemala. He was crippled, helpless among a tribe of Xinca Indians; and I understand those savages are the most barbarous in Central America.

"Did Allard yield to those Xincas? No! Instead, he tamed them. He lived with them; ruled them. When he had civilized them to a state where they could govern themselves, he appointed a native as chief. A work of twelve years was ended, so Kent Allard came home."

* * * *

There was one point upon which Allard had dwelt but little; namely, how the Xincas had accepted him as the white god from the sky. Allard seemed to consider that of but little importance.

Viewing the two Xincas, both Weston and Clyde noticed how definitely Allard had modified that detail. It was plain that the servitors worshipped their white chief; that every action they made was hinged upon his command. In private, Kent Allard was quite as amazing a figure as in public.

* * * *

*sigh*

In other failnews, if anyone wants to know why I so disliked Clash of the Titans, I can probably be prompted to write a serious review ;p

You need to Read This.

Written for a man, targeted at a male audience - so why am I only seeing women link it around? Fail. *Pokes boys*

Oh, this was too clever, and too telling, not to share.

(Thanks daemonnoire!)

So I don't often get on my femist soapbox, but I have to say... tampax fail.

It might have been interesting to inflict lady puberty on a man, but you don't have to baggage it with a zillion other stereotypes. Apparently, girls like romance and baking because they have vaginas.

>:|