Hey Colbert, Ecoutez!

My guardian got an unexpected Christmas gift...her own author page at Barnes & Noble! This, of course, is the result of her two new books in press, both available for pre-order!

This one, published by Corwin, a division of SAGE, is for teachers who are interested in remodeling their lessons for the new Common Core State Standards. The Table of Contents is here.

This one, published by University of Toronto Press, is based on her dissertation research about the inner-workings of politics of curriculum production. She hopes to have a few other books about this ready soon :)

Back in 2007, she co-authored a high school textbook for the Canadian market, published by Nelson. It was actually her third! This latest installment in high school textbook writing is titled Business Technology Today, and is the official, Trillium-approved book for grade 9/10 information technology courses in Ontario and beyond.

Of course, I make no secret of my interest in the work of Dr. Stephen T. Colbert - and my influence on her led to the inclusion of not only Colbert's important concept of Wikiality in this textbook, but even his full-color photo in the textbook! The significance of this is that Canadian teens will be exposed to Colbert's innovative commentary on social media!

"Reality has a liberal bias?" Feh!
Nonethless, we have been most disappointed that somehow this groundbreaking curricular inclusion has absolutely fallen through the cracks.
As I contemplate this oversight, I must get back to my holiday reading....

Happy 2012 to all from Humphrey!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Humphrey wishes all his friends in Willowdale and beyond a very merry Christmas!

He met some fuzzy polar bears on a pre-Christmas trip to Bayview Village.

He patiently waited by the door for the guests to arrive on Christmas Eve.

He admired the tree while lying on the sofa, so it was sideways
(or maybe he couldn't figure out how to rotate the image in blogger!)

   

There were lots of gifts for him, and that made him laugh.

 

The best gift was a plush gingerbread house filled with squeaky gingerbread characters made by Martha Stewart!
He had to stand up to open it, it was SO large!

And he had a wonderful dinner with many people he loves.
The candles on the table and the lights on the tree glittered while he enjoyed the sights, sounds, and tastes of the holiday.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

"I know that song!" Humphrey exclaimed as he heard Burl Ives on the radio. "Could it be Christmas is coming?"
Sure enough, he came home to a house full of wrapped gifts!

Sparkly packages, wrapped up in string, these are a few of my favorite things!

Please, could I open just one early??

 

One of Humphey's favorite ornaments...fleece Navidad!

 He hopes to blog more about the holidays soon, but his guardian is monopolizing the computer in an effort to finish her end-of-semester work and meet some editing deadlines.

Just in time for Hanukkah!

Humphrey is very excited that Hanukkah and Christmas will be here soon. He was kind enough to participate in a project with his Guardian to kick off the holidays.

The Saddest Dreidl by Dr. Laura Elizabeth Pinto | Make Your Own Book

Guys n' Dolls

“When men and women are treated the same, it means women are being treated as if they were a man; when men and women are treated differently, the man remains the norm, against which the woman is peculiar, lacking, different.”

Humphrey held his head atop his little squeaky doll as he contemplated that quote by Anne Philips. What could it mean? Usually, he liked to chew on rawhide on lazy afternoons, but now he would chew that idea. 
A very wise student tipped him off later that day.
"It's just like the Canada Post union negotiations about 'equal pay for equal work' not too long ago in the news," she explained. "At the time I thought to myself, 'of course, absolutely! Women should be paid the same amount as the men.' But you can see what this quote brings to it."
"What's that?" Humphrey asked.
"Why did I automatically think this meant women should be brought up to men's pay? Why didn't I think that the men were being paid less money, or that the men's wages should be reduced or increased to meet the women's wages.  Why did I think of the men's wages as 'normal,' and that the women needed to meet that standard? I've been programmed by society to assume that the women's wage is not the norm and I didn't even realize it."
"Thank you!" Humph said to the wise student, "I get it. Now I can get back to my rawhide."

EPILOGUE: Kim Schaefer, CEO of Great Wolf Lodge was on Undercover Boss recently (this episode aired on W January 4, 2012). In the introduction, she was talking about her leadership style and getting to be in position. She mentioned that people are often surprised to see a female CEO. Quite astoundingly, she made a statement something like, “I didn’t let aspects of being a female affect my becoming a CEO” – wow.

Finnegan's Birthday: Memories of a Dog Busting Gender Stereotypes

Today, November 22, would have been Finnegan the dog’s twenty-third birthday. Humphrey often hears stories about Finnegan, many of which are very funny, and some touching.

Finnegan playing poker, 1991

Humphrey loves hearing the story of Finnegan’s ongoing social project that challenged gender stereotypes. Since he was a puppy, Finnegan was drawn to anything bright pink. Whatever it was, if it was fuchsia, he had to get his paws on it. Lucky for Finnegan, his accommodating Guardian obliged, and made a point of ensuring his possessions, when possible, were pink. That included leads, harnesses and collars.

Every so often, people in the park would stop, and say things like, “Pretty dog! What’s her name?”

“His name is Finnegan,” Guardian would respond.

On several occasions, the Guardian found herself scolded – “How could you put a boy in a pink collar! That’s terrible!”

You’d never hear such responses to a female dog in a blue collar! So Finnegan made a point of clarifying that he was merely expressing his preference for pink to challenge people’s gender stereotypes. Pink as a girls’ color is a Western construct. The opposite is the case in Poland, and even India! Moreover, the fact that North Americans believe it’s problematic for a boy to wear pink (and not a girl to wear blue) is an expression of how society continues to subjugate women. It’s an insult for a boy to do girl things, but certainly not the other way around. This reminded Finnegan of the opening lyrics to one of Madonna’s hit songs:

Girls can wear jeans
And cut their hair short
Wear shirts and boots
'Cause it's OK to be a boy
But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading
'Cause you think that being a girl is degrading

That was but one of the many important lessons Finnegan taught those around him. Humphrey encourages those who remember him to post comments!

Finnegan on the picket line, 1997 teachers' work stoppage

Finnegan consorting with his patchouli-scented hippie friends (without his guardian's knowledge!), 1990



Finnegan's portrait, which becomes more prominent at dusk when the contrast is enhanced in low light.

Humphrey’s Unpaid Labor

Unpaid household and care labor in Canada alone is estimated to be worth up to $319 billion in the money economy or 41% of GDP,and as high as $11 trillion worldwide!  

While most people (and dogs) do at least some unpaid labor – caregiving, cooking, shopping, household security (woof!) – in most mixed-gender domestic arrangements, women take on the larger share of household and care labor. Statistics Canada reports that in 2005 wives put in 46% of the total time couples spent at jobs and 62% of the time they spent on housework. Much of the gender differences in wealth (women still only earn about 0.75 on the dollar to men for the same job) can be explained by the gendering of work and family roles that restrictswomen’s ability to build up assets over the life course.

 

Humphrey is extremely sensitive to these gender inequities, and he always makes a point of pitching in to try to help his Guardian. Given his diminutive stature and absence of opposable digits, his contributions are limited – but he helps out every day in the hope that he can equalize the gender gap. He firmly believes that “the personal is the political” - if he perpetuates gender and species inequities at home, they will continue to exist in society. So, by taking action in his own personal relationships, he can chip away at hegemony little by little.

In addition to security, he makes a point of doing laundry….

 …and recycling…

Here's a video of him on the job: