F ³: Women and Ruination? I Doubt That.

True confession: the name Ross Douthat didn’t mean anything in particular to me until quite recently. In only a few days I have learned that he is a laughably awful opinion writer for the New York Times. No one had to tell me this. His work speaks for itself.

Yesterday’s column:

Did Women Ruin the Workplace? - - Ross Douthat, New York Times, 11/6/2925

Oh my, yes. That’s definitely the column we need in this moment, in this country, teetering as we are on the edge of male-induced facism.

I present to you the antidote: beautifully curated by Bluesky user Paul Fairie. (It looks like he is interested in history and political science, by the way.)

A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women, Paul Fairie

You absolutely must click through and read every single one. It won’t take you long. I want this thread to get every single hit it deserves and it won’t if I copy and paste it all here.

The list contains eleven examples of newspaper articles that outright blame women for ruining something - - right in the the title of the piece! If you click on the photo of the article, the alt text will give you the text, the name of the newspaper, and the date of publication.

I don’t know Mr. Fairie but I must say he is thorough. And I suspect he has a wicked sense of humor.

A tip of the hat to Bluesky user @lauri8 who came back with the following:

But are we getting paid as much as men to ruin things? NO! A woman has to ruin something 3 5 times harder than your average mediocre dude does to get paid only 75% as much! Keep fighting, my sisters.

Yesterday afternoon a photograph taken by Andrew Harnik (Getty) at the White House made the rounds on social media. It caught an usual moment, showing what transpired as an (unknown) person suffered a medical event. Have you seen* it?

There looks to be only one woman in that room. At least, there’s only one woman in the shot. What is she doing there?

Ruining something, I suppose.

Village Green/Town² Comments

*You can see the photo here. Not necessarily recommending the article. Just wanted to find a quick link.

Comments

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else. Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday. Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018. 2018 . But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest. In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...

What Kids Are Thinking

It’s a Monday in February, and if you guessed that a lot of Howard County students have the new cell phone policy on their minds, you’d be right. It will mean big changes and it will be stressful, no matter how much good we hope it will do in the long run. But on this particular Monday cell phones might not be top of mind, as amazing as that seems. Some kids will go to school wondering if they or family members will be seized by ICE. Some will fear that their parents’ employment will be purged by the ongoing rampage of Elon Musk and his cronies through Federal Government. Some fear heightened and renewed racism as programs that supprted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are vilified and destroyed. Some worry that it soon won’t be safe for them to use the bathroom in school anymore. It goes without saying that some kids fear going to school every day because of the prevalence of school shootings. And look! Here’s something new to fear. That old hate group, Libs of TikTo...

Village Green/Town²

Search This Blog