I recently read The Devil’s Historians and I cannot praise this book highly enough. The only reason I give it two thumbs up is because I lack more thumbs. This book is a brilliant analysis of how people use history to craft extremist narratives, and it uses plain language, rather than academic jargon, to explain… Read more Review of The Devil’s Historians: How Modern Extremists Abuse the Medieval Past
The science is in — it is hella important to wear a face mask over your mouth AND nose to curb the spread of coronavirus. The evidence was there all the way back in May. Taiwan has 24 million people but had only 6 deaths from coronavirus in part because the people started routinely wearing… Read more Science Finds Stupid, Selfish People Resist Wearing Face Masks
One of my closest friends both loves me and cannot stand me simultaneously. (Come to think of it, several of my friends love me and kind not stand me simultaneously. I am Schrodinger’s friendship?) Anyway, the reason they love me is because I am loyal and adoring and the human equivalent of a chonky Golden… Read more Happy Birthday to My Friend Alis
Long before John Knox first blasted his trumpet about the ‘monstrous regiment of women’ rulers, the fear of a female head of state was considered just and natural in Medieval Europe. Several kingdoms had codified Salic Law from 500 AD onward to prevent a woman from inheriting a throne. In the 12th century, England had… Read more The Medieval Fear of Women Rulers
Gender is a culturally negotiated process. A child is born sexed (or more rarely, intersexed), but only acculturation can ascribe gender. The child learns to behave in the manner associated with his/her biological sex, either masculine or feminine, in accordance with sociocultural praxis. Gender, like biological sex, has also historically been constructed by Western culture… Read more Biology is Not Gender
There are some advantages to be a middle-aged woman with Asperger’s syndrome, and one of those is that I lived through the 80s as a teen and remember it. And what I remember is that Johnny Depp was known as a ‘bad boy’ with a ‘temper’ and a substance abuse problem prone to attacking people.… Read more Johnny Depp’s History of Violence