Cinderella

What’s the moral of the Cinderella story? You know… the fairy tale, fairy godmother, wicked stepsisters, Prince Charming, the singing mice? What’s the whole point of all that?

It turns out, that depends on who you ask.

Steph asked me this (apparently loaded, since I could tell she was getting at something) question this evening. The conversation was prompted by this ad (or at least one in this campaign):

Steph: What do you think is the moral of the whole Cinderella story?
Doni: (Thinking…) Hmmm… Cinderella, fancy ball, wicked stepsisters, falls in love with Prince Charming… I dunno, I guess true love? That there’s someone out there for everyone?
Steph: (obviously having made her point) THANK YOU! Guys think that’s about underdogs.

At this point, the guys overheard our conversation and jumped in explaining the sports analogy about underdogs and “Cinderella stories.” I always thought a “Cinderella story” was a serendipitous romance story. I mean, I (we) get the analogy and how they’ve made it a sports thing, but that just shows the rift between men and women. Who knew it applied to the interpretation of fairy tales??? I always thought those were pretty universal.

I wonder what they think of Snow White…

Pro: Comprehensive Sex Ed in Schools

I did my senior research project on this… Still find it interesting…   (article written by Cynthia Boyd)

Classroom sex ed a no-brainer for Minnesota parents

Kids learn a lot at school, but only some of it in the classroom. So maybe that’s why, contrary to what the family values crowd would have you believe, most Minnesota parents support comprehensive and medically accurate sex education in the schools.A new, statewide survey (PDF) coming out of the University of Minnesota shows 89 percent of parents polled support an all-inclusive approach to sex education and think curricula should include teachings about abstinence, birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.

Such results seem ready to silence those thundering voices we journalists, and likely legislators as well, hear screaming for abstinence-only sex ed in our schools.

Only 10 percent of the 1,605 parents of children ages 5 to 17 interviewed for this study felt students should be taught abstinence exclusively.

Are you listening, legislators?

Survey results could influence lawmakers, educators
Copies of the survey are being distributed to lawmakers and educators. That’s significant, considering Minnesota currently has no dedicated state funding for sex education or statewide instruction standards. No sex ed class is required for high school graduation.

The survey makes a strong statement, according to Marla Eisenberg, lead investigator for the study and assistant professor in Pediatrics and Adolescent Health at the ‘U.’ Quoted in a university news release, Eisenberg said support was “strong and consistent across all types of Minnesota parents. It didn’t matter where they lived, how much education they’d had, what their income level, faith or political orientation was — a large majority of Minnesota parents want their children to receive this information at school.”

“It’s very unusual to find that kind of convergence of opinion across groups and districts,” said Michael Resnick, one of the four Ph.D.s who oversaw the study, which was conducted in each of the state’s eight congressional districts. That’s right, phone interviewers looked for equal numbers of parents of kids in each CD.  When you’ve got a potentially hot potato topic, you handle it in a political way.

“We know,” Resnick said, “policy-makers are very keen on knowing what is going on with their constituents.”  Resnick is a professor and director of the Healthy Youth Development-Prevention Research Center at the ‘U,’ one of 33 academic centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The survey, conducted by Resnick’s center in collaboration with the Center for Adolescent Nursing, seems to dispel any conservative misperceptions legislators may have about parents’ — make that constituents’ — views on sex education. 

Times are a-changin’ on sex views, researcher says
Times are changing, according to Resnick. “The landscape on this topic is really shifting,” he said.  For instance, the “no-sex-until-marriage” strategy is losing favor. Seventeen states, including Minnesota, have said no to federal funding that requires an abstinence-only approach. Those educational programs tried so far do not work, Resnick said, citing a recent study by Mathematica Policy Research Inc., a 35-year-old group that specializes in social policy problems.

In the Minnesota study, parents’ support for broad-based sex education programs ranges from a low of 86 percent in the 6th District, which includes Anoka, Stillwater and St. Cloud, to a high of 94 percent support in the 1st District, which includes Mankato and Rochester.

Sex education offerings in Minnesota schools vary by district and by school, dictated by local decision-makers.

“Yet,” according to Linda Bearinger, a study author and director of the Center for Adolescent Nursing in the University’s School of Nursing, “we have all the capacity that we need to be offering high-quality, medically accurate sex education to all young people. We have remarkably skilled health teachers and a Department of Education that really understands how to effectively train health teachers.”

Debra Bernat is the fourth author of the study, published in the April Journal of Adolescent Health. Publication in the professional journal comes only after experts have reviewed the hypothesis, information-gathering and analysis techniques and declared them valid.

A majority of parents also said middle school is the most appropriate time to teach children about such topics as healthy relationships, the responsibilities of raising children, reasons for not having sex, information on sexually transmitted diseases, sexual orientation, abortion and sexual abuse.

Here’s detailed look at surveyed parents
The study was conducted between September 2006 and March 2007. The parent sampling is “similar” to the Minnesota parent population, according to a survey fact sheet. Other stats on who was surveyed:

• 73 percent are females and 27 percent males;    

• 96 percent are white and 4 percent people of color;

• 55 percent are Protestants, 32 percent Catholics and 13 percent other or no religion;

• Political orientations vary from 10 percent very conservative to 8 percent very liberal;

• Education ranges from 14 percent with a high school diploma or less to 34 percent with bachelor’s degrees and 16 percent with graduate degrees;

• And more than 90 percent respondents make $40,000 a year or more.

Resnick’s wish?  “I hope the results will lead to a shattering of assumptions and … legislators making decisions based on evidence.”

 (reposted from http://www.minnpost.com)

Starting the List of Faves

Remember this post?

Since then, I’ve been thinking of albums I love. Now, this isn’t the be all and end all of my list. But it’s the start to me actually making one. 

I said that I’ve never really made a list of my all time favorite albums, but that Ben Folds’ Rockin’ the Suburbs would be on it if I made one. Here are some others:

Newish:
Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

Old Favorites
Eve 6 – Horrorscope
Ben Folds – Rockin’ the Suburbs

I’m not going to just throw a bunch of good albums on here and call them my all time, can’t-live-without-it favorites, so this list my end up being fairly piecemeal.

Hey – I said it was a start.

My Point

I finished vacation book #2 (Ellen’s). It was pretty much a complete 180-degree turn from the previous cultural analysis I read. What’s fun about this one though – it was written 12ish years ago, yet could’ve been written yesterday. She doesn’t really talk about current events that benchmark any particular time period except mentioning her sitcom, but instead talks about behaviors and thoughts that seem to be universally understood – feelings about being in an elevator, fears of flying and some of the ridiculousness of airline travel, talking to yourself, and her recipe for French toast.

Overall, the book feels like one big A.D.D.-laced tangent, but definitely made me chuckle when it didn’t make me dizzy. It’s also a really quick and easy read.

Moving on to vacation book #3!

“No Woman Will Ever Satisfy Me…”

I’ve been reading Chuck Klosterman’s Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs since July. Not because it’s bad, not because it’s long (it’s not), but because that’s the last time I had free time until this week. I started reading it while the half-posse and I were Cabin Weekending up in Park Rapids, and while we weren’t boozing, bocce-ing, volleyballing, or bonfire-ing, we were all catching up on brain candy – Vogue, US Weekly, Real Simple. Sean tossed CK’s book my way, and I started it then. I’d picked up a couple of chapters over the fall, but between two jobs that took up a combined total of 60+ hours/week, the only reading I’ve been doing is my morning dose of Cynthia Turner and Facebook’s newsfeed.

As promised, here’s my two cents worth regarding Chuck Klosterman’s Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs:

I [finally] finished the book this morning before takeoff on our second flight.

The verdict? Did I LOVE it and find it utterly compelling like others did? No. Did I hate it and find it grossly overrated? Absolutely not.

What I did think, is that maybe I’m 10 years or so too young to REALLY appreciate it. His current (current in 2003) cultural snapshot is often juxtaposed against bands I didn’t grow up on and memories I’ll never have (seeing the original Star Wars in the theater at 8 years old. I do, however, remember seeing Disney’s The Little Mermaid in a theater when I was 8 or so…). So I don’t know that I totally “got” it. His Gen-X platform and perspective is a decade or two ahead of my Gen-Y/Millenial point-of-view.

However, I do really, really enjoy his writing style and will absolutely seek out more of his books (IV is next on my list). He’s a (former? current?) writer for SPIN and no doubt has a good grasp of pop culture, taking a smart, witty, and smart ass-y take on events, bands, movies, and people.

I liked it. I didn’t love it. But I liked it.

Next read? Ellen DeGeneres. It’s a little outdated, but I love her.

My Favorite Things

I dig this commercial. It makes me want to sing (and is so melodic and simple that it makes me believe I can).

I’ll Be Your Christmas Past, Present and Future…

… and other REALLY bad and failed attempts at Christmas season songs. I’ve made it apparent that I love this season. I really, really do. But I draw the line at awful, painful-to-listen-to retail stores’ Christmas muzak.

Pick Jenni!

Pick Jenni!

Waxing Maxine

This is for Erin: