School Spirit

Posted by: gretchen on October 17, 2007 | 8 Comments |

Kel sent me a link to this article about two girls kicked out of a high school football game for wearing body paint on their entire top halves, plus a bra.

Girls in Body Paint

 

When the girls showed up at the game, several people complained to school officials about their “attire”. A spokeswoman for the school said “We have never had complaints about the men or the boys.”

Hmm…interesting. When I first saw this, I was thinking “yeah, that’s really not appropriate,” although I have seen fans dressed in the exact same way on a televised professional game, so it’s not like this is a first. It may be a first for this high school, but these girls didn’t invent anything new.

The question here is that had they shown up in just a bra, would that be ok? My response would be “no” simply because the school policy surely does not allow girls to come to school wearing just a bra for their top and the football game was clearly a school function.

On the flip side, tho…I wonder how many times the boys have done this at that very school and not been reprimanded. Surely there is a school policy requiring them to wear a shirt to school events. Is this a double standard?

She’s Such a Geek: Women Write about Science, Technology, and Other Nerdy Stuff

Posted by: gretchen on September 6, 2007 | 1 Comment |

I ran across this book recently and although I haven’t picked up a copy yet, I thought it looked good enough to mention. She’s Such a Geek: Women Write about Science, Technology, and Other Nerdy Stuff
by Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders is a set of 24 essays from female geeks discussing their experiences in their male-dominated fields. Discrimination appears to be a recurring theme, with one programmer recalling her professor’s compliment of “you’re really, really good, for a girl.”

The book also seems to have a bit of a following, with other women stepping forward and posting their stories on the She’s Such a Geek web site and youtube.

I can’t wait to dive into this one…

I’m worth just as much as HE is!

Posted by: gretchen on May 24, 2007 | 5 Comments |

I wanted to follow up on my Twice as Good or Four Times as Hard post from last week with a little story from my wild and crazy past. I say “wild and crazy” because when I look back on it I think things like “that was wild” and “was I crazy?” This post is the saga of my radio station career and how I got the shaft not once, not twice, but three times because I wasn’t a guy.

Reel To Reel PhotoWhen I started college at Millikin University in the early 1990’s (1991 to be exact), digital recording techniques were just beginning to get noticed. Most recording studios and radio stations were still using good old-fashioned reel-to-reel tape for their broadcasts and audio media. During my senior year of college I landed a rather coveted job at a local radio station, DJ-ing on the weekends and splicing “jock shows” together for their new automated radio broadcasts.

A few weeks prior to my arrival at the station, the manager had purchased some computers and audio software to use in their production studio. I was like a kid in a candy store when I first laid eyes on it. The other employees were rather intimidated by the strange new box in the studio and clueless as to how the software even worked. Several folks continued to work from reels and then hand over the reel to be dubbed into the computer for the broadcast. Not me. I think I spliced one tape before I thought “to heck with this” and fired up the computer. After familiarizing myself with the new software, I recorded my first commercial.

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Mommy, What is Hooters?

Posted by: gretchen on March 27, 2007 | 232 Comments |

Yesterday, I loaded up my kids and my dog and headed to the University of Illinois to visit my sister, Ericka. We picked her and her dog, Shep up and went back to the main strip to find a place to eat. Picture four people, a pug and a German Shepherd in a gray mini-van. (That has nothing to do with this post. I just wanted you to get the mental image.) As we drove along tossing out restaurant ideas, Katie pipes up from the back and says “Mommy, what is Hooters?”

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Girls Can’t Play Football

Posted by: gretchen on March 20, 2007 | 165 Comments |

Girl Football Player PhotoWhile researching my latest design, I ran across this nifty image on some site that sells stock photography. What kills me is the way it is listed. All of the other images of the guys, including the ones that are staged are described as “boy playing football”. But look at this one of a girl…it says “girl dressed as a football player”. As if a girl can’t actually play. Bring it on. I can throw a perfect spiral and I can punt farther than most guys, too. Girls football has become popular in the last several years and in high schools across America several girls have joined the boys football team. However, finding information about “Girls Football” on the Internet has proved to be quite the challenge.

Football Design

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