i would be interested in seeing what various people would decry as "unprofessional". a tailored suit with a buttoned-up blouse might seem acceptable to one person but too tight to another. a knee-length skirt with high heels might lead one person to applaud the knee length but the other to decry the "fuck me pumps". and one dress can look perfectly classy on a small-busted woman and positively obscene if worn by a larger-busted woman.

i know a professor, for example, who asked his (female) TA to wear neutral colored nail polish and trim her fingernails instead of keeping her nails long and red.

to suggest that red fingernails would titillate male students is far-fetched to me, but the female professor was resolute in her conviction that a female grad student would be taken less seriously with red fingernails.

thus, a uniform, such as the one that british barristers wear, might not be a bad idea. but of course, a woman could then be criticised for red fingernails, bottle blond hair, or too much makeup. it seems that the best solution might be to judge lawyers by the strength of their arguments and the evidence they produce, rather than their appearance.

apparently it's perfectly ok with The White Male Establishment (and please let me explicitly recognize that not every white male is inherently a part of said establishment) if white male justices favor white male justice. but the possibility, even if it's implicit, that a person of color, or a woman, might be inclined to empathize with women, or people of color, is a Perversion of Justice even though white men are only 35% percent of the people of this country and are approximately 95% of its CEOs, 90% of its law firm partners, and 75% of its doctors?

it is telling how quickly those with privilege will deny having it, but yet rush to defend or apologize for it the second it is the tiniest bit threatened.

yes because the following exchange smacked of intellectual firepower:

Scalia: "[what if] you search the student's outer garments, and you have a reasonable suspicion that the student has drugs. You've searched everywhere else. By God, the drugs must be in her underpants!"

Breyer: "In my experience when I was 8 or 10 or 12 years old, you know, we did take our clothes off once a day, we changed for gym, OK? And in my experience, too, people did sometimes stick things in my underwear. Or not my underwear. Whatever. Whatever. I was the one who did it? I don't know. I mean, I don't think it's beyond human experience."

Yeah huh. I doubt Sotomayer could handle a conversation of this sort of intellectual gravitas. Clearly, putting this Yale graduate on the Supreme Court is affirmative action in action. And the Republicans NEVER do that! *cough* sarahpalin *cough*.

how predicable that it's unnatural to pronounce the last syllable in the latin name "sotomayor" but not the french one "cafe". those who gripe at the way that the foreigners are polluting english seem to have no problem discussing such topics over "hors d'oeuvres", "cappuccinos", or even "spaghetti" but chafe at having to pronounce the word "sotomayor."

i wonder if this particular gentleman from the national review refrains from purchasing christian dior clothing, or ordering cafe au lait, pate, beauf bourgingon, or champagne merely because it's such a burden to stress the last syllable?

not bloody likely. french loan words are less foreign, perhaps, than italian or spanish ones? i'd like to see him explain why, and await with interest.

i have adhd and add in a level that has been described by my psychiatrist as "pronounced". i only got treated for it at the age of 29, and struggled with school, social life, my parents, everything for the entirety of my childhood. i didn't hit a teacher but i hit a kid with a stick and almost got suspended, read books under my desk instead of paying attention in class, and turned in blank sheets of paper instead of homework.

the good news? despite doing terribly in elementary school and so-so in high school, i got my act together in college and now i'm a doctoral student at one of the best universities in the country. so hang in there. your kid is not doomed, although some days it might seem like it.

tips that made my parents' lives far easier: my parents refused to medicate me. i don't judge this decision; it was what they felt was best. instead, they took out all sugar, additives, preservatives, artificial flavors, and artificial colors from my diet. they would not buy cereal or yogurt if it had sugar, corn syrup, splenda, aspartame, or any derivative thereof, and wouldn't even give me juice because of the high sugar content.

the result? they didn't tell anyone and within three weeks, they had received calls from my teachers, asking if i was on ritalin or something. they also took away all television except for two hours of educational programming a week. they thought that it encouraged me to not focus. and i think they were right.

ultimately, if going to church cured bad behavior, we wouldn't have been blessed with the bathroom antics of larry craig (a married man) or george w bush (who read the teachings of jesus christ as the bombs fell on baghdad.) perhaps your family would be interested in these thoughts, and others, the next time they tell you that you're a bad parent.