Day: July 23, 2007

(Not) So Ghetto

by matttbastard

As a person of colour, the ‘ghetto dude’ affair hits home in a very personal manner. Even though I grew up in a small Huron County farming community, surrounded by rednecks and hackers (all nearly uniform-white), my complexion automatically marks me as ‘other’.

‘Articulate’.

‘Polite’.

‘Well-spoken’.

Throughout my life these and other backhanded compliments have been tossed my way, like crumbs brushed off the table of white privilege. I’ve been called ‘nigger’, constantly questioned about my background (‘no, I mean, where are you from originally?’) , forced to listen as blissfully oblivious (white) friends go on about the various endemic evils of black folks (‘but not you, Matt – you’re different!‘)

But so far I’ve been fortunate enough to have avoided scenarios like the one Evon Reid found himself pulled into – as far as I’m aware, that is. Incidents like this make me seriously wonder just how many prospective employers were negatively influenced by my ethnicity. The racism of Aileen Siu was only exposed by her carelessness. If not for an errant CC, none of us, especially Evon Reid, would have known of Siu’s apparent bias.

Myself and countless others could have been–have likely been–the ‘ghetto dude’ already, without even knowing.

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Quickies

by Isabel LaCoeur

U.N. suspends peacekeepers amid sex abuse charges

The United Nations said on Saturday it had suspended a Moroccan military contingent from its peacekeeping mission in Cote d’Ivoire while it investigated allegations of widespread sexual abuse.

…..

U.N. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Friday the investigation involved Moroccan soldiers having sex with a large number of underage girls in the West African country’s northern rebel stronghold of Bouake.

Turkey’s Brothels Produce Two Election Candidates

Raped by her uncle when she was 9 and sold into prostitution by a man who had promised to marry her, Ayse Tukrukcu remembers her first day at a state-controlled brothel in the southern Turkish city of Mersin like it was yesterday.

“There was a song–‘Is This Justice, World’ by Hakki Bulut–playing in the shop opposite the big metal gate and a line of men waiting,” she says. “I asked the policeman at the door where I was, but he just laughed and pushed me in. My world collapsed.”

It’s been more than a decade since she paid off the $12,000 price she was sold for. Now, in an effort to draw attention to the plight of Turkey’s 3,000 state-registered prostitutes, she’s running as an independent candidate in parliamentary elections on July 22.

Lawn care company offers bikini-dressed mowers in Memphis, Tenn.

One lawn care company is showing a little skin to boost business.

The women of Tiger Time Lawn Care offer to mow customers’ lawns dressed in bikinis – a service that attracts more attention to the ladies than the lawns.

“Oh yeah, they honk and yell. They can do everything you can imagine,” said employee Blair Beckman, 21.

Beckman said the extra attention is expected, but she looks on the bright side.

“You get the attention but you also get a tan, which I need,” Beckman said.

Doctors Treating Older Anorexics

Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia have long been considered diseases of the young, but experts say in recent years more women have been seeking help in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and older. Some treatment centers are creating special programs for these more mature patients.

Most of the women in this age group who seek treatment have had the problem for years, said Dr. Donald McAlpine, director of an eating disorders clinic at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “The epidemiology is pretty clear that anorexia and bulimia both peak in the late teens, early 20s,” yet “a lot of (patients) continue to be symptomatic right on through to middle life.”