Fast away the old year passes, Fa la la la la, la la la la. Hail the new, ye lads and lasses, Fa la la la la, la la la la. - Traditional Christmas carol It’s hard to believe that another year and 365 columns have gone by since I wrote my last New Year’s [...]
Archive for December, 2011
New Year’s Eve 2011
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged anecdote, California, cops, dirty, East Asia, ethics, Europe, harm reduction, holidays, Hollywood, hysteria, Indian region, law, neofeminism, New Orleans, New York, stereotypes, stripping, Swedish model, United Kingdom on December 31, 2011 | 21 Comments »
Three Steps Back
Posted in Current Events, Tyranny, tagged censorship, cops, dirty, law, New Orleans, stereotypes, streetwalkers on December 30, 2011 | 28 Comments »
The disposition of all power is to abuses, nor does it at all mend the matter that its possessors are a majority. - James Fenimore Cooper On December 17th, 2010 New Orleans reclassified prostitution, marijuana possession and two other minor crimes as municipal offenses, thus allowing police to write tickets instead of making arrests; in [...]
Presents, Presents, Presents!
Posted in Biography, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, tagged anecdote, archeofeminism, courtesans, holidays, psychology on December 29, 2011 | 16 Comments »
When goose down is sent a thousand miles, the gift may be light but the sentiment is weighty. - Chinese proverb OK, I have to admit it; I really, really like getting presents. I would never expect anyone (except for my husband at my birthday and Christmas) to give me a present, and I’m always [...]
The Prudish Giant
Posted in Current Events, Perception, Tyranny, tagged censorship, dirty, East Asia, hysteria, Indian region, law, stereotypes on December 28, 2011 | 17 Comments »
O, it is excellent to have a giant’s strength; but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant. - William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (II, ii) Though all internet-based sex workers (like all internet businesses) rely on Google, the search-and-content giant has never been a friend to us. In the past, they were subtle about it; [...]
Gullible’s Travels
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, Perception, tagged dirty, drugs, fantasy, hysteria, psychology, stereotypes on December 27, 2011 | 12 Comments »
Lust and greed are more gullible than innocence. - Mason Cooley I’ve written often about what the Village Voice’s Pete Kotz referred to as “stenographic journalism”, the tendency for fourth-rate reporters to take down everything a source says and simply accept it without question. Hacks like Torsten Ove, Amber Lyon and the unnamed multitudes for whom “research” [...]
Boxing Day 2011
Posted in Miscellaneous, Philosophy, tagged Canada, Down Under, holidays, psychology, United Kingdom on December 26, 2011 | 13 Comments »
Christmas is forever, not for just one day, for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf. - Norman Wesley Brooks All right, readers in Commonwealth countries; today is your turn. Back on the day after Thanksgiving (now widely referred to in the United [...]
Christmas 2011
Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, tagged censorship, East Asia, Europe, holidays, Indian region, Rome on December 25, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Hark, how the bells, sweet silver bells, All seem to say, throw cares away. Christmas is here, bringing good cheer To young and old, meek and the bold. Ding dong ding dong, that is their song, With joyful ring, all caroling. - Peter Wilhousky, “Carol of the Bells” Today is Christmas, the most widely-celebrated festival [...]
Christmas Eve 2011
Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, tagged censorship, holidays, hysteria on December 24, 2011 | 11 Comments »
Christmas Day is in our grasp, so long as we have hands to clasp. – Theodore Seuss Geisel I find it terribly sad that many if not most modern people don’t “get” Christmas at all, and the major reason is that so many of them try to turn it into something it isn’t, or else [...]
Larentalia
Posted in History, Miscellaneous, tagged Aphrodite, courtesans, holidays, Madonna/whore, Rome, sacred prostitutes, stage names, streetwalkers on December 23, 2011 | 11 Comments »
The story of Romulus and Remus being suckled by a wolf is not a meaningless fable. The founders of every state which has risen to eminence have drawn their nourishment and vigor from a similar wild source. - Henry David Thoreau As I mentioned in “Whore Goddesses” (my column of one year ago today), “In [...]
Fictional Interlude: Ambition
Posted in Fiction, Perception, Philosophy, tagged archeofeminism, courtesans, ethics, holidays, New York on December 22, 2011 | 30 Comments »
One may be old in years, but not in spirit, or poor in wealth, but not in ambition. - Chinese proverb Though Rosemary wouldn’t have admitted it, she was very relieved to have a date for that night. It wasn’t that she doubted her plan; she was an intelligent and resourceful girl and realized that, [...]
