Sephy’s Platzish

This week’s Hump Day Hmm is a bit of a lighter topic. Take something and find the humor in it; write about it from a humorous angle, sarcastic, any way you want. There’s still time to get involved, it’s only noon on the east coast.

Over the last couple of days, there have been a couple of stories about women being told that they’re dressed too skimpily to fly on Southwest Airlines. It just doesn’t make any sense to me at all.

While the passengers were totally within their rights to wear what they did (and there is nothing in the Southwest Contract of Carriage (PDF) that specifies a dress code), what I don’t get is the circumstances they found themselves in.

Let’s look at the first story. Kyla Ebbert was told to get off of a plane because she was wearing clothes that was “too revealing”. Well, yeah, she was dressed in something that could be considered to be showing off her stuff - there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that (and honestly, she looks pretty darn good in it). However, it just doesn’t add up.

First off, she claims that she was flying from San Diego to Tuscon for a doctor’s appointment. Is there a shortage of doctors in San Diego? Matt Lauer never bothered asking why she was flying interstate to see a doctor, and it certainly doesn’t sound like her family lives in Tuscon. The next issue is the question of why in the world she was wearing these clothes to go to the doctor? This is the outfit in question -

I don’t know about you, but when I go to the doctor, I try to wear something sensible - full length pants at the very least; it’s not that difficult to do, and certainly not that much of an expectation for anyone. The story gets better though.

Apparently she has a really good doctor which she doesn’t have to sit in the waiting room for very long as she had only 2 hours to see them before having to get back out to the airport to board her return flight. Therefore, she didn’t get different clothes to wear for the return trip, and on this occasion, she was actually complimented about her clothes.

The second story involves someone called Setara Qassim. Although her episode happened before Ms. Ebbert’s, she first came forward with her story after the first one aired on the Today Show. She was asked to cover up on a flight from Las Vegas to Burbank in June. In this case, she’s wearing clothes that is less revealing than the first girl (and honestly, it doesn’t look good on her), but still “felt the same way” that the other girl did.

It all sounds a bit fishy to me. Why did the second woman wait until after seeing the story on the news to make a point that the same thing happened to her? How come the station didn’t wait a day to get a response from Southwest before going to air on the story?

The funny thing is that both of these women decided to get on the plane wearing clothes that just shouldn’t be worn on a plane in the first place. In the second case, if it’s true that she was asked to put a blanket around her for the flight, what would have happened if there was an emergency? Never mind the fact that she’d have issues with the clothes she had on in the first place, would the attendants still have the same hardline attitude towards her clothes when going down the slide?

Another strange thing is why anyone cared what they were wearing in the first place. It’s not like any other passengers complained about their clothes (or so they claimed). Maybe it’s just one old frumpy woman who had the issue with their clothes. Or a cranky old man. We’ll probably never know the full story.

If you want a primer (not that y’all do need one, this is pointed at those who don’t quite understand what to wear when flying) for what to wear, I recommend that you read Snoskred’s guide to plane clothes. I guarantee that if you follow her guide, you’ll never have to file a frivolous lawsuit against an airline for being told to cover up.

Maybe they should recommend that if you have a dumb name like Kyla or Setara, you should pass up on flying? I don’t know, but I have this feeling that if they were called Kylie or Sandra, there’d be no issue. Oh well….

This week’s Hump Day Hmm is about values. This is timely due to the situation that Senator Craig from Idaho finds himself in. To be honest, I hadn’t heard of him at all until this all came about; partly because he’s from way out west, but also because he just doesn’t have that high of a profile in the Senate.

However, the question of his treatment in the media is certainly an interesting one. For years now, the Republicans have been campaigning as the supporters and defenders of “traditional” values. Because of this, you now have a situation where, if someone who is a Republican winds up in a situation like Senator Craig’s, they are completely vilified.

The closest comparison that I can draw is when the former Governor of New Jersey, Jim McGreevey (Democrat) came out of the closet a couple of years ago. When that happened, it was seen as a moment that should be celebrated, with him and his wife (they’re now separated however) appearing on various TV shows up and down the dial. The coverage couldn’t have been more different.

The discussion of values obviously goes beyond one’s sexual preference, into what you believe and what you tolerate. It used to be that you could have your own beliefs and values and have the right to belong to whatever groups you wanted to. Now, it seems that if you are part of one group, you must subscribe to all of that group’s beliefs.

Again, in the world of politics, it is considered to be almost taboo to be a pro-choice Republican or a pro-life Democrat. That doesn’t mean that there have been, are, and will be successful exceptions to the rule, but the chances of that happening are becoming slim. I am sure that if one of the exceptions made it to the running for a national office, they would have attack ad after attack ad questioning their “values”.

I personally feel that your values are yours alone; they should be influenced by your experiences and those of the people around you. They shouldn’t be dictated to you by a person you’ve never met, or by a sheet of paper handed to you when you sign up for something.

Another example is that all around the country, you’re seeing these votes come up to institute constitutional bans on same-sex marriages. In my state, we voted on it last November. I voted no because I didn’t think we needed to have a constitutional amendment to reinforce something that was already clear as day in the laws of our state.

However, the people who were saying to vote yes to this measure were saying that if you voted no, it would mean that the day after the election, you’d have people clamoring to get the laws of the state changed to allow same-sex marriage.

The bit that really tipped me off to voting no on this measure was that it was a very confusing and opened the door to preventing unmarried straight couples of having the same benefits as married couples (such as living trusts and will executorships, of which I’m not totally clear of the laws on, so I might not be qualified to talk about it ;)). This is the text of the amendment:

[Article XIII] Section 13. Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state.

The second sentence is the part that created a lot of confusion. If you read it with the widest understanding, it could be conceived to block these benefits and privileges to all unmarried couples.

The really interesting thing is that although the polls were showing it was going to be a close fight, it passed comfortably at 60-40. Even though I was against the amendment, I can accept that it passed and that it is now part of our constitution. In fact, since the election, you haven’t heard anything further about this causing trouble for unmarried couples, so I guess you could almost say that it didn’t change anything, except reinforce the laws we already have.

Here’s where some people could get confounded by the fact I voted against it. I am to the right of center on the political spectrum. I believe that the government shouldn’t be getting in the way of personal business, and that they shouldn’t be forcing new regulations down our throats. I also believe that, when it comes to the “big” values question - abortion - there are a lot of choices that are made on the path to choosing whether or not to terminate a pregnancy. I don’t like the idea of aborting a pregnancy, but I do think that if the mother-to-be decides that it is best for her, for any reason, to end the pregnancy, she should have the right to do that.

I know it is a touchy subject, but if you wish to share your outlook on it, or on anything I’ve mentioned, please do so.

Lastly, on the topic of exceptions to the rule, once again, The West Wing did this wonderfully with the election at the end of the series. They made the election between two pro-choice candidates, one a Republican from California and the other a Democrat from Texas. I don’t like to spoil the show for y’all, but if you have the chance, watch an episode from the final season called “The Al Smith Dinner” - it confronts the challenges of a pro-choice Republican running for national office.

This week’s Hump Day Hmm is all about school. There are a lot of stories that I could tell about my days at school, but I want to take a different look at going back - the school supply list. It’s one of those things that are a big flashing sign to tell you that it’s time to go back; they have the lists available at most major stores now, unlike in my day when they’d just mail you a list and you’d get on with it.

Of course, this is designed for the parent who lost their shopping list sometime during the summer (or for the parent of the kids who didn’t want to go back to school…I remember being terrified about going back to school for the second grade, each year after that got better though…until college ;)), but anyone walking by can grab one, two or half a dozen.

I can not honestly remember ever having a list of things required for school as long as they have for this school year. Of all the junk I’ve kept over the years, I’ve not kept my school supplies lists, but I’m going to try to do a comparison based on what I recall.

4K

This stands for 4-year-old Kindergarten. When I started school, they had a different term for this - “preschool”. I didn’t go to preschool, but I’m guessing that the required supplies were minimal - maybe a small bookbag and the occasional snack for the class.

Now, you have schools giving these toddlers (really, I think 4-year-olds are still toddlers) lists of items to bring in that include scissors, folders, backpacks, and even glue sticks. There’s one school that is giving parents the option of bringing in gift cards to Wal-Mart for photo processing. Last time I checked, photo processing at Wal-Mart cost 19¢ per photo - 100 photos would then be $19. It makes me wonder how many photos they’re going to print out over the year…

Kindergarten

I think when I went to kindergarten, we might have had to have a backpack, but it was rarely, if ever, used. We might have needed to bring in a pack of crayons, but other than that I don’t remember a big shopping list like they have today. Then again, when I was in Kindergarten, it was only in the afternoon, not an all-day affair like you have today.

I think it’s mostly due to that single change to all-day school that the schools are now asking for a list of items that you would normally see for first grade, or even second grade. The schools are now asking for kids to bring in upwards of 25 glue sticks (the rationale is that buy them now when they’re cheap - that makes sense actually; it’s something you see across many of the supply lists).

As you move up through the grades, there are some interesting similarities. For example, in first grade, schools are now asking that the pencils all be sharpened so that the teachers can give out pencils as the students use them. During the six weeks I was in first grade (which is a story for another day ;)), I was allowed to have my own pencils; if we needed a new one, we just got up and sharpened it, if it was a new pencil, we just had to sharpen it for a bit longer.

I also remember that by the time I was in third grade, we were allowed to have erasable pens - blue or black, however, most of us chose to stick to pencils; now, you have to be in 5th grade before being allowed a blue or black pen, but if you’re in 4th grade, you have to have a red pen (or pencil). Ahh, the days of “hand your paper to the person behind you; here are the answers”. I don’t know if it was just me, or a lot of people, but there was a distinct style of writing 100 on a paper - you made the one, and then wrote the “00″ as if it were two capital Os, making something that looked like this -

Another trend that I’ve noticed is that schools are now asking for color coded folders. What happened to getting just x number of folders? I remember getting folders of different colors, then labeling them with the subject; we all used different colors, and different designs. I guess that the concept of individuality is now frowned upon in schools?

Moving up to Middle School - grades 6-8 in my area - you have pretty much the same requirements as elementary school, but there are some added items. For example, they tell you the exact calculator you are to have for school - TI-30X IIS Advanced Scientific, needed for all 3 years; I had a Casio calculator that did the same things; I bet it was cheaper as well.

In 6th grade, you need to have a 3-ring zipper binder (so much for all the prohibitions of trapper keepers for all the previous years, now they tell you that you need one!), also 2 dry erase markers and a set of highlighters. 7th graders are required to bring 2 inch-and-a-half binders, a compass, graph paper, and a composition notebook. In 8th grade, you need to have two binders - one at 1½ inches, one at 2 inches. They also require a jump drive - at least they haven’t said how big it has to be, but it is an improvement over a floppy disk.

I think I made it through middle school using maybe 2 binders - a small one in 6th grade, then a larger one in 8th grade. Interestingly, there is no prohibition on the type of paper that students can bring for middle school - it used to be that you were only allowed to have wide rule (and it is still that way for students in elementary school). Of course, I always went to college rule since it was more efficient, and my teachers never made an issue of it

Fortunately, by the time you get to high school, there are no lists of things to bring for class. You’re pretty much expected to have a general idea of what to bring. If you’re needed to bring other supplies in, the teacher tells you. As it is, one of the common restrictions - no wheels - was one that I ignored in high school, being one of the first with a wheeled backpack (which I later abandoned for a more traditional bookbag, one that I use every day now when I go out to walk).

What I’d love to know is what were you asked to bring to school when you were there - was it the laundry list, or just bring the basics? If you have kids in school now, do the required items seem ridiculous compared to when you were in school?

This week’s Hump Day Hmm… is all about being a good neighbour. I am quite lucky to live in an area where all of our neighbours are good, apart from the odd bit of noise.

In the past, however, the story was slightly different - we live close to a bar, and before some circumstances changed, we would have issues with their patrons using our driveway to turn around in. We also would hear their music on the weekends quite regularly - I think that they must have been told to close the doors or something so that they weren’t providing the whole neighbourhood with a drumbeat.

On the other side of us, we have a group of folks who just like to keep to themselves, including ourselves. One of our neighbours is so good at it that nobody - not even the people living directly across the road from them - knows who they are (they also don’t have a name on the mailbox); all we do know is that they put up a teepee from time to time and have a small and quiet gathering there.

Generally, the most noise generated by the neighbours comes from them running small engines - lawnmowers, dirtbikes and ATVs - the last two in particular can get somewhat annoying when they’re run for hours at a time. However, we take it in stride and don’t let it bother us too much. The same goes for the fireworks that get done around the 4th of July; normally, we will go out and enjoy the show.

The noisiest neighbour, however, is one that I barely notice because I have lived her all of my life - the trains. They’ve been running through the same place they always have been for well over 150 years without fail. The biggest change since then (with regard to noise) has been the fact that they stopped using their horns about 4 years ago when they took away the level crossings that they had to signal for.

Interestingly, it was the trains that got me into two of my favourite hobbies - radio monitoring and photography. The radio hobby came as a part of a box that they put in about ten years ago that tells the crews the status of their train - number of axles, if there are any faults, et cetera. With the photography, I wasn’t as interested in taking photos of trains until around 2000 when we got a video camera, and then I started to take more photos of trains. They’ve always been a fascination for me, especially considering that I’ve seen representatives from all the major railroads go through.

Thinking back to college, I was also fortunate then to have some decent neighbours - they rarely were overbearingly loud - you would have to expect some noise since it was a dorm, and since I was in a quad with 5 people in it my first year, we had enough noise on our own to suffice. Also, where I was living was almost off campus, in fact, across the street could have been considered “off-campus”, with a slightly higher sales tax than on campus. The folks that lived over there were just as quiet as the neighbours here, if not more quiet.

As far as any advice I’d have to be a good neighbour, I’d say that if you’re holding a party, let the folks around you know, that way they can prepare - they might even let your guests use their land to park on if needed. Also, try to get to know your neighbours - you never know if they might be necessary to help you with a project or in an emergency.

A couple of notes - No, I’ve never seen the show that the title came from - we don’t have it on TV here (not that I’d watch it anyway), and Yes, I know that since I’m an American, I should spell neighbour without the u - just deal with it.

This week’s Hump Day Hmm… is a continuation of last week’s theme of Racism, Society and the Internet. Last week, I discussed my views on race and its role on the world we live in today. Today, I’d like to talk about some other types of discrimination that are legal, but are just as bad as racism or sexism.

One thing that I’ve faced for a long time is my weight. I’m well overweight, and I feel that is has held me back in some way. Because I am so large, it is hard to find clothes that fits me properly that is not a T-shirt or sweat pants. As a result, I often look different from the rest of the crowd. I’ve only owned three or four pairs of jeans in my life, but I’ve never been comfortable in them - mostly because I probably bought pants that were maybe one or two inches too small in the waist and a couple inches too long in the leg.

So where does the discrimination come in? People will look at me and (this is my assumption) think that, because of my outward appearance, I am a lazy slob. Some people will just ignore, or be polite, and others don’t have a problem with my looks, but I think that in the couple of companies that I’ve gone for an interview, they must have taken my appearance into consideration.

The same goes if you aren’t “good-looking”. What is good looking? I don’t know, and I really don’t care, but there are a lot of people who will treat you differently if you fit their view of “good-looking” If not, then you’ll be treated with basic respect, or complete ambivalence.

Another type of discrimination that I’ve witnessed is based on the qualifications you have. For example, I have been trying for over two years to get a job, after losing the only job I had ever held. I’ve completed some college, and have a High School diploma. I send my resume to companies, but all I ever hear back from them is that they’ve received it and will contact me if I would be a good fit for the position. I have heard back from maybe three or four companies, but it was only a letter telling me that I didn’t have the qualifications they were looking for. Last year, I contacted a couple of temp working agencies, and one of them brought me in for the whole spiel - typing test, interview, asked what kind of jobs I was looking for. However, they never contacted me with any work. Another agency I gave my details to said that they’d contact me if they had anything that I’d fit in. Can you guess what happened here? Nothing! It’s been over a year and they have not contacted me!

When I think about it, I go to a not-good place - one where I feel like I’m not employable by anyone. The thing is that I know that I am - I have massive computer skills, but they overlook that when they see that I haven’t had a job in two years, or something. That’s why you see a paid post from time to time on here. It’s a way for me to make some money, but it doesn’t cover all of our needs. I am also selling some stuff on Ebay, and we have a lot of old stuff around here that we have no attachment to that we’re willing to part with. I might even be able to start an Ebay consignment business if there is enough interest. I know that there are people in my area who, if the price was right, would be willing to sell their items through me. I’m also actively looking for blogging jobs, but it is difficult to find a job that is a fit for me which provides a guaranteed income (i.e. not paying based on a percentage of advertising revenue).

As if that wasn’t enough, the fact that I don’t have a full drivers license is a block to employment as well. There are a lot of jobs (not just in car lots, or delivery or sales) that call for a valid license - right now, I’m not in a position to apply for those even though I do have a valid learner’s permit. This is something where I know how to change it, and can do it. I just need to refresh myself of the basics of driving.

My question is, have you ever been discriminated on based on these factors? Also, what is the best way to get my foot in the door with a job? Should I be applying at every single shop and store and gas station to see if I can get in there?