I spotted something today at the Leather Archive gift shop that I hadn't previously noticed: bookends shaped like St. Andrew's Crosses. (Only $20.00!) I don't know why I think this is so hilarious, but I do, and hey, if anyone was thinking of buying me a Christmas present ....

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So much to do! My giant-pile-o'-links-to-read is truly enormous -- I've got 20 Gmail drafts stacked up -- I run about like a mad thing, day by day -- my skin feels too small and my body feels electric. The other day I found myself sitting bolt upright in bed, realizing that I absolutely had to scrawl down some notes about feminism and porn before I could sleep. I can't remotely organize my thoughts lately -- there are too many tangents (and not all of them are even about prostitution or alternative sexuality or porn -- there's literary criticism and romantic ideals and cooperatives and and and ...). But I also feel like an impostor, because I am never actually sure I know what the hell I'm talking about. Why haven't I given up and gone to gender studies grad school already? OK, that's going to be Peace Corps New Backup Plan B.

In the meantime, check out what an old family friend sent me in response to that post where I was going all crazy about what a modern courtesan might be. What is my Obsession with Courtesans? I can't explain it, but this person obviously shares it.

Camilla Parker-Bowles was a mistress even though she was married. not even close to a courtesan!

the old prince of wales, as became edward 8 then the duke of windsor, had many mistresses. he specialised in married women somewhat older than he. they were not courtesans. one of his mistresses was Coco Chanel. she never married but had many rich lovers who added to her jewel collection even though she was a successful couturier. she was a courtesan. a courtesan is probably a mistress, but a mistress doesn't have to be a courtesan.

where my definitions fall down around mistress is what separates a mistress from simply a woman with whom one has an affair? an english ex of mine once referred to me as his former mistress and i could have decked him. i asked him why he hadn't taken me clothes shopping if i was his mistress? where were my jewels, my stocks and shares? had i but known. he said considering the way i dressed, he had considered it, but figured i'd get mad. well, why dincha ask at least? i was really flamed.

an old flatmate of mine was definitely somewhere between a mistress and a courtesan. she was the leathergoods buyer for one of the most famous purveyors of luxury goods to crowned heads, so a fair number of her contacts gave her wonderful leather or furs or stuff. and she had them on a schedule! one geezer, Robin, always walked in the door 10 a.m. alternate saturdays (she worked the other sats). a palestinian was in town one week a month. an american came over regularly for crufts the dog show and special horse races. Matt from Beirut was only ever around midweek. now my question was, could she make a future living off these guys? see, that's why i think Pamela Harriman was just the best. she came out of her last couple relationships with cash, jewels, stocks, real estate, and was accepted at most of the best places. i don't know if she was acceptable at the british court all her life but trust the french to decorate her when she was ambassador there.

i don't know why i am so concerned about getting this right. i think it's because Ashley Dupré [the prostitute who took down Eliot Spitzer] is simply someone who wants to pay the bills, and that's not the right attitude.
I see the above as:
* a fascinated / exoticizing / voyeuristic view of high-end sex work
* a hilarious ridiculous cultural critique
* something I relate to far too strongly! "Not the right attitude" indeed.

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Vegan chocolate chip bars

This is one of the best recipes from How It All Vegan, a fine recipe book if ever I saw one (buy a copy!). Although I am not vegan, I sometimes cook these in preference to non-vegan stuff even when I know there won't be any vegans where I'm going -- just because they are so very easy and delicious.

3.5 cups flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp salt
1.5 cups dry sweetener
1 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup soy milk or water
1 cup chocolate chips, or carob if you're feeling blasphemous

Oven at 350° F. Mix flour and baking soda and salt and sweetener. Then mix in everything else. Bake 25-30 minutes -- check to make sure the edges are kind of goldeny before removing, but don't let the whole thing get too brown. The bars will need to set for a while before you cut them.

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The Spanking Machine: a resilient myth in popular culture
From a site dedicated to the history of corporal punishment, oh man. Which also includes corporal punishment history in print advertising (and here's some more on that).
from Mr. Brett.

Two Sides of Jesus People USA
In the 1960s, a group of people traveled the country in a bright red bus with the name Jesus on the side. Jesus People USA, or JPUSA, preached the gospel as they went. Legend says their bus broke down in Chicago in 1972. They took it as a sign and never left. Now, more than 300 members live together in a 10-story commune.
Also includes spanking, but not so sexualized.
from Co-oper Jon.

RPGnet thread: Female warriors in fantasy art who look like credible threats
I find that in the vast majority of fantasy art, female warriors tend overwhelmingly to be depicted in sexually submissive postures. I'm not just talking about the "sprawled provocatively on silk sheets" stuff; when depicted fighting or otherwise engaging in warrior-type activities, they're often put in strange or impractical poses - to be blunt, they usually look as if they're about to fall over. It can be exceedingly subtle, but it's almost always present. Even when a female warrior is shown waving a bloody sword about, the composition makes it clear that it's waving a bloody sword about as a sexual display, rather than waving a bloody sword about as an act of violence.
I can't decide which is better ... the awesome images that do look like credible threats, or the awesome ones that don't.

Publishing Displays Its Split Personality
(NYT article -- username/password anonymous7 should work)
In less than a week the book publishing industry has been set abuzz by the news that one publisher is so uncertain about the economic climate that it has temporarily shut its doors to most manuscripts while another is celebrating a banner year by handing out extra bonuses to all its employees.
Yep, that's right ... Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has decided to stop acquiring manuscripts. What? Perhaps an editor at the house put it best; in an e-mail, the editor mentioned the policy and added, “Who knows what’s next.”

Irony mark
The irony mark or irony point (also called a snark or zing) is a punctuation mark proposed in the late 19th century that was suggested to be used to indicate that a sentence should be understood at a second level. It is illustrated by a small, elevated, backward-facing question mark. The irony mark has never really been used beyond occasional appearances in obscure artistic or literary publications.</i>
from cooper_korman.

Making visible embryos
Developing embryos were first drawn in the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. Modern medicine and biology exploited technical innovations as pictures and models communicated new attitudes to childbirth, evolution and reproduction. In the twentieth century they became the dominant representations of pregnancy and prominent symbols of hope and fear.
... Eight sections are arranged in roughly chronological order. Each focuses on an era and an issue. By contextualizing images that have become iconic or were especially widely distributed in their own time, the exhibition aims to illuminate key questions and concerns.
from my mother.

They're Coming To Your Town: amazing-looking anti-homosexual documentary
Residents of the small Arkansas town of Eureka Springs noticed the homosexual community was growing. But they felt no threat. They went about their business as usual. Then, one day, they woke up to discover that their beloved Eureka Springs, a community which was known far and wide as a center for Christian entertainment--had changed. ... The Eureka Springs they knew is gone. It is now a national hub for homosexuals.
... AFA’s “They’re Coming ToYour Town” documents the story of how and why this happened. And how homosexual activists plan to do the same in other towns.

December 6, Chicago: A free street game of benevolent assassination
Anyone you encounter could be your target. The only way to find out is to attack them with your secret weapon: an act of kindness. Will innocents be caught in the cross-fire? Oh, yes.

World's Fair Expositions Online Museum
We believe that world expositions are changing and will continue to change with the times. There will always be new ways to inspire, new ways to enlighten, new ways to entertain. We also can’t discount the attraction of experiencing something new as part of a group, a community.
... a reason people think [World's Fairs are] dead, at least in the United States, is because we haven't had one in the United States since 1984 and haven't had on in North America since 1986. Most Americans aren't aware that there have been 12 world's fairs since the Louisiana World Exposition in 1984.
Oh yeah, I also recently found this interactive map of Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition.