USA is number 1, number 31 that is . . .

I'm atoning for putting a less than reliable document up on the blog with an authentic report. The World Economic Forum just released their Global Gender Gap Report of 2007.

They analyze the gap by looking at the division of resources between men and women in their native countries. They have some really fascinating findings. I was shocked that the US got beat out by Bulgaria, South Africa and Cuba among others. We barely nudge out Kazakhstan for our place. How does that work? It goes back to the division of resources. So while there might be less resources overall in Bulgaria, Bulgarian women have better access to their Bulgarian resources than US women have to US resources.

Here's some more info from their website:

The Report examines four critical areas of inequality between men and women:
1. Economic participation and opportunity – outcomes on salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment
2. Educational attainment – outcomes on access to basic and higher level education
3. Political empowerment – outcomes on representation in decision-making structures
4. Health and survival – outcomes on life expectancy and sex ratio

Back to my info-
The good news: overall the world gap is on the decline. Hurray!
The bad news: The US slipped back from last year thanks to women earning less than their male counterparts and becoming even more under-represented politically. Internationally women are still seen as unequal to men and suffer the policies of those views (like infanticide, genital mutilation, poverty and oppression)

The report explains it much better than I do. Take a look. It's very viewer friendly with lots of easy graphs and stats. You can see it here

The Good Wife

I am happy to see Aaron, but I don't think I do anything else on this list. Rarely do I remember "his topics of conversation are more important than mine" or that I "have no right to question him." I am SO GRATEFUL for the feminist movement.

Sketch Swap

If you have some time to waste, (which you probably do since you are reading my blog) check out Sketch Swap at www.sketchswap.com. Like it sounds, you do a little drawing, submit it and you get someone else's drawing in return. It usually all happens in under a minute. The drawings range from bizarre, to funny, to anime, to ugly, to that-person-has-way-too-much-time. I find it mildly addicting. I get so excited to see what drawing my drawing gets back. Usually it's a disappointment but there are some real diamonds in the rough. And there is absolutely NO skill required to participate. I'm pretty sure a good number of the drawings I've received were created by the under ten crowd.

The Book of Job

The Book of Job is one of my greatest comforts.

Oh that my grief were throughly weighed and my calamity laid in the balances together!
For now it would be heavier than the sand of sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.
For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison wherof drinketh up my spirit.
Lo, He goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also but I perceive him not.
Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him What doest thou?
I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherfore thou contendest with me.
Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
I would order my cause before him , and fill my mouth with arguments.
I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.

Then the Lord answered Job.

Apartment Therapy

I have developed a fairly obsessive crush on the website Apartment Therapy. It's all about how to design your own personal, functional space and it puts a special focus on smaller areas. There's an attitude of DIY and careful budgeting too which I appreciate. It's a great example of how rewarding quality instead of quantity can be. I can spend hours wandering through people's cool or crazy apartment photos. It makes me really look forward to living in a place I can paint the walls. I especially love the AT: Green section which offers great advise on green products and design. There's also AT: Kitchen, AT: Tech, and AT: Nursery. You can check it out here: www.apartmenttherapy.com and www.green.apartmenttherapy.com

You can also check out the book it all got started with "Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure"by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan which is a fun fast read. If you live around me I'm happy to lend it to you.

Damp, Drizzly November in My Soul

In the last few weeks I went from reading about six books to having only one or two I'm currently working on. I'm on the hunt for what to read next. Here are a few I've been tempted to pick up:

A Year Of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

War and Peace Leo Tolstoy

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Those have all been on my "To Read" list for a while and while I want to read them, I feel like I'm in the mood for something else. This time of year I really like books that take place in the wild. It's hard to explain why but I think it's a feeling akin to that described by Melville in Moby Dick:

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.

I for moral and practical reasons will not be slipping out to sea, as much as I would like to, so I would like a book that would offer a similar escape. Something survival oriented. Any suggestions? I might just re-read Watership Down or Into the Wild or some Jack London but I would prefer something new.

If you're curious, the books I finished recently were Anna Karenina, My Antonia, Confederates in the Attic, The Red Badge of Courage, the poem The Rhyme of The Ancient Mariner, Tennyson's Idylls of the King, Hamlet, and the play A New Coon in Town (Proud of me Brian? It only took me 3 months)

O Willa Cather!

Aaron was sweet enough to buy me "The Complete Works of Willa Cather" for my birthday in July. I have since been steadily working through the collection and it has been deeply satisfying. I've become so attached that my day doesn't feel complete without a chapter or two from one of her stories or novels. I've been impressed by how pivotal memory is in her characters' lives. Memory determines their purpose, provides their bearing, reveals their identity, and sometimes destroys them. It's made me think about what events in life I choose to remember and focus on. It also made me think about how good writing all seems to depend on memory and one's ability to recall the details of existence. It seems that reflection allows us to tease out the profound from the pedestrian events of our lives.