SURPRISE!

Plastic surgery on your labia is harmful! The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons are both saying that vaginal rejuvenation and cosmetic methods of altering the vagina "are unproven and potentially risky, and that medical claims about results are exaggerated."

"To do this for cosmetic reasons, and to say it will improve sexual fulfillment is totally absurd," says Thomas Stovall, past president of the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons and a clinical professor at the University of Tennessee at Memphis.

They cite Dr. 90210's David Matlock for popularizing cosmetic surgery for female genitals. It's a little beyond me why anyone would really want to undergo a procedure that quite often leads to "infection, scarring, nerve damage and loss of sensation," but let's keep in mind that Dr. David Matlock is the same doctor that:

• almost had his license revoked by The Medical Board of California in 1998 for alleged "insurance fraud, dishonesty and negligent care to two patients" (State Records of California)

• Was placed on probation for four years in 2000

Are we really surprised that this is the man who's performed over 3,000 surgeries, and trained 140 doctors?

so hey, it may be your uterus, but legally, it could belong to your ex-boyfriend

A quick snapshot: seeking a first-time abortion? Well, if a new Ohio law passes (H.B. No. 207), women in the state will have to provide their abortion providers with "written, informed consent" of the father. Additionally, women will have to provide paternity tests to prove that the written, informed consent is actually from the father. So, not sure who the father is? Pay for paternity tests! And if you lie about it? It's now called "abortion fraud," and that's a first degree misdemeanor. Commit "abortion fraud" twice, and it's a felony. And the icing on the cake? If you've been raped, you have to prove it. No, really, you have to provide your abortion provider with proof you've been raped.

It all just strikes me as terribly wrong.

This is a news story that has caught my attention frequently in the past few weeks:

Cassandra Hernandez, a 20-year-old Air Force Airman, First-Class, attended a party in the on-base dormitory, where she was raped by three of her fellow airmen. She reported the attack and a formal inquiry into the incident was launched by the Air Force, and the three airmen were charged with raping her.

She and her family report that they have been harassed by the Air Force and those involved with the case during the legal process. One of the airmen decided not to accept the Article 31, and decided to go through with a trial (this means that the other two airmen DID accept the article, which means that they accepted that they were guilty of gang raping Hernandez). An attorney representing the accused airman, set up a series of interviews with Hernandez, not allowing her on-base victim's advocate to be present. Hernandez consequently decided that she did not want to testify in the trial, and the Air Force dropped the charges against the airmen, citing "factual inconsistencies," and her desire not to testify against the three airmen.

Months later, Hernandez and the three men she says attacked her were charged with Article 15s (indecent acts). Hernandez declined to accept the nonjudicial decision that she had committed 'indecent acts' when she had been raped, and requested a hearing. She has since been court-martialed, and the three airmen she says attacked her have been given immunity in exchange for testifying against her.

So, let's get this straight -

Hernandez reported that she was raped.
She was subjected to interrogations without her victim's advocate present, which is ILLEGAL.
She chose not to testify, and the charges were dropped.
She was court-martialed, and the men who raped her face no consequences for their actions in exchange for testifying that sex was consensual.

Lovely.

I know I am no longer in the land of the vikings, but I feel like this REALLY needs to be shared with the world. DESPERATELY.

Andrew Bird, singing with puppets on a children's show? Marvelous. He makes such a fine Dr. Stringz, and he is looking so much healthier since he started laying off the coke. The man makes me proud.



ps and if you didn't already know, you can download "heretics" from his upcoming 2007 album, 'Armchair Apocalypse' on his website homepage.


I love this man more every day.

I head back to the States tomorrow morning, and I'll be back in Chicago sometime around 2 pm. I'm outrageously excited about being back in the States, but I'm extremely worried about how foreign the familiar will likely feel to me once I'm back on US soil.
For the most part, I guess I haven't really LOVED Denmark while I've been here, but I'm incredibly glad I came. While at times painful, my original intuition that going on study abroad without my K people would make me more independent has held true, and at the risk of sounding like a cheap cliche, I can already see how this experience has made me a stronger individual. I guess that makes all the stuggles with Danish libraries and socialized medicine worth it?

Things I will greatly miss about Denmark:
frikadellar, and how it can be used in EVERYTHING
kaergarden, and how the lack of trans-fats make it the butter of the gods
haribo's gummy fried eggs and hamburger pieces. and the frogs too.
how many kinds of Ritter they have here
the smell of King cigarettes (only the red ones)
Christiana
being able to walk across the entire town
open container laws
doing sudokus with Hillevi on the train
The Red-Green Alliance, and how much they love it when I show up, walk in, and just take a bunch of posters
fisherman's
the wall
the milk here, and seeing women buy five of the little cartons at once at the grocery store
drunk Santas
7-11's
the young kid and the old man who work at the Albertslund kiosk
public transportation
Anders
Jacob and how he is "totally bananas!"
the people I've met

Things I will likely not miss a bit:
the outrageously high taxes on EVERYTHING
seeing the fugly sculpture behind DIK everytime I go to buy groceries
the "safety" of Albertslund
Turkish immigrants
political in-correctness
the black mold in my bathroom
Danish weather
Jantelov
the Danish language, and my inability to pronounce it
spending so much on "cheap" groceries
my inability to afford to see movies
Michael's bad rap music, at 3 am
Michael's inability to clean his dishes, even after a month's time
Michael's general creepiness
my kitchen, and its flies/general disgustingness
drinking out of bowls because I am too cheap to buy both glasses and bowls
the Israeli guy who works at the coffee kiosk
it taking so long to get into town
locking myself out of my room so often
photojournalism
Anders

The family gets in today, which means Christmas in Copenhagen, and then Berlin and Prague.

I'll be back in Copenhagen around New Year's...until then, Happy Holidays everyone!

Well, everyone from DIS has left.

My block (and every other place of DIS student residence) is now empty of all other American students. Everyone is either on their way to the airport, or already on a plane somewhere. It will be interesting to see what I think of Denmark in the next few weeks, minus my American fix. I will probably miss them all.

Today, I was hit by a bike.

Danish bikes are dangerous things.


Also, Jess and I decided that our block needed sprucing up, so we decided to paint one of the walls of our common room. Said painting will take place before/after the Krosteun is open, with hands and fingers.

I'm sure those who share our block will be less than amused, but hey, at least we don't eat our dogs.


Edit: I swear this looked AMAZING when we painted it. And we really weren't intoxicated, it was just really dark (you know, since my block doesn't have light bulbs because they've all been stolen)

Well, I have seen Estonia, and it is lovely. You can still see the remains of Soviet occupation, since it ended like 15 years ago. All around them, there are new, modern buildings (like Casinos and hamburger places) going up, and Old Town is still standing in the heart of Talinn. It makes for a really interesting juxtaposition of architecture.

While in Estonia, I:
smoked a Cuban cigar
ate blood sausage
ate black pudding, which is basically just a fried blood clot
drank Estonian-style Glogg
bought too many Christmas presents
wandered around the Open Air Museum, and saw more trees in one place than I have since I got to Europe
took a shot of Estonian vodka as "medicine"
saw the most awful Estonian reality television
discovered the Estonian Christmas markets
turned on and off a light switch located inside of a kitchen cupboard

All in all, it was a very successful sort of trip. Of course, it helps to have your own Estonian tour guide, taking you around and speaking the language.


Sadly, I have no pictures of Estonia...I bought the cheapest Estonian batteries I could find, and even brand new straight out of the package my camera wouldn't even turn on, it just flashes the low battery sign. So if you ever have the chance, don't buy Estonian batteries.

The paper from Hell is done! 2,955 words on the relationship between Socialist art, the German Art Nouveau movement, and Zionist iconography through the artwork of Ephraim Moses Lilien!

Try writing that paper 3 times. OUCH.


Scratch your head, wondering why everyone accepts there is a connection between Zionist and Socialist symbolism, but no one has ever written on it/researched it in English!

Try finding out all your sources are only available in ONE room of the Royal Library, where someone will sit with you and watch you read them as you write things down with a pencil and paper because electronic devices are banned from the rare books room!

Watch as you are told that you cannot make copies of artwork because it is classified as an 'art book'!

Wait for an old man to take pity on you as start to cry because you actually needed those copies!

Groan the moment you find out that getting a copying card takes over a half an hour!

Scratch your head when you are told that you cannot put less than a 100 DKK on your card at one time!

Realize you are being ripped off as you make your copies and spend only 8 DKK!

Realize you computer has crashed again and you have lost your research!

Marvel at the Danish system of book retrieval as you try to check out the same books you did the day before, now mysteriously missing!



Conclusion: the Danish Library system is AWFUL. And in case anyone ever needs a copying card, I have one with like 92 DKK on it.

Also, I've been listening to this Tobias Fröberg guy from Sweden(brother of Jose Gonzales)...its sort of folky easy-listening stuff...kind of like Damien Rice, but with actual emotion and lyrics that have something to say, as opposed to just pretending. Mom, you would like him. I can send you the link to some free tracks.


Estonia this weekend!