Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Back in the USA

Ten hour flight today. I can report that there's a great article in the New Yorker this week (the issue with goblins being scared away by a couple of kids trick or treating as McCain and Palin on the cover!) about evangelical youth and sex, and how at risk those kids are because of not having access to birth control and because sex is so pressurized for them. It makes perfect sense, psychologically, but I was still startled to learn about the pregnancy rate of girls who take those virginity pledges. Kids who grow up under these anti-sex principles have a rate of unplanned pregnancy and of STDs much higher than for children of godless liberals; it's pretty fascinating. And I can report that Dr. Strangelove holds up very, very well, and Taxi Driver maybe doesn't; the former's dire wit seems just right for this moment, while the latter's portentous mood feels a little crazed.

And now I have had quite enough time zone crossing for a bit, and I'm glad to be on earth in newly cooled-down, autumnal Houston. Tomorrow: tux shopping, a student conference, a root canal, and a class on Whitman Whew.

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