Then Buffy staked Edward. The End.

Did you know that Buddha was married? Before he jilted his wife and child (named Rahula, which means "fetter" ... and not in an affectionate way) to get his spiritually enlightened, venerated-by-millions-throughout- the-ages freak on. Much like the Odyssey's poor, neglected Penelope**, the whole spousal abandonment aspect apparently gets in the way of an otherwise rousing tale, so it doesn't get a lot of ink.

Yeah, so I'm taking a class on feminism in Buddhism with the women at Sh*m. Fascinating stuff. And after spending most of my week correcting sentences like "Does the America have the more delicious KFC as Chinese?", it's a somewhat startling relief to hear earnest discussions about how androcentric histories inform modern life.

If I wasn't completely in love with these girls before, I certainly am now. These are girls who have been continually told by everyone they've been raised to respect (their parents, their older brothers, the monks) that women should be quiet and unassuming and leave the decision making to the menfolk. And they're not just leaving their villages to pursue higher education -- already enough of an affront -- they're also going back to those villages, facing down the criticism and trying to get the people to accept their help and leadership. Some of them, especially the younger ones, are so shy it seems actually painful for them to speak, even in a group of their own peers, but they're choosing this path anyway.

Which, in an only mildly related tangent, brings me to what I have decided is the current greatest threat to the next generation of young American women: the Twilight series. You know the one, that paean to patriarchy and the helpless-female genre, that ode to abusive teenage relationships, that celebration of the notion that a century of feminists got it wrong after all, and women really should give up everything (from their friends to their actual humanity) for their man.

(Alright, so I read them. Don't you judge me. It's been a long few months without any mindless television to take the edge off, and I had a few weak moments ... And anyway, I'm not saying every last book should be burned, just that they should be a controlled substance. Like alcohol. No killing off the impressionable brain cells of anyone under 21.)

Anyway, I recently ran across this video, which should be required viewing for anybody who reads the books:


** Except for in Margaret Atwood's totally worthwhile "Penelopiad," which retells the story from her perspective.