This weekend was not terribly illustrious. The ASIS&T Pacific Northwest Chapter Annual Conference was on Friday and Saturday, but I only went to the Saturday morning sessions because I was too energy-less on Friday. I wouldn't even have gone on Saturday morning, I think, if I hadn't said I would volunteer. I'm glad I went, because the presentations were interesting (especially Misty's talk about internationalization of websites, software, and other interfaces).
After the conference I came home and napped for a couple of hours, and then Jeff and I made a huge grocery run. (The idea was for us not to have to go back for another week, but of course we need carrots already.) For dinner we made roast beef, which was so easy that I'm amazed I never did it before. It turned out absolutely gorgeous, pink and juicy and flavorful. We ate it au jus, with mashed potatoes and fresh corn on the cob. Roast beef sandwiches all this week, yay!
After dinner I made a quick batch of scones and left them to cool overnight. The scones were destined for St. Bunstable's annual Spring Fling,
but as it turned out, only Jeff and I showed up. That means it was a spring flop, I guess. More scones for us...
The reason I was so tired Saturday was that I turned on the radio while going to sleep on Friday evening. The radio was tuned to NPR, and it was playing an audio-only performance of George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession. It was hilarious and fascinating, and I stayed up for an extra hour and a half, listening. I checked the play out of the library the next day and am going to read the whole thing as well as Shaw's comments about the history of the play.
For those of you who are not familiar with MWP, it's about the commerce of prostitution and the hypocrisy of the upper classes who shun it morally while profiting from it commercially. It also makes the point that prostitutes aren't doing it for fun, that they would much rather be virtuous if by being virtuous they weren't cheating themselves of the ability to make a living wage, to the profit of others. It's a powerful point and one that is at least as applicable today as it was then: If you don't want them to prostitute themselves, give them another viable option. If you don't want to give them another option, then stop criticizing.
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