Awesome Article on Teens, "Fat", and Sex

On Heavy Girls and Sexy Time

I love all of it, but for those of you unable to read an Entire! Blog! Post! I quote the following:

I really hate that female desire is just completely erased in that MSNBC article. It chaps my hide something fierce. Because if it is the case that fat girls go through puberty earlier, why do we say “they grow boobs, so boys pressure them to have sex” rather than “they go through puberty, so they have sexual desire earlier than other girls.” Why was that not even thought of as an explanation? No. NOT POSSIBLE! Teenage girls? Actually wanting sex or sexual activity? No, it must be the boys who are making them do it. Puberty happens because of a rapid hormonal shift in your body. Those hormones do all kinds of things: make you grow boobs, get your period, grow body hair, and START FEELING SEXUAL DESIRE. Yes, so the girls who go through puberty earlier will start feeling sexual desire earlier than other girls. But we couldn’t possibly advance that as an explanation because if girls engage in sexytime because they want to, rather than because boys force them to, it doesn’t fit into our nice little narrative about how girls are being ruined by sex, does it?

Yeah.

Can Amaranth Fix Mexico's Dual Dietary Disasters?

Can Amaranth Fix Mexico's Dual Dietary Disasters?

The couple founded the non-governmental organisation Alternatives and Processes of Social Participation, which today is working in an area where three Mexican states converge - Puebla, Guerrero and Oaxaca - to conserve water resources and develop amaranth, a high-protein native grain.

"There was an initial agricultural investment to improve soil fertility, make compost and respect biodiversity," Hernández, director general of Alternatives, told this reporter ahead of the International Day for Biological Diversity, which is celebrated May 22.

But eventually the initiative took off. Under the organisation's supervision, the cooperative Quali has been working since 1994 to add value to certified organic amaranth grown on some 500 hectares by 1,100 farmers - indigenous Mixtecos, Popolocas and Nahuas in this semiarid region.

This is great - local development, native grain (and therefore well-suited for the climate), and high protein to help address malnutrition. I love it! Disturbing, though, that it's not seen as a success unless they're exporting to, oh, Switzerland. That seems to be buying into the U.S. homogenous, centralized-distribution food production model that encourages you to eat food from thousands of miles away as a matter of course, when, honestly, if you stop and think about it, that's pretty dumb.

HOTD: Sitting in the Rain in Boston Public Garden

Rain plucks the pool's melody
as ducks forage. Watch!
The night surfaces.