More News on NC's Horrible Anti-Trans and Anti-Gay Law

I grew up in NC, and the rest of my family still live there. It's a diverse state, but one with a lot of jerks, it would seem.

• ACLU Lawsuit (Slate)
• NC Attorney General Refuses to Defend Law (Slate)
• The Business Backlash (Atlantic) 
• Why Bathroom Bills are Unconstitutional (Slate)
• Debunking the Bathroom Myth (Media Matters, two years ago)
• Nothing McCrory Says Is True (ThinkProgress)
• Petition Asking NCAA To Boycott NC

Men's Basketball vs Women's Basketball

OK, so it's not a surprise that colleges (OK, actually, their conferences, get more money for victories by men's teams than for victories by women's teams. But how much more do you think that is? Would you believe that a victory by a men's team is worth $1.56 million and that a victory by a women's team is worth...wait for it...zero dollars? As in, absolutely nothing?

Well, according to the New York Times, that's how it is.

News On North Carolina's Horrific New Anti-Trans Law

As someone who grew up in North Carolina, I'm embarrassed for my home state:

• Indy Week
• Slate (1, 2)
• Charlotte Observer
• HuffPo
• More from HuffPo

 

Christmas Rape Songs

Ever actually listen to "Baby, It's Cold Outside"? Check it out on Funny or Die.

Amazing Photo Essay on Consent

"Face Value is a series of photographs, taken by staff photographer Aubrey Schuring, that showcase the emotions of various human beings as they discuss moments of consent, assault, and their feelings of worth with Project Consent."

See it on Project Consent.

Do Welders Make More Than Philosophers?

Early in the Fox Business Network debate, Marco Rubio took a strong stand in favor of vocational education. "For the life of me I don't know why we stigmatize vocational education," he said. "Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders than philosophers."

So begins a complete debunking of this claim by Matthew Yglesias, who just happens to have been a student of mine at Harvard. Read the rest here. It's a corrective that's especially welcome to those of us who have to have the same conversation, over and over, with budding philosophy concentrators: How do you tell your parents?

Of course, as Yglesias says, that doesn't mean we should stigmatize vocational education. For many people, it's clearly the right choice. And, to be honest, I'm not sure many people do stigmatize vocational education. I happen to live very close to Blue Hills Regional Technical School, a vocational high school that serves several of the surrounding towns. (Avon, Braintree, Canton, Dedham, Holbrook, Milton, Norwood, Randolph and Westwood.) My understanding is that there are almost always more applicants than there are slots. And the school is widely respected in the area. Indeed, Blue Hills students scored higher than the state average on all three recent MCAS examinations.

Roasted Eggplant with Artichoke Hearts and Salsa Verde

I keep printing out this recipe and then losing it, and then I've got to search for it and find it again. So I'm tired of that and am posting it here.

Last summer, we had this probably ten times. This year, we haven't had as many eggplant, due to the lack of rain, but we've had it a few times, and it is always, always wonderful, if you have the right kind of eggplant. You absolutely must have really fresh eggplant, about as thin as you can get them, and with really soft, thin skin. The original recipe calls for Japanese eggplant, but we've found that really long, thin ones work best. Don't bother with the big purple ones you can usually get, unless you peel them, and it isn't as good even then. So this is really a late summer recipe, when the eggplants come in.

The recipe originally comes from Food 52.

Ingredients

• About a pound of long, skinny eggplants, cut into ½ inch rounds
• 1 small red onion, halved and sliced
  The original recipe says "quartered", but I like them bigger.
• 6 ounces artichoke hearts
  The original recipe calls for marinated artichoke hearts, which you can also try, but I've used the straight variety successfully
  
• 1 tbsp capers
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp chives, chopped
  Juice from half a lemon
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450F.
2. Combine the first three ingredients in a baking dish, with enough olive oil to coat. You want to brown everything a bit, so spread them out as best you can. Bake for 20 minutes, then turn it all over and bake another 15-20.
3. Combine the other ingredients to make a dressing. I've sometimes lightly chopped the capers, which seems to work pretty well. 
4. Add the dressing to the eggplant mixture and serve.

The original recipe suggests using this as a topping for some kind of fish. If you do that, then I've found that a flaky whitefish (cod, scrod, haddock) is best. We've also just had it over rice, as a main course, with a side vegetable.