The school year got off to a bit of a rocky start, with my first lecture postponed due to the tropical storm in Florida. So it was on to West Virginia University, which moved the event to a larger venue than last year - and still it was standing room only! Thanks to the more than 1,500 students for turning out and bringing great energy to the room. Here's an account from the school newspaper. (The reporter wrote "selfish and heathenism" instead of "selfish hedonism" - which is how politician/commentator Alan Keyes has described sex outside of marriage - but her term is interesting, too!)

I was just noticing that it was a year ago this week that I launched this blog. Thanks to all for reading!

And, just like last year, this school year (my 17th full-time on the college lecture circuit) starts with lectures in Florida and West Virginia this week. Next week, the fun continues in New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and Nova Scotia! It's always challenging to come back from the summer "off" and jump back into things with a slew of start-of-the-school-year lectures, but it's exciting to know that big crowds await. I especially like the energy of the early programs.

Oh...and I'm pleased to write this on the eighty-eighth anniversary of ratification of the 19th Amendment. On August 18, 1920, that amendment gave women the right to vote. Let's hope that as many women (and indeed, as many people) as possible turn out to vote this November!

Are you enjoying the Olympics? I know I'm enjoying these great condom ads, each depicting a stick-man athlete using a condom or two as an apparatus in an Olympic event.

Quick posting as I gear up for the start of the school year. (Already?)

1. From the Daily Kos (a site I read more than daily), this chilling diary that says women in the military is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than to be killed by enemy fire in Iraq. 

2. New estimates show that more Americans are getting infected by HIV each year than previously thought.

3. A conservative Congressman held a fundraiser at a burlesque club. It's the hypocrisy, stupid!

4. A sex educator working for Fox News. Again, it's the hypocrisy, stupid! (I might have more to say about this another time.)

No fresh pasta, sea urchin, or kimchi on a first date? No shared plates? Yikes.

This Guardian article on how, where, and what to eat for a first date makes a few noteworthy points (like avoiding places with mariachi bands), but it ultimately sounds more punishing than pleasure-enhancing. I’m not so concerned about specific food items (though you might want to avoid asparagus, for reasons I’ll explain another time). Instead, at least for me, I think it’s incredibly important to find food compatibility. Granted, I’m a food freak, but if you’re hoping your first-time dining companion might turn into your life-long partner, I believe you should share some passion when you’re first breaking bread. After all, you might be sitting across the table from each other for many meals in the years and decades to follow.

Happily, it’s been a long time since I’ve had a first date, but thinking back, I came to realize I wanted to be with someone who loves looking at menus, sampling new dishes, and discerning the different ingredients. Someone with a healthy appetite, translating to a healthy appetite for life. Someone who likes to share plates, but will playfully fight for that last great bite. Someone omnivorous, who understands that bacon fat makes everything taste better, and who smiles instead of squirms at the prospect of ordering organ meats. Someone who’d perhaps even eat fresh pasta with sea urchin and kimchi!

Luckily, I found that someone. What’s hard for me to believe, especially now that I’m a food writer, is that it wasn’t long ago that I dated someone who didn’t like fruit…or fish…or beef…or any dark meat…or most anything. (Basically, it seemed like she only ate chicken breasts and overcooked vegetables, which made her the perfect candidate for hotel banquets.) Vacations, the perfect time to explore new cuisines and concoctions, felt like a nightmare. Worse, daily life at the dinner table became, well, dull and eventually dreadful.

Does that make you look at that first dinner date any differently?

Remember the fuss over the so-called "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl? You know: that microsecond of "boob flash" when Justin Timberlake ripped off part of Janet Jackson's bustier during their halftime show. It drove conservatives (and some non-conservatives) crazy, with the ensuing controversy making us the laughing-stock of the world for our Victorian attitudes about nudity and sex.

Recall that the FCC slapped CBS with a $550,000 fine for indecency.

Yesterday, years later, the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the fine, arguing that the FCC "arbitrarily and capriciously departed from its prior policy" by levying a fine for this fleeting episode.

Nice to know it's not all boobs in the government...

Continuing to wreak havoc on reproductive rights, the Bush administration just announced a proposal that would cut off aid to health programs (like hospitals, clinics, and medical schools) that refuse to hire workers who object to abortion—and even certain methods of birth control. In other words, the proposal allows any federal grant recipient to obstruct a woman's access to
contraception.

Meanwhile, John McCain has a major birth control problem. Carly Fiorina, his campaign advisor, had stated that "There are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won't cover birth-control medication. Those women would like a choice." Watch this video and see how the so-called Straight Talk Express totally derails when McCain stumbles and bumbles, eventually pleading ignorance, when asked his position on the issue.

Good news, though: watermelon may be the new Viagra.

The election is just four months away, and as I've been predicting on the lecture circuit (I didn't really have to go out on a limb to get this right), some right-wingers are trying to stir up homosexuality as a wedge issue. Just yesterday, conservative commentator Fred Barnes suggested that John McCain use gay bashing to energize his base.

Part of that base has reintroduced the Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution. Ten Republican senators have submitted this piece of legislation to protect the so-called sanctity of marriage, saying that "marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman." As if it's bad enough that the likes of Alex Rodriguez and Madonna make a mockery of such sanctity, let's take a look at a couple of the co-sponsors of the legislation. David Vitter (R-LA) liked to wear diapers and hire prostitutes, while Larry Craig (R-ID) solicited sex from a man in a Minneapolis bathroom. Ah...the family values party in action. I'd love to see them run these ads as part of their pro-marriage campaigns.

As we note George Carlin's passing, it seems appropriate to celebrate his wit and wisdom as evidenced in his poignant "Sanctity of Life" routine.

I'm struck by the significance of June 18:

1. In 1873, women's rights advocate Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for voting. (It wouldn't be until 1920 that the Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote in this country.)

2. In 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. (She wasn't arrested for doing that.)

3. In 1983, Sally Ride took a ride and became the first American woman to travel in space.

In a related note, yesterday marked the first time that Maryland has elected a black woman to Congress. Donna Edwards will be sworn in tomorrow.