and....

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2012/08/ohio-state-mocks-sandusky-scandal-with-tasteless-t-shirt/1#.UD9yINbM7z9 

"We recently became aware that this T-shirt design is circulating on social media," Gayle Saunders, OSU assistant vice president of media relations, wrote in an e-mail. "This is not a University sanctioned T-shirt, and we have no knowledge of where it originated. It is unacceptable and appalling that someone would make light of a tragedy in this manner."

Thanks to......?
http://www.nydailynews.com/ohio-state-alum-takes-aim-offensive-t-shirt-jerry-sandusky-sex-abuse-scandal-penn-state-taunt-rival-michigan-article-1.1147166 

"Needless to say, the shirt is not sitting well with many, including Ohio State alum Molly Litfin from Columbus, Ohio, who started an online petition Wednesday against Ohio State and the Big Ten conference, pleading for the production of the shirts to be discontinued."

And also:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1316359-id-rather-shower-at-penn-state-shirts-go-too-far

"In fact, a New York Daily News report by Justin Tasch references Ohio State alum Molly Liftin who started a petition against Ohio State and the Big Ten to stop production of the shirts. It's refreshing to see someone from Ohio State being against this shirt."

WOO! Go Molly! And thanks to Anonymous for pointing out the USA Today article. Friends?

and regarding the R word

p.s. to Anonymous: I deleted your comment "but in all seriousness that petition is re-fucking-tarded OSU can't do anything about people making or selling those shirts."

Besides just finding it pretty rude to call the author of a blog names, having worked at a preschool for children with special needs for 7 years and having many dear friends in the special needs community, I have ZERO tolerance for the use of that word. Freedom of speech all you want friends, this is our blog and I'm deleting any such comment without apology. You got a thoughtful, respectful response to your other points, and I'm happy to engage in dialogue with you that way. You don't get to insult people with special needs here.

Please visit http://www.r-word.org if you need more information.

Dear Anonymous

Ok, I know that Molly is perfectly capable of responding eloquently to this, but as the other name on the title of this blog, I feel the need to chime in about her post, and to the many responses from an anonymous reader. Also as her friend I think Molly needs to put some cucumbers on her eyeballs and chill out for the rest of the night. No blood vessels bursting on my watch, please sweetie!

So, Anonymous. I tried to reply in the comments, but I've got too much to say here and Blogger won't let me fit it all in the little comment form. So you get a full post in response. Congratulations.

First, thank you for saying that the shirt is bad. I'm glad we can at least agree on that point.

Now I'm going to start with the easiest point of yours to refute: that this shirt is supposedly not "OSU gear." Actually, Molly acknowledged in her post that it wasn't officially licensed by Ohio State, we all know that it isn't officially OSU gear. However, if you do a quick web search (here you go) you'll find that quite a few people seem to think it is, or are at least happy to jump on the Buckeye-bashing bandwagon as a result of it. So this shirt represents us, and official or not, we're being put in the position of defending ourselves as a result. 

And as any Ohioan knows, though the team colors may be scarlet and grey (as you pointed out - as if we don't know), white is often substituted for grey in our fan gear. It just shows up better than grey, let's face it. Even the team's uniforms use white! And the shirt mentions the Wolverines - duh. Who's a bigger rival to the Michigan Wolverines than OSU? Perhaps Michigan State, as you say, but their colors are green and white. So no, pretty sure this shirt is all Buckeye. But if you really want to argue that point, you may be interested to know that this isn't only happening here in the Buckeye state, but also in Michigan, Alabama and Louisiana State (again, try a Google search.) Probably in the time I've taken to type this, half a dozen more have popped up. There's even an Urban Dictionary term for it now. So no, it isn't specifically OSU gear, sadly it's actually much worse than that.

Now, your "women women women, men are bad! bullshit" comment. First of all, yes, you're being an obvious troll here. I might even venture to say that you sound like a complete asshole when you say things like that, and quoting Voltaire just makes you then sound like a very full of himself asshole. And this blog isn't the US government, we are free to censor you all we want - keep up crap like that and we will happily do so. Go start your own blog if you want to exercise your freedom of assholery, that's your right.

Second, it IS misogyny that marginalizes the importance of rape, because rape usually happens to women and girls. Not all the time, and not in this specific instance, but one in four college women are victims of sexual assault. Four. That's me, Molly, and each of our daughters. That makes it our issue. If you begin any way of thinking from the standpoint of valuing one group of people less than another, it follows that crimes done to that group of people will be seen as less horrific than if they were done to the group that is seen as superior. Ask an African American or two or thousand about their experience if you don't think this is true. And don't even get me started on a certain Republican's ridiculous remarks about rape and abortion, or the kind of fights that rape victims have to endure in our country's legal system. Rape is not taken as seriously as it should be because it happens to women. Prove to us that that isn't true - take it seriously. Spend your time fighting the one in four statistic instead of arguing these points with women. As a woman and a feminist (who never said men are bad, who is married to a lovely man, who works with lovely men including Molly's lovely husband), I would love to see this become an issue that isn't deeply tied to misogyny. I would love to see it become an issue that doesn't exist at all, because rape doesn't exist. But too few men are interested in making that happen, and that's why it's especially important to us "women women women."

Finally, to your free speech comment: I think this is really the most valid point to be made here. I agree with you - whoever made this shirt should be free to do so. I think it's wrong, and I think they should stop, but I don't think I have a right to make them stop, and neither does OSU as an institution. I agree that it's a slippery slope when we start trying to shut people up, no matter what nonsense they may say. However, what we all CAN do is exercise our own freedom of speech by expressing our outrage about this. And Ohio State can certainly publicly condemn these shirts, and make it clear that they are not only not producing nor profiting from them, but that they find them offensive on behalf of the Penn State victims and Ohio State fans. They can encourage other schools to do the same. They can call on all college sports fans to begin the season with a little more class, simple as that. A message like that could very powerful coming from OSU President E. Gordon Gee or Coach Meyer, much more than our little blog or even Molly's petition could be (though kudos Molly for starting it!)

Actually, I have one more thing to say. Are you just one person, Anonymous? If so, can you please keep your comments to one post or two instead of flooding our blog with reply after reply? That's a little rude, and again, we can delete them. You're coming to our party, we can kick you out. If you're different people with a similar sentiment, fine, please read the above message too. Thanks.

~ Lynne

There is nothing I can say that will really be enough.

Okay, so let's just get this out of the way right now. I think football is BORING. I attended & graduated from The Ohio State University, have lived in Columbus, OH my entire life, but I don't give a hoot about OSU football. It's great if you love it, but I get very tired of all the craziness surrounding the OSU football team. Or really, any football team in general. I'm all for going to sporting events & getting into it, or cheering your favorite team on as you watch on tv, but the atmosphere surrounding OSU football is just too much for me. 

That said, I know a lot of people, family members included, love OSU football. It means a lot to them, and they sincerely love to cheer on the team, year after year. They hate that I never have any idea what the game schedule is & call while they're watching the game. They think it's weird that I find blue & yellow to be a gorgeous color combination. They love it, they look forward to it, and overall, I think it's really awesome that no matter where you go, in any airport, if you yell out "O-H!" there's a really high chance that someone will yell back "I-O!"

But when I saw this, I almost burst a blood vessel in my brain from pure rage:

If you see this and laugh, well, don't tell me because I will come at you like Jack the Ripper. This is beyond awful. This is EVIL. This is making light of one of the most horrific vaguely sports-related crimes I've ever heard of, and I will not stand for it. Not for one goddamned second. And do you want to know why? Good. Because I'm going to tell you.

1) THIS IS MAKING LIGHT OF THE ABUSE OF CHILDREN. Say that to anyone who thinks it's "just a joke" or that it's just "getting back" at the Penn Staters who made shirts about last year's OSU scandal, which I still don't entirely understand, except that I am 100000000% positive that it didn't involve destroying children through systematic rape & cover up, so it's not even on the same planet as far as sports-related crimes. One is ignoring the rules for dumb shit like trading a jersey for tattoos, the other can destroy a person for the rest of their life. So, not related. Joking about child abuse is NOT FUNNY. N-O-T F-U-N-N-Y. That whole situation makes me so sick & sad that I have literally lost sleep and cried in public places thinking about it. So no, I do not think that this is at all appropriate.

2) THIS IS MAKING LIGHT OF RAPE. I am SO SICK of people (generally men) thinking that rape is something they can josh around with (Daniel Tosh around with?) in a lighthearted manner. Really? When it's your mother, your grandmother, your sister, your cousin, your daughter, will you think it's funny to hear someone joke about it? If not, then STOP JOKING ABOUT IT NOW. I have been lucky enough to be spared this personal hell, but I know more than one person who has not. And for them, and for all who have had to endure not only the act itself, but the callous nature of a society that thinks it's not a big enough deal to not make shitty "college humor" reference t-shirts out of the violation, I AM DISGUSTED AND FULL OF RAGE. If you don't get it, read this paragraph until you do. Or go talk to some real-life rape victims and see how this has forever changed their lives. And not in a magical, wow life is amazing kind of way.

3) THIS IS USING VICTIMS AS A PUNCHLINE. You know what's not funny? THIS. Would you dare go to the scene of a car accident & mock the way the bleeding, lifeless bodies look? No? THEN YOU SHOULDN'T THINK THIS SHIRT IS FUNNY. It's taking a crime that is already marginalized & making it into fodder for cheap laughs. That's insane. INSANE. Would you go down to the hospital & point & laugh at the sick & their families, as they fight to carry on? Would you trip them, shove them, pull out their tubes, all in the name of "hijinks" or "hilarity"? No, you wouldn't, because that sounds awful. But that is EXACTLY what this shirt is doing. "Ha ha ha ha ha! I'd rather be "raped" (as if that's really a bad thing, amirite?) than root for my college's football rival! So funny!" If you agreed with any of that, let me know so I can punch you so hard you go back in time & never exist.

4) THIS IS MISOGYNY. You don't think so? Well my friend, it is. Because if men had to learn how to protect themselves from the threat of rape, it wouldn't be a joke. But all women are taught that they have to do everything in their power to "prevent" themselves from being raped. Think about that. Why do girls walk in pairs or groups, whether it's to the bathroom, home from a party, around an unfamiliar block? To prevent rape. That's right. It's constantly *our job* to keep rapists away from us. And if we fail, and we are raped? Well, you know, we did wear a sexy dress/drink too much/walk alone in the dark/have breasts/consent to sexual behavior up to but not including sex itself/have sex with anyone other than the man in front of you now/etc. So we're really partially to blame. BULLSHIT. You know who carries 1000000000000000000000000% of the blame here? THE RAPIST. Until we start teaching men & boys, that rape is NEVER an option, I'm going to insist that not enough is being done. And I refuse to find humor in anything that implies that rape isn't really a big deal. 

I could go on. I really could. But frankly I'm getting so upset that I need to step away. Also I feel obligated to point out that this shirt is NOT LICENSED OSU GEAR. The school itself has nothing to do with it. Some asshole somewhere does, and I swear I'm going to find that person, make them stop, & make them apologize. Which isn't enough, but it's about as much as I can do without the ability to control everything everywhere at all times. So onward & upward with my goal. And the next time you hear or see someone making light of this situation, or any situation involving any of the reasons I pointed out, please don't be silent. Too many good people stand back, letting the jerks win. Please don't let that happen here.


If you so choose, here's my petition trying to block this shirt from existence. Take a second to help, and pass it along if you could. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

http://www.change.org/petitions/the-ohio-state-university-the-big-ten-stop-selling-t-shirts-that-uses-the-horror-of-child-rape-as-college-humor

*Quick update/note: to any of my friends or family who might read this, I should have been more clear. In NO WAY DO I THINK ANYONE I CARE ABOUT SAW THIS SHIRT AND LAUGHED. It hurts me that something I know many hold dear, for good reasons, are being lumped in with some "fans" who think this is funny. This shirt makes loyal OSU fans, my friends & family included, as well as OSU look awful, and that upsets me as well.Just because OSU football doesn't matter to me doesn't mean I'm not very proud to be an OSU grad. My deepest & most sincere apologies if anyone thought for even a second that was my reaction. 

 

Orla Kiely Method Soap!

Freaky friends, today is a special day. Now being spotted at Target stores nationwide, I bring you....... the Orla Kiely Method hand soap.



That's right Henry, it's AMAZEBALLS.

Henry is reporting on the scene from the Lennox Target here in Columbus. And Correspondent Jen G found Ginger Peach in the Detroit area:


It's so exciting!!! And yes, I bought 6 bottles, elbowing my way through throngs of returning OSU students. Cleanliness is next to awesomeness!!!

i can go twice as high

All kinds of awesome.

going viral!

Hey, remember our adorable friends Wayne and Cody?

Well Wayne has written a lovely piece all about the Chick-fil-A issue that is so well done, we all thought it should go viral. I forwarded it to a few famous folks and some other friends did the same, and this morning he's already got 37 thousand likes!!!

Dan Savage of Savage Love (one of the folks I forwarded it to! yay!) called it "amazing" and "required reading" and another 1,455 people retweeted it. It was posted on One Stop Newstand and Mothertalkers already. And it's only 10 am so far.

How awesome is it to see people you like get some  well-deserved attention for their work? FREAK OUT AWESOME!  Yay Wayne!!!