1. Good news for la_directora: As evidence of a major shift in Spain's attitude toward animal rights and violence, Spain's state-run TV service has decided to stop showing bullfights at times when children might be watching. I wonder if they allow lesbian kisses? Full story from The World here. Scroll down to "Spanish TV cancels bullfight coverage"


2. The Goddess is alive and magic is afoot. Evidence of older, female-centered rituals exist in the Islamic tradition, too. The description of Zar (or Zaar) music in the last segment of the same show listed above sounds awfully familiar. It's led by women, it builds to a fever pitch or trance, it has healing qualities, it's designed to get the participants in touch with their own spirit, or the spirits, or The Spirit. It's familiar because it's the same thing I've been doing in ritual here in the US for well over ten years. It's also similar to what I know of Sufi ritual.
   
   A Google search on the topic turns up mixed results. These are three I found interesting:
   
   
   • Arabic writings on Zar (PDF) A scholarly bibliography of a number of sources. Useful if you'd like to do some library research.
   
   
   • Chapter Twelve of The Influence of Animism on Islam. The Christian/modern patriarchal bias (they liken the ritual to Black Mass) makes me squicked, but if you can read past it you may actually find accurate details.
   • Homosexuality in "Traditional" Sub-Saharan Africa and Contemporary South Africa I find it interesting that zar appears to be linked to homosexuality. Well, it is female-centered, so men who participate must be gender-suspect. Funny how humans constantly conflate gender identity with sexual orientation.
   
   


3. Okay, so I really dug last night's show of the The World. There was a great story on women in combat in Iraq. The segment includes excellent interviews with a number of female soldiers profiled in Band of Sisters, a book written by journalist Kirsten Holmstedt about women in combat situation. Military law still states that women cannot fight "in combat," but as Holmstedt notes, "in Iraq, the front lines are everywhere--and everywhere in Iraq women in the U.S. military fight."
   



4. Daily Dharma quote about right livelihood:
   

   
   Right Livelihood Today
   Right Livelihood appears to be harder to practice these days than in
   the time of the Buddha. The rule is still the same: Right Livelihood
   is organizing one's financial support so that it is nonabusive,
   nonexploitive, nonharming. However, these days what is abusive and
   exploitive is not necessarily self-evident. When the Buddha taught,
   unwholesome livelihood categories were easy to distinguish.
   Soldiering, keeping slaves, manufacturing weapons and intoxicants--all
   were on the proscribed list. In our time, soldiers sometimes serve as
   peacekeepers. It's hard to know the wholesomeness of all the products
   of any corporation, corporate mergers being what they are. Who knows
   what else is being manufactured by my detergent company's
   subsidiaries? . . . For me, a complete picture of wholesome Right
   Livelihood is even larger than the proscriptions that reflect external
   choices. Wholesome internal choices--healthy attitudes about one's
   work--also contribute to mental happiness and peace of mind.
   Everyone's livelihood is an opportunity for self-esteem.
   -Sylvia Boorstein, It's Easier Than You Think
   from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book
   http://www.tricycle.com/issues/2_478/dailydharma/4044-1.html
   

   
   This is a question I struggle with quite a good deal. Anyone who saves for retirement by investing in mutual funds may inadvertently be funding a company that participates in icky things like warmongering or child labor. I've looked into the new lines of "socially responsible" investment funds, but find that their rate of return is less than stellar. And one still needs to wonder about who decides what company is socially responsible. They tend to be heavy on the tech stocks, which leads to extra volatility.
   
   Right livelihood is why I refused a gig at Raytheon, a defense contractor and pretty big employer here in the Boston area. But defense contractors often come up with new technologies that substantially improve one's quality of life--and I'm not just talking Tang. My second-generation-immigrant grandfather spent his life working at Lockheed, which makes both passenger aircraft and war planes.
   
   Boorstein's notion of "wholesome internal choices" is helpful. And one must be centered and well to do good effectively in the world. But it's also easy to become complacent and believe that living well and taking care of oneself is enough. It's not.
   
   



5. I received some feedback recently regarding my communication style, which was described as "abrasive." While opportunities for self-improvement abound, I find myself caught in the same conundrum many women in business face. Early on in my career, a friend of mine suggested I read a book called Hardball for Women, which did an excellent job at helping me adapt to a culture that was originally made for men, by men, and about men--I'm talking about the business world. It helped me to understand the different ways that men and women communicate, and I began to modify my communication style as a result. But here's where the dilemma sets in: they see my tits. So they expect different things from me than they would of someone with no tits (or man-boobs). A man expresses anger or impatience, he's seen as powerful or important. A woman expresses anger or impatience, she's seen as out of control or moody. And God forbid you mention these different expectations in the actual business world! That's playing the gender card!
   
   The tightrope, the challenge, the opportunity for personal growth (or AFGO, as they call it in some circles), is this: to appear competent, powerful, in control, while still personable and approachable. It's fun, kids! Now you try!
   
   

Project Coordinator, LMR Product Design - Job Grade: 640

Reporting to: Qi Li

General Summary/Overview Statement

The project coordinator will assist with LMR product design efforts to improve LMR product design quality, usability, user adoption, workflow support, and time to market. With the new IS organization structure, this role is critical to help the LMR Product Design team be accountable and deliver high quality designs. Manage product design, prototype development, usability assessment, UI standard adoption, and coordination with product development teams for ongoing projects that require participation of the LMR product design team.

For more information go to: Project Coordinator, LMR Product Design

User Interface Analyst, LMR Product Design - Job Grade: 625

Reporting to: Qi Li

The user interface analyst will assist with LMR product design efforts to improve LMR product design quality, usability, user adoption, workflow support, and time to market. With the new IS organization structure, this role is critical to help the LMR Product Design team be accountable and deliver high quality designs. Create highly usable application user interface for prototype development efforts. Working on User Centered Design principles, the primary focus is on the front half of the system, driving the front-end and the user workflow / user interface side of the platform and products.

For more information go to: User Interface Analyst, LMR Product Design

User Interface Engineer, LMR Product Design - Job Grade: 625

Reporting to: Qi Li

The user interface engineer will assist with LMR product design efforts to improve LMR product design quality, usability, user adoption, and time to market. With the new IS organization structure, this role is critical to help the LMR Product Design team be accountable and deliver high quality designs. The analyst will support the development of visual and testable prototypes that portray the software user interface, features, workflow, usage models and functions in a non-working prototype format to refine the software interventions prior to programming by the core LMR development team.

For more information go to: User Interface Engineer, LMR Product Design

Usability Analyst, LMR Product Design - Job Grade: 625

Reporting to: Qi Li

Will assist with LMR product design efforts to improve LMR product design quality, usability, user adoption, workflow support, and time to market. With the new IS organization structure, this role is critical to help the LMR Product Design team be accountable and deliver high quality designs. Support usability assessment, workflow assessment, and participate in user centered design for key design projects. Maintain LMR user interface style guide and participate in Partners user interface standard committee. Lead full usability analysis of key projects including both prototype design work in CIRD and alpha/beta/GA products.

For more information go to: Usability Analyst, LMR Product Design