Male Engineering Student Perfectly Explains Why Female Classmates Aren’t His Equals

If I could wave a magic wand and undo all of the biases and discrimination my wife and daughter and mother and sisters and nieces and all the other wonderful, capable women I know have to face for their entire lives, I would. Instead, the best I can do is continue doggedly trying to discover and eliminate my own, to pass what I learn along to my son, and to encourage them all to keep fighting for what they deserve based on their merits and capabilities. Of all things, learning to focus most on what they can *do*, and less on how they *look*, is at the top of my list of daily To Do items.

Male Engineering Student Perfectly Explains Why Female Classmates Aren’t His Equals

Malala Yousafzai at SJSU

There are days that are regular, where you just go about your business as usual. And there are days that are difficult or trying for some reason, where it takes all of your strength to get through it, barely putting one foot in front of the other. And then there are days where something wonderful or inspiring happens, or where you find yourself in the presence of someone inspiring by virtue of who they are and what they have done. And when you're really lucky, more than one source of inspiration will come to you all at once. I try to notice when it's one of those days, and really soak up the energy, hoping to store it up for later, for those regular or difficult days. Today is one of those days for me, for a lot of reasons. The reason I'll mention right now, is that we are going to see this wonderful young woman, Malala, at SJSU.
Malala Yousafzai at SJSU

Thank you, SCOTUS...

...for doing the right thing and granting equal rights for all people to marry. Thank you, activists who poured yourself into helping make this happen. And yay, all of us! In terms of the laws that govern us, we officially live in a more civil society today than we did yesterday.

How secular family values stand up

Most of my family, and many of my friends, are religious. I assume most of them know that I am not. I think those that know me think of me as a good person, or at least a well-meaning, loving person, but I also know that they have concerns about me because of my lack of faith. A big topic is, "Without religion, where do your morals come from?" This (relatively brief) article is a nice discussion of the topic. The short answer: The Golden Rule.

How secular family values stand up