Mindless Philosopher

So, Coworker feels that “on a progressive campaign we shouldn’t be using the term ‘gender’ in our database to distinguish between male/female. Instead we should use the term ‘sex’.”
Now I honestly didn’t know there was a difference between the meanings of these two terms. I used “gender” so that sensitive volunteers wouldn’t have to look at the word “sex” when entering data.
Coworker informs me that “gender” is a “societal construct” where “sex” is a “biological determination” and that volunteers from Smith College would be offended by our use of “gender” (I’m not touching that stereotype). Seems that dictionary.com backs up this claim. I retorted that since some of our supporters would like to be identified as male/female based on how they identified themselves (instead of whichever sex biology imposed upon them), we should still use “gender.”
Thoughts?

Friday: Coworker was getting the NH donor list from National HQ to thank all the donors; turns out I gave 19 times in the 3rd quarter. Yeah, prob. went a little overboard, but that bat’s are fun!
Then off to MIT for Shabbat dinner. Got stucking in traffic in Boston, even though rush hour was waning and I was reverse-commuting. That city has serious traffic pattern issues. I was late to services, but in time for dinner. The food didn’t seem all that different under this new Kosher dining plan regime that they have this year.
From Hillel to East Campus, second east where Elana gave me her keys so I could travel with impunity. Crossed the courtyard to thrid west to see Kate and celebrate the fact that she’s happy! Saw more EC alums back on 2E and the first east Garden of Eden party. Walked back across campus to chat with Katie, Dave, Jenny (et al)…then to Zeta Psi for my Bro’s party, which is when things got more interesting:
Lo! No longer was I just another MITer majoring in 6 and 17, but I worked for Ho Dean. Yes, that Howard that’s winning in lots of polls and taking the country (and esp. college campuses) by storm. Now I had a schtick. Now girls were slightly interested. Now a frat party was more fun.
Finally made it to my final destination of Dawn’s room at 3am. Got up early Saturday to go to the Bat Mitzvah service of Dawn’s cousin, Carolyn. The service was fabulous; I thought the congregation seemed Reconstructionist, but they chose the term (only half-jokingly) “Hassidic Reform.” They had dancing during the catchy tunes and encouraged people to go outside to find a private spot during the silent prayer. Much better than anything offered in NH.
Took a nap at Dawn’s in between the service and the party that evening. Pretty standard Bar/Bat Mitzvah party, except they had a video screen that displayed a live shot of the dance floor, a slideshow of Carolyn’s baby pictures, and music videos. The entertainment “commando squad” had the kids play this great scaveger hunt game, where they get things from adults: driver’s license, a dollar in change, credit card, “Hawaiian currency,” etc. This one girl kept coming up to me for stuff and I was happy to oblige where I could. Something I would regret when the DJ called out “find a guy with lipstick on his face.” Fourty-five seconds later there’s the girl holding out her Mom’s lipstick. Since time was running low, she hurridly applied it, and, well, missed. Apparently I had it all over and on my teeth; and somewhere out there is art of this moment….
Drove Dawn home, and hopped over to Karen+Mike’s for some late night Parcheesi. Mike was so concerned about me winning, that he let Karen take home the top prize. I edged out second place by one square.
Sunday it was back to work, by helping at Nashua’s Regional Organizing Convention (ROC). Then Kill Bill, which was a non-thought-driven action movie: pretty much what I was looking for. After that, it was to the Lake’s for the big post-ROC party. Lots of partying this weekend. I need sleep.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:
Bush told his senior aides Tuesday that he “didn’t want to see any stories” quoting unnamed administration officials in the media anymore, and that if he did, there would be consequences, said a senior administration official who asked that his name not be used.
This was noted in my link of the day: Democratic Underground