(no subject)

[theyellowhobbit]

The Thesis list:

Read Mary Douglass
Write about Mary Douglass
Read Ronny Reich
Write about Ronny Reich
Read the short Neusner book
Write about the short Neusner book
Read the huge stack of books on my desk
Write about the huge stack of books on my desk
Write an outline
Compose a bibliography


In other news, according to the mishnah of Niddah, a woman is considered a virgin only until she has her first period. Regardless of whether or not she's married.

In other other news, the sprinklers were going off as I went to North to visit levana_b and superducky1 for an ice-cream study break.

It's nice to be able to walk there, since I live so close. Last year I wouldn't have been able to, since who would come all the way out to 42nd and Spruce to walk me to North? It's one thing to walk someone home, but to walk them out? No one does that.

It's weird. Surprisingly I've never really been in danger, Baruch Hashem. Mind you, I live in the crime-infested land of West Philly, so this is no small feat. I've had friends who have gotten broken into, gotten mugged, or have had even worse things happen to them. And somehow I've avoided it all. Perhaps God is watching out for me. (Though then why isn't God watching out for all of my friends who these things have happened to?)

Anyways, I also went to the gym (all girls swimming!) since I was feeling fat again, which seems to be the theme of this month's LJing. Yes, I know. I shouldn't have had ice cream tonight if I felt fat. Common sense, right? Well I can always go to the gym again tomorrow. And in general I've gotten back to a semi-normal diet. Unfortunately, the scale at Pottruck, which I usually trust, said I was 128.4. Lovely. Just what I needed. (I know that I'm thinner than I was at the end of last semester, though, and then I weighed like 125ish. WTF? Stupid muscle...)

And my left shoulder is still sore. My knots have knots.

Ok, back to the write up of Mary Douglass (say "Douglass!") and then Ronny Reich, and then maybe sleep!

*Edit*- I finished the Douglass piece. Of course, it's hard to sum up 200 pages in 1 single spaced page of review. But oh well. My book has tons of post it tabs on it, since I can't highlight it.

Comments

[maric23.livejournal.com]

Which douglass? Purity, or...?

[eitanhalevy.livejournal.com]

"according to the mishnah of Niddah, a woman is considered a virgin only until she has her first period"

I assume this is just as concerns laws of a niddah, no? As it is certainly not the case in other areas of halachah such as, for example, ketubot.

[masteraleph.livejournal.com]

Eitanhalevy is definitely right- not the case for ketubot and so on.

Remind me to tell you what Rambam says about how to check for virginity- or just ask Dredze, if you really want to hear it from him.

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

Purity and Danger. I linked to it in my away message. Though the reading fron Jacob Neusner I'm doing next also has a commentary by Mary Douglass.

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I definitely do NOT want to hear it from him. And it wouldn't be so appropriate to ask a married man about stuff like that...("Hey Dredze, what's up? How was the wedding? How does the Rambam check for virginity?")

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

It's probably just niddah, though still, you'd think they'd use a different word that was more accurate, since "virgin" is a very loaded term.

(Meanwhile we were also bemoaning the misuse of the word "retrospectively" where "retroactively should have been used. As a result, when I read I just switched it.)

[honkyredvan.livejournal.com]

Just remember that muscle weighs more than fat. How your clothes fit, how you look, and how you feel about yourself are far more important than what any scale tells you. I haven't lost any weight since I started working out almost 2 years ago, but I've completely changed my body composition and increased my self-esteem. That's the most important thing.

[eitanhalevy.livejournal.com]

Actually it's MORE appropriate (Jewishly) to ask a married man than a single one. We generally assume a married man will be better able to control himself...