the only socially conscious post i will ever make

wow, somebody actually requested i put something up here today since they were bored at work. i'll take it as a sign that they were simply bored at work and not that they are totally enamored with my blogging abilities.

i am a (part-time) graduate student at george mason. i'm working on my MA in applied history. i just started this semester, and there was only 1 class that actually fit my schedule. what class is that, you ask? a women's studies class that the history department decided to crosslist. topic? women and work in america. excellent. well, i thought to myself as i signed up... at least there won't be a whole hell of a lot to learn or talk about. should be easy. kidding - maybe.

but, enough girl-hating, and let me get to the point. we read a book last week by Liza Featherstone, Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Worker's Rights at Wal-Mart. The whole book: shocking, simply shocking.

want facts? click here. these are all real facts. these all appeared in the book. it's incredible. just stuff off the top of my head that bugs me about wal-mart...

• the difference in pay between top level executive men and women doing the same job? 33%
  
• wal-mart's business model is so dirty that they pay their employees so little that they have to apply for federal aid (food stamps, etc) but the trick to that? is that by getting paid so little, they can only afford to shop in one place. where? you guessed it
• they are so anti-union that they literally have an anti-union SWAT team that, at receiving word that discussion of unionizing(even the mention of it by one employee) has taken place, they get on a the anti-union SWAT jet in arkansas and fly to the store

ok i have to go to charlottesville now. maybe i'll post some links about the class action lawsuit up at a later date.

go hoos!