Fort Worth Feminism

 This is really interesting…I knew bottled water isn’t good for the environment but I didn’t know just how much damage it does.

http://www.onlineeducation.net/bottled_water/

How lovely. Fort Worth has made the national news yet again for something sexist…Arlington Heights High School senior Mackenzie McCollum was first kicked off of the volleyball team and then allowed back on but with playing time cut for being pregnant. She was required three times to provide doctors’ notes in order to be reinstated. The coach even announced her pregnancy (unauthorized) to the team. This raises a lot of issues, but the one I’m most concerned with is the treating of pregnancy as a disability. Why on earth would someone need to stop playing volleyball because they are pregnant? If anything, most doctors will tell you, they should keep up the previous level of activity as much as possible. Read more here.

So it’s definitely been awhile since I’ve posted anything and to all five of my readers I am sorry! My excuse is that I’ve been embroiled in a housing situation nightmare–which has zapped my will to live…not to mention my will to blog.  After the sale of our condo in June, the loan process to get our new home was pretty horrible. But what has happened since then has been ten times worse…after applying and receiving a 203K Home Renovation (FHA) loan, part of a government program to enable people to fix up older homes rather than buying or building new ones, chaos ensued.

Basically, the company that originally held the 203K portion of our loan folded and Bank of America bought all the loans they had. Well, this swamped Bank of America and it took 60 days from closing for our contractors to get a check (meanwhile we ended up crashing at my in-laws house for a total of  four months). Every step of the way with the bank has been a huge hassle and we have even been scared at times that they would never give us our money…and of course at one point the contractor stopped working and what was supposed to be a week and a half project has been going on for 2 and 1/2 months and is still not finished.

So, basically, we would not be able to have stayed in a central part of the city in a home as nice as the one we were able to buy as a result of this loan without it. But the loan was SO HARD TO GET and has been SO HARD TO USE that I wonder if everyone who could benefit from these types of loans is able to get access to them?

This may not seem like it goes along with this blog’s feminist theme, but part of feminism is about speaking up so that people have equal access to programs that are beneficial for them and the cities they live in (which the 203K program could be if handled better).  If two people with fairly decent incomes and credit take nearly 60 days to close on a loan (almost not getting qualified) and then can’t navigate the system to pay their contractors in a timely manner, what would happen to someone in a slightly less fortunate situation do? What would have happened if we didn’t have the luxury of having family in town to stay with? I can tell you right now an apartment on top of a mortgage would have been completely out of our financial bounds. If we had made just a tiny bit less each month, we would not have qualified for the loan. If the house had appraised for just a tiny bit less, we woul not have qualified. It makes me wonder how many hard working, honest, bill-paying people get turned down for loans of this type and if that is part of why so many people in our age group (late 20s) end up fleeing to suburbs like Keller to get “more house for the money.” 

I wonder what can be done to make access to home renovation loans better? Any ideas?

If you’d like more details on what a nightmare working with Bank of America has been, read here.

This: http://awomanisnotapreexistingcondition.com/# is completely awesome. If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, you know that being pregnant, having a c-section, being treated for issues stemming from rape, domestic violence and other things that women go through regularly are being treated like pre-existing conditions by health insurance companies–which essentially allows them to not cover a large group of women. This is clearly wrong. Check out the Web site above — it’s awesome and I hope it helps women get what they need when healthcare reform is finally settled.

A sobering statistic: in 2008, 136 women that we know of were killed by an intimate partner. TCFV has the full report. Take a few minutes to read it…it gives the names, counties, and circumstances surrounding the deaths, which really puts it into perspective.

http://www.tcfv.org/pdf/dvam2009/ListofWomenKilled.pdf

This is seriously cool. Jimmy Carter announced that he is leaving the Southern Baptist church because of its treatment of women and girls (which is based on the church’s belief that women must be subservient to men). Read more here:

http://www.feministing.com/archives/016792.html

This is appaling.

http://www.feministing.com/archives/015357.html

As if a rape survivor doesn’t have enough strife to deal with…Apparently rape victims in Houston (and likely other Texas cities) are being denied funding from the Crime Victims Compensation Fund and are being called on by bill collectors to pay for the evidence taken in crimes against them.  FYI, a rape kit can cost up to $1,800. Like rape victims needed another reason to not report their rapes.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/19400415/detail.html#-

UPDATE: Maybe not after all? http://jezebel.com/5259454/texas-attorney-general-is-not-charging-victims-for-rape-kits