Kick ash Wednesday

Yet another bit of a climbing workout, with a different friend; good to be almost worn out by the end of the session, best sort of therapy. Lovely walks on the home front, as we made use of a rare stretch of sunniness.
Angela Carter, my current dominant reading material, has several pieces regarding the gender wrangles, from Linda Lovelace of "Deep Throat" fame to the politics of skin mags. This is where I start to fidget, when basic human behavior gets parsed out in high-falutin' language, even if Carter is on "my" side. This is stuff that needs to be addressed bluntly and plainly, and not tarted up for college debates. Very interesting, however.
And the feminist language issue can be applied in my own neighborhood: There is a new frou frou doggy shop on our shopping street called High Maintenance Bitch. They started out making feather boas for dogs in their basement, and are now purveyors of MAKE UP and such for female doggies. I ain't kiddin'. Sort of a vulgar moniker, and of course it has drawn some complaints. The owners are all, But REAL dog people know that the word "bitch" refers to dogs, we're just trying to reclaim it! Uh huh; then why the inclusion of a high maintenance-looking human female on the signage? If they'd leave off the human bitch, I'd buy their argument, even if the whole operation seems utterly useless. "Whiskera" for doggy faces?! I guess it's better than a gun store. Well, I think someone should start a shop just for male animals, and call it Arrogant Stud, putting a prickish-looking fellow and his studly dawg on its sign. Tit for tat.