first full day of school

Mrs. Lawson and I didn't have a plan for today's meeting; we ended up discussing a wide range of topics. I mentioned a professor at Ole Miss who has published books on women during wartime, and we discussed the difference between historical views and philosophical views on war and gender. From there, we also explored the changing definition and importance of marriage over time. For one, marriage is state-sanctioned (what does this mean for the people involved? how does this work in their favor? what is the role of the state in personal affairs?). I was surprised to learn some interesting rules about Jewish, Catholic, and Mormon marriages. This resulted in a discussion on same-sex marriage; why was it so seminal? Mrs. Lawson brought up a court case of a couple who sued the government for inheritance taxes, and she mentioned that this case essentially forced the SCOTUS to legalize same-sex marriages. We then turned to LGBT+ politics and considered the prevalence of the bathroom bill debate: what is the "right" answer or solution? We found ourselves wondering how many sides the argument really had - clearly, it was not a black and white issue. Everyone has an opinion. She also gave me the book The Intersectional Approach, and I shared a link of books on intersectional feminism that may come in handy. I plan to read/start the book she gave me over the weekend, as well as review the books on the link to find useful texts.