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Strollerderby
Can a woman be so drop-dead gorgeous that she’s distracting to look at, even in a turtleneck? That’s what former Citibank employee Debrahlee Lorenzana thinks.
The 33-year-old single mother was recently, um, canned from Citi because – she says – her employers found her wardrobe to be unprofessional. She feels she was discriminated against for being too beautiful and is suing Citi for sexual harassment.
You know, Debrahlee, we have a lot in common. I’m also a 33-year-old single mother. In fact, I’m quite sure the only reason I’m not dating anyone right now is because I’m too hot. Men just can’t handle this. Friday night, I was hosting a show, and someone said, “You look hot tonight!” And I thought, “Does she mean sweaty?” Cuz I am that hot. HOT.
According to the Daily News, Lorenzana said higher-ups told her, “‘Oh, your pants are too tight. You cannot wear turtlenecks. You cannot wear pencil skirts because you draw too much attention.’” Now, I’m not trying to make light of what might be a serious situation, because I know how difficult it can be as a woman to conform to corporate dress, especially during the summer months. I temped at various Wall Street firms for years, and I once got in trouble for wearing well-tailored black capri pants that fell below the knee. It was one of those 98 degree days in New York and I got derided for wearing “shorts.” Meanwhile, my colleagues in their much shorter pencil skirts were considered appropriately dressed. (Another firm allowed me to wear jeans for months as an admin, until finally one of my favorite guys on the sales desk said, “You know, I don’t care if you wear jeans, but I think the other girls are getting jealous.”)
I’m just saying, Lorenzana makes it sound like she simply can’t control the ravages of her beauty and that no matter what she wore she was left feeling helpless. There are photos of her in various clingy outfits all over the Internet, and while I don’t think they’re at all unprofessional, it doesn’t seem like she went out of her way to minimize the “flounce,” as a friend of mine was once was chided for. Too much flounce in the workplace! Maybe she should have just come to work naked? Continue reading »
Way back in 2008, students from a New York City teacher’s classroom went home with a neat list of filthy terms for sex acts transcribed into their notebooks.
Health teacher Faith Kramer was suspended from classroom teaching last year after conducting a sex ed class in which she invited students to share with the class all the slang terms they knew for various sex acts.
A 26-year veteran teacher, Kramer has been reinstated to teaching, but is suing the city for what she sees as an unfair suspension.
Irate parents are suing Procter & Gamble Co, the company that manufactures Pampers, claiming that their diapers have caused severe rashes and other skin conditions on their children.
The company calls the claims “completely false,” according to Reuters, citing court documents.
The class action lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on May 11, comes after parents complained that the updated Pampers Swaddlers and Cruisers diapers with P&G’s new Dry Max technology were causing rashes and burns on their children. Continue reading »
Gay marriage may not be legal in New York State, but one lesbian mom got a great Mother’s Day gift this week when the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that she is the legal parent of her 6-year-old son, “based on a Vermont civil union that she and her former partner entered into prior to his birth.”
The Drama
You see, Debra H. and Janice R. were just two crazy kids in love back in 2003, and they ran off to Vermont to get hitched. Or civil-unioned, “which at that time was the most legally significant relationship available to same-sex couples under U.S. law,” according to Lambda Legal, a nationwide organization fighting for the rights of GLBT people, and the representatives of the plaintiff. Janice R. got preggers using a sperm donor, and the happy couple met with an adoption lawyer before their son was born to arrange for Debra H. to have full parental rights. Lambda Legal stresses that, “Debra was by Janice’s side throughout labor and delivery and cut their son’s umbilical cord; her last name was included in their son’s name on his birth certificate.” After their son’s birth, Janice R. was all, “We don’t need The Man to sanction your parentage. It’s all good, baby, I love you.” But then Janice R. dumped Debra H. in 2006 and was like, “That’s my kid, bish!” Debra H. was like, “Say what, hooker?!” And then they went to court. Continue reading »
The Robbins Family, by Lori Waselchuk for USA TODAY
Lower Merion School District in Ardmore, PA is under fire for having snapped 56,000 photos of its 2,600 high school students over the course of two years using the webcams in school-issued laptops.
USA Today reports that the “family of Blake Robbins, 15, has filed a federal lawsuit claiming invasion of privacy. The U.S. attorney is investigating, and the American Civil Liberties Union is supporting the Robbinses’ suit.” Blake’s parents realized their son’s privacy had been violated when he was asked to see the assistant principal about “possible drug use she learned of through photos and instant messages captured on Blake’s computer.” The Robbins family says the “drugs” were nothing but a handful of Mike and Ikes. The question is, is this really news? Or just another story about poor little rich kids? Continue reading »
Jennifer Spiegel is suing a Chicago hospital for $30,000 in damages because, one night in 2008, a hospital nurse brought her the wrong day-old infant boy, and she mistakenly nursed him.
Today, Motherlode invites readers to weigh in on the question of nursing someone else’s child: would you?
I can understand Spiegel being distraught at the mix-up, but I have a hard time seeing it as grounds for a lawsuit.
But maybe I’m a little biased. I’m nursing someone else’s baby right now.
A week after a teacher was suspended for posting a vague complaint about an unidentified student on her Facebook page, a student from another school is given a pass for posting a specific complaint about a teacher on hers.
Katie Evans is no longer enrolled at Pembrook Pines Charter High School in Florida, but in 2007 she was a senior there and unhappy with one of her teachers. She set up a Facebook page to vent about “the worst teacher I’ve ever met.” If she expected sympathy from her fellow students, she didn’t get it. Instead, she was attacked by students who actually liked the teacher. Evans responded by taking the page down a few days later.
But Evans’ classmates weren’t the only ones who had a problem with her Facebook complaining. After school principal Peter Bayer got wind of it, he did more than disagree — he took advantage of his position of power and punished the honors student. Despite the fact that the page had long been removed, Bayer pulled Evans from her Advanced Placement classes and suspended her for three days. Continue reading »
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