When I put my virginity up for auction in September, it was in part a sociological experiment — I wanted to study the public’s response. Now it seems that the tables have turned, and the public is studying me.

I’m a 22-year-old woman who recently earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Women’s Studies, and soon I’ll be entering a Masters Degree program in Marriage and Family Therapy. During the time in between, in addition to my regular 9-to-5, I’ve been exploring my upcoming thesis project: the value of virginity. To be more specific, I’ve put my own virginity up for auction on the Moonlight Bunny Ranch website, and I recently received my highest bid so far: a cool $3.8 million.

In addition to bids, however, I’ve also received an astonishing, sometimes unnerving, amount of media attention. Many of these reports have portrayed me inaccurately, however, so let me tell you what this is all about.

This all started long before September. In fact, it started in college, where my eyes were opened by my Women’s Studies professors and fellow classmates. I came to understand the role of “woman” spanning culture and time. At the university level, I was given permission to think differently and form a moral code of my own design. College opened my eyes. Continue

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The L Word spin-off: It will star The L Word’s Leisha Hailey and will be a “very different, substantially different show” from The L Word, he says.

Hailey’s character Alice Pieszecki goes to jail, where the new show would be set. While The L Word, which will conclude as a series after its yet-to-premiere sixth season, focuses primarily on a community of lesbians, the spin-off would involve a broad spectrum of characters, including some lesbians, Greenblatt says: “It’s a big group of characters and there’s a few lesbians in that group, but it isn’t the exact makeup of what The L Word was.”

When asked if it is a “female Oz,” he says that was “not a bad description,” though it would not be as dark as Oz, the gritty, former HBO series.

Three guest stars appear in the pilot and may or may not go forward on the series should it get picked up: Melissa Leo (Frozen River), Famke Janssen and Laurie Metcalf.

Greenblatt says he expects to make a decision about the pilot, which he has not yet seen cut together, in the next couple of months.

Can someone tell me why Showtime is determined to spoil the entire sixth season of The L Word? If the writers were going for a mystery thriller based on who killed Jenny, and now we know Alice lands in jail, is there really any suspense for the last eight episodes? Oh my, do I see a shark down there?

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Openly lesbian , a 65-year-old whose Jan. 31 elevation to the post of Prime Minister would have seemed the longest of long shots thirty years ago, at the start of the former flight attendant’s political career.

Or, perhaps not: this is a woman whose determination and perseverance have set her apart from others in the tiny nation’s government, a woman who once formed her own party before recommitting to the Social Democratic Alliance.

With Sigurdardottir having taken the reigns of national leadership and Iceland headed toward membership in the European Union, the promise of hope for a nation beset by deep economic woes–and the Jan. 26 fall of a government that had lost the trust of its people–far outweigh the sexual orientation of the new leader.

Even so, Sigurdardottir’s assumption of the role of Prime Minister marks an historic step forward: never before has an openly GLBT individual been prime minister of a nation.

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The cause was colon cancer, said her longtime publicist, Andrew E. Freedman. Full article

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Last night’s rare sky formation called a “bridge triangle”. Taken in Rincon, Puerto Rico.

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According to the NYT, residents and tourists waded through knee-deep water yesterday as they navigated the city’s narrow streets and alleys, and its historic St. Mark’s Square was inundated.

One of the highest tides in its history brought Venice to a virtual halt, rekindling a debate over a plan to build moveable flood barriers in an effort to save the city from high tides.

For three decades, a single idea on how to safeguard Venice and its lagoon from sinking beneath the sea has held sway: a wall of hinged barriers at each of the three entrances to the lagoon that would rise at the flick of a switch to collectively block extreme high tides from entering the lagoon. Sounds simple, right? Well, it is, after a fashion. Below, watch an animated movie and see how the mobile gates would work.

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Ms. Rogers recently served as President of Social Networking for Allstate Financial, LLC. Ms. Rogers served as the first female and first Black President of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, now divisions of Integrys Energy Group. She is also a mother (of one daughter Victoria), a political fundraiser, and highly active on the Chicago Social Scene.

She earned a MBA from Harvard University and a BA in political science from Wellesley College. She is consistently named one of the 50 most powerful Black business women by Black Enterprise. Celebrated for her great sense of style and business acumen, Rogers has also been featured in Vogue Magazine

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Mrs. Clinton came to her decision after additional discussion with President-elect Barack Obama about the nature of her role and his plans for foreign policy, said one of the confidants, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the situation. [NYT]

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