Feminism hasn’t lessened the importance of looks

So many women are getting manicures that it almost feels ill-groomed to have unpolished nails. Facial treatments abound — chemical peels, dermabrasion, Botox injections, laser resurfacing, cryofacials, microneedling, the list goes on. Younger women pay for bikini waxes, and African American women for lash extensions.

You would expect the beauty practices that women perform and men don’t would be a feminist issue. Women have fought against inequality on numerous fronts. Feminism brought more women into public office. Females now outnumber males on college campuses. Yet women are spending more time, money, and effort on beauty care than ever.

End of an era for “Prison City”

My hometown could have had a reputation for its limestone, from which buildings around the country were constructed; or the nation’s first junior college; or big names like George Mikan and Mercedes McCambridge. But Joliet became best known for the Joliet and Stateville Correctional Centers long before John Belushi’s fictional “Joliet Jake” was released from the former.

The Joliet Correctional Center — better known as the Old Joliet Prison — closed in 2002. Now the state has proposed demolishing maximum-security Stateville, which is actually in next-door Crest Hill, with a facility focusing on rehabilitation and reentry, and moving downstate Logan’s women’s prison alongside it.

Coming late to new technology

Technology has made everyday tasks easier and simpler. But some of the old ways of doing things were fine too. 

Right now I’m thinking about toothbrushes. I was late coming to electric toothbrushes, as with most technology. I wasn’t purposely holding out, but I found manual toothbrushes fine and had a large collection of them from the dentist. Hygienists never told me I was doing a bad job of brushing.

I decided to give an electric toothbrush a try after asking the dentist for suggestions for spending an insurance benefit.