I’m writing this almost three weeks after being inducted to Blogger status, and I’m writing this NOW before I get shy/scared/timid again and run out of nerve:

Hi. I’m Annabelle, and this is my first blog.

There is a new emergency contraception pill on the market, called "ella", that has just been approved by the FDA for prescription sale: The Huffington Post reports.

The new drug reportedly works up to five days after unprotected sex has occurred, and prevents pregnancy more consistently than Plan B. The FDA processed this one quickly and professionally, unlike the fiasco with Plan B back in '06. (We all remember. Ugh.)

So, that's refreshing #1. Refreshing #2 was a conversation I had with a close (male) friend on the El.

While reading one of my favorite blogs, Racialicious, I saw a link to a Sepia Mutiny piece by blogger Vivek about the recent Time magazine cover of Aisha, an Afghani woman whose nose and ears were cut off by her husband’s family. Aisha’s in-laws attacked her after she attempted to escape her abusive husband.

I was affected recently by some discussion around the blogosphere about a new Gap window advertisement which suggests that people with body parts which some might deem unsightly should conceal themselves for the good of mankind. That interpretation sounds a little extreme, I'll admit, but given that the ad is SCREAMING in huge, capital letters for you to buy their pants – not because the company wants your money, mind you, but simply for the sake of all the helpless people who have to look at you – is pretty extreme in itself, utilizing flat-out bullying and meanness to get you to buy their stupid clothes.

Well this is just grand. Victoria's Secret Angel Gisele Bundchen said the law should mandate breastfeeding for the first six months of an infant's life.

This is how not to talk about breastfeeding.

My user profile now says I have been a member here for one week and one day, and yet I still have not made my introductory post. I haven't been able to post yet because I've been busy, but now I figure explaining why I have been so busy, and what I've been up to, is as good an introduction as any.

Bitch.

I want to say it.

It left my vocabulary August 18th, 2008. I was participating in a pre-orientation program run by my university’s center for social justice. Guided by 15 returning students, 43 freshmen and I spent a week volunteering, exploring the city, and listening to challenging speakers. At the end of each supersaturated day, group reflections helped us process our experiences.

I’m still reflecting.

Well this is rich. A man, and I don't doubt it's a white man, prates about how there is sexism in Africa.

After a few days of agonizing over what I would write about in this first post, I decided the best way to start would be a little introduction about me and how I fell into feminism.

I say I "fell" into feminism because I didn't realize how much of a feminist I was until I was adding a women's and gender studies major to my journalism course load at the beginning of my junior year of college.

I work a couple of shifts at a local game store each week. Being a "gamer girl"--there's no getting around the nomenclature--supplies me with an endless amount of horrors for feminist commentary; I couldn't fit them all on this blog if I tried. D&D's new 4th edition Demonomicon, however, demands some public criticism.

The cover art is brutal. While sexism is practically a D&D staple, and the sexualization of violence against women has always been a part of that, this cover takes the theme to a grotesque extreme.

The French lower house of parliament just passed a ban on (full) niqabs and burqas--335 to 1.

This proposition will now move on to the Senate, and thereafter to constitutional interpreters, afterwhich it will almost certainly be signed into law. Once it goes into effect, wearing a full veil in public will be an offense punishable by a €150 fine--whereas forcing a woman to wear one is punishable by a fine of up to €15,000 and a year in jail. Several other countries are now seriously discussing bans of their own.

This weekend a friend and I went to the Smithsonian. After eating lunch, we wandered into the Smithsonian Information Center. The center housed Madeline Albright's entire pin collection, which numbers around 60. She had all sorts of pins; animals, aliens, flowers, jazz instruments and even a mini missile. The exhibit also contained a book Albright wrote about her pin collection, aptly titled "Read My Pins."

This spring, getting accepted as an AllGirlArmy blogger was one of my proudest accomplishments. I was ecstatic. I saw joining AGA as an opportunity to build feminist community while regaining my passion for writing. A logical observer, noting my excitement at this incredible opportunity, might have expected me to write My First Blog lickety-split. Perhaps this logical observer eagerly checked my page on the first day of my enlistment. Heck, maybe ze even scouted me, reading the AGA recruitment reports and wondering if I could be rookie of the year.

I was browsing the morning news today and came across an article titled, "Healthy women mean healthier nations."

"No duh," I mumbled, and kept scrolling... then had to rewind on myself as the verbiage actually caught up. "Wait, WHAT?"

Let's rephrase that title, without altering its meaning, to illustrate why it made me choke on my morning tea a little. "When half your population is healthy, your nation is healthier."