Been a couple things this week. So with International Women's Day is coming I decided that I'd start off this multi-topic article in dedication of women's rights.

Post-Marriage Name Change: Is It Worth It?

Let us face it, no matter what religion, political group, race hell or even any civilization, women have always been treated as being a complement for a man. Unfortunately, I'm going to note that I've noticed A LOT of even regular parts of our society today that displays this type of attitude.

One of these, is the name changing tradition after marriage, which I personally find to be sexist in nature.

Ever notice how women are always expected, not by law, but by society to change their last names to their husbands' last names after marriage? Then their kids are known by the father's last name, not the mother's. It's rather sickening, then the entire family is known by that name.

Also notice this, this is another overtly common sexist tradition of society. Let's say my name for intents and purposes was John Smith, let's say my wife's name was Mary Smith (post-marriage). Ever notice how people will greet you something like, "Dear Mr. and Mrs. John Smith". So at that point, not only are we eliminating the woman's last name, we're eliminating her ENTIRE identity.

As a young child, it's something I never understood, why on letters it read, "Mr. and Mrs. [father's name]". It just never made sense to me, and still to this day, does not make sense to me.

This facet of society is so common, and has been so ingrained in our society, that even many of the feminists and women for progressive values also practice it.

It is for this reason, that whoever I marry, will keep her last name. Our kids will bear both of our surnames. Period.

So that ends that.

Lent season

So moving on to my second topic, Lent season! The spring season is a VERY holy time for Christianity and Judaism. For those into the Christian faith, as y'all know Ash Wednesday kicked off the Festival of Lent. This isn't your average festival (surely not anything like Christmas), as this is actually a solemn observation, similarly to the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

A woman gets her forehead stamped with a cross from ash, as part of the holiday of Ash Wednesday which starts Lent

Those observing Lent must fast for about six weeks or so, up until Easter. We're not talking the type of fasting where you can't eat or drink, but the type of fasting where you abstain from something that normally pleasures you.

For example, as y'all know me, I'm a sweets addict. If I practiced Lent, I'd be giving up sweets for about a month and two weeks (yeah...not gonna happen). For those into coffee, you'd be giving up coffee for about month and two weeks and etc.

It's important to note that "fasting" from a religious perspective can actually have differing definitions depending on the festival or holiday. Generally, it follows the same path - "abstaining" from something.

So during this time, those observing eat fried fish on Fridays. For some denominations, especially Catholic ones, fasting from meat every Friday is a year-round thing, though as many sources will tell you, this is becoming rather archaic in practice with only few abiding by it.

For those practicing Judaism, they got Passover which begin April 10 and ends on April 18. This festival commemorates the Exodus of the Jewish community from Egypt. During this time, Jews are to "fast" from eating anything with yeast in it.

Hence, this is where the "no bread" rule comes into play, since almost all our breads, cakes and pastries contain yeast. This "no yeast" rule comes from Exodus 12:18-20, which itself, came from the incident in Exodus 12:8 when God instructed the the Israelites in Egypt not to make bread with yeast, and then it shows the practicality in Exodus 12:39 since the Israelites had to make the run to get out of Egypt, therefore not having enough time to get bread to fully rise or prepare other foods.

Traditional Passover foods includes the famous matzo cracker, an unleavened bread product that Jews consume in place of traditional bread. Jews also partake in a ritual meal known as the Seder.

The Passover festival then leads up to the Christian holiday of Good Friday.

On Good Friday, the most solemn day of the Lent season (which commemorates the crucifixion and death of the Biblical Messiah Y'shua ben David or Jesus Christ), Christians "fast" by abstaining from all meat. On this day, Christians instead eat fish and seafoods in its place, oh heck - try to go to a Long John Silver's or Red Lobster on Good Friday, let alone Lenten Fridays, good luck.

A Long John Silver's on a Lenten Friday in 2014

For countries like Mexico, Spain and the Philippines, they perform reenactments of the crucifixion on Good Friday. However, those in the Philippines are rather notorious for being REAL: because people actually beat themselves, and get crucified, on a cross, with nails.

Yes, you read that right. As a matter of fact, my uncle, who has witnessed these events, and said that you'll often get blood splashed on your car windows if you happen to drive through these activities, because of the severity of the self-flagellation.

No..that's not mere acting, this man is actually SCREAMING in pain and agony as people dressed as Roman soldiers, ACTUALLY pierce nails through his hands in this re-enactment in the Philippines.

The Kansas shooting: the reaction

So, my third topic: this entire Kansas shooting and Donald Trump's supposed "silence" of it. Lately, I've been hearing a lot liberals, obviously a lot of them being Indians, venting off about Donald Trump and his handling of the Kansas shooting.

Firstly, I'll agree on one part. What happened to those two guys was unacceptable, the man who shot him needs to be punished because he is clearly a hateful bigot who is a danger to society.

Let me first say this: Donald Trump didn't shoot those two Indian immigrants, so I don't really understand the entire anti-Trump rhetoric behind the reaction.

Guess what? Donald Trump certainly agrees, because he started OFF his speech to Congress addressing the Kansas shooting and the vandalization of the Jewish cemeteries as "forms of hate and evil".

In addition, these kinds of situations where people are getting shot and murdered, are unfortunately just regular life for people living in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, who experience minority-on-minority violence on a day-to-day basis.

Well...that's all I got for this week. See y'all then!