I've always been a bit puzzled by our rush to declare something over. I suppose it shouldn't be so surprising since, as a nation, we suffer from a mad case of ADD, always enthusiastically moving on to the next new craze, be it hula hoops, cabbage patch dolls, energy drinks, or those cute boy bands made up of brothers with floppy hair.

Yet at the same time that half of us are rushing headlong into the future, the other half of us have to be dragged kicking and screaming. Could be fear of change. Could be love of drama. But whatever it is, there are those of us who prefer to look back on the mythic past as bygone days of a better era, glossing right over inconvenient truths like racism and sexism.

In somewhat of a paradox, it is often times these lovers of all things static that proudly declare we have moved past the need for a organized plan to advance the rights of any particular group of Americans.

We are in a post-feminist era, declare the women are so liberated that they no longer have need for advocacy of women's rights. And while it is true that I'm in no rush to get together with a bunch of my girlfriends while we examine our vaginas with hand mirrors, I have this nagging feeling that there still might be a little consciousness left to be raised. For example, women are still not paid the same wage for doing the same work as men. Imagine, in this post-feminist world, that I have to work almost 25% harder to support myself than does a man in a similar position. But it's okay, because I can dress provocatively and sleep with whomever I choose. Yay for the second wave.

Similarly, I have heard a few pundits declare that we're now living in the post-racial age. That is such a joke, I don't know where to begin. Our inner cities are devastated by the lack of equality in educational and economic opportunities, and a good portion of a generation of black men is serving time in prison for crimes borne of making a living in the only avenues available to them. Further, while it is clearly unacceptable to the majority of the population, crosses are still burned into front yards and racial slurs are still uttered. Yes, we just elected our first African-American president. It's a proud moment and one that will hopefully change how we look at one another going forward. But let's put off the congratulatory, "we're so enlightened", back pats for now.

And when three states have just voted to strip rights away from gays and lesbians, I certainly hope no one is ready to declare the post-sexual-orientation era is upon us. A few mornings ago,

I was listening to the news report about another suicide bombing in Baghdad. A female suicide bomber had blown herself up and taken a couple dozen people with her. Horrific. But why call her a "female suicide bomber?" Or more to the point, why don't we ever hear about "male suicide bombers?" Why is there never a story about John Smith, the white male doctor instead of Dr. John Smith (white-maleness implied)?

When we haven't achieved something so simple as not having a conversational default to white and male absent other qualifiers, we aren't post anything. Yet.