How to Do It!

Hot.

We're Fucked.

What? You think that you have a CHOICE in whether or not you can control your own body? Ha!

Now there is really no reason to watch the Sox.

Ta-ta, Theo.

Leading the Student Movement.

Bring it, s p e c i a l interests.

Like, OMG! Manis and Pedis Totally Enable Us to Get Ahead in the World! Spa Networking!

I couldn't even read this entire thing.

Ok, so yes, golf clubs, cigar bars, strip clubs have traditionally been where men ahve conducted business, which has perpetuated the old boys club controlling the...world. And yes, women should be able to have the same thing. But honestly, MUST it involved fucking facials, manicures, and pedicures?! WHY must women live up to society's expectations? Or am I being opressive of my own sex? Would a paradigm shift make it seem like men going to cigar bars being this new thing that society expects men to do? Should I be embracing that businesswomen are finding their own way to network and build connections?

Women in Leadership

Ellen Goodman, a Globe Columnist, wrote this morning, Rosa Parks was ''unassuming" -- except that she rejected all the assumptions about her place in the world. Rosa Parks was a ''simple woman" -- except for a mind made up and fed up. She was ''quiet" -- except, of course, for one thing. Her willingness to say ''no" changed the world.

Interesting read. Goodman notes that the way the media/history books want our women leaders to be humble and unassuming and our male leaders to be heros. So true. So fucked up.

In a related note, the way in which Miers was ripped apart in the media was abhorrent. Granted, she doesn't have judicial or constitutional experience, but she was ripped apart by both side of the aisle, AND criticized for not being attractive, being a work-a-holic, not being married and not have kids. So...basically, she (and women) are damned if we do have both a career and choose to have a family OR if we choose to focus solely on a career OR choose to focus on solely raising a family.

Men never have to make any choices. Fuckers.

What if Rosa Parks had...an Ipod?

As you know, Rosa Parks passed away a few days ago. As a child, I learned that she just "decided" one day to not get up from the white section of the bus. Though she is now heralded as the mother of the Civil Rights movement of the 60s, the real story--that dozens of people had done the same thing before her, that there had been some serious organizing going on all culminating with Parks not moving from her seat--is rarely told.

A friend sent me this link and it is what spurrs me to post the below letter to the editor that the State PIRG's Higher Education campaign is getting printed across the country. Seriously, WHAT THE FUCK is Apple thinking!? How DARE they compare themselves to a woman who literally put her LIFE on the line in the name of CIVIL RIGHTS!? It makes me want to throw my ipod on the ground and stamp on it. Almost.


ROSA PARKS AND THE FIGHT FOR OPPORTUNITY

Yesterday Rosa Parks died at age 92. As the woman who wouldn’t go to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama so many years ago, she is widely considered the mother of the civil rights movement.

It is hard not to be moved by this sweet, practical woman who dedicated herself to doing what she could to create equal opportunity for African Americans in this country. She spent 12 years working at her local NAACP chapter and even attended training at the civil rights organizing school, the Highlander Center in Tennessee, to advance her views. Her courage and conviction to refuse to leave her seat became a tipping point in our country’s history. It galvanized an entire generation to review the kind of society we want to live in, to admit that our country’s actions at the time did not stack up to our words of freedom and justice for all. And ultimately we decided to change and our decision makers responded.

Many of the decisions that came out of the civil rights struggle for freedom are not only notable for their impact on our country’s social fabric, but also notable in that they continue to inspire and motivate us even today. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Higher Education Act of 1965, were all passed to ensure equal opportunity for Americans of all socioeconomic backgrounds, so that no one could be denied their fundamental right to be the best they can be.

In the next week, Congress will move to gut the student loan programs and make it harder for students from all incomes and ethnicities to access and afford a higher degree. This move reminds us that despite the improvements, despite the advancements, we must not take freedom for granted. We must take our lesson from Rosa, whose accomplishments came about because she chose to stand up for her views again and again. Unless regular people like her speak up for the standard they find acceptable for our country, then our decision makers will not take us in the direction we seek.

We have made choices about society that are based on our respect for one another as individuals, as neighbors and community members, and as advocates for freedom and opportunity on the world’s stage. And with the right voices speaking up, we can do it again.

Rosa Parks, rest in peace. Yours was a life that will continue to push us onward and upward for years to come.

Table Manners

So, the woman who brought me up, Cookie Parnell, is a true Southern Belle. Cookie grew up in Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach, NC; lovely little coastal towns that have become a popular family and young people tourist destination and is growing in its reputation for being a liberal haven in southeastern North Carolina. Cookie is smart, beautiful, bright, proper, and practically runs the volunteer scene in Charlotte. The more I think about it, Cookie represents the "Proper Southern Belle"--both the good and the bad. I like to think I take after her in many ways (extraodinary hostess, witty and charming, throw excellent parties, great cooks, have style and always look their best. Ok, maybe not that.) and I have dramtically fallen off the perverbial Southern Belle wagon (mostly with regards to inappropriate bodily functions, the fact that I eat a lot, I regularly make out with people on a first date, I curse like a sailor, and I am not afraid to go after someone I want. Unless I am really into them. That's another story.). All in all, I've taken a little from the past (excellent party thrower, etc) and have blazed into the present (I sneer at women who are afraid to ask someone out. I mean, honestly, what's the point?).

Clearly I still value things the ole' Cook-ster taught me at a wee age, among them being table manners. I never thought that it was strange or weird or different than anyone else to put my napkin in my lap, not talk with my mouth full, put my soup spoon on the side of the plate rather than leave it in the bowl, use proper utensils. Apparently, I am wrong. I never noticed other peoples' table manners until I escaped to college. Specifically, I have a friend who once told me the first thing he really noticed about me was my table manners (so, he said it when he was trying to hit on me. it worked.). It was those late night freshmen year chats that enlightened me that not everyones' parents made them go to teen cotillion classes, where they learned how to dance outdated dances (tango, waltz, foxtrot, etc. we learned how to shag--the dance--which is still useful every few years). Another friend of mine took an etiquette class her first year in college because her then-gf (a debutante) asked her to take it with her. My roommate remembers her mom reading to her and her sisters from Emily Post. In fact, there are literally hundreds of books and websites about how to raise one's children with good manners. There are women (and men, for that matter) whose lives were totally devoted to having "good" manners; people who learned a set of manners that would enable them to quickly climb the social ladder.

I used to think that manners were just part of my Southern upbringing--an upper-middle class mostly happy childhood. I learned how to behave in social settings (children should be seen and not heard), I learned how to be a gracious host, how to treat guests, how to act at the table. In short, Southern social graces. (There are, of course, those who would argue that I've lost those graces, being in yankee-land for so long. she is the one in the pink dress and blond wig.). Manners, however, don't denote one's class or race or gender or sexuality or religion. So if manners no long indicate one's class (with the idea that there is a segment of the population who would aspire to "behave" like the segment above it), why are people still so obsessed with teaching their young antiquated traditions?

Disclaimer: I'm sick, so this is totally incoherant.

Boston Bike Film Festival!

While I cringe thinking about driving in the Hub, I have unfortunately become a masshole driver. I also bought the cutest bike ever this summer which I decorated with streamers and a dancing-bear bell. It is interesting to see peoples' reactions when I bike around town: kids in Southie saying my bike is "wicked sick" as I cruise by; businesswomen in the Financial District giving me thumbs up and smiling.

I've rekindled my love of biking, to say the least. Fortunately, there is a festival for it!

I'll meet you down on Hooker Lane

In Greenwich, CT, a wealthy suburb of New York, there is a residential street called Hooker Lane. Residents, with little more to complain about than the local Lacoste store having a low stock on pink shirts, are up in arms:
"Well, there's 'You live on Prostitute Street,' that's typical," said Brendan O'Connor, a cherub-faced 12-year-old, whose world-weary tone belied his tender age. "It's grating," his mother, Lisa O'Connor, said."

You've got to be joking. The 9 of the 11 homeowners on the street signed a petition to change the name and have called a Town Meeting to vote on the new name. Good to know democracy is still working for the little people.

Miers' Woman Problem.

we've all heard it--harriet is the office wife, she's ferverntly anti-abortion, but in an open-minded sort of way. Ellen Goodman, a Globe columnist, has an interesting article in today's editorial section. Check it out.

Here I go...

given the number of blogs out there, i decided i should have one too. mostly, i keep making appearances in my friend ajayi's blog, so clearly, i have funny ideas. or...think i do. stay tuned. you won't be disappointed.

***i would like to apologize to my friends who are grammar and spelling nazis. i appreciate their input and will fix problems as they're pointed out. for instance, i think the last sentance is grammatically incorrect. sorry.***