question--

Are papasan chairs lame? I sat in this one at world market today that had the softest green cushion and it felt AMAZING. i want it for my new apartment, but I don't want to be made fun of everytime people walk in and see it (like the pet stroller).

1. I saw this happen live and in person last night. What was apparently a blue blanket covering the dead dog looked to me like a person either praying or dead (I was several feet away). The article failed to mention that there were at least five police cars AND dupont circle was covered in police tape and people were making statements to the police. Not to mention a huge crowd of onlookers-- much ado about a (deceased) dog.

2. You know that Sex & the City where Samantha moves into a new apartment and yells out the window, "Do you see us NY? We have it all!" Then she gets the flu or something and no one helps her and she cries to Carrie, "Let's face it-- we're all alone!!" That was just me. Tonight. There is nothing like a bad cold to bring out my woe-is-me tears.

much love,
Laura

I have two gay-married-in-Massachusetts friends. Last night I went out to a classy dinner with them, and we came up with the best book idea ever: we like to eat good food, but unfortunately, after telling all my humorous breakup and dating stories, it just becomes a romantic date for two with a third wheel (that wheel would be me). So each week, I am going to ask a new girl out to dinner and bring along my two married friends. Afterwards, the three of us will evaluate her AND the food. So the book will be both tales of lesbian dating in DC AND an evaluation of the DC restaurant scene... thus appealing to readers seeking restaurant reviews and those looking for a twist on Sex & the City. I predict lots of cross-marketing potential.

cutest girl in the whole world

Apparently if you google "IU cornhole" (not in quotes), you get this.

I love it!

it would take an acrobat...

Hmm.... Jessica Simpson sang "Let Him Fly" on The View today AND discussed the song with the hosts. She neglected to mention that the song was actually written by the semi-obscure folk artist Patty Griffin several years ago.

The Patty Griffin version is 100x better.

I don't like when music I've been loving since the late '90s becomes trendy. This also happened recently when Faith Hill put three Lori McKenna (another semi-obscure "alt-folkie") songs on her album Fireflies. But at least in that situation, when Faith was on Oprah, Lori was invited on as well and was given full credit for writing the songs.

EDIT: The Dixie Chicks also apparently covered the song three years after Patty Griffin originally published it. Again, Patty's version is better, at least judging by the 30 seconds of the Dixie Chick's version I heard on Amazon.com.

What is wrong with this picture?

This couple does not match up!!

As I have gotten older, I have noticed more and more mis-matched couples in real life and in the media (especially situation comedies). And by mis-matched, I obviously mean that one person is hot and the other is, well, not.

There is a famous psychology study where researchers took pictures of (opposite sex) couples and cut them in half, then shuffled the stacks of men and women and asked the study participants to match up the couples. Overwhelmingly, the participants were successful in this task. The moral of the story (or rather, study) is that people almost always date people who are similar in attractiveness. You can't fight evolutionary principles, even in the name of love.

The only exceptions to this rule: some lesbian couples and situations where the less attractive person is really rich (read: the fat, balding lawyer). Oh, and Christina Aguilera apparently.

Fernando tiene un secreto!

My new after-school fun is catching up on my Espanol by watching Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish on PBS. It's designed to teach basic spanish and it's full of suspense. Even the cat is watching it. It is so good that PBS broadcasts it at 5:30AM-- fortunately I have season pass-ed it.

In other news, this is my favorite part of law school-- the first few weeks are so relaxed, like, well I suppose I will read a bit before bed.

Also, I think I saw Alice Walker on the escalator of the Dupont Circle metro station tonight. Maybe it wasn't her. But I did draw my breath and instantly think, "Oh my god, Alice Walker." So it could have been her, or at least a very convincing look-a-like. My intuition is that famous writers don't use public transportation. but who knows?

hmm

At times, I find that New York (as a city) is so full of itself. Many, many times.

Here is an example: this is from the NY Times, in a travel article entitled "36 Hours in DC". This is their restaurant recommendation:

Go to Penn Quarter, a vibrant Washington neighborhood, for Zaytinya (701 Ninth Street NW, 202-638-0800) a Mediterranean tapas restaurant, that serves fresh Middle Eastern plates in a bustling setting of candles and soaring ceilings. “It feels like New York,” a friend said at dinner one recent night. Precisely.

Because when I go on vacation, I like to find the restaurants that feel exactly like the city I live in. FUN!

best salad ever!!

Chop Chop Salad

3 C. Julienne-sliced Romaine greens
1 T. Julienne-sliced fresh basil
2 T. Italian Provolone cheese, cut in ¼" cubes
1 T. Garbanzo beans
2 T. Genoa salami
3 T. powdered Parmesan cheese
¼ C. Julienne-sliced smoked turkey breast
Tomato wedges for garnish
Freshly cracked pepper

Balsamic Vinegar Dressing
2 pasteurized egg yolks
¾ C. Balsamic vinegar
3 cloves finely minced garlic
¾ tsp. Kosher salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
2 C. Olive Oil
Make dressing in a mixing bowl. Whisk egg yolks for 2-3 minutes, then add vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper. Whisk 2-3 minutes. Slowly add oil to emulsify. Refrigerate until needed.
Combine greens, basil provolone, garbanzos, salami in a bowl; add ½ C. dressing. Toss to combine. Add parmesan and toss.
Place salad on plate; top with turkey and tomato. Serve with pepper mill.

One of my favorite things about DC is that on weekends in the wee hours of the morning, strangers on the street get all Indiana on me-- they act courteous, they smile, and they say, "Hi, how are you?" It throws me off guard for a minute, but then I love it. The alcohol makes them friendly in a midwest sort of way.

I also love that these same strangers sometimes say exactly what you want to hear (sometimes they say obscene and gross things too, but that's another story). For example, tonight, a man with out with his couple friends said hello as I passed them on the street at 3AM. He then said, "Your hair is beautiful. I love it."

green thumb

word of the day

Today I was trying to explain to a friend how generally guys from Indiana suck a lot, but I do like East Coast guys (the educated, clever ones). In contrast, on the whole, I don't like East Coast girls, but I really like Indiana girls. I explained that I like Indiana girls because they are "scrappy."

scrap·py2 (skrăp'ē)
adj., -pi·er, -pi·est.
1. Quarrelsome; contentious.
2. Full of fighting spirit. See synonyms at argumentative.

I was using it in the positive sense.

Sorry for the week hiatus-- I was in Indiana and Ocean City, MD. I am now home but burnt to a crisp. Although it was definitely worth it: waves + salt water + family = fun.

Here are some other things I currently love:
1. The book Stiffed: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers. Great beach reading and so funny!

2. Dippin' Dots. I ate three servings in less than 24 hours.

3. Thinking about the ways Indiana has shaped me for better and worse. Noticing ads on Indiana radio that wouldn't air on the East Coast.

4. Going back to Bloomington and eating Buffas-- best wings ever.

5. Having a job! They offered, I accepted.

6. Two songs I keep listening to lately--
6a. Soul Meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie. So catchy and so pretty. Yes, I know it has been around for a few years, but it takes me a while sometimes to get hooked on music everyone else knows.
6b. I Write Sins not Tragedies by Panic! at the Disco. Again, catchy. And it reminds me of musical theatre in a weird way. Plus I have heard they wear eyeliner in their music video so they are my new best buds.

show

Among the many changes this summer, I stopped watching TV-- the only time I watch it is when I am on the elliptical in the gym. BUT one of the attorneys introduced me to the most fascinating show ever that I do make an exception for: INTERVENTION. If you like train wrecks, you will love this.

theme

So one of this blog's flaws (among many) is that I can't figure out its theme-- is it a DC blog, offering sharp critiques of life in our nation's capitol? A "blawg"? A confessional blog a la Anne Sexton/ Sylvia Plath? So instead it becomes a bit of all three, thus muddying the tone. Hmm.

I realized yesterday that it can't be a gender studies blog because I received a couple hits yesterday from people who had googled the word "sex" and another word (I don't want to type it again for fear that it will result in the same kind of web traffic-- but think "age group" mentioned in my previous post). Obviously they had not put the phrase in quotes, but somehow they still got here!

genderful

So-- this isn't a gender studies blog, but two gender-related things, again:

1. I went shopping yesterday (it is tax free weekend in VA and I definitely bought the cutest clothes ever). I'm really fascinated by fashion (specifically, t-shirts) marketed to teenage girls that perpetuate the worst stereotypes about women (catty, bitchy, manipulative) and are directed towards other women as forms of passive aggressive size-ups-- shirts like "tell your boyfriend I said thanks" or the many types of clever ways to say "I am prettier/ more popular/ more promiscuous than you." It's a tough time to be a teenage girl (especially pre-teen) these days if you want a little integrity. Or if you just don't want to be negative and lash out at other girls. Anyways, the newest slogan for this type of t-shirt that I saw yesterday:

"Your boyfriend is in my top 8"

Hilarious. Love the intersection of technology and shallowness.

I can't stop thinking about the ways individual identity is shaped by the clothing options available, and how mainstream clothing manufacturers perpetuate and bank on the insecurities caused by strict gender roles. Assuming you want to be a trendy teenager, basically your only choices are what is being marketed to you-- and of course, every mall around the country has the same clothes. You have to shape your identity based on these few options, and the options often have such strong gender scripts underlying them. It reminds me of the dilemma my friends and I faced as teenagers and in college when we did not feel comfortable wearing super short shorts (as Anne cleverly called them "cookie cutters")--they felt skanky and we didn't like being 24/7 sex objects for the stereotypical male gaze. We would go to several malls, and none of them sold women's shorts that were longer than upper-thigh. So some of my friends wore boy shorts, but I was reduced to wearing long pants for several summers in a row until Bermuda shorts became trendy again. Such are the costs of identity preservation!

I also love the repetition in fashion-- things come back into style several years later. I saw a sweater at Banana Republic yesterday that looked exactly like a sweater I bought from Old Navy in eighth grade. No thanks.

Note: I recognize that current fashion is arguably much less restrictive as far as gender roles and evolving to allow more diversity in appearance. Express now sells the "boyfriend tank" for women, which is basically a man's white ribbed a-frame. And men are now wearing pink clothing even in a business setting, which is just the hottest thing ever. There is a whole chapter in The Guide to Getting it On about how fashion manufacturers like Calvin Klein changed the nature of men's underwear so that men can wear briefs and not feel like their masculinity is threatened.

But despite all these recent changes, the mean t-shirts directed at other women are just as popular.

2. I absolutely love this new gender divide series in the NY Times this summer. The newest one, Facing Middle Age with No Degree, and No Wife is particularly interesting.

I think I appreciated it so much because it reflects a generational shift occurring in my hometown, where my grandfather had no degree, but he worked at the automobile manufacturing plant and was unionized, so he was able to support his seven children fairly well (at least by small town standards: they went to McDonalds once a week and with the cost of living being so low, they had a nice house. However, my father was the only one to get a college education). In the last twenty years or so, the plant closed down, so now the small town economy and the marriage market have both shifted in response. Because of the sex-segregated economy, the women have stayed in the same jobs (pink ghetto, but again, low cost of living, so $25-40K is just fine in a double income household). But their husbands now look like deadbeats because with the plant's closure, they are now selling appliances at department stores or scheming up small businesses that aren't successful and drain the family's resources. They are forced to acknowledge and rely on their wives' financial contributions, all thanks to a lack of education that didn't seem necessary twenty years ago.

All of this breeds a lot of resentment, a lot of stress and strain on everyone involved. And it explains the continuing popularity of fraternal organizations (often named after masculine animals, like elks and moose), where many men drink the evenings away (day after day) among the company of other middle-aged small town male friends, despite the fact that they have families at home. I could write a whole scholarly article on fraternal organizations, as I am the daughter of a former chapter president of one of them (he was the "exalted ruler" until April of last year-- I swear to god I am not making up that title!).

1. One of the best things about DC: genuine racial diversity.

2. I bought some of my textbooks today and actually got a little excited for school-- I can't believe i will be working full time in a year (& taking the bar!).

it's for the kids.

Basically, both courts found that marriage is like a box of Trix: It’s for kids.

A very well written article. Howver, no offense to Dan Savage (because I love him), but his subtle use of the gender normative leisure activity (his son loves baseball) makes me laugh a little: it's so sad that same sex parents often feel the need to show that their children end up exactly the same as children from opposite sex families. It becomes a sly PR campaign-- think of how this article would be read differently by the dominant audience if the son was eager to see the ballet. I just hate how all these gay people are running around yelling, "I swear we can socialize him into his binary gender role just the same as if you straight people were raising him!"

Or the kid could just love baseball, no gender scripts involved. This is probably closer to the truth, but it's amazing how many articles I read about same sex parenting where the kids in the background just happen to be engaging in gender normative play. Now is not the time in this civil rights movement to acknowledge any sort of differences in parenting style-- "we're just the same, I swear!" The Goodridges' daughter never wore combat boots in those publicity shots.

Thinking strategically, I know this is fundamentally the way to go. Too few people have interactions with real life same sex families, so articles like the one above fill in the gap and hopefully get the majority on board to this civil rights issue. But as a gender studies major, it gets on my nerves in the meantime.