why don't you blog about it?

2009

2009-01-04T22:36:00.003-05:00

to resolve: to come to a definite or earnest decision about; determine (to do something).

1. post more here
2. spend less time on thefacebook.com
3. exercise
4. be happier

shit or get off the pot, lady!

2008-03-12T15:50:00.005-04:00

Big thanks to Kingman for sending along this gem. Highlights:

She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by
her body," Whipple said. "It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a
hard time imagining it myself."

He told investigators he brought his girlfriend food and water, and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.

"And her reply would be, `Maybe tomorrow,'" Whipple said.
"According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."

The boyfriend called police on Feb. 27 to report that "there was something
wrong with his girlfriend," Whipple said, adding that he never explained why it
took him two years to call.

Open Questions:

1. where did the boyfriend go to the bathroom?

2. did she ever shower? get cramps in her legs?

3. when will the law and order episode be airing?

4. who will the special guest star be?

10,000 b.c. was a bad movie

2008-03-10T23:04:00.007-04:00

seriously. i don't know why i thought it would be awesome. it was just so bad. check out the nyt review for clarification. other than that (and some major transportation issues yesterday), albany was fantastic-- one of the top weekends of 2008. i don't think i stopped laughing from the moment i got off the train on friday straight through to my departure on sunday. i had been feeling off balance and unsure of myself lately, and this weekend really put it all in perspective for me. perhaps more on that later, but for now a few brilliant photo highlights.

where is this photo taken? maybe in the home of an elderly relative? no-no, friends: look closely. see the paper towel dispenser and trash can?

this is, in fact, the ladies room of a restaurant and bar. heavenly!

for the first time in my life, i don't have the rosiest cheeks in the picture. this will never happen again.

friday!

2008-03-07T10:43:00.005-05:00

off the albany for the weekend to reminisce about the chinga-years.

have a great weekend, everyone!

in case you missed it here is the opening of last nights daily show (go to 3:40 or so to see bushie dance!)

an entry to make tom happy

2008-03-05T20:46:00.001-05:00

I just stumbled upon this article. Really? Sure, she has some science to back up her scare tactics, but the media suggesting to smart, ambitious ladies that they would just be better off jumping on the mommy track is nothing new.
Thank you, Penelope, for giving us this month's alarmist warning to women. Judging from your blog I should learn from the "mistakes" of you and all your friends or I will end up barren and shit out luck in the baby department. I will get on the preggos thing post haste. Any volunteers for the role of baby-daddy?

In other news, Hillary gave the media the middle finger and is making the primary race last until at least April 22nd. Woohoo. Personally, I am much happier to be a member of a party that can't decide between two qualified, articulate and history-making candidates than a party that is looking is struggling to just "fall in line" behind an aging ragaholic. That being said, I do fear the primary getting u-g-l-y in an super way.

Today in summary--
Yay: spring came for a hot minute; i discovered how much i love V8; the new Vanity Fair was waiting for me at home; Project Runway finale in half an hour!
Boo: rainy morning commute

I just voted for Barack Obama

2008-02-05T20:32:00.001-05:00

I love politics. For the most part, I tend to observe what is happening from an intellectual point of view rather than as a perspective voter. That is to say, I watch was is happening and think about means and what will be written about it in the future. After the Iowa Caucus, I spent 48 hours thinking about how Hillary Clinton’s poor showing was proof that feminism doesn’t resonate with young women. While I don’t want him to be POTUS, I love the story of John McCain’s comeback because it is going to make a great case study in campaigns and elections courses.
A few weeks ago, I decided to step down from the observation tower and decide who my candidate was. In the back of my mind, I had always assumed that I would cast my vote for Hillary, but also flirted with Obama as a choice. I deeply respect the work Hillary Clinton has done throughout her career, including her work as a Senator. I also think she would be a great President. If she gets the nomination, I will gladly campaign for her. The reason I went with Obama over her is not because I think he has a better policy platform—both of them pass the test for me. And while I think sending Bill out to do her fighting is demeaning, it wasn’t what made me fill in the bubble next to Barack Obama tonight. Barack Obama did, with a little help from John McCain.
No, not his stump speeches about hope and change. That has been done before (see: Clinton Campaign playbook circa 1992), and that sort of rhetoric doesn’t have enough substance for me. I thought his book was inspiring (although lacking citations- grrrrr). I went to a rally of his in the fall and was quite moved by his speech. But it still wasn’t enough for me. My turning point came as John McCain began to emerge as the Republican candidate, and it began more realistic to think about the general election. As Barack Obama pointed out so eloquently in the last debate, the political dialogue we have as a country looks much different when it in a McCain v. Obama race than it does in a McCain v. Clinton race. We need to have the McCain v. Obama conversation so much more. At the center of it is the Bush Doctrine (esp. our involvement in Iraq), but it extends beyond that to economy, health care, immigration, the "blue state/ red state culture wars" and our values as a country. This debate looks so much different when Hillary Clinton is on the Democratic side. Barack Obama can push us all to think about this, and inspire America to be better. We need him right now.

"blogs are like puppies"

2007-12-22T19:04:00.002-05:00

My dear friend CR said this about a month ago, when I failed to write more than just my first entry. If this blog were in fact a puppy, it would have ripped up my favorite pillow and pooped all over the carpet before then starved to death. Dear readers, I apologize for the neglect. There really isn't a good excuse, mostly work has been busy and I am semi-addicted to playing scrabble on facebook. I have a million little zygotes of entries floating around in my brain. Part of my new year's resolution involves using this blog to brush up on my writing and analysis skills. Oh, and I am getting a spiffy new digital camera, so there will be pictures! By the way, thanks to everyone who has given me shit about not writing-- it is nice to know there's handful of people who want to read my opinions.

For now, here are some amusing "letters to Santa" from some presidential canidates I heard on NPR yesterday. Number two is my favorite.

one
two
three

-b.

the plight of a smarty-pants

2007-11-14T20:35:00.001-05:00

Thanks to my friend Karen for inspiring me to start a blog today. So here it is. My digital soapbox. Topics will include: news items, presidential politics, pop culture commentary and general life updates.

One of the most emailed stories on NYtimes.com today was "Should Hilary Pretend to Be a Flight Attendant?" Now, the plight of smart, witty women is not a new topic for Maureen Dowd (I actually think it might be her personal favorite), but the article did strike a familiar cord for me. She highlights a recent Columbia study on dating that found that we all like to hold on to traditional stereotypes when picking out our potential mates. According the author of the study:

"It isn’t exactly that smarts were a complete turnoff for men: They preferred women whom they rated as smarter — but only up to a point ... It turns out that men avoided women whom they perceived to be smarter than themselves. The same held true for measures of career ambition — a woman could be ambitious, just not more ambitious than the man considering her for a date.
“When women were the ones choosing, the more intelligence and ambition the men had, the better. So, yes, the stereotypes appear to be true: We males are a gender of fragile egos in search of a pretty face and are threatened by brains or success that exceeds our own."

In my personal experience, this is not a newsflash. I am guilty as charged when it comes to the female side of the stereotype. Above anything else, I am looking for a man with a wit at least as sharp as mine (but preferably, he should be a smidge smarter). I won't make apologies for this requirement, or for my outspoken intelligence. As a consequence, I am sure I have smashed a few fragile egos and ended relationships before they even began. So what is a girl to do?
My empty dance card aside, the feminist in me can't help but focus on what the study has to say about gender roles 45 years after the Feminine Mystique sparked the 2nd wave of feminism. Sure, feminist backlash is not a new concept (see Ann Coulter, Paris Hilton and Halloween costumes), but it appears it moves past the pop culture level and into how we mate. Women encouraged by parents and teachers to think and set career goals but who still want love and marriage and babies might find it better to forget about the clever comments and climbing the corporate ladder and instead coddle the fragile egos of their modern men. One of the failures of feminism is that in many ways, the measures of success for women are tougher to meet: one should be smart (but not too smart), successful in their career (but not so successful that they become the main breadwinner), raise adorable baby Einsteins, bake winning pies for the soccer team bake sale, all while staying young and attractive. Sigh. Overwhelming, no?

I could go on about this (including my thoughts on why men feel so threatened by smart and ambitious women and my thoughts on Hilary), but this is more than enough for the first post.

b.