yesterday was CityPaper’s Crafty Bastards! Arts and Crafts Fair. i moved into my new place at noon, sort of unpacked, and cleaned. i got on a bus towards Adams Morgan and didn’t get lost (!). while my transition into DC hasn’t been the easiest, but this was a good day, when urban life loved me back. i won’t go into how much i want to be on my own and independent, but yet become frightened, squeamish or whiny at the prospect, as well.
the fair was teeming with baby clothes and obama memorabilia, but some of my favorite new designers (including the aforementioned brookadelphia): b-kao, imogene,barrysfarm, miss alison, maryink and sofia masri. i picked up a bunch more business cards from other vendors, i’m slowly combing through their websites, and may post about them later.
the debate’s back on. has anyone noticed CNN doing a running feature of “audience reaction” via ongoing line graph on the bottom of their screen? did john mccain just say that south koreans are 3 inches taller than north koreans b/c north korea is such an oppressive dictatorship? <- is john mccain heightist? isn’t he short himself? is he saying that a dictatorship stunts its people’s growth?
some of my favorites:
Whenever John McCain says “My Friends”: Two drinks (or one shot), poke the breast of the person to your right and smile creepily.
When Barack Obama shakes his head with dignity: Shake your own head with dignity, take the beverage from the person to your left, and tell them to go get you a new drink because you are not going to get AIDS from their backwash/lipstick
When McCain tries to articulate his non-existent economic policy and/or bailout plan: Fight your friends for change under the couch cushions, pass around a joint because who can afford fancy store-bought booze anymore?
finally a wealthy political pundit/celebrity follows through on their word. i love keith olbermann’s indignation and disposition to outraged wrath towards the conservative Republican bloc. his anger and journalistic antics are like the liberal version of FOX News. i guess i’m seduced by the ’superficial, shallow’ entertainment of clearly biased american news – it’s pretty obvious which side i’m on. i like Keith Olbermann as much as I hate FOX News. props to KO for not just spewing irateness, but thinking of a way to constructively contribute to a tangible, and good cause.
must point out though that the Obama campaign should stop harping on Palin supporting the ‘bridge to nowhere’ until it became unpopular and she said ‘no, thank you’ because record shows that Obama & Biden supported it, as well. thanks to Political Lunch for the fact-checking.
also, in my search for new blogs, i recently came upon this – Feminists 4 Sarah Palin. it argues against what seems to be the biggest point of contention with the Palin VP candidacy – that her nomination is a slap in the face to all Hillary supporters and feminists everywhere. i’m still mulling over how i feel about the points this blog makes in regard to the conception of feminism today. much of the argument is (like in my ’sarah palin to the rescue? post) whether woman = feminist, or have we achieved a certain level of equality to move past that to something more complex and intricate.
***i’ve made it to DC! woo – interning at the Migration Policy Institute, sleeping on a friend’s couch, eating frozen dinners, ogling bike messengers, finding independent coffeeshops, and walking everywhere ***
Dora Chen’s story from the Smith College Grecourt News Gate
reasoning:
usually much of the Smith Grecourt News is ‘cheesy, smithie love, we’re so great and full of traditions, young women who are changing the world’ ness Smith propaganda. but Dora Chen is as inspiring and admirable as they get. she got to go to college in the 1930s, but had to leave when her mom married her off to a history and political science professor at St. John’s University in Shanghai. but then the cultural revolution happened – her husband was sent to prison, her sons sent to work, and she found herself living in an apartment with lots of other people, and completely poor. but the goodness of smithies gathered to bring her back to America, and she finished her degree as an Ada Comstock scholar in 1973. said for what Smith did for her: “To think differently, to not restrain myself. I am in America, I am free. The chains that bound me as a Chinese woman are gone. I don’t think I would have liberated myself. Smith did that for me.” as if she hasn’t been through enough, Dora now has lung cancer. but somehow her outlook speaks of a wisdom only someone who has gone through what she has can say, “how many people can boast such a wonderful life?” stories like this always humble the young, cynical and emo me – i complain a lot and my my life really isn’t that bad, and probably will never be that bad. this makes me believe that the Smithie resilience and spirit does exist in some of us.
so much has been said about Sarah Palin these past few weeks. Fred Thompson said she’s the only one on the ticket who can dress a moose. Debbie Dingell, a leading Michigan Democrat, said that women should feel insulted by the choice of her for Republican Vice-President. and now Hero Builders has created 3 different Sarah Palin action figures, one doing the covered up black trenchcoat governor/soccer mom, another doing the Catholic Schoolgirl Librarian Britney Spears, and the last one that is just scantily clad action figure perhaps attempting to channel what some have called her “milf” or “vpilf”ness.
i came across an interesting editorial on The Economist that speaks of what Sarah Palin candidacy means in the greater context of the feminist movement. she’s brought out a seemingly contradictory viewpoints from both sides – where the feminists groups are expressing doubt of whether she can or should be juggling 5 kids, 1 pregnant daughter and potentially the US vice-presidency, and the pro-family organizations are exclaiming that she very well can, and it’s a gross double standard that this ’scenario’ has even become an issue. the editorial sums up with, what i think is a fairly convincing argument, that Sarah Palin doesn’t necessarily represent anti-feminism, or that she’s a big step back for the movement, as a whole. but maybe there’s been a generational shift where gender equality has almost become the accepted norm. (more…)
in Only as Good as Your Word: Writing Lessons from My Favorite Literary Gurus, Susan Shapiro tells of her relationships with several of her most important writing mentors to outline her own story as a writer. she starts with her high school modern lit teacher: Mr. Zucker, her older best-selling author and columnist cousin: Howard Fast, her very first boss at the New Yorker: Helen Stark, colleague, conspirator, and realist Ian Frazier, the unassuming legend Ruth Gruber, the fastidious editor Michael Anderson, and the unrelated poet Harvey Shapiro. in chronicling her partnerships with each, she describes the ups and downs of being a freelance writer: pressures to find the next assignment, dealing with unaccomodating editors, writing about things you don’t necessarily care about, or in the writing medium that is not your particular specialty, and the seductiveness of a full-time, salaried, but potentially very boring office job.
Shapiro writes of mentor/mentee relationships between writers but her coming-of-age story to be a prominent and prolific freelance writer is more about the lessons learned from the relationships that we all seek out – either for advice, companionship, out of admiration, convenience, or necessity. there are people who are always pushing you to stay true to your craft, not to sell out, or there are those who are realistic when you get idealistic. there are some relationships that seems to be less mutual admiration, and more one-sided, those that just fade b/c one person decides to just cease contact – there are these life lessons about people and relationships, that you can’t keep them all, and they aren’t always on your terms, or any sort of mutual terms. it’s something i’m still struggling with as i realize how true and frequent to the world this scenario exists.
“Hadn’t I been a promiscuous protege myself? i’d cast a wide net, juggling many editors, older colleagues and superiors simultaneously, deserting a few gurus gone wrong, always searching for more gurus gone right. (more…)
Don LaFontaine, Mr. Movie Trailer Voice-Over Guy, died on Monday, Sept 1 from complications of a long-term illness called pneumothorax, air or gas in the pleural cavity. he was the voice for Space Odyssey, The Terminator, Fatal Attractions and The Simpsons. one of my favorites is this GEICO commercial from 2006, when they did their “real customer, hired an actor” campaign. “in a world where both of our cars were TOTALLY under water… but a new wind was about to blow. payback: this time it’s for real”. awesome. Pablo Francisco does a great impression of him and his ability to make even the most trivial, or ridiculous sound urgent and dangerous – arnold schwarzenegger in “little tortilla boy”.
LaFontaine considered himself a ‘voice actor’, movie trailers may just be previews to the actual movie, but he was so instrumental in making them a vital part of the movie-going experience, and contributing to the buzz and success of new movies not even out in theaters yet. “You want to take the audience out of their seats, out of their homes, out of their complacency and pull them into the story,” he said. “You want to make that trailer so compelling that they have to go buy a ticket just to find out how the movie ends.” he was known as “Thunder Throat” or “The Voice of God”. in whatever the afterlife may be, can you imagine him now just talking and hanging out with God – arguing over what to order for lunch, playing checkers or watching “American Idol”. hope he’s making everything more serious and overdramatic up there, as he did here.
Labor Day was created as a day of rest for workers and to recognize them for their efforts and contributions to the company, economy, and country as a whole. something pushed, and spurned on by the labor unions in America, the meaning of the holiday is less recognized, perhaps in congruence with the dwindling power and prominence of labor unions in the country, as well. now, it’s mostly seen as the official last day of summer, last time to have a barbecue, jump in the pool, or wear white. there are many reasons why labor unions have lost recognition and membership in recent years – globalization, corruption, move into service sector industry, and business-friendly government.
with the economy being the biggest issue of this election: labor, unions, and corporations are much talked about entities. this article by Jane M. Von Bergen interviews 3 prominent leaders working within or outside of the labor movement. Lindsay Patterson is the traditional union member, who worked up the ranks to be president of the United Steelworkers Local 404-38, and is now working to elect Barack Obama. Joseph Brock is a former Teamsters member who became frustrated with the management and bureaucracy of the union, and now heads his own management consulting company that sometime instructs businesses on how to deal with the unions: keeping them out, or improving relations b/w them. and last, Kenneth MacDougall of Int’l Brotherhood of Electrical Workers that is focused on job training and demonstrating to employers that union workers are better skilled and worth the extra costs. (more…)
my transition into DC hasn’t been the easiest, but this was a good day, when urban life loved me back. i won’t go into how much i want to be on my own and independent, but yet become frightened, squeamish or whiny at the prospect, as well.
