Project Runway

So i'm watching pject rway (as per usual) and i was just so moved by something completely tiny and meaningless and as with all things that move me i decided someone else needed to know!

so on said episode, the designers are prompted to design clothes for children, a project runway first, and one of the designers has an interesting idea. she merely said "when i was young, my sister was in a play etc etc and i was always so jealous of this outfit that she got to wear so i'm going to make THAT." obviously not that profound of an idea, but i found it so beautiful to imagine that every designer or every artist creates something that other people can love and appreciate from something they once loved or appreciated.

i can't describe why this is so meaningful to me, maybe it's the fact that so many of my memories of childhood, or even life in general, are centered around brief moments, fleeting scents or images, or outfits, even, like the white linen dress my mother wore when she picked me up from the airport after i'd been in iceland one summer, or the velvet peach skirt she made for me to wear to my fifth grade graduation. these stick in my mind like prickly thorns and if i was talented in any way i would recreate them and infuse them with the beauty they give to me, but of course i can't.

i love thinking that art or design is so exquisitely personal that we are honored to view it. of course this pretty much eliminates modern or abstract art, which inherently is something new, different, shocking, unknown, but these are just the ramblings of a silly lady watching tv on her computer. i will never stop loving project runway, and i will never stop believing that clothes are more important than we think.

detangling

i had an unfortunate incident in which my hair assumed the texture and consistency of steel wool. these giant tangle/dreads appeared after leaving it unbrushed for too long. so here's a video of our attempt at detangling it. it's not that interesting. oh well!

CROTS

I took a really great writing class my last semester at VCU and one of our assignments was to write "crots," which are little pieces of writing comprised of fragments that are repeated or scattered and basically have a feel of abruptness and move quickly from idea to idea. Here is one I wrote about Iceland:

In Iceland they call pocket change “klínk.” Heavy coins in silver and gold emblazoned with fish and crabs. 1 króna, 5, 10, 50, 100. In America change doesn’t buy anything – better to Coinstar it. In Iceland children with bulging pockets brace the wind and bolt to the nearest shop. Gaze at candy behind glass counters. Gummi fish of every color. Chocolate covered licorice sticks. Hard strong pepper flavored pieces for melting teeth. 5 krónur for one piece. 100 and you’re rich. It’s only one coin! Smiling with browned teeth and clinging to your plastic bag filled with much more than a dollar’s worth. Chilly wind whips through your hair and right through your sweater on the way home, pounding the sidewalk. Klínk klínk klínk.

it's snowing again

snow is wonderful but not when it prompts the idiots on american family radio to say things like "global warming?! STEP OUTSIDE" like hey totally weird fluctuations in weather have zero to do with us roasting the earth. anywho. there's been naught to do for the past few days as my work has been closed and snow keeps us confined to the house/kroger. so i've been catching up on project runway and reading. my library card is the best thing that's ever happened to me, so far i've watched documentaries about spelling bees, teenage alcohol abuse, growing up online, etc, and started reading the bilingual version of duino elegies by rainer maria rilke. who is the shit. and not only am i enlightened with every word he writes, but i'm (allegedly) practicing my german at the same time! JA JA! the reason i actually decided to borrow that book was because the night before dan and i watched 'another woman,' a less popular woody allen movie with gena rowlands and mia farrow. rowlands' character is a scholar of german poetry and philosophy and her mention of rilke prompted me to start reading him. that and the fact that he's considered one of the best german poets of all time and i should probably know a thing or two about him if i profess to speak (poorly) the language.

so here are a few lines from the first elegy that i haven't stopped thinking about since i read them:

Isn't it time that these most ancient sorrows

grew fruitful? Time that we tenderly loosed ourselves

from the loved one, and, unsteadily, survived:

the way the arrow, suddenly all vector, survives the string

to be more than itself. For abiding is nowhere.

Palinism

So I've been meaning to write a little something about this article I read in the City Paper (dc) a few months ago but never got around to it because once I think about writing something concrete I roll it around in my brain 69 times and decide it's too daunting of a task. So I'll leave the commentary to a minimum. Basically the article describes the views held by some of Sarah Palin's female supporters and extends these views to her impact on feminism. You can read it in its entirety here. At first the article employs the well-worn notion that people, particularly women, who support Sarah Palin have no real idea what they're talking about, and merely buy into the "meaningful" image she and many other political workers have crafted of her. I'm no fan of Sarah Palin, but I think writing people off who can't give a sparkling, well-worded and specific answer about their political decisions is a little too easy. For me, it's her stance on abortion, it's kind of a non-negotiable issue that a woman should have the right to a safe and legal procedure, but I won't profess to know much more about her politics besides what the media has told me. All this aside, I find all that America has said about her fascinating. In this article, the emerging idea of Sarah Palin as a neo-feminist is addressed and one paragraph stood out to me in particular:

"In 'newer feminism,' every woman’s choices are valued—no matter what those choices mean for other women. Schlessinger isn’t an enforcer of rigid gender roles; she’s a facilitator of women’s choices. Palin’s opposition to abortion rights and comprehensive sex education isn’t anti-feminist; it is her choice to deny reproductive choices to other women. Under this model, Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis isn’t an exploiter; he’s a liberator of women’s breasts."

I remember encountering this conflict when I took Feminist Literary Theory (ENG352-best class hands down at VCU); where do you draw the line at what is feminist? There are so many branches and subsets within the theory and its basis is in the idea of equality; it seems wrong that it should be exclusionary. But of course everything gets muddled in the notion that everything done by a woman, or a minority, or someone who calls him/herself feminist is progressive, meaningful, subversive, feminist.

I really loved learning about "the personal is political" criticism when I took Fem Lit; it opened up an entirely new understanding for me: looking at one's relationships and personal life through the lens of feminism. But you can see how dangerous a concept it becomes when taken into the hands of those with no essential understanding of feminism or women's rights, like Sarah Palin and her followers. They do just as the excerpt above states, that is, act it as though every decision that a woman makes is important and RIGHT, by virtue of the fact that she has a vagina. Scary stuff. Feel free to comment. If there is anyone besides Dan and maybe my mom who reads this :)

Zapatista

Dan just informed me that he's "drunk and moving to Mexico". Welp, see ya later!

Coming to America

...was rented from the Redbox last night and ho boy is it good. Today when I turned PBS on while eating my delicious lentil soup and salad with artichoke hearts (still veg) there was a special about immigration. PARALLELS. However the latter isn't funny in the way that Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall playing 40% of the characters in a movie is. Oh well.

Catie introduced me to the teacup pig last night, apparently they're all the rage according to Paris Hilton. If being on the same page as Paris Hilton is wrong then I don't want to be right :

ANOTHER PARALLEL! I am reading a book called The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery, who is evidently a crazy, animal-loving jungle woman currently living in New Hampshire. The book is mainly about her adopted pig. Honestly I couldn't imagine I would enjoy so much a book about a pig, but I guess I have to come to terms with the fact that I do. Pigs deserve some attention for their cuteness and brains, yo! And yeah they taste good too, but I'm trying to adjust my feelings about that! Anyway, the book came to me through the "lost and found" at work which has also bestowed upon me an awesome Frontline special about autism...if you want to borrow either let me know.