Here’s a funny little story out of my home state. A few months ago, a teenager in Fayetteville, NC, clued her grandma in that the three letters on her license plate, WTF, are text-slang for…well, you’re reading a blog, so I don’t have to tell you. Granny in turn called the DMV to complain. Evidently, more than 10,000 drivers currently have WTF license plates in the Tarheel State—and the sample license plate on the DMV’s website even bore the three letter code. So how did no one notice this before?
Archive for June, 2008
You Can’t Make This Stuff Up: License plates
Monday, June 30th, 2008Monday Brag Round-Up, June 30
Monday, June 30th, 2008Courtney Martin
- This Friday (July 4), Courtney will speak at the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine in Washington, D.C.
- “Party Crashing: How the Facebook Generation Does Politics” at AlterNet
- “The Celeb Factor in Politics” at The American Prospect Online
Well I Guess It Would Be Nice…
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
In exactly twenty-two days George Michael will return to Madison Square Garden and I will be sitting in his lap.
Ok, that is not the truth.
But I will be in the audience, actively losing my mind.
The prepubescent girl inside of me, who was scandalized by the “I Want Your Sex” video, could not be more thrilled.
For my birthday, my friend B gave me the DVD collection Ladies and Gentlemen, The Best of George Michael. I’ve been watching it on repeat for days, in anticipation of George’s arrival,
So ladies and gentlemen, I offer you my top five George Michael videos. (note: My top five videos are not my top five George songs, that’s another list).
5. Too Funky
This song will never make my “best of” George mix, but the video is quintessential nineties glam and for that and that alone it makes the list. All the Top Model contestants in the world could not compare to one Linda Evangelista working a runway in a white fur coat and platinum wig. (more…)
Watching Unity (in the Airport)
Saturday, June 28th, 2008Airports, those great bastions of movement, breed many little thoughts. Yesterday, during my 6 hour layover in Minneapolis, I sat crunched into one of those plastic chairs reading about Wangari Maathai and the ups and downs of her struggle with the Kenyan government. What a persistent woman, a visionary who gathered people together–men and women, this tribe or that tribe–in the cause of environmental restoration. Then, bubbling from gate F10’s TV, the Headline News caught my attention. Usually I position myself away from the television, but I saw Hilary and Barack in Unity, New Hampshire together–and this moment was live.
Hilary, hands raised, speaks in support of Barack, in support of their Party. There they are, the two of them, somehow communing, at least above the fray of months of wolving at each other. I am sentimental and this moment makes me proud of my country. I know there are underbelly angers and resentments and that uniting is absolutely crucial for party survival, and that smooth choreographing is at play… but the image and feeling is hitting me anyway. I allow it to sweep over me; it registers quite physically. I like nothing more than two perspectives (two warriors) acknowledging each other. For all pomp, it feels revolutionary. (more…)
Sibling Rivalry Reversed
Thursday, June 26th, 2008
My sister and her family stayed with us for most of last week, and we didn’t have a single eye-roll, hair-pull, or biting (comment or teeth marks in a thigh) incident. If we fought about anything, it was over paying for the other one’s lunch or groceries. One night, I called out to her from the kitchen, “You know, it feels like one of my best friends is visiting.” She shouted back that she felt the same way. This is new.
Over the weekend, we watched the only home video we have from our childhood. Mom missed the boat on buying a video camera, but when we met our stepdad’s parents for the first time, they documented the weekend. Pretty cute to see little sis feeding our Rottweiler from her high chair and to hear my most stuffiest nose voice. But it wasn’t all giggles. After figuring out that one could in fact move in front of this camera, I finally put my posed hand down from it’s frozen wave and became the entertainer. Little me spun around in circles with a toy suitcase, and when it thwacked 2 yr old lil’ sis on the head and she landed on her diaper bottom, I blamed her for running into it. “Why did you do that? Gosh!”
With Help Comes Hope: the Lifeline Gallery
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
This week, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, with a donation from producer James L. Brooks, is launching The Lifeline Gallery, a powerful virtual space where suicide survivors, attempt survivors, and suicide prevention supporters can share their stories.
Basically, you can create an animated avatar that looks like you (or not), then record your two-minute message by phone. The website instantly links your message to your avatar’s lips, and then you can save your story in the gallery. You can also e-mail your story or embed it on your MySpace, Facebook, or other website. (For those not using a U.S.-based number, you can also type your story and the site will transcribe it your words into speech.)
After the cut, I’ll let the project speak for itself (turn on your speakers to hear her story):
Sissy Boys and Big Daddy Presidents
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
It seems like the mainstream media thinks that Hillary Clinton’s bow out of the race signifies the end of this anomalous moment where gender was–gasp!–relevant. Not so fast Fox, CNN, MSNBC, and all you others…gender is very much still at play.
Barack Obama has been cast as the “feminine” candidate. His leadership style tends towards the collaborative, discussion-based, compassionate, even gentle side of things. Ellen Goodman wrote a great column on just this back in the day. Just as Bill Clinton was dubbed the “first black president,” ol’ Obama may just be “the first female president.”
McCain, on the other hand, is indisputably repping old school masculinity. He’s tough, militaristic, and has a widely-known temper. Just like Bush, he’s trying to be the “big daddy” president, who will keep Americans safe from the evil monsters lurking under the proverbial bed.
You Can’t Make This Stuff Up: Happiest Day
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
What were you doing last Friday? Hopefully something really good, because according to British psychologist Cliff Arnall, June 20th is the official happiest day of the year. Arnall’s formula is simple: O + (NxS) + Cpm/T + He. Got it? Just kidding, I’ll translate. That’s Outdoors + (Nature x Time Socializing with Friends) + Childhood Positive Memories / Temperature + Holiday Expectation.
In honor of Dr. Arnall, here is a selection of things that happened on June 20th, both happy and not-so, according to Wikipedia:
1789: Deputies of the French Third Estate take the Tennis Court Oath.
1863: West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.
1877: Alexander Graham Bell installs the world’s first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
1948: The Ed Sullivan Show debuts.
1949: Lionel Richie was born.
(more…)
Monday Brag Round-Up, June 23
Monday, June 23rd, 2008Courtney Martin
- “Generation Y Refuses Race-Gender Dichotomy” at AlterNet
Ethan Todras-Whitehill
- Hear Ethan speak about “reverse culture shock” on New Hampshire Public Radio (originally aired on Cityscape on WFUV in 2006). Click here to download the MP3; Ethan’s piece is toward the end.
Kate Torgovnick
- Read an interview about “CHEER!” with Kate Torgovnick at Hugging Harold Reynolds (a sports blog).
Medicine Woman
Friday, June 20th, 2008According to family legend, I had a great aunt who was the medicine woman of her town in Sardinia. She read tarot and fixed broken bones. If someone twisted their knee playing soccer, they could skip the hospital and go directly to this zia for a carefully prepared poultice. Bandages held together by a some egg whites kept the remedy in place, and by the grace of Santa Maria, the soccer player was back on the field for the next game.
Earlier this week, my sister-in-law gave me the book 10 Essential Herbs by Lalitha Thomas, and I have to tell you, the urge to sprinkle cayenne on people is now irresistible. So far, my dogs are the most willing patients. I’ve already slapped some yarrow and chaparral on Porter’s itchy belly, and if we can avoid a vet bill thanks to my magic, there will be no stopping me. And why not? Medical insurance, doctors, and prescriptions are all costly. But if you made gingerbread this winter, you already have two of the ten essentials, cloves and ginger. And if you cook like I do, you have a frequently replenished stash of garlic and an occasional onion, two of the other essentials. Along with cayenne, that’s half of the herbs praised in the book for their healing properties in daily use, travelers, pets, illness, and even emergencies.
A Little Romance
Thursday, June 19th, 2008___
Kimmi
Therapy Thursdays
Open Up Your Golden Arms
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008Well done, California. Well done. Congratulations to all the couples who now have the option to choose legal marriage, giving them the legal protection and rights long denied them.
photo by Flickr user Elroy
More happy photos behind the cut.
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Bias and “Party Crashing”
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008I just got done with a really amazing panel on bias in the media (see Debbie’s live blogging of it), and wanted to publish a few of my comments here:
I was born on the last hour of the last day of the last year of the 70s. So, like so many of my Generation Y peers, I was raised on Free to Be You and Me, hip hop, and feminism. I was 11 when Anita Hill changed the world and just about Monica Lewinsky’s age when her blue dress dominated the headlines. So that just gives you some perspective on where young voters like me are coming from when we consider race and gender in the political environment
According to PBS News Hour, 5.7 million people under the age of 30 voted in the primaries, a 109% increase from the last presidential election. There’s no question that young people are excited about this political moment; there’s no question that we care deeply about issues of race, gender, class, and religion; we are not, however, endeared to partisanship.
Monday Brag Round-Up, June 16
Monday, June 16th, 2008Courtney Martin
- “Alice and Rebecca Walker Clash: Do Feminist Mothers Have to Choose Between Dreams and Diapers?” at AlterNet
- “Generation Entitled” at Women’s Media Center
Money for Honey
Friday, June 13th, 2008Honey in jar, from bees. It costs money to buy, just like any other animal product or vegetable. Just like, in fact, tomatoes. A couple days ago, I sat down to dinner and devoured an entire plate of tomatoes. The next day I heard about the salmonella scare, though it had already been broadcast on television well before I took fork to plate. Typical. Being on a far-away island with no medical clinic, my thoughts spiraled. How quickly could I catch one of those tiny wobbly planes off this island? Will the salmonella make me vomit first or will I just descend in feverish fits? I allowed myself about 30 seconds to be dramatic and then I pulled it together. Amazing isn’t it that the media let us know and somehow it trickled from someone’s flat screen to someone else’s mouth and then to isolated me. You better believe that all the mothers of America were out there calling their children. I can almost hear it: “Don’t eat any tomatoes. You haven’t eaten any tomatoes, have you?”
The very machine that facilitates the remarkable warning of its citizens is the same one that caused the problem in the first place. What a huge system we are– one where mass-production of tomatoes caused an illness that our mass-producing media then warned us of….We are the savvy masters of mass production. But in some corners, that might be changing. (more…)
That Would Never Happen in America
Thursday, June 12th, 2008No one was in the booth. The machines were all off. The turnstiles were open. The message seemed to be, Please come ride the subway for free. So, in I went and down an escalator toward the train. Soon I could see five policemen at the bottom, and (although I felt sure I had done nothing wrong) I quickly realized that there was no evading them. There were dozens of people behind me with bags and strollers. The police wanted to know where my subway pass was, and if I didn’t have one, I needed to pay them 50 Euros. I was in Rome, by the way. And if I didn’t have 50 Euros, they were going to confiscate my American passport and hold it until I came back with the money, just like they did to the Bulgarian women in front of me. I refused. I apologized in Italian, told them I had just been visiting my family. And then I cried. FYI: Italian men cannot stand to see young women cry. Or babies. So they let me go.
My father told me it was a trap and that it was good that I didn’t pay the fine because it would have gone straight into the carabinieri’s pockets. “They’re corrupt over there. That’s one reason I left. That would never happen in America!” This was a good six years ago and I agreed. That wouldn’t happen to me in a NY subway station. Granted, I would never assume that I could hop a turnstile in NY if all the machines were broken and there was no one in the booth. In any case, all of this is (slowly) winding up at my point, which is that I also thought that something else would never happen in America– that after the great debacle that was the handling of Katrina, our government would casually give away $85 million dollars worth of supplies earmarked for Katrina victims to everyone but Katrina victims.
Detachment
Thursday, June 12th, 2008Help, please.
___
Kimmi
Therapy Thursdays
Regular People, Big Impact
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
Today is Loving Day, the 41st anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling that ended 400 years of laws banning interracial marriage and relationships. Richard and Mildred Loving fought for nine years to earn the simple right to be married to each other.
From the Loving Day website:
This year is particularly significant because Mrs. Loving tragically passed away. While we are saddened by this, we can also be inspired by her historic achievement. Mrs. Loving was a regular person from a small town who made a big difference. We can all make a difference as well.
She didn’t speak much publicly. Her husband died in a car accident in 1975, but she never remarried. Their love changed law.
Monday Brag Round-Up, June 9
Monday, June 9th, 2008Kimberlee Auerbach
- “My Girl-Crush on My Pole-Dancing Teacher” in Daily Cents
Joie Jager-Hyman
- “Wait-List Winners Create College Chaos” in New York Magazine
Courtney Martin
- On Tuesday, June 10, Courtney will do a talk-back for the new Neil LaBute play, “Reasons to Be Pretty” at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.
- “Dear Hillary: A Letter from an Obama Feminist” at The American Prospect
- “Fanning the Flames of Youth Civic Engagement” at Women’s Media Center
Gobble It Up…. or Not
Friday, June 6th, 2008Remember when George Bush tried to ease our 9-11 woes by telling us to go spend money? What a thing to say. What a nation of consumers we are. Other nations are not far behind us. When my dear friend told me that I needed four outfits for her wedding weekend, panic filled my stomach. I don’t even own one outfit. So off I went. I dropped some significant cash on some pretty things– dresses and one pair of shoes, and some new mascara. The rest I borrowed from my more-hip-than-me mother. To my amazement, the whole process was fun. I normally pride myself on not indulging on clothes. I tend to be judgmental of others who spend money on materialistic bits, especially trendy clothes tossed away next season. I used to get witchy about it; I am not proud of being this way.
Thankfully, (more…)