Awareness | Posted by Julie Z on 09/19/2009
Feminism | Posted by Maria on 09/18/2009
Life Without a Life Mate
I’m on a number of social networking sites, and on some of these, there are introduction threads. On one of these, they asked us state our long term goals and I wrote what I considered to be the basics.
- graduate from college
- get a job I don’t hate
- write and publish books
- hold the leaders of the free world hostage and make them listen to Abba
- beat Stephenie Meyer with a hard back copy of Breaking Dawn in a pillow case.
You know, the important stuff. But apparently I missed the memo. The one that says somewhere in the long-term goals section, a girl must list the desire to marry and procreate.
Just to set the record straight, I’m not going to say that the …
Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 09/17/2009
Target Women: Brooke Shields
Sorry for the lack of postage and the following video (although I’m not really sorry…Sarah Haskins is awesome). I have an AP US History test on Friday…which isn’t really an excuse, but then again if you’ve taken APUSH maybe you realize it is.
Anyway I have to get back to the frantic facebook inbox thread my class has created, asking each other last minute questions about Bacon’s Rebellion (heh. Bacon…) and Triangular Trade that nobody can actually answer.
But you don’t have to take an APUSH exam SO ENJOY!
Feminism | Posted by Leah RD on 09/15/2009
Grinding
I had been at college for three days, and my friends and I were anticipating the First Chance Dance, an annual tradition meant to facilitate fun and friendship during the notoriously uncomfortable orientation process. My dorm’s resident advisor encouraged us to go, advising that it provides “a great opportunity for sexual exploration.” Some of my newly minted classmates obviously saw it that way; the First Chance Dance would be better described as “a room full of sweaty teenagers in varying states of sobriety engaging in fully-clothed sex on the dance floor.” Not an exaggeration.
First of all, the “grinding” phenomenon demands a discussion. Let’s be honest: grinding is basically simulated sex on the dance floor. I try to be sex-positive and am generally comfortable with open expressions of sexuality. But …
Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 09/14/2009
gendered vitamins?
So, most commercial piss me off. For the most part, they are stupid and uncreative and for every 30 second spot I watch I feel like I’ve lost a thousand brain cells, if not more. Also, it doesn’t help that my mother was in the advertising industry for many years and likes to shout out every single thing that’s wrong with every commercial. Every. single. commercial.
But one commercial recently caught my attention in the sexist arena.
I couldn’t find the actual video, but One-A-Day has a vitamin called “Teen Advantage.” Okay, vitamins for teens. We’re growing and shit, blah blah blah. But oh no, this vitamin is specific to gender. The ad reads:
“Healthy muscle function with Magnesium (for Him) and Healthy skin with Vitamins A and C, Copper, …
Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Shelan O on 09/13/2009
GR!C: Day 6…Final Performance at The Metro!
Seeing your show on the marquee of a venue that’s hosted bands like The Ramones, Sonic Youth, Veruca Salt, The Smashing Pumpkins, and The White Stripes is pretty thrilling. And seeing people line up around the block for it is unbelievable.
Inside, we all converge on the balcony, chatting while waiting our turn for the sound check. Everyone is nearly bursting; you occasionally hear shrieks of ‘I’m soooooooooooo NERVOUS!!’ but it’s always said with a smile, no one looks like they’re going to faint. Some girls are dressed with a theme – Homecoming Riot are all wearing prom-like frocks, The Black Tie are wearing ties, save for one girl who has drawn a neck tie on a T-shirt. Whether they’re dressed up or down, everyone has laid out their rock …
Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Shelan O on 09/12/2009
GR!C: Day 5
Xenia and I are a few minutes late today, and when we get to the cafeteria, everyone has paper taped to their backs and are running around with markers. We soon learn that you’re supposed to write on these pieces of paper what you like about the person who wears them. Everyone is fluttering around, giggling at the imagined reactions to their kind words. It was nice seeing so many girls become so excited and eager to say nice things about their fellow campers and counselors. Everyone I passed offered to write something on me, and I did the same. Then, in unison, we removed our papers and read them. Here were some things that had been written on me, misspellings and all:
“AMAZING everything—related—to—music—ist” “Your very talented” “Great base …
Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Shelan O on 09/11/2009
GR!C: Day 4
Our song is nearly finished! Yay! We pretty much had the music down since day one, except for the last minute bass solo/bridge I added yesterday. The lyrics, on the other hand, were only finalized today. First we had no lyrics, then we had some really good lyrics, but also some doubts as to whether they would fit with the music. After that came some lyrics that fit with the music as far as rhythm and melody were concerned, but seemed to completely lack meaning—and not in the cool Talking Heads “Stop Making Sense” sort of way, more in the lack-of-feeling department. So, we decided to take the really good lyrics that Ruadhan wrote, change the melody and tempo, alter the phrasing a bit, and…Voilà! Great song. The transitions still …
