Notes From The Underwhelmed
What Fresh Hell is This?
Thursday, August 9, 2012
You Need To Go To Charm School, Bitches
One thing you may know about me, if we are friends, is that I collect old timey etiquette books due to the fact that they are hilarious. One thing you may not know about me, is that half the time, the only way I get through the day by fantasizing about and plotting the etiquette book I plan to write myself one day, using examples of all the irritating people I encounter. Because, although I think it's funny as shit to imagine someone trying to eat an ear of corn the way that Amy Vanderbilt suggests one eat an ear of corn (it involves forks, knives, only seasoning one bite at a time and would take you at least 2 hours to complete), I think good manners are the most important thing in the world, and I don't think there is a better thing someone can be than gracious. I also don't think you have to be a fancy debutante lady to have them (and frequently, they don't). Manners are not about crossing your leg at the ankle, or using the right fork, or not wearing white after Labor Day. Manners are about other people, whom we forget, sometimes, are important. While you forge your identity as an individual who will not be told what to do by The Man by chewing with your mouth open, someone else has to look at that. And it's probably not pleasant. Manners are the way we show people they are important. So let's talk about some etiquette, shall we?
You Are An Inconvenience To Strangers
Every time you leave your house, you are probably going to annoy somebody and you may not even know it. Without other people, one would always have a seat on the bus, would not have to wait in line, would not have to wait to cross the street, etc. You are probably always in someone's way, and someone is probably always in your way, and that, perhaps, is why we are all in a bad mood most of the time. Here are some things we can all do to mollify this situation.
- Pedestrians, stay to the right. For the love of god, just stay to the right. When you stroll thoughtlessly down the middle of a sidewalk, you force people to either try to squeeze past you or wait until you, the king and queen of the Ukranian Village have passed. Being that you are not royalty, this is not appropriate behavior for you. More importantly, if you choose to just chill out on an escalator and savor the experience of not having to move your legs, rather than walk up it, please do not take up an entire step and rest your hands on both sides of the rails. People have to get to work. It is quite simple for you to just stay to the right and allow others to pass.
- It is for this reason that I find double wide strollers to be one the most tacky things on earth. If you feel you must have twins, or children especially in close in age to one another, I suggest that you get one of the inline double strollers. This way, you do not take up the whole of the sidewalk or supermarket aisle, and you also do not force people who work in shops to have to help you squeeze that monstrosity through the door.
- Hold the door open for the person walking in behind you. It won't kill you. If you are a man, it does not mean that you are a sexist, it means that you are polite. Regardless of what you believe you know about the women's movement, our problem was not so much with doors being opened for us as it was with not getting paid the same as you or being able to have governance over our own bodies, and with actually being oppressed.
- Be kind to people who are working when you are out having a good time. The best way to get good service is not to fiercely demand it as though the person helping you will try to put one over on you otherwise, but to be kind, friendly and patient to the person providing it to you. It's very nouveau-riche to think that you look extra classy and rich by being rude to people. Trust me, you do not. You look classy when you are being gracious.
Things Not To Say, Ever
- Never, ever, ever ask a woman if she is pregnant, or expecting, or anything until that baby is halfway out the vadge. Because you don't know. Because she could just be bloated that day. Or she could have a stomach tumor. You don't know! Err on the safe side, don't say shit. I feel like this should be common sense, but alas
- Don't ever say "You look tired". Do you know when I look tired? When I don't feel like wearing eye makeup. I'm not tired, I am just sans eyeliner. No one looks GOOD when they are tired, so it's not a compliment. Which means, don't say it.
- If you are a man, do not ever, ever, ever, under any circumstance, tell a woman you do not know to smile. Because seriously, fuck you.
People Will Love You For The Way You Make Them Feel About Themselves
This is the wisest thing my mother has ever said, and possibly the best thing anyone, ever has said, about graciousness and charm. My whole life I have been impressed with how much people truly love her, and it's not just because she's hilarious and witty, it's because she makes everyone she talks to feel like the most important and interesting person who has ever lived. She has a way of bringing out the best in people and it's wonderful to watch- you might think someone is dull as hell, but then they'll talk to her and seem wonderfully fascinating. So, this is something I always try to keep in mind, even though I don't know that I'll ever be as good at as she is.
- Always say hello and goodbye to people you know. I don't know, I think it's really always very nice when someone is happy to see you, and I feel very importantly about saying goodbye because you just never know, you know? Unless I'm at a 4am bar and cannot stand, I always try to say goodbye to everyone I know.
- Introduce people thoughtfully whenever possible. When I introduce people to one another, I try to mention something interesting about each of them, or something they have in common. I think it makes things less awkward, because that way they immediately have something to talk about.
- Fucking say thank you. Say Thank You to the bus driver, to the cabbie, to the person who holds the door open for you, to the waitress, to the bartender, to someone who pays you a compliment. Always, always, always.
- Always try to include someone who seems to feel left out. You get to know the best people this way. As someone who tends to sometimes feel awkward in social situations, this is something I always appreciate and remember.
- When you are having a conversation with someone else, listen to what they have to say rather than sit and think of what you would like to say next. This is something I used to have trouble with myself because I was once very enthusiastic about talking and about firmly letting people know who I was and what I was about. I have found that, in fact, no one cares to know exactly who I am and what I am about, nor anyone else.
Bigotry is Fucking Tacky, Ok?
There are a lot of things wrong with being a bigot. However, at the end of the day, it is just freaking gauche and undignified. You will never look at someone spewing streams of hate on national television and remark to yourself "Goodness! What class! What grace! What dignity! What charm!". It always looks petty and spiteful. Bigotry is rude for almost all the reasons anything I've written above is rude. It is good manners to include people, it is bad manners to not be inclusive. It is good manners to be fair.
- It is not good manners to act as though you are more important or better than others. This goes for all things.
- If you believe that you are better than someone due to your skin color or sexual orientation or whathaveyou, this is something better kept to yourself. It is something you should know well enough by now to be embarrassed by.
- There is no reason your religion ought to be entering the public sphere. That is a personal and private thing, please keep it so. If you are an especially holy person, I'm sure you can convey that to others without getting in their face about it.
- One of my favorite things in Streetcar Named Desire is where Blanche explains that she's done a lot of bad things in her life but that she would never, ever hurt someone deliberately. It's something that has always stuck with me. People make mistakes and fuck up all the time- and despite our best intentions none of us can say we've never hurt anyone, period. Hurting someone deliberately not only harms the person you're hurting in the first place, but it also takes away from you. I think that not ever hurting someone deliberately is the best thing anyone can have to be proud of.
Stop Insisting Upon Yourself
One of my biggest pet peeves is the "This is just who I AM" thing. It's very common among people my age who were raised to believe that who they are, personally, is the most important and wonderful thing in the world. Everyone can stand to change a few things about themselves- it's called growing and evolving. If someone tells me I did something to hurt their feelings or make them feel uncomfortable, that is something I am going to give some serious thought to. It seems ridiculous to me that people defend being an ass by saying it is "just who they are."
- I think that we need to stop telling people to "just be themselves". If your self is an especially terrible person, or if your self insists upon chewing with it's mouth open, perhaps you ought to consider being someone else for a while until you manage to improve.
- Adjust the way you speak depending on whom you are talking to. You're not being a traitor to your own identity by maybe not talking about how much you like getting spanked during a conversation with your grandmother. This should be a given, but one never knows.
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Well! This is already insanely long, and I don't know that I've covered even half of the things I ought to. Should you have any questions regarding etiquette, let me know and I will try to answer them in a future post! Feel free to share your own thoughts on manners and things as well!
Monday, June 11, 2012
How My Personal Existence Refutes Pretty Much All of The Anti-Gay Marriage Talking Points
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
A Sally Jessy Raphael Revenge Fantasy/ The Case of The Disappearing Bully
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Delusions For Everybody!
Rick Astley was not my stalker. He's just this sort of clueless dude that stuff happened with a few times by accident SEVERAL YEARS AGO who does not seem to realize (despite my ignoring him for three years) that I am not interested in him. It's not a big deal, he's not a jerk, I should not feel "threatened" in anyway. Of course, I feel completely threatened because I always have that lingering fear that a dude is going to go all Glenn Close on me again.
However, I need to get the fuck over all of this. Now that I have come to terms with what my crazy is, I can just go ahead and stop it.
Now that THAT'S dealt with, let me tell you about last night.
I work at a fancy ass restaurant. Last night, at said fancy ass restaurant, a lady came in wearing only a bra, a cardigan, tights and a sheer lace skirt. Not a fancy bra, mind you, but like, the same sort of t-shirt bra that I was wearing UNDERNEATH MY CLOTHES. Like a sucker. Or an Amish person. One of those things. She was all kinds of nonchalant about the fact that she was out at a fancy restaurant, on a Wednesday, in her underwear. Because why shouldn't she be?
I was a little jealous, honestly. I've had no less than fifty seven panic attacks this week over the fact that I am obviously a hideous monster and the fact that everyone secretly hates my guts and all of my friends are just humoring me out of pity. Every time I leave the house, I want to die/ just run back to the bell tower and sob and pet my cat and eat Nutella out of the jar as the good lord intended. Before you get all "OH NO GIRL, YOU ARE LOVELY AND EVERYONE LOVES YOU AND YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY JUST FISHING FOR COMPLIMENTS" on me, I should tell you that I am cognitively aware that these things are not true and also that I am totally uncomfortable with compliments and would therefore never fish for them. It's just that I've got this wacky pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder thing that makes me feel like they're true for a few days each month. It's fucking horrible.
But something about the naked lady caused me to snap out of it. So, you know, thanks, naked lady!
So anyway, AFTER work I go to the bar next door to my apartment because obviously I need a goddamned drink, and I need to tell people about the naked lady. Obviously. And obviously, I end up in a conversation with some random dude about privilege systems, because that is just apparently how I roll. That's my comfort zone, I guess.
It came up because he was talking about how he was homeless at one point and, um, was mad because a random black person yelled something out of a car at him one time? I don't know, it sounded like he made it up. Anyway, the gist of his story was the fact that said black person didn't realize that he wasn't white.
"I am pretty sure you're white." I said, being that he was a white guy and all.
"I'm not white and neither are you", he tells me. I stare at my pasty ass arm.
"Huh".
He then goes on some diatribe about how we're Italian and thus descended from Moors and thus not white. Which is actually not even true (sorry, you can't believe everything you hear in Quentin Tarantino movies...), and even if it were, it would not matter because no one is sitting around contemplating our ancestral history before deciding whether or not we get to benefit from white privilege. That is not how it works. That is just not how anything works.
Because I have poor judgement, don't realize when I'm talking to a dumb person, and also probably just like to hear myself talk, I think I went on for about five minutes trying to explain Sociology 101 to this idiot. I am pretty sure that at one point I yelled "Race is a social construction!" into the night.
This whole "Italians are not white" thing is only something I've heard since moving to Chicago. Maybe because there are fewer of us here? I don't know. I mean, sure, some people here totally think that any relative I mention with a vaguely ethnic sounding name is DEFINITELY in the mob, and will give me knowing looks to that effect, but that is merely hilarious. That is not systemic oppression of any kind.
So what fantastic moral lesson did I learn last night? I learned that everyone is fucking delusional in their own special way. If I am going to be delusional, I want to be delusional like the underwear girl was. I want to be that kind of delusional. Because I bet she's really happy and feels great about herself always. We should all be so lucky to be that kind of crazy.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Is This The Weirdest Crisis Pregnancy Center Ever?
Though I am loathe to click on such an advertisement, for fear that said click will result in some kind of implicit endorsement of something shady, my curiosity got the better of me. Why, oh why, oh WHY might one not *need* an abortion? Inquiring minds, bitches.
Obviously, My Choice Chicago is one of those "Crisis Pregnancy Centers". If you are not familiar, Crisis Pregnancy Centers are unbelievably shady organizations that pretend to be abortion clinics, but then when a woman shows up looking to obtain an abortion, they attack her with a barrage of crazypants anti-choice lies and try to talk her out of it. There are also several instances in which these organizations have lied to women (either by telling them they're not pregnant in the first place, or by repeatedly "delaying" their "appointment" for an abortion) in order to put them off until the abortion would no longer be legal. Amazingly, these centers are funded by your tax dollars. Which is incredibly frustrating given the huge cuts to organizations that provide actual health services to women. Here are the results of a study NARAL did a while back on 15 different CPC's:
■ 73% of the CPCs investigated repeated the false claim that there
is a link between abortion and an increased risk of developing
breast cancer.
■ 87% of CPCs investigated advised that abortion will lead to severe
mental health problems.
■ 67% highlighted a link between future infertility and abortion
either through personal stories, pamphlets distributed at the CPC
or through their website. In addition, 75% of CPCs investigated
suggested a link between abortion and future miscarriages.
■ One CPC lists their position on abortion explicitly on their
website. For other CPCs, it is only after a woman arrives in-person
at the CPC that their true bias is disclosed.
■ None of CPCs investigated refer women for birth control. In
fact, 67% provided misleading information regarding the risks
associated with birth control and 60% provided medically
inaccurate information about Emergency Contraception (EC).
■ Based on research by NPCMF, the majority (87%) of CPC representatives
were medically untrained volunteers.
So, yeah. Your tax dollars at work! In the few instances in which there has been some kind of legislation to prevent these organizations from lying to women, they have insisted that it is their "first amendment right" to do so. Which is gross. It hasn't worked, but it's still gross.
So what's different about My Choice Chicago? Remember that little blurb about "You may not need an abortion"?
Well, guess why? On their website is a darling collection of "statistics" stating that 1 in 4 pregnancies will just end in miscarriage anyway! Which, duh, is not true- only 10% of pregnancies are likely to end in miscarriage after the first missed period. But, they are more than happy to provide "testing" to see if you are one of those lucky women who don't need an abortion because the pregnancy will likely end in a miscarriage.
Why, oh why, do I have this sinking feeling that any woman who walks in there looking to get an abortion will be deemed "likely to miscarry" regardless of the actual health of the fetus? Does anyone know a pro-choice, newly pregnant woman who wants to do an undercover investigation? There can be trench coats!
As it turns out, "My Choice Chicago" is part of a much larger network of CPC's called "Enlightened Woman Centers"- all of which have the "You don't need an abortion! You're just going to miscarry anyway!" angle. Do I even have to elaborate on how disturbing that is? Especially because I think we can all understand that not having to go through serious invasive surgery, or pay for said invasive surgery, might seem like bit of a relief. Surgery is scary! I'm still to scared of it to have a breast reduction! I can completely understand why someone might find this appealing on some level, despite how traumatic (and painful, and possibly dangerous) a miscarriage would be.
Friday, April 6, 2012
If I Were Christian, I'd Probably Hate Women Too
Monday, March 5, 2012
Limbaugh: Why We Are Just Getting To This Now
It's been a while since I posted in this blog. It was mostly abandoned due to a weird stalking incident and then I never really got back to it since I've been slightly more busy with this one. Nevertheless.
The first bumper sticker I ever had was a "Flush Rush" sticker from NOW that I proudly placed on my 7th grade binder. I've been appalled by the man since he first appeared on the airwaves. I actually got into a giant screaming fight with my entire World History class about it, which ended with me screaming "What the hell? You can't hate immigrants! You're freaking Italian! We can't hate immigrants! We *are* immigrants!" at one kid and being sent to the office. For god knows how long now, he's been spewing horrid, racist, sexist bile all over the radio airwaves. I am willing to bet that every five seconds he says something that, by all rights, we should have tried to take him down for. So, you gotta wonder- why are we just getting to this now?
I saw a comment, somewhere, in which someone pointed out that he's been saying vile racist things about Obama and his family for the past four years- asking why we're only trying to destroy him now that he's attacking a white woman going to a fancy college. Good fucking point. And one I would vehemently agree with, normally. Except that- well, this is hardly the first time he's done it. Dude coined the word "feminazis", referred to Chelsea Clinton- then a teenager- as "The White House Dog" throughout the Clinton years, and has pretty much never spoken a word about women that would not easily be classified as vile and disgusting. We have always hated him, we have always been appalled by him- and we were certainly just as horrified by his racist statements as his chauvinistic ones. However, I think that we sorta just now realized that we could actually take him on and win.
Do you know who Anita Bryant is? A lot of people don't. Normally, I get all befuddled when people are unfamiliar with certain things- like the time four people in one day didn't know who Carole King was, and last night when I couldn't handle the fact that this guy had never heard the term "Gesundheit" before. But in this case, it's actually pretty great thing. Anita Bryant was a former pageant girl who was trying to make a name for herself as a singer of terrible songs like "Paper Roses", which was later covered by Marie Osmond. She also *really* hated gay people, and went around saying that because they couldn't reproduce on their own, that they would be coming to a town near you to recruit your otherwise heterosexual children. Because that's how human sexuality works. It's a lot like the ROTC, but with far superior parades. And glitter! She led a campaign ("Save Our Children") in Florida against a recent county ordinance that banned discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodation based on sexual orientation. She said lovely things like this:
"If gays are granted rights, next we'll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nail biters"
Which clearly is true. I mean, now, it's totally legal to both be gay AND ruin your manicure. It is still not legal to have sex with a St. Bernard. Except in Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming- where there are not, in fact, any laws against it at all.
I digress! Anyway, Ms. Bryant was also the spokesperson for Florida Orange Juice. As a result, there was a massive boycott of orange juice and public condemnation of Bryant herself. And now she couldn't even get a gig at a D.A.R. variety show if she wanted.
When I first started becoming politically active, my mother kept telling me that we were doing things wrong. She had two pieces of advice:
1. If you're going to protest, don't look like hobos. Dress like Catholic school girls. Wear sweatervests. If people turn on the TV and see the police beating the crap out of a bunch of radicals, they don't give a shit. They think you deserve it. They see them beating up Suzy Creamcheese, it's a whole different story.
2. BOYCOTT BOYCOTT BOYCOTT. For years, she has been telling me that boycotts and strikes are the only things that have ever really worked. "You all don't know how to give things up. I loved orange juice. I loved grapes! But I was happy to give them up to make something actually happen. They don't give a shit about you walking around with a sign. They care about money."
And she's right. As usual. I can't tell you how freaking annoying it is to have a mother who is right about everything always. For some reason (like a lot of the things she's been irritatingly right about), even for me, this took a while to sink in. Sure. I didn't buy Coke products because of the School of The Americas, and I stick to fair trade coffee and chocolate. Mostly. I actually feel really guilty right now because there's a canister of Nestle hot chocolate in my cabinet. None of that, however, does much good when the boycotts aren't all that organized or publicized. Even I didn't realize how much better they worked than all the protests and situationist tactics we'd been trying for years. We forgot the lessons we learned from the Anita Bryant incident, from the lunch counter boycotts, from the grape boycott and more.
I think, truly, that what did it for me, and for lots of other people out there, was the success of the campaign against Susan G. Komen dropping Planned Parenthood. Because, for all my years of beating the drum, that was one of the few things I'd ever seen really work. It worked! We won! We actually won! We went after the money, and we won. In the 15 years I've been politically active, I have really never seen anything we've done actually work. Petitions, guerrilla theater, marching on Washington- none of that ever actually did anything. We still haven't freed Tibet- or Mumia- or Leonard Peltier- School of the America's still exists and sure, the war in Iraq is technically over, but it's not like it had anything to do with an especially awesome chant we came up with or anything. We've seen 90% of our causes wither away and die, and for a while, it all just seemed a little futile. The campaign against Komen helped us realize a very valuable thing- we're not going to win with heartfelt pleas, rational arguments and clever bumper stickers. We will win by getting them where they live. We will get them in their wallets.
We've been emboldened. And that's awesome. We're not going after Rush because this is the first time we've been disgusted by him. We're going after him because we finally figured out how to do it correctly. And I really hope that in 30 years, no one will know who they hell he is either.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
A Letter to Christians
When I was 8 years old, I asked my mother what our religion was, and her reply was simply "our religion is that you don't get in anybody's face". This small statement has always made sense to me, which is why I do not tend to get very Richard Dawkinsy about my atheism/skepticism. For instance, I am not going to tell my 80 year old grandmother that a miracle of St. Anthony is not the reason she found some lost item. I am not going to tell someone whose mother just died that she's not up there in heaven or whatever waiting for them. That feels gross and wrong to me. I would never deliberately hurt someone just to further my own belief system. I don't seek to change anyone's mind or personal beliefs, and am very much in the "whatever gets you through the day" camp.
It would be kind of you to give the same sort of consideration.
It's hard for me to understand why you feel it is important to insist that people who are not followers of your religion abide by the rules of your religion. If you want to believe that the earth is 6,000 years old, I am totally fine with that. That is your religious belief, not mine. You personally believing that doesn't hurt me, but it is, nonetheless, a religious belief. One which you have no right to try and sail past the rest of us as being, in any way, grounded in science. You do not have the right to insist that schools teach this to children not of your faith. You may take your own children aside and say "Yes, this is what school is teaching you, but let me tell you about what I believe." and then give them the proper resources to research it for themselves. You may even request that they not be present for that particular lesson. You may also enroll your children in parochial schools that will not teach evolution. You may homeschool them. You may not, however, demand that children not of your faith be taught the tenets of your faith in public schools. It is apparent to me, and to all other non-Christians, that the point of this is not to ensure your own children's continued belief in Creationism, but to proselytize to non-Evangelical Christian children. School is not the time for that- it is not a science teacher's job to indoctrinate children whom you do not know with your personal beliefs. If you wish to proselytize, I suggest you stand on a street corner, or go door to door as the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses do.
We get it. Same-sex marriage is against your religion. La-di-dah. No one- literally, not one person in the whole country- is going to demand that your church marry a gay couple, or that you marry a person of the same sex. In fact, no one is demanding that your church marry anyone that is not a congregant of your church. Your issue with same-sex marriage is a religious one- and I am not going to tell you that you cannot believe that. I will, however note, that if your marriage could in any way be threatened by same-sex marriage, then obviously you've got more problems than that. Yes, for some people, marriage is a religious institution. Not so for others. I am an atheist, and I am perfectly free to get married should I choose to do so. Non-Christians get married pretty much all the time. If you do not believe in gay marriage, don't have one. You are free to not associate with gay people, just as they are free to not associate with you. You are free to disagree with people, but you do not have the authority to enforce your personal religious beliefs on those that do not share them. This is the equivilent of Jewish people trying to demand that non-Jewish people keep kosher, or of the Amish insisting we all give up buttons and electricity, or Jehovah's Witnesses trying to pass laws against blood transfusions or national holidays. Yes, you are the majority in this country, but that does not give you any more right than anyone else to insist that others follow your religion. I don't want to be a Christian anymore than you want to be a Scientologist.
The same goes for abortion. Over 75% of all abortions are had by women who identify as some kind of Christian. You deal with your own shit/glass houses first and then come talk to us. It is, once again, your religious belief that abortion is wrong. I could care less if you have whittled your anti-murdering commandment down to where it actually only applies to fetuses (as it seems most of you are in favor of war and the death penalty but opposed to gun control), or that you really don't seem to care too much about taking care of children once they exit the womb. That is not my business. My body, however, is my business. If you do not believe in abortion, then I suggest you don't have one.
Regarding environmental issues. I just read a thing about how some Christians in Florida were deeply upset over the government issuing some protection to the manatees. Why this is any kind of big deal really confounds me. Like, really, I get the whole thing about how god gave you dominion over the plants and animals, but is it really that big of a deal to maybe not drive a motorboat over where some endangered animals are living? Is it really going to decrease your quality of life in any way? Manatees are pretty cool. They've never done anything to you. I mean, even if the earth is just god's present to you... generally when people give you gifts, they like you to take care of them. For instance, if I gave you a lovely brooch for your birthday and you took and smashed it, I would find that to be a little insulting. While you may be sure that the apocolypse is nigh, the rest of us plan to be here for a while, so we'd like to take care of things. I promise you, should your god exist, he or she is not really going to be all that offended by your neighborhood recycling program.
As far as the argument that this is supposedly a "Christian Nation" goes- please note that we do not have any established religion. Whether or not the founders of our country were personally Christian or not (most of them were "Deists," but whatevs.) does not even matter (I mean, the founders of Greece believed in Zeus- you do not see modern day Greeks going around believing in Zeus simply because that's what people believed when the country was founded). None of them were saints. What they would personally feel about gay marriage, abortion, evolution, prayer in schools, etc. is about as freaking relevent as how they would feel about women having voting rights, a black man being president, the internet, or processed cheese. They are dead. They were also human beings- human beings with flaws, differing ideas, and totally weird fashion sense. Neither you or I can say what they would have said about our present culture. They were at least smart enough to know that, which is why they made the constitution a living document that was meant to change with the times. We are not living in colonial times, as evidenced by the fact that none of us are wearing powdered wigs. We are not living in Mayberry. In fact, no one in the 1950's was living in Mayberry- it was a fictional town filled with fictional people. You have about as much of a chance of living in Mayberry as you do living in Narnia or Oz.
Everyone has the right to an idea about what their own ideal world would look like. Unfortunately, odds are that your ideal society probably doesn't match up with mine, or with the person sitting next to you on the bus. So all of us have to make some kind of compromise in order to live together, and understand that someone else's beliefs don't diminish or take away from our own. The best we can all do is to be our own ideal person and act in accordance with our own personal ideals, values and morals. And just not get in anyone's face.
Sincerely,
Miss Robyn Pennacchia
*I specify Evangelical Christians, because I just don't personally see many individual Catholics or most Mainline Protestant sects going around trying to force people to convert, or to adhere to their faith regardless of whether or not they believe in it. Also, they tend to not be so opposed to evolution. Yes, the Catholic Church just as weird about abortion and gay rights as evangelicals are, and it's done many things that I find absolutely abhorrent. Still, on the whole, as individuals, they're usually a lot less scary/intimidating for me to talk to, and- in my personal experience- a bit more openminded and aware of the fact that not everyone believes what they do. Oh, I do also recognize that there are plenty of born-again and evangelical Christians who do not oppose gay rights, or women's rights, believe in teaching Creationism in schools, or desire to drive motorboats over manatees for funsies. This is just for the ones that do.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
These People Are Not Going To Be Your Friends
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Coupleshop
So, today, like so many days before, a totally weird couple came into my store. Sorta- the dude, actually, was hilarious, like, truly, very quick and very funny. His girlfriend, however, ignored him entirely aside from quietely admonishing him for touching books and warning him to "not annoy the salesgirls."
"He's fine," I said, realizing that I'd said the exact same thing to mothers about their children and to dog owners about their dogs. I half expected her to exclaim "Gentle Hands! Gentle Hands! Let's use our Gentle Hands!" like this one mom said to her kid one time. So that was weird. I of course started thinking about the other weird couples I've seen in my time on the floor... and I tried to think of one time it wasn't weird or awkward in some way. I could not.
Sometimes it's the girls that you think are there shopping with their dads... and then they start making out with the gross bullfrog you thought was their dad at the counter while you're ringing them up. That's awkward. Also, it is enough to forever erase that whole idea you had in the back of your head that you might say someday "Fuck it, I'm getting me a sugar daddy!" because man, man.... so not worth it.
Sometimes it's the body shaming boyfriend who will actually say things like "Oh, that's too short for you, you have bad legs" and criticize everything the girl puts on and in those instances it is difficult to control the slapping impulse, nevermind the look on your face. You imagine for a second having some Julia Sugarbaker type outburst where you call the dude out on being a giant d-bag and the lady dumps him right then and there. But instead you plaintively tell her she looks lovely and try to use your facial muscles to signal to her that this guy is terrible and that she probably deserves better. It does not work. And then you feel even weirder about the whole situation when she apologizes for his behavior afterwards because she could tell how uncomfortable you were. "Don't apologize to me," you think, "just run."
Sometimes it's the girl whose boyfriend or husband isn't there, but who puts something on hold until she can show it to him for his approval, or, even more weirdly, sends him a picture text of the dress. Can you just imagine? Because I picture some dude watching football with his friends or whatever, getting a picture of a dress on his phone and being either embarassed or confused. I mean, that has to be weird, right?
These are fairly extreme situations, granted. But I seriously cannot remember any instance in which a lady has brought her significant other in the store and it has been in any way normal or not awkward. The least weird are the dudes who just sit on the couch and flip through magazines, and even that is awkward because you feel like they're having a bad time. And then there's the whole thing where you want to talk to them and include them, but not too much because you don't want the girl to think that you're coming onto them. It's always weird.
I have never dated anyone who has had the balls to tell me what to wear, or, more accurately, has really been any kind of invested in my sartorial choices. I think mostly they figure I know how to dress myself given that I work in fashion. I have never actually taken a dude with me when I have gone shopping for myself and cannot imagine a future where that might occur. I would highly reccomend that others do the same. If only because it really magnifies whatever weirdness you've got going on in your relationship and you really don't need to be sharing any of that with a shopgirl.
Monday, August 9, 2010
I Have Some Things About Things
I am not afraid of the dentist, exactly. I am more afraid of dental hygienists. Because they're always so perky and trying to make me talk while they have sharp objects in my mouth. Also, all the dental hygienists at my old dentists office were named Judy, and that made me really uncomfortable for some reason. It seemed cultish.
Food is a big, big problem for me. I am horrified by most of it. I do not like food that masquerades as food it is not. I am perfectly happy to eat edamame or soy nuts- I do not want to eat soy that is pretending to be a hot dog. If I do not want to eat meat, I will happily eat regular, non-lying vegetables. I also do not like most white foods. I am a food racist. I have never eaten Wonderbread, sour cream, cottage cheese, or straight up mayonnaise (I will eat it in the form of a tuna fish sandwich or aioli). I will only eat tuna fish sandwiches that I make myself. I will only consume milk as part of a cereal or coffee type situation, and even then, if it has been in my fridge for more than three days I will throw it out. I fear food getting old. I do not want food to make me sick. I do not want to ever accidentally eat something that has gone bad. I will not eat food, such as cottage cheese, that has gone bad on purpose. I do not care how much you extoll the glory of cheese curds, I do not want you to take me on a trip to Wisconsin (wherever that is) to consume them. I will not eat them because they are called curds and that is gross. There are probably spiders in them, because I have heard via nursery rhymes that they are a thing spiders enjoy. I will also not be eating whey.
So, yes- my life is a whirlwhind of neuroses. Offensive neuroses, many of them. I realize this, and I am working on it. So if you love birds, or if you are very sensitive, or have blonde twins, or if you think my fear of cottage cheese is stupid, I apologize and I promise you I am working on it.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
A Special Place in Hell
Never trust a woman who wants to get in with the men. Because she will happily push you down a flight of stairs to get to any of them. If you tell her that any man she has met in passing has assaulted you or anyone you know, if you say that this or any man has harassed you or anyone you know, has mistreated you or anyone you know, she will quickly inform you that she does not like gossip, does not like it when people talk shit. She will call you a whore/slut/bitch/tease behind your back when you leave, her eyes darting for approval. Should she see something with her own eyes, she will tell herself that woman deserved it, brought it upon herself. That shit doesn’t happen to you when you’re in with the guys.
Never trust a girl who wants to get in with the boys. She never learned to be a friend, never wanted to be anyone’s friend, least of all the men.
Monday, July 19, 2010
OMG Sharktopus!
Therese is way more awesome than most people, she will tell you the future and rock your face (she won't drive though... so you're SOL if you get pulled over and your friend who is driving does not have a valid license and you are way the hell too drunk to drive). She won't judge you too much when you almost cry from excitement over having the same shoes as Jello Biafra, and she will also be the only one who believes you at first when you say your mutual friend is, in fact, a sociopath. She plays lap steel guitar, and her sister Lizz- whom I fondly remember having dressed up as Tom Cruise from Risky Business one year for Halloween- does the vocals. Their Uncle is actually directing the film, which is also a thing that is bad ass. Freak out over this song and movie as much as possible, because I'm hoping they'll come to Chicago on tour!
Go Sharktopus! Go friends!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Letter to a Craigslist Nice Guy (TM)
I have a habit of looking on Craigslist for ads from hilariously terrible people in order to post them on my friends' walls and declare them as their new boyfriend/girlfriend. Because I have a full and meaningful life, of course. Anyway, whilst trolling the "misc romance" section- always the most... special, I found THIS special fella. A real, honest to goodness "Nice Guy (TM)."
I sent him the following letter:
"The World Does Not Owe You Pussy, My Friend"
Dear Nice Guy (TM),
I am sure you think you're really nice, or that you were at some point. Sadly, dear, you are mistaken. There is nothing "nice" about pretending to be someone's platonic friend and then being angry and bitter because they don't fuck you. That's dishonest, and frankly, pretty shitty. If you like someone, you tell them. You don't let them go on thinking you're some great friend when you have ulterior motives.
Sure- I get it. You've seen a thousand movies and television shows featuring gross looking, carfone-ish men with supermodel/rocket scientist girlfriends and wives. That's been going on since The Honeymooners, and maybe, doll, you're not swift enough to get that it's not real life and that no, you are not personally entitled to your very own supermodel/rocket scientist girlfriend. The world doesn't owe you that. The world does not owe you pussy.
My pussy is not something that can be purchased with a dowry of a conversation and a thoughtful Christmas present. I am free- unbelievably- to fuck whomever I choose. I do not have to sleep with someone I am not attracted to or interested in. I do not have to date them, I do not have to marry them. I am not required to "reciprocate emotional intimacy with physical intimacy." I do not have to tear my clothes off and scream "do me!" every time someone who is supposed to be my friend acts like one.
Everyone gets crushes, asshole. And the majority of the time they're not going to work out. So what? The difference is, that as we live in a patriarchical society, when it doesn't work out for you, you have the privilege of blaming the woman for being "shallow."When it doesn't work out for a woman, she's supposed to blame herself. I have never, in my life, heard a woman say "That guy is such a shallow asshole for not dating me. Who does he think he is?" Have you?
You aren't an asshole because you're bitter because the mean women hurt you. You're an asshole because you're a misogynist. Because you hated women to begin with, because you never really were being "nice."
I hope this will prevent you from shooting up an LA Fitness Center.
Sincerely,
Robyn