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30 Rock
So recently I started watching 30 Rock on my Netflix. Excepting a few episodes in Season 2, I’ve found it to be a pretty good show. I really love Tina Fey’s character, especially because it is literally her thing that she loves food. It cracks me up. And her love of food is almost always portrayed positively. She just loves food! She’s not fat because she loves food. She’s not ugly because she loves food. She just loves food!
I really enjoy Alec Baldwin’s character, too (though, wouldn’t it be fun if he’d been played by Nathan Fillion from Firefly and Dr. Horrible? For some reason, he’s who I thought of when I first heard Jack speak on 30 Rock). Mostly, I enjoy his political barbs, and the fact that he once “dated” Condoleeza Rice. HAH!
Add in the rest of the cast, and I find the show genuinely funny. I think I might be obsessed. I actually had a 30 Rock dream the other night. It was entirely too absurd. But I really do relate to Tina Fey’s character, and I enjoy her sass. There’s something about her that just makes her super-relatable. I’m excited to see where this show goes.
Do any of you watch 30 Rock? What do you think?
So, question for you all out there….the past eight weeks or so I’ve been taking a Beginning Yoga class. I know that everyone practices at different levels, but I was curious about something. Half the time when I’m practicing yoga, I can’t breathe. Now, I know it takes a lot of practice to get people to the point where they can focus on their breathing and keep their movements on the inhales and exhales, but I have problems breathing pretty much all the time. When I bend over to do monkey pose, or when I’m doing downward dog, in poses where I bend, I have a hard time breathing. Does this happen to anyone else?
For this reason, I find it pretty difficult to practice yoga. I love all the breathing techniques, and corpse pose at the end and beginning. They’re great. But when it comes to poses like the warriors, or side-angle pose, etc. I have a hard time because my feet keep siezing. It’s difficult. It has gotten better recently, but it’s still hard.
I think I’ve been really disappointed about all my struggles with Yoga. I really thought it would be fun and really good. I do feel the benefits afterwards, but while I”m doing it, it’s kind of painful. I just got back from the first class I was able to go to in a few weeks (because I had a crazy academic schedule the past few weeks), and I feel a lot better than I did yesterday. My neck doesn’t hurt like it usually does, I feel more relaxed. I feel good. I just wish that while I was doing it, I would enjoy it more. Instead, I’m always tensing up.
Anyway, just wondered what you all think…
There’s an ongoing debate on my campus about a program called “Women in the Wegith Room.” It takes place twice a week, Sunday afternoons (in which a female student worker volunteers her time to come in and work, because normally the gym wouldn’t be open on Sunday afternoons), and Tuesday evenings. Pretty much, it’s supposed to be a safe place for all women to come and workout without men around. Now, the reason the program was started was so that women could workout in a safe place. Many women feel it’s a safe place because it’s an all-female atmosphere, with women teaching them how to use the equipment in case they didn’t feel comfortable at other times. Others because they have been sexually assulted, often times by a male student. This is meant to be a safe enviornment.
Last year, a male student tried to get into Women in the Weight Room, saying he identified as a woman, and should be allowed in. Though in this particular case, the male student admitted to pretending to be transgendered to prove a point, it started an ongoing debate about the existance of Women in the Weight Room. Last year they held open forums on what the school should do, and students came to express their opinions. A large number of men on campus thought that it wasn’t fair to them that they be excluded. The Women in the Weight Room coordinators pointed out that it was only 4 hours a week that they were not allowed to come (including 2 hours that the gym wouldn’t otherwise be open to anyone). After last spring, I thought that most of the debate had ended. Women in the Weight Room continued to occur.
Last night I recieved a facebook invited to an event that was eloquently titled, “Fuck Ladies’ Night in the Gym!” I immediately got angry at the phrasing, and went to the event to see what the hell was going on. Turns out one of the international students doesn’t think women should have their own time in the Gym and is boycotting it by getting together a group of men to infiltrate the program.
I have never been sexually assaulted. And I have stopped caring who is in the gym when I go. But all the same, I love going to Women in the Weight Room. One of my women friends would only go to Women in the Weight Room because she had been sexually assulted by a student. That student also happened to be the male student who pretended to be transgendered to try to get into the program. For her, it was a matter of feeling safe whether Women in the Weight Room continued. I feel like it is important that we give the women on our campus this safe haven.
Not only would I like to hear your opinions on this program, but I’d also like to ask advice: how should I respond to the international student, a man who is my friend, who wants Women in the Weight Room to end? I didn’t know what to do, and as of yet, I have not responded. I feel strongly that this program should continue, and I feel like he should understand why it’s around (since he wasn’t here last year to hear the debate). What should I say? And what do you all think?
I haven’t mentioned in a while that my sister is getting married in May. This is partially because I haven’t written in about forever, but also because while I’ve been at school, working on all my various projects and jumping through the last (most stressful) of my academic hoops, I’ve been largely removed from all the planning. This past weekend when I was home, however, I got a good healthy dose of wedding talk.
Most of it is stuff I really do want to hear about: plans for flowers, seat covers, etc. But occasionally, we get to something that puts me off the whole thing: dresses. I talked yesterday about how much I love dressing up. This is no different. I took joy in picking out my shoes. I’m excited for my sister’s wedding dress to come in so we can see her all dolled up. I actively participated in finding my mother’s Mother-of-the-Bride dress (and the most beautiful shoes ever). I love dressing up.
But the one thing I absolutely detest about dressing up is all the talk of thinness that’s associated with it. This weekend, my sister came to visit my parents house when I was around, and immediately the conversation turned to how good she looked (read: thin). My sister talked about how she had cut pop out of her diet for a good few days. She talked about how she’s on a diet, etc. My mother chimed in with how good that was. I scoffed, expressing the opinion I often express that they should both get dresses that fit them the way they are now.
This proceeded to a conversation about motivation. My mother said it was good that my sister had this motivation to lose weight. There’s no harm in having some motivation. She wants to look good. Therefore she should lose weight.
My problems with this statment are obvious. And I proceeded to say so.
“I think that’s all bull. Yes, it’s good to have motivation, but didn’t we once have a very productive conversation about changing the emphasis from looking good to becoming healthy?”
My mother ackonwledged this point, and the conversation continued. Honestly, this has been my biggest problem with the whole wedding: fighting against the perspective that being beautiful and looking perfect on your big day means being thin.
This whole experience and conversation coincided with my own struggle with dresses. When I arrived home late Friday night, there was a dress hanging in my room. A beautiful, patterned dress with red and pinks and black and white, creating a sort of abstract rose pattern. My mother had bought it for me after a discussion of how many formal outfits I was going to need for the upcoming spring in which I will graduate from college, attend a number of formal graduation events, and attend all the showers, rehearsal dinners, etc. for my sister’s wedding. I immediately tried it on, very excited because it looked very cute on the hanger.
It was pretty simple to see that it didn’t fit. It was slightly too small. Now, normally, this wouldn’t be a problem. I would put it down and say “too bad.” But I had absolutely fallen in love with the dress. And although it was too tight right under my bust, it fit everywhere else. I went to bed thinking, as was inevitable, “if only I lose a little bit of weight…I’ve been trying to start working out again anyway. I can get down to fit into that dress, right?”
I promised myself, though, that I would never do such a thing. But I just loved this dress so much, and the way it cinched under my bust made me look especially well proportioned (in the way that the media shows us whe should be). The dress, in the end, was more important to me–looking ‘thin’ was more important to me–than having a healthy attitude about my body.
In the end, we were able to find the dress in a size up (which fit much better). But in that moment of weakness, that moment of love of the dress, I wondered if that was how my mom and sister felt all the time. If that was the place they went to. And I wondered, then, if there were any way to really get them out of it.
Kate Winslet, Best Actress
I am an avid fan of the Academy Awards. The glamour, the glitz, and most importantly the recognition it provides for amazing artists attracts me every year to sit down on my couch and watch the event. This weekend, I spent a glorious few days at home partially so that I could watch the Oscars with my mother. Around 6:00PM yesterday, we sat down for the pre-show with popcorn and settled in for the night.
Now, there’s lots I could say about the fashion at the Oscars. Yes, there are the long and involved stories about women dieting for months just to look good in a dress. Yes, we see the scary-thinness of our unrealistic beauty standards for women. Yet still, I am drawn to watching the red carpet every single year. I’ve decided that what it comes down to is every woman’s desire to dress up, look good, feel good, and show off. It’s what draws me to Regency films–elaborate balls with fabulous ballgowns. Fancy dress at its best. And that’s what the red carpet is for me.
I did have to sit through a few comments from my mother about how thin/fat people looked. One particular moment was when she said that Angelina Jolie looked pretty bad when she won her Oscar all those years ago, and that her face looked much fatter. When they cut to Angelina arriving a few seconds later, I pointed out how sickly thin she looked in explaination: “That’s because she’s so sickly thin nowadays.”
My mom also claimed that Queen Latifah (who I squeeled over when she walked onto the carpet) looked particularly good. She quickly claified saying “trim” instead of “good” and I said, “She’s always looked great. She looks like Queen Latifah to me!”
Once we got to the show (after squeeling about Tim Gunn, from Project Runway, acting as one of the three hosts of the offical Red Carpet show), we were plesantly surprised by the changes to the ceremonies. First, we should start with Hugh Jackman’s opening number, which made us laugh so hard we were crying. Next moment, they started what I hope will be a tradition of announcing the actor/actress nominees by bringing out legends in their categories, and having each legend give a beautiful speech on the talent of each particular actor/actress. We were immediately sobbing. All the actresses started to cry. It was truly a celebration of the talents of the nominees. It shifted focus from the winner, and back to the celebration of these nominees’ achievements.
As the night progressed, I don’t think I really stopped crying. It was one of the beautiful, most poignant Academy Awards I’ve ever seen.
Dustin Lance Black, Screewriter, Milk
Highlights for me included: Heath Ledger winning for Supporting Actor (a point at which I sobbed as his family accepted the award), Kate Winslet winning Best Actress (I literally WHOOP-ed and jumped up and down ’cause Kate Winslet is my Homegirl), and finally when Sean Penn won for Best Actor for his portrayal of Harvey Milk(which was unexpected, but absolutely exactly what I wanted to happen). Sean proceeded to give a beautiful speech about how equal rights are needed for all, no matter what.
Similarly, when Dustin Lance Black won for Screenplay for Milk, I almost died of joy. If anyone deserved to win, it was him. He, too, gave a beautiful speech about how he hoped won day to be able to live his life with equal rights and spoke directly to all gay and lesbian children out there, telling them that God does love them, no matter what society, their churches, families, etc. say.
The only downside of the night for me were the various hints that Hollywood is still a Boy’s Club. Of the winners, only three were women (two of which were for the Actress categories). The only woman to win from outside of an all-female category was Megan Mylan for “Smile Pinki,” a documentary short. Penelope Cruz, and Kate Winslet were the other female winners.
One instance of this bias also showed itself on the Red Carpet. Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens were walking the Carpet separetly, and doing interviews one right after another. Ryan Seacrest interviewd Zac first, asking him what he was doing in the show, and what his next project was. Five seconds later, he turned to Vanessa and started their interview by asking “Who are you wearing?” They then proceeded to discuss the dress, and what she was doing in the award show, before moving on. Ryan didn’t ask Vanessa what her next project was, or really any semi-relevant question. It was all fluff.
I’m trying not to let this stuff darken my impression of the whole show, but I think everyone needs to take note. It’s one of my most far out dreams to one day stand on that stage and accept an award for a film I’ve made. I can only hope that as a woman, I’ll be given that opportunity.
So, in sum, there were some incredibly beautiful and inspiring moments that restored some of my faith in humanity. Let’s hope next year, they can do it again.
I’ve been pitiful at updating, and I’m sorry about that! The last time I really posted was, I think, Election Night? Realllly pitiful. So Sorry, dear readers.
I guess I wanted to just post a quick update on my life. Things have been extremely busy. I think I mentioned before that I was working on a documentary on the Ann Arbor, MI-based folk band, The Chenille Sisters, for my senior thesis? Well, it’s done for the time being. I stayed over Winter Break and worked for three weeks straight (8 hours a day, 5 days a week) to get some work done. I had a brief week off with my family, and then I was back for another quarter at school. I still had a lot to do on the documentary, and it was due three weeks into the term. It’s done, now. And I passed with Honors! WOO!
Now, of course, I have ten thousand other things to do. I’m taking two writing classes by my own choice (Creative Nonfiction and Screenwriting), and the last of my Political Science classes. I don’t even believe anymore that I’m a Political Science major! Well, to top it all off, we also have to take Comprehensive Exams for Political Science. Those are this Tuesday and Thursday. So, after this week, I’ll be done with all significant academics for a while!
Hopefully that means I’ll have some time to devote to blogging again. But, alas, right now I’m just too busy! If it puts anything in perspective, my sister has been calling me all week, and I haven’t yet had the chance to call her back because I’ve been spending so much time studying. So please forgive me, everyone!
Now, back to studying.
I don’t want to get into the rest of this Washington Post article by Howard Kurtz (it’s five pages long and I’ve got other things I’m supposed to be doing), but this bugs me:
I’m not an economist, but when Tim Geithner unveils his long-awaited bailout plan and the Dow plunges nearly 400 points, that’s probably not a good sign.
Can I just say that I’m sick and tired of the stock market’s ups and downs being pointed to as some sort of objective criteria for what’s good and bad, or, worse yet, as some sort of all-knowing, clairvoyant prediction of the future?
Leaving aside the human foibles of the stock market in the best of times, does anyone actually think, anymore, that investors know what’s good for the economy? I sure as fuck don’t.
Next on the list:
Michigan lawmaker sets record with 53 years on the job – CNN
This should not be allowed. Someone who has been a legislator for 53 years as their sole job simply cannot, any longer, be an accurate representative for anyone. Except other legislators. I’ll just let the article illustrate my concern:
He’d probably be the first to tell you that a lot can change over the span of 19,420 days.
When Dingell entered the “people’s house” on December 13, 1955, the White House was home to a retired World War II general named Dwight D. Eisenhower. Barack Obama hadn’t been born yet.
[...]
Over the long decades, however, John Dingell’s core convictions have remained largely the same.
[...]
Looking ahead, Dingell shows no signs of slowing down. “I creak a little more each year,” he told National Journal magazine recently, “but I keep going.”
That’s probably a good thing, because although he’s the longest-serving House member in history, he will have to go a lot longer before he can claim the title of longest-serving member of Congress.
That honor is held by West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, who has a combined 20,493 days of service in the House and Senate.
And the 91-year-old Byrd, who entered the House in 1953 before moving to the Senate in 1959, has not expressed desire to retire anytime soon.
If I could keep getting reelected without ever really doing much of anything useful (which is my sarcastic-but-nearly-serious opinion of the majority of govern-y types here in these United States), I wouldn’t want to retire either.
Last, but not least:
Obese mothers ‘risk spina bifida’ – BBC
Oh yes, that’s right. OMG OBESITY plus TEH BAYBIES!!! Add a dash of failed science reporting and we have ourselves a trifecta of facepalm-worthy pain.
I really can’t even get into all the details of pain, here. The article says:
It is well known that women who are obese are more likely to have difficulty conceiving and once they are pregnant, overweight and obese women and their babies are at a greater risk of a range of health problems.
Yet, if you click through to the BBC’s BMI calculators (and yes, BMI is the definition of “obese” and “overweight” that the article is using), we find this little gem (emphases mine):
Medical research suggests that this range is associated with the best health and least risk of heart disease, some cancers, osteoporosis and a range of other health problems. There are no health benefits to changing your weight, but your health will benefit from being active and eating a healthy diet.
[...]
A BMI measurement is not as accurate if you’re an athlete or very muscular (muscle weighs more than fat) as this can push you into a higher BMI category even if you have a healthy level of body fat. It’s also not accurate for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, or people who are frail.
Oh yeah. I know. To begin with, the article never actually clarifies whether the women were in the “obese” and “overweight” categories before their pregnancies, but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, I guess. Of course, they don’t link to any of the studies, so fact-checking becomes prohibitively time-consuming.
At any rate, is anyone noticing a discrepancy, here? In the obesity article, obesity puts you at risk for health issues. In the BMI calculator descriptions, changing your weight won’t improve your health. What gives, BBC? Stop messing with my head!
Look, I’m no analyst. I’m writing for an audience that already agrees with me, just pointing out new instances of awfulness. Still, I am hard-pressed to come up with a point of view in which these two ideas aren’t dissonant.
Thoughts?
P.S. I did the calculation and at 5′ 9″, 125 lbs, I am precisely on the border of normal/underweight. No one seems to be fearing for my health though. Gee, I wonder why that is…
P.P.S. I just want to clarify, because a re-reading makes me think it’s not clear, that my trailing sentence in the P.S. is meant to imply that the reason no one is worrying about my health is that because maybe weight really isn’t such a great indicator of fitness, but as long as I fit the beauty standards (or look like I’m trying) I get to escape the hammer of judgement.
Cross-posted at The Reformed Patriarchy-Whore.
Letting out the Jigglies