The Roaring 20's

If I could have this dress...Oh the glamour. I am very much in love with the 20's. I can't wait for the New version of the Great Gatsby. If they don't bring out some spectacular costumes I will be severely disappointed. 

Perception/Deception

I can't figure out what's actually more common, the way I live my life, or my perception of people's lives based on television/movies. Is it just a coincidence that I seem to only make friends with people who hardly ever go out? Are members of the hermit collective somehow drawn to each other, or is everybody like this?  I suppose, logically, the general population spends a good amount of time at home. I'm probably just more of a homebody than most people.

Facebook really is depressing, isn't it? We torture ourselves by reading about all the fun things our "friends" are doing everyday while we're sitting at home on the computer, when we should be out...doing things, because it's depressing thinking everyone but you is out having fun. But really on any given night, that's only a couple people you're reading about. What about the other 700 people you've come in contact with?

At any rate...I will get better at socializing.

"They're just people, stop being so afraid of them."

They're just people, stop being so scared of them

Now, I've been back in New York for a week. I just realized that I've only had three real social outings. Other than that I've been in my apartment or bookstores, basically solitary. At least I've had Julie around since she's staying with me until she can move into her apartment. By then Flora will be back and I still won't be alone. But the roommate dynamic is odd, you know? When one or both of you has things to do, you can go for hours without acknowledging the other's presence. Not that that's a bad thing, because I definitely need my quiet time, but I feel like I don't have enough socialization to balance it out at the moment. I suppose I could call up somebody to hang out with, but I don't want to bother anyone. That's my problem right there. I need to stop thinking of myself as a bother. i need to be confident, believe that just maybe other people could enjoy my presence.

So this is it Noelle...stop being so afraid of people.

If Amy Farrah Fowler can do it, so can I.

Oh God...I have to meet new people tomorrow. *hyperventilating*

On the Flip-side

I am extremely disappointed in my city's library. I stopped in yesterday to get some CD's to amp up my Broadway collection and find some Alan Rickman movies (of which there were none, but that is not the point of this post, though that is an extremely disappointing fact). I decided to see if the library had Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman's Guide to Why Feminism Matters by Jessica Valenti, because I had just finished and thoroughly enjoyed her other book, He's a Stud, She's a Slut, and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know. My search in the library catalogue yielded troubling results: they did not have the book I was searching for and they had very few alternatives. There did however seem to be an abundance of anti-feminist publications, such as The Flipside of Feminism: What Conservative Women Know - and Men Can't Say and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex, and Feminism.

These books spout the same call to women to get our asses back into the kitchen and out of the work force so that we can truly be happy, because the only way for a woman to be happy with her life is to get married and have babies, don't you know? It's that simple. "Women in America CAN have everything they want out of life, but they must first break free from feminist assumptions and distortions."

Since when is a "traditional" family life a guarantee for happiness? Kids really serve to put a strain on relationships. It's a big responsibility, so couples need to have a solid relationship to begin with for everything to work out. That's why it's a stupid idea to try to fix a relationship with a baby. And what if I don't want kids? There's no need to chastise people for not wanting children, or to assume that it's just a phase that they'll grow out of. Of course the latter is usually directed towards women, because apparently it's natural for men to not want kids, but every woman wants a baby. That's not to say that wanting children is bad. Children are our future, and some women really are happy to make caring for their children their full time jobs. There are fathers taking on that role as well. Kudos guys. Don't let anyone criticize you for doing what makes you happy. Can we all just agree that there isn't one path in life that would make everybody happy? I'm pretty sure that's a fundamental lesson we learned in kindergarten: everyone is different and we should accept them for who they are.


Luckily, upon searching through the library catalogue that includes all of the branches, many more feminist friendly books showed themselves, but I guess they don't get to live at the main branch.

Nobody's Too Old (Or Famous) for the Joy of Bumper Cars

Let's make a collection of celebs riding bumper cars, because I've seen two this week and I thoroughly enjoy both of them. I must find more.

Obama!

Hugh Laurie 

The Army of Flesh-Thirsty Young Sluts

In just over 2 weeks I will be returning to New York!

Ohio is awful, but that goes without saying.

Upon returning to New York, one of my main goals will be to get tickets to The Colbert Report. I believe that I will actually be able to get tickets now, so I'm extremely excited!

Last night, Colbert covered the Department of Health and Human Services policy that insurance companies must now offer no co-pay birth control (score! And about freaking time). I really don't understand why the religious right is so concerned with what women are doing with their vajay-jays. Nobody's sex life is your business. Not to mention, there wouldn't be a need for so many abortions if affordable birth control were available, so I don't understand what the problem is. Once again, ridiculous conclusions are being reached when it comes to sex. Access to birth control is not going to cause your precious little girl to join the so-called "Army of Flesh-Thirsty Young Sluts." (Follow the link to the video clip. It's hilarious. Dinosaurs are involved.)

And another thing that bothers me about the people who oppose this kind of preventative medicine, they have no concern for women's health at all. Today I learned that before the HPV vaccine was FDA approved, there were organizations fighting to make sure it wouldn't be? They were concerned that without the threat of one STD, girls would feel comfortable throwing their vaginas at every guy they see, because the threat is gone! Talk about delusional. But hey, I can't be too surprised. these are the people pushing to spend money on abstinence education, even though I think it's abundantly clear that limiting sex ed to abstinence alone is simply harmful. My school district followed the abstinence only policy, and look what happened: Timken High School made national news and got an article in Seventeen magazine because it has one of the highest pregnancy rates of any school in the country.

I find it ridiculous that in any article you find about the pregnancy rate at Timken, everyone seems so baffled as to why it's happening. I think it's pretty obvious, schools need to stop pretending teens aren't having sex. the evidence is right in front of you, so get a clue. These kids need information about sex and  preventative measures to take, INCLUDING birth control. I've heard of far too many students who don't know the most fundamental things about how babies are created. Not to mention, without proper sex education, there' nobody there to debunk the crazy rumors kids believe, such as "you can't get pregnant the first time you have sex" or "drinking Mountain Dew will prevent pregnancy"or "a girl can't get pregnant if she pushes really hard on her bellybutton after sex." The list goes on and on. There are some real doozies out there. Remember that teenagers are still somewhat innocent and naive. They need somebody to teach them real life lessons rather than trying to stay content in a fantasy world.

Word of the Day: Intransigence

Meaning: Refusing to moderate a position, especially an extreme position; uncompromising.

Is there a better way to describe the Tea Party? I think that pretty much sums it up. This is a group of people ho would rather see the country's economy crash and burn than allow taxes to be raised. It's simply childish and completely without foresight. How anybody can back these people up is beyond me. I have to give props to Sen. John McCain for calling them out during the debt ceiling debate, and managing to reference Lord of the Rings in the Process.

So please, Tea party, stop acting like such a bunch of brats and start using some common sense. But really, I should be speaking to your supporters. So please, Tea Party supporters, understand the consequences of electing people like this into office. They rely completely on faith-based politics, so there is no reasoning with them. That kind of thinking has no place in Washington. What ever happened to separation of church and state? I'm sick of hearing religious reasoning behind issues like abortion and gay marriage. No matter what your religious beliefs, the bottom line is the government has no right to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation and it shouldn't eb able to force a woman to put her body through the trials of pregnancy if she doesn't want a baby.

Currently, in Ohio, there is a bill that, if passed, would severely restrict abortions to the point where they would basically be illegal. This "Heartbeat Bill" would "ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectable, which can be as early as six weeks." It doesn't even contain exceptions for instances of rape, incest, or the life/health of the mother. This bill is a huge challenge to Roe vs. Wade, so if it passes, it will certainly go to court where, hopefully, it will crash and burn with the intensity of 1,000 suns.

But I digress. I would also like to throw a shout out to Matt Damon, who has given some fantastic interviews recently on his political views. I especially love the one where he rips the reporter a new one concerning incentivizing teachers.

Slut Walk NYC

I'm so excited for New York's Slut Walk on October 1st! The whole event has gotten me into a feminist mode that I hope I will keep up. Hope isn't enough though. I need to start making real commitments to causes I believe in, so I guess I'll start with educating myself. I spent most of the morning reading online journals and watching news reports. In just the small bit I've seen today, my eyes have really been opened to just how big the issue of female objectification still is. I had never really felt the issue affect me personally, but the problem is out there, and it does affect every one of us. This may be part of the problem, a lot of people don't realize there is one. So many words and phrases are thrown out carelessly and without any thoughts to the implications. For example, the Fox News anchors speak about women in a shockingly derogatory way far too often (though any occurrence of that behavior is wrong). Here's a taste of it:

I also read a wonderful article that gets to the heart of what being a feminist means and why it's not ok to blame the victim of a sexual assault, which takes me back to Slut Walk. I've seen a lot of journalists putting the Slut Walks in a negative light. The popular opinion among these people is that "reclaiming the word slut"is the wrong way to go about fighting for feminism. Really, the point is that    slut-shaming shouldn't be tolerated. A woman should be allowed to have as much sex with as many partners as she chooses without being chastised for having no self-respect. Why should she be ashamed of wanting to have sex? A man can exhibit the same behavior without having those negative connotations forced on him.  "Even when a man is called a slut, it’s never just slut. It’s either man-slut or man-whore. It’s always derived from the feminine and there is never an original derogatory term for men who have promiscuous sex." 
So even if there is disagreement about the validity of the Slut Walks, at least the issue is out there in the dialogue. Because nothing is ever going to change unless it's brought to everyone's attention that the issue exists. 

A New Beginning In a New City

11 months ago, I began my Freshman year of college at Parsons the New School for Design.

Foundation Year. A severely insane experience. Not only was I adjusting to college and moving away from home, I was adjusting to living in New York City. New York is surreal and insane, and I love it. I'm very excited to be returning in a month, even if it does mean returning to the hectic life of a Parsons student. It's all worth it though. I fully believe Parsons is the best choice I could have made. I've already grown a lot over the past year, and I look forward to more growth this year, both in personal and artistic development. 

Let's begin with a review of my Foundation year. 

First semester included 2D, 3D, Drawing, Lab, and Art History. Second semester was a choice of more specific forms of first semester's courses. Here are a few of my favorite projects:

Rationalizations of Insanity: A Mission Statement

Through this blog, I hope to keep track of my accomplishments and what I hope to accomplish. I fear that if I fail to examine my life, I will become complacent and fall into a life without fulfillment.

Discovery: I'm a very fearful person.

Let's gain some courage.