Just In Case You Didn't Know

So this isn't exactly new news, but here's the story behind Judge Sotomayor. I didn't really get too into until I decided to write this article. I'm going to say she's a pretty cool woman. Check it out, leave me a comment, join the site and enjoy!

Are You a Supergirl?

I had the pleasure of interviewing Supergirls Speak Out author Liz Funk for ChickSpeak.com. She's such an awesome girl. Very inspiring, too. You really ought to read the Q&A, then read her book. (Then join ChickSpeak and comment on all of my articles! haha)

Buy Me Some?

Article number two is up now. If you're a female, you should join the site and hang out and chat on the forum. You can also follow the site on Twitter. And there's a group or fan page on Facebook. You can find it on my profile. Read and enjoy! Thanks.

Shameless Self Promotion

So I'm writing for a Web site, ChickSpeak.com. It's a pretty cool site, and I definitely believe in the mission. Here's my first article. Check it out!

I am a Blogaholic.

Some of you may have caught my earlier post about possibly being a blogaholic. Well there is no possbility. I -am- a blogaholic. And thanks to Google Reader, my addiction gets worse and worse and worse. I'm currently at 83 subscriptions.

Ok, to make sure you don't think that I'm sitting at a computer all day, I don't necessarily read every post. I skim through a lot of it and read what interests me the most. It's so easy to do on Google Reader, too. I don't have to visit 83 different Web sites when I want to see what's happening.

Last time I got some great suggestions for new blogs. So once again, I figured I'd share a few favorites of mine and ask you about yours. What are you reading? Because here's a spotlight of what I'm reading:

Funemployed in NYC - They have a great "Job of the Day" feature where they find ridiculous job postings. It's pretty funny. They make unemployment funny, which is nice.

Save Like Me - This is SELF's money saving blog. MP Dunleavey gives you great suggestions on how to go about saving money. I like how she uses real life examples, too.

Salon.com's Broadsheet - This is my go-to blog for women's issues and current affairs. I like how they talk about serious and not-so-serious issues with a conversational, witty and amusing tone.

Almost Savvy - This blog isn't updated too frequently, but when it is, you can find some great information.

Beyond the Beauty Pages - This is SELF's beauty blog. I've learned a lot from all the women there. I love reading what they're up to and what they suggest. (I also love that my friend Ale is a regular blogger. She's awesome!)

Miss North Carolina Wins!

So did anyone watch Miss USA Sunday night? Because I did. First, I'm so happy Miss North Carolina won simply because I'm from North Carolina. Second, I'm really annoyed with the media attention. To recap: Perez Hilton was a judge, and he posed a question to Miss California about gay marriage (surprise!). This was her answer:


I LOVED IT! Her answer was honest and true even in the face of Perez Hilton. Way to go, Miss California! Now I'm not saying I agree with her because I don't. I am glad she stuck to her beliefs. Ok, she didn't have the strongest answer. "Opposite marriages" still makes me giggle, but seriously, you get the point.

Perez, of course, didn't like the answer so much. Here's his response:


What makes me mad is that Miss California didn't even have the WORST answer to a question. At least she answered the question!! Did anyone see Miss Arizona's answer to the question about health care? What was her answer? Loosely worded: "Whatever we do, we should do it with integrity." ....really?

So I just watched Perez on MSNBC:


And here are my questions: Shouldn't both the President of the United States and Miss America both represent the entire nation? And since when can one person please everyone?

Rhymes, Sonnets and Couplets! Oh my!

How exciting! April is National Poetry Month. I happen to be a big fan of poetry. In fact before I became wrapped up in the world of journalism, I was constantly writing poetry (especially in those angst-y teen years).

One of my all-time favorite poets is Emily Dickinson. She was born December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, and spent most of her life as a recluse. She’s probably most famous for her “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” poem. She is also responsible for one of my favorite quotes: “A word is dead when it is said some say. I say it just begins to live that day.”

Here is one of my favorite poems by her:

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played
At wrestling in a ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then ’t is centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses’ heads
Were toward eternity.

What about you? Which poets do you enjoy reading? Do you write poetry? Please share!

Am I an Apple or a Pear?

Isaiah sent me a post from Jezebel (Great blog; strongly suggest you read it.) titled “In Which We Explore The Ridiculousness Of "Dressing For Your Shape.” He suggested I post about it instead of him. Personally, I’m interested in his point of view, but nonetheless, here’s my side.

The post generally explains that the names for the body sizes that many magazines use to help us readers shop for clothes are fairly ridiculous, dated and offensive. You know the body sizes I’m talking about: pear-shaped, tall, boyish, etc.

This quote pretty much sums it up: “Which is all well and good, I suppose, unless you happen to be a Pear-Shaped Busty Tall Woman looking for ideas on Plus-Size gowns, because the advice for each category is markedly different, which would lead many women to believe that there are only certain aspects of their bodies that are truly worth addressing, as opposed to concentrating on what fits and feels good.”

I have to say I completely agree. I have absolutely no idea what “size” my body is. (Although, at 5 foot 3 and a half inches, I can pretty much forget the “tall” part.) Even my beloved SELF magazine (I really do love this magazine) trips me up with their body sizes: top-heavy, thick-waisted, petite and bottom-heavy. To be honest, a lot of the time I just flip past those pages because I get annoyed trying to figure out what I am. And sometimes, I like a look that isn't for my body type (I think), which makes me a little sad inside. Should I not wear that? WHY NOT?

And I really hate it when they have articles about picking out jeans. First off, standing in front of a mirror trying to judge what my behind is shaped like and so forth is never enjoyable. (Although I do remember an article in Glamour, I think, that had a story about buying jeans from Web sites that designed—almost molded—jeans to your exact measurements, which I enjoyed.)

I also hate some of the beauty articles for that matter, too. I cannot, for the life of me, tell what shape my face is, which leads me to become a nervous wreck because what if I pick the wrong haircut and look… well, ugly.

First, I’m sad because I can’t wear the clothes I think are cute. Second, I’m sad because my behind and a mirror are not the best of friends. Third, I’m sad because the haircut I want won’t look right. Anyone else noticing the trend?

Instead of helping you feel better about “shopping for your type,” magazines really are kind of making things worse. Pointing out trends or even how to mix simple articles of clothing is cool for the most part. And I know there is a good intention behind helping us shop for our type, but it just has the opposite affect for me. So I’ll stick to the traditional shopping route. If I like it, I’ll try it on. If it looks good, then it was made for my body type. End of story.

Wake-Up Call

SELF magazine had a really interesting article in the March 2009 issue, “Single, pregnant and panicked.” When I read it, it shocked me and made me think. Then Salon.com wrote a blog post about the article, and it made me want to talk about it here.

The general point of the story in SELF is this: Unexpected teen pregnancies are not the bulk of unexpected pregnancies. That said, guess who makes up the bulk. Females in their 20s do. Women like me. Wow.

The beginning of the post on Salon.com starts with this: “About half of American women will have an accidental pregnancy before the age of 45.” I’m sure that not all of those women are single, nor are all of those pregnancies are unwanted. In fact, to be honest, I was unexpected. My parents were planning on waiting another year or so, but clearly I was a little impatient to get my life started.

But why the (for the most part) college-educated woman in her 20s? Some ideas include getting married later in life, but still being sexually active; living with their partners; and even being forced into having unprotected sex. SELF continues to say that birth rates may have increased because more unmarried women are deciding to keep their babies. I think maybe it’s partly a lack of education about the proper use of birth control or just not properly using birth control or this ridiculous notion some of us have that “it will never happen to me.”

But I think this quote says a lot: "It's confusing to talk about it," says Shanti Kulkarni, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of social work at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "It's easier to coalesce around this idea that it's not good for teenagers to get pregnant. It's not as clear what pregnancy means for the life of a woman in her 20s." For some women, surprise motherhood ends up being the blessing of a lifetime. Others choose abortion with no regrets. But the high rate of unintended pregnancy remains distressing, Kulkarni says, because "it suggests that women are not as in control of their sexuality and childbearing as we would hope."

Scary, isn’t it though? How do you go about solving it? Or should it be labeled as a problem? You can’t really tell a 20-something-year-old woman that sex is bad. You can tell her unprotected sex is bad, but chances are she knows that. What approach do you take? I’m glad SELF decided to run this story though because at least it brings about awareness.

The part Salon.com picks up is that in all the examples of SELF the women either give the child up for adoption or keep their child, but end up needing support from family. The article lacks two major points of view: the women who had an abortion and the woman who kept her baby and continued to support herself and child. I kind of agree. Thanks SELF for bringing this out into the public, but we need to flesh out the whole story. What happens to those women? What was their decision making process like? Do they come out ok, too?

By sharing all sides of the story, doesn’t that make you a little more educated at least in your choices should you ever become pregnant? And beyond the women, what about the men? I know SELF is a woman’s magazine, but shouldn’t someone inform men that, guess what, this girl in the story could be your girlfriend, and you’re about to have a baby.

I’ve never been in this situation, and I pray I never am. I’ve known a lot of women in this position though. So not to be a Debbie Downer, but remember, a lot of you are 20-something-year-old women, a lot of you are dating 20-something-year-old women, a lot of you have 20-something-year-old daughters, a lot of you have sons who are dating 20-something-year-old women.

Please read both stories. Let it sink in. If you want to chat about it, leave a comment or e-mail me.

PS: If you plan to comment about it, I’d prefer no negativity. I realize everyone’s opinions are different, but being that this is my blog, I ask you to be respectful. Otherwise, I’ll delete the comment. The point of this post is to bring awareness; not to judge.