Independence Day

An update:

-I'm finished with my undergrad! I graduated in May and am currently steeped in a job search, which is exciting and scary all at once. I have a few interviews coming up next week-- some more promising than others-- so cross your fingers for me if you have a moment.

-In the meantime, I have an internship at the City of Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights and I am absolutely loving it. I get to assist Department attorneys with discrimination complaints and be a fly on the walls of city hall.

-After watching the film Man on Wire and then reading the book, I decided that I want to learn how to juggle. I told my mum this a week or so ago and when I came home last night I was surprised with a mystery package containing Juggling for the Complete Klutz, complete with a set of beanbags. After my first hourish of practice, I can get three bags going for about fifteen tosses before they inevitably go flying into something fragile or in all directions. I'm really enjoying it so far- it's step one on the long road to wire-walking and it gives me a feeling of accomplishment when I need it most.

-And, because no update is a real update without multimedia, here is a gem that Jason found:

More like jerkbook, am I right?

Apparently facebook has changed its Terms of Service. Under the new TOS, they keep the rights to any content you've ever uploaded, even after you've closed your account. I was annoyed enough when they started selling my very desirable demographic information to advertisers, but this is just pretty disgusting.

I would absolutely close my account at this news, but:

A) It wouldn't matter-- they already asserted their right to all of my stuff without asking me.
B) I need facebook. Damn that marvel of technology that allows me to keep in touch with everyone I love.

Oh, well. At least I've kept anything proprietary off of the site so far. However, if you've uploaded any original art/writing/music/videos that you don't want siezed, you may want to take them down... assuming, of course, that Mark Zuckerberg and his army of facebook harpies haven't already stolen them.

Update

I'm here! I started a new job on campus so my free time has been squeezed more than usual. Of course, that hasn't kept me from anything really important.


For example, a couple of friends and I saw genius Jose Gonzalez play at Milwaukee's Pabst Theater over spring break. It was, almost impossibly, better than I had anticipated. He played "Down The Line," my current favorite track from his new album, flawlessly. His encore included his cover of Massive Attack's class "Teardrop," which blew my mind. Then he shook my hand and it was awesome.

Also, Make Me a Supermodel recently wrapped up its first season in the United States. (Bravo showed the UK marathon last week, which was absolutely, completely and in every way off the chain. They managed to make the gayest show on television about a million times more flamboyant.) Anyway, Holly won and there's really no way I can argue with that- girl is a rockstar.

I'm so jealous I might puke.

Fortunately, Season 10 of America's Next Top Model is still going on or I'd have nothing to do. And THE OFFICE IS COMING BACK tomorrow night. I'm off to restock my stapler and give my Dwight bobblehead a wiggle to get psyched up.

Spring Break

I suck at blog maintenance. But I have excuses! Classes have been particularly insane this semester and I'm writing for La Prensa de Minnesota, a bilingual newspaper that covers the Twin Cities. It's a pretty boss setup- my editor, Marco, is fantastic and I'm getting lots of gritty real-world news experience (can we say anonymous sources? Aww, yeah). I also started a new job this week, so time is a pretty limited resource.

But spring break is upon the University of Minnesota and that means I get to return to the fortress in Milwaukee, WI for a week of relaxation, old friends and... paper-writing. Ugh.

Fortunately the springing of spring means more than warmer temperatures and a new season of America's Next Top Model. It means that Ugg boots are slowly but disappearing from the pavement. Thank goodness.

Women of Minnesota, free your feet from these giant burnt marshmallows. The aptly named Ugg boot is now even more impractical (if that's even possible) than it was back in December.
Sadly, the decline of hideous boots coincides with the downfall of pea coats, scarves and everything else I love about winter.

So I'm going to go home and dig some spring clothes out of the basement, sniffling all the while. Since time is on my side this week, I promise to post more over the next few days, including installment two of my Project Runway analysis and all kinds of crazy Milwaukee hijinks.

Everyone stay warm, and kick off the spring awesomely!

Kicking my Coke Habit

It may be a little late to consider this a New Years Resolution, but I've decided to give up caffeine. I've spent far too many nights channel-surfing at 2:00 a.m., looking for something that I can fall asleep to for five hours. Facing my alarm every morning is a nightmare, which only perpetuates the coffee-clutching cycle. After talking about it (over coffee, funnily enough) with my brother Patrick and his friend Erin, I decided to try giving up the juice.

I'm on Day 3 and it actually feels pretty great. I haven't had any of the dreaded headaches that I've heard so much about and I've found that, so far, I really look forward to bedtime. I start pleasantly winding down at around 10 so I'm ready to turn in at a reasonable hour. I feel like I'm a hippie on juice detox or something.

Of course, it's hard to throw away my love affair for Diet Coke, the international beverage of choice for young women who appreciate its sugar substitutes and the sheer American classic-ness. But I've traded the silver label for gold (an upgrade, I guess?) and it tastes the same, so I'll deal. In the meantime, don't be surprised when I'm not online in the wee hours of the morning. I'll be tucked away, snug as the proverbial bug, while visions of decaf dance in my head.

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P.S. I do realize the irony of posting this at one in the morning, but I don't have class on Fridays so I'll do what I want. Booyah!
P.P.S. I see that blogger is telling the world that I wrote this at 10:45. Blogger is lying to you.

Citizen Journalism!

Hey Sotans,
Apparently there's a fire on Washington Avenue near the Metrodome. It must have started recently, since I was down there about an hour ago and didn't see it. So you might want to put off that trip to the two-story Target and stay off bus route 16.

VD: On Valentine's Day

(Haha, get it?)

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. (Now you have no excuse to say you forgot, so don’t even try). Whenever I get visibly excited about it, at least three people give me an eye roll or an “oh my god, I totally, like, hate National Singles Awareness Day because I’m so totally defensive and view it as, like, an assault on my sad life and I love hating everything, blah blah blah face.” My arguments of “but you don’t have to have a sweetie to like Valentine’s Day!” and “just use it as an occasion to show a friend you care!” usually go unheeded.

One of my TAs coined the description “the commodification of intimacy” in class on Monday. I understand her sentiments- the pink and white displays of Spongebob valentines are enough to make even the most ardent supporters of the day (i.e. yours truly) want to throw up a little bit. But it got me thinking. Is the commodification of intimacy really worse than the commodification of Irish heritage or an illegitimate holy child? As a culture, we’ve bastardized all kinds of lovely things and turned them into tickity tack holidays.

A male friend of mine who shall remain anonymous told me, “you have no idea how much pressure there is for guys.” Possible, but I feel like most of that pressure comes from within. Most of the girls I know would be happy just to spend the day with someone special, and maybe a card if the guy’s feeling generous.

So, instead of grumbling through the day tomorrow, why not curl up and watch Ninja Warrior with your SO, or make moon eyes at each other over White Castle cheeseburgers. If you're available, plan something fun with your friends. Two VDay's ago, back when I had girl friends, a bunch of us went to the mall and bought ourselves chocolate and underwear- it was such a blast. Hell, go ahead and just embrace the excuse to eat a ton of pink-frosted cookies. Valentine’s Day is all about love, which, in my book, is definitely something worth celebrating.

My bad.

I apologize for posting so infrequently lately. Between school and the paper I'm writing for, it's hard to find time to squeeze in a shower, let alone some quality blogging. Also, I had an awesome spiel about my hideously awesome black jeans all typed it, but blogger decided to be a tool and mess up the formatting something fierce. So that's coming.

In the meantime, enjoy some of Christian Siriano's fierciest moments:



Coming soon: the promised pants post (love that alliteration) and my predictions for the end of Project Runway, season 4.

Let's Get Political

I'm fortunate enough to attend a University where kids are relatively well-educated about politics, at least on a national level. Although I do actually engage in this sort of thing, I really prefer to take a Toquevillian outside perspective, especially as it's "Super Tuesday" and thousands of students will be flocking to caucuses tonight.

On Sunday evening I had to go to a Hillary Clinton rally at Augsburg college. It was mostly a lot of clapping and yelling, as you'd expect. I did run into Walter Mondale (my hero), though, and he recognized me from his class. Oh, and I also got a press pass, which was summarily stuck to my refrigerator.

Little does anyone know, these people are actually excited because they think they're watching the SuperBowl.

Not to be undone, however, the Obama people hit the campus, presumably overnight, with a little reminder that students lovvvvve the senator from Illinois. I'm pretty sure 75% of the kids on campus would exchange both of their kidneys for an Obama handshake.

Now, I don't know where those minions found a Smurf in Minneapolis, let alone a Smurf with enough coordination to pee the word "Obama" in the snow. But I applaud them and if anyone knows, please let me know. I've been dying to catch up with Gargamel.

Coming Soon: An internship update and my evil plan to bring back the carrot cut.

I TOLD you that Levis aren't your mom's jeans...

My roommate Jess and I were just watching a re-run of the most recent episode of Project Runway (the Levi's 501 challenge). She mentioned a Levi's commercial that she saw last week and I HAD to look it up. Check out this twist on the phone booth ad we've all seen before:



HUGE kudos to Levis. I don't know how this ad will do selling jeans, though I think the two pair of men's 501s side-by-side are pretty effective. I'm really impressed that Levis went there with this commercial. It's high time advertisers changed up the message a little bit. I'm sure the Fred Phelpses of the world will be dragging it through the mud in no time but, for the time being, let's enjoy this little bit of flaming liberal heaven.

Intern-al Affairs, OR: Bad Puns Take Over the World

Please forgive my lengthy absence, everyone. I've been getting settled in after moving back to Minneapolis. That means buying books, reuniting with friends and getting fed grapes by my more attractive half during Project Runway marathons.

Spring semester is upon us, which means that about a million kids my age are looking for summer jobs and internships. You've probably heard at least one bright-eyed young person going on about the stack of interviews they plan to arrange, clutching their resume like an 8.5 x 11 inch gold leaf. Some of us, though, are being dragged into the process by our own stupid expectations that someday our lives will mean something beyond school.

Getting one of these things is a little bit impossible. Within about four square miles of me are literal hundreds of qualified students and I'm sure at least a handful of them look better on paper than I do. It's enough to make one wish she'd toughed it out and gone to that 8a.m. class every day or at least kept in better touch with the professors whom she did choose to grace with her presence.

Oh, and if I haven't already complained to you about this, let me make it known that cover letters are awful things to write.

Dear Sir or Madam,
Allow me to tell you how great I am, since reading my barebones resume might be too ambitious a project for your HR department.

It would be so nice if we could just be honest with each other.

Hi [Name of newspaper or PR agency],
In order to survive in the urban jungle, I need a place to live. A job seemed like a reasonable first step.
<3

So please cross your fingers or, if you're the praying sort, pray for me in my quest for summer employment. Ooh, and send a letter to the Onion and tell them that I'd be a great contribution to the A.V. Club.

Resolved

I don’t usually make New Years Resolutions. I tend to make a bunch of goals at random times during the year and then… not exactly do anything about them. I figured maybe I should take a different approach this year and see how it goes. Besides, maybe recording them here will make me a little bit accountable. So pardon me for being two weeks late. The good news is that there are pretty much exactly 50 weeks left of 2008, which is a nice round number.

1. My first goal for the year is to not suck at my spring semester internship. I’ll be working at a local paper for credit and experience (sadly, I don’t think they’re allowed to pay us for curriculum internships, but oh well). So whether I get stuck making coffee runs for a tyrannical editor or sitting in a closet writing obituaries, I’m really looking forward to some awesome experience and maybe some good connections with the local news media.

2. I’m not sure yet if my schedule for the semester will allow me to be in orchestra or take private violin lessons, so I’m officially resolving now to practice a half-hour every weekday. It’s nothing compared to the hours I used to put in when I was playing really seriously in high school, but it should be enough to keep me in decent form for when I rejoin the musical living. P.S. I taught myself how to play mandolin a couple of days ago and it’s awesome.

3. Going along with number 2, I’d like to get some more paid violin gigs this year. It pays well and it’s a ton of fun, and the people who hire you are usually really ridiculously sweet and give you lots of compliments- best job ever. (Those suckers don’t know I’d happily play violin for them for free, bwahaha.)

4. Maintain a bitchin’ GPA. With all the hot librarian clothes I’ve squandered money on over winter break, this should come pretty naturally. Also, stop buying so many clothes.

5. And lastly (this is the hardest one, I think), I’ve really let myself slip on doing creative things like writing for fun and drawing and painting and all of the stuff I used to be really into when I had more time. So I bought a cheap Moleskine notebook and gathered up a ton of art stuff,
and I’m going to produce two pages a week, of writing or drawing/painting or something else, which should fill up that book in about a year. I actually started last night and, though it looks a tiny little bit like a baby painted it and puked on it, it was a whole lot of fun, which was the whole point.

“Inspiration is for amateurs.”

– Chuck Close, AND Alex Fletcher in Music & Lyrics (see previous entry)

"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. so do it."

-Kurt Vonnegut, one of my very favorite American heroes