What is beautiful?

I love having a wide range of blogs to read, because other people are so easily able to point me toward things I would have missed on my own. Many thanks to Peg for pointing me toward a pair of posts by Daphne this morning, about the "reconstruction" of classic art to be more appealing to modern interpretations of beauty.

In Daphne's first post, she speaks of a revelation she had while flipping through a wholesale art catalogue, noticing for the first time that that classic artistic models like Botticelli's Venus and the Thorvaldsen Aphrodite are being slimmed down and straightened for our modern, marketed-to-at-every-turn eyes.

Her second post is addressed to all of the new visitors to her blog, as a result of dozens of people linking to the first post, explaining why she thinks this is happening. In short, the effort is not a concerted group effort by every repoduction artist in the industry to reshape our views of beauty, but instead an individual and yet universal decision to use the already existing general opinion of what constitutes beauty (slender and long with clean lines, basically) to make their artistic reproductions more salable.  She goes on to argue that a consumer democracy is the ultimate democratic determiner of what we as a society consider beautiful when our votes are counted with our dollars, with the bottom line being that if you have a problem with this, the course of action that will actually make a difference is choosing to buy products and services that reinforce your own interpretation of what is beautiful, rather than someone else's.

This spurred some thought on my part, and some revelations about what the evidence concludes regarding my "votes" on what is beautiful.

1. During the Great Greening Experiment of 2007, I stopped watching television, canceled my subscriptions to magazines, and didn't "browse" as a hobby.  I intentionally broke the habit of paying attention to people whose sole responsibility was to convince me to buy things.
   
   
   • I stopped dying my hair.
   • I used fewer cosmetics.
   • I wore "practical" shoes that would allow me to walk greater distances conveniently.
     
     
     • Even after 8 months of avoidance, I never broke the habit of considering vibrant non-gray hair, a keener complexion, and legs off-set by slenderly heeled shoes as more attractive -- I simply made the conscious decision to forego those elements for a greater purpose.
       
     
     
   
   
   
2. My features are plain; I'm not unattractive, but I'm not anything overly pretty to look at either.  That said, when I gain an extra five pounds, I feel grotesque. Not fat, not uncomfortable, but unattractive.
   
   
   • As soon as I note a weight increase, I take steps to rectify the gain, almost all of which involve spending money differently. If I have money available, I don't question the outlay.  This doesn't always work, of course -- as my current 16-extra-pounds indicates -- but I always feel hideous carrying the extra baggage. 
   
   
   
3. I am six feet tall, with ridiculously long arms and legs - a frame that allows me to carry more weight than a woman of average height without appearing "heavier."  Even considering that frame, I wear clothes with the goal of making myself look taller and leaner than I am. I try on *everything* and avoid cuts, patterns, and fabric designed to accentuate my figure.

Based on 2 and 3, clearly my own opinion is that "thin" is more attractive than otherwise -- moreso than an average physique let alone an overweight frame. There's far more to think about than the three points outlined above, but these make sense to list out. Clearly I've "bought in" to some general opinions about beauty, and clearly there are some that I eschew.  I believe that I think critically about the things I buy -- more out of a desire for a sustainable lifestyle than from a wish to define what others consider beautiful, although my "vote" counts in the same way in terms of consumer support for an ideal.  I am incredibly anxious about what my reactions to various ideas say about my definition of beauty.  It's disturbing, on so many levels, that I seem to have bought in to this notion that there's only one variation that's acceptable.  

First published at TheNines

Leftover Night

Spinach Dip (appetizer/snack from family game night) became a sauce for Chicken Florentine.
Mashed Potato (side from steak night) became fried potato pancakes
A dig through the freezer produced a half-bag of frozen corn (original half was used in Shepherd's Pie), steamed as a side.

The best part? The entire meal took 45 minutes, from the time I began pulling things out of the fridge until the plates were delivered -- including kitchen clean-up.

First published at TheNines

Tweet - Break it Down

The inauguration was AWESOME.

I sat in the boardroom with all of my colleagues for an hour, laughing and signing and crying and applauding. It was AWESOME.

I loathe the inclusion of an invocation/benediction in a secular service,

As an actively non-religious person striving to be the best *human being* I can be and working to make this world which contains all of the value and beauty I conceive of or hope for, to constantly hear religious leaders belittle that with statements to the effect of "everything we see and create and are belongs to a being we can't see or hear or touch and is yet more powerful than us and therefore is deserving of our worship above and beyond all else" is incredibly offensive. To hear it at a celebration of the best that we have collectively striven for is more of a slap in the face to humanity than the selection of an exclusionary bigot to deliver the message could ever be to me as a moderately liberal gay woman. (As I said to Becca over New Years, inclusion of the religious stuff at all bothers me more than prominently featuring the asshole responsible for spreading so much hate of LGBT people.)

but whatever.

I'm never going to win this - I get that. But for the record, having religious garbage shoved in my face at Constitutionally inappropriate times makes me less willing to put up with any religious sentiment, ever, from anyone.

Music + Poetry = LOVE.

Writing a single piece of music for clarinet, cello, piano, and violin (read: fiddle) that includes solos, rounds, call-and-response, and the typical John Williams emotionally swelling conclusion is among the most brilliant works of homage to the fact that we have broken a major barrier of socio-polictical change by electing a black man as President. Tributes to jazz, swing, blues, soul, and traditional American folk music, all wrapped up in a classical concert piece that celebrates a conversational rise and fall amid the lilting laughter of children. Wow, what a piece for this President.

Love Elizabeth Alexander, too, and am thrilled by Obama's inclusion of poetry, but I go back to what I said in college about poetry readings: a great poem is a great poem. A great poem read poorly, even with the best intentions, is difficult to fall in love with. I kept getting tripped up by her over-enunciation and strange pauses/breaks that made no grammatical sense and broke the rhythm of cadence. But, I loved the work enough that I'll read it myself, in order to fall in love with it on my own.

First published at TheNines

Progress at 43Things: Move to NYC (8)

And now I’m getting very nervous. There’s just so damn much to do, and it’s crunch time.

Finances

• Compile my rental history (addresses, landlord contact info, dates lived, rent paid) (completed 01.21.09)
• Arrange for reference letters from last two landlords (requested via phone and email on 01.21.09)
• Arrange 3 professional letters of recommendation
• Arrange 3 personal letters of recommendation (confirmed on 01.23.09)
• Request, Receive, and annotate a copy of my credit report
• File 2008 Taxes (completed on 01.21.09)
• Compile 2 years of W-2 statements and 3 most recent paystubs
• Request employment and salary verification documents
• Arrange travelers’ checks and/or money orders with the bank

Apartment

• Conclude all financial steps
• Continue building network of leasing agents/landlords
• Build 3-day house-hunting itinerary (verify whether or not friends can accompany me on any part thereof)
• Buy and annotate pocket-map of Brooklyn (ordered on 01.21.09)
• Arrange transportation/finalize travel plans for house-hunting trip
• Find apartment
• Sign lease
• Collect keys
• Move in

If I weren’t such a control freak, this might be simpler.

See more progress on: Move to NYC

First published at 43things

National Day of Service

Sometime last spring, I found the Idealist.org podcast series. Since it seemed pretty amazing, I subscribed and started listening to the backlog of episodes. Many of the people and projects covered by the series are amazing and caught my on-going attention, like the U.S Public Service Academy, a newly built community bank in the Bronx, and ongoing efforts to create an always-connected wi-fi network in New York City's parks and community centers. But one has captured my focus and drive to the point that I'm attaching a winch to the train and dragging it to New York City: Learn-a-Palooza.

The short version, for those who don't want to click the link:

One day

A moderately contained geographic area in a densely populated community

An array of spaces, the use of which is donated by companies, organizations, individuals, or community groups, within that area

A network of people with something to share -- "Repair a Scooter, Change a Bike Tire, Bead a Necklace, Speak in Public, 10 Words in Farsi, Design a Logo, Write HTML, Market Yourself..." -- willing to donate their time

A community of learners eager to attend 30-60 minute workshops in order to improve their skills, talents, or senses of fun

 That would be Learn-a-palooza.

I'm going to join the planning committee for this project when I get to NYC; I already have plans to meet with Julia from Idealist and a handful of other interested folks on my first week in the city. I'm thrilled, excited, and energized by the opportunity -- I'm really *good* at planning things, I'm excited by community education, and this is the kind of event that can truly benefit all members of a community in times of economic distress. Not to mention the fact that it will give me an awesome, service-oriented chance to make friends pretty much from the moment I arrive in the city, as well as learn a lot about the neighborhood I land in and its citizenry. SO COOL.

That said, if you know of anyone in the New York City area who might be interested in this project (as a planning committee member, street team volunteer, space supplier, teacher, workshop attendee, or sponsor), ask them to drop me a line at gmail (expetesso) so I can add them to my contact list!

First published at TheNines

menswear

I spent all of today At The Warehouse, minding the jewelry shop, since everyone in my family was ill. In part, I went because I didn't want to make anyone else sit there when they felt rotten, but it was a self-serving mission, too -- I wanted to escape the germ factory that is the house. Anyway. No jewelry sold, but I did get about 6 hours of work done, which translates to a lovely day off planned for Wednesday.

Not wanting to head back to the Germery right at 4, I went to Macy's and did a little shopping on the way. Hosiery is never exciting, but I bought two other things I've been longing for for what seems like forever. I'm currently sporting a pair of black and gray pinstriped suspenders with brass fittings, courtesy of a very nice young man in the menswear department who helped me fit them without batting an eye, and a fantastically stretchy corduroy newsboy cap, big enough to hold back all of my hair and protect my ears from the cold. Both have practical application -- all of my winter hats are packed in a box that I can't find, and I'm tired of choosing between a frozen head or a hideous orange ski hat of my Dad's (frozen head usually wins), and I have two pair of trousers without belt loops, which tend to be a little too low-rise to be work appropriate without something to hold them up.

Of course, the fact that I'm wearing both right now with a pair of jeans, a girly white t-shirt, and boots with four-inch heels makes me look like an overgrown Newsie geek-girl, but I'll take it.

First published at TheNines

here's hoping

Cole Porter was an incredibly prolific genius.

The overwhelming majority of the sheet music that I have from vocal lessons in college is his -- close to two binders worth -- and it doesn't begin to scratch the surface of everything he created. Somehow, I'd never heard Just One of Those Things until this morning, which is ludicrous, considering how many albums I own by some of the artists who've included it on major compilations (Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, Chevalier, and Nat King Cole).

Crazy. Especially considering it's currently my favorite track on Swings Cole Porter.

As Juliet cried in her Romeo's ear,
"Romeo why not face the fact my dear --

It was just one of those things
Just one of those crazy fling
One of those bells that now and then rings
Just one of those things

It was just one of those nights
Just one of those fabulous flights
A trip to the moon on gossamer wings
Just one of those things

If we'd thought a bit
Of the end of it when we started painting the town
We'd had been aware that our love affair
Was too hot not too cool down

So goodbye dear and Amen
Here's hoping we meet now and then
It was great fun, but it was just one of those things

If we'd thought a bit
Of the end of it when we started painting the town
We'd had been aware that our love affair
Was too hot not too cool down

So goodbye dear and Amen
Here's hoping we meet now and then
It was great fun, but it was just one of those things"

Porter did have a tendency to reference Romeo and Juliet when knocking love about, didn't he?

First published to TheNines

If Life Were Lived As 42-Minute Stories...

Which Torchwood Character Are You? Your Result: Captain Jack Harkness You most resemble the team's outrageous, mysterious leader. Cheeky, sexy, and charming, people are drawn to your charisma, but at the same time you tend to keep your relationships superficial. You aren't afraid of your emotions and tend to just let them out, but you are afraid of truly connecting with those around you.
Toshiko Sato
Gwen Cooper
Ianto Jones
Owen Harper
Which Torchwood Character Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

A few months ago, I would have found that result surprising; the do-gooder tendencies that were something of an obsession for awhile are certainly Gwenish, my work/life separation walls are far more appropriate to Tosh, and my eagerness to please smacks of Ianto. I've been steadily becoming more focused on work-above-all, though, and I have a completely different attitude to responsibility now than I did when I was reporting to people who preferred to tell me what to do during every moment of the day. No to mention that my attitude to relationships tends to be a bit more similar to Jack's.

First published to TheNines

Progress at 43Things: Crochet Through My Yarn Stash Before Adding to It (2)

Projects in Progress...

I don’t know that having a pile of UFOs in my work bag counts as progress, but it does keep me from feeling inspired to go out in search of more yarn. I currently have the following in progress:

• A pair of socks in a cream colored worsted wool, half of one sock is completed
• A winter muffler in a tight, single-crochet swatch pattern, in a variegated blue and gray wool/acrylic blend, 1/3 complete
• A granny square big-boy-bed blanket for my nephew in navy, brick, and forest green wool. 20 of 200 squares complete
• A shell-pattern tea cozy in malted milk, cappuccino, and chocolate colored acrylic/cotton blend yarn, 1/5 complete

I crochet REALLY slowly, frog one of every three stitches I complete, and am obsessed with tension (which translates to being really bad at holding things consistently taut). It’ll take awhile to finish these.

First published at 43Things

Moving Progress Report

It has been an amazingly productive weekend, considering that I spent the entirety of today in my pajamas and have put together two 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles with my Dad.

After an anxiety-riddled week, I contacted my broker to revise the terms of our partnership. I never received a response, so have dumped the whole idea of brokerdom

I've arranged a flat-hunting trip for February, courtesy of 2ndavemusic and Herself.

I compiled a list of all of the documents I could possibly need to provide to a potential Landlord (next weekend's project will be actually compiling the documents)

I researched available flats and "by-owner" listings on Craigslist, cross-referencing those with multiple properties listed and mapping the locations of their availability. (47 listings added yesterday, 55 listings added today in Brooklyn alone within my price-range in the "by owner" category, more than 2/3 of which are offering utilities included, a free month's rent, or the application fees knocked off of the second month's rent as incentives for finding the right tenant. I DO NOT need a broker in this climate.)

I set up my 2008 tax filing system; W-2s are due out this week, and my student loan interest letters should be received by the 15th -- next weekend will also be e-filing weekend.

I spoke with the guy who will be buying my car (a family friend) and confirmed the ownership conference date (March 31), and compiled the procedural documents for a by-owner sale from DMV

I emailed my insurance agent and arranged a rider for my car policy to cover the remainder of time I'll be owning the vehicle, and queried the steps necessary to develop an NYC renter's policy

I emailed HR and confirmed my official move-date (April 3, 2009), and requested the letters of employment and salary confirmation I'll need for my Renter's Rack of Application Forms (TM)

Yesterday, too, I spent At The Warehouse with Mom, and helped out the vendors who run the place with an Etsy registration tutorial, some website development pointers, and search details on how to utilize Facebook as a Marketing Tool. (If you're on FB, become a fan of The FamiLee Jewels!) I also found some really cool antique clock hands to use as embellishments on the gateleg table that I'm restoring for my new place; work to be done on that next weekend, too.

Not a bad end to a week which began with my feeling absolutely helpless, lost, and overwhelmed. Now, to laundry, ironing, and packing for my last business trip of the winter. Hurrah!

First published to TheNines

N.C.I.S. 1.1

A few weeks back, Sam gave me permission to use his "Three Things About X" format to catalogue my experience of watching NCIS in chronological order. I've seen most episodes of the show several times but there are some I've completely missed, so there are some significant plot holes in my understanding of the Bellisario-verse. I adore military dramedy, Pauley Perrette and Cote de Pablo are smoking in their own unique ways, and the theme song turns me into a grinning, dancing fool; rewatching is certainly no hardship.

As such, I present Lissa's Randomly Numbered Thoughts About NCIS

Overheard at Work

Apparently I'm "becoming a bit of a ball-buster."

I'm not sure whether to be flattered at the general sentiment or insulted by the "a bit of."

First published to TheNines

"Your idea of a long-term relationship is giving your date a chance to order dessert."

Conversation with a friend and colleague today about my attitude toward dating.

S: So, you're not looking for a relationship, but you're not looking for casual sex.
Me: Correct. If she makes me laugh before dinner, we'll have dessert. If I remember her name two days later, I'll call her again. If she still interests me partway through a second date to the degree that great sex could be in the offing, then we'll see.
S: But what's the point?
Me: To find something that isn't boring.
S: So ... how do you determine someone isn't boring?
Me: Currently? Laughter, name, and the possibility for *really* good sex. Anything less isn't worth my time.

I've become far more pragmatic about love in the last six months. Everyone has an agenda, and most people are willing to use others. I'm just honest about it. A little Housian, I suppose.

Mainly, it's fun to talk about just for the eye-widening, taken-aback reactions.

Props to s/he who can reference the subject quote.

First published at TheNines