Sometimes I like to watch “What Not to Wear” on TLC. If you’ve never seen it, it goes something like this: Someone with terrible fashion sense is nominated by friends and/or family. The two stylist hosts ambush them, whisk them off to New York, criticize and throw away their clothes, and give them $5000 to buy new ones. Then they get a new haircut and makeup tips before going home to impress their friends and family with their new look.
I used to like this show a lot more than I do now. Now I sort of love to hate it. Maybe that’s because it used to be a lot better. The stylists tried to give the participants clothes that worked with their lifestyles. The hairstylist and makeup artist listened when they said that they only spent two minutes getting ready in the morning and needed hairstyles/makeup routines that were quick and simple.
They still do some of that. I recently saw an episode where they had a woman who only wore eco-friendly clothes (whatever that means) and the show accommodated that. But most of the time the participants are transformed into modern, put together, fashionable women (occasionally they’ll have a man, but almost all of the participants are women). That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the stylists generally give no thought to who these people are, what their lives are like, and what they might have an objection to wearing. Probably about half the participants are told to wear skirts that fall above the knee (although it should be said that many of them were wearing much shorter skirts before going on the show), and I would guess that about nine out of ten wind up with hair shoulder length or shorter. Every single person is taught how to put on a full face of makeup, complete with multi-step eyeliner, shadow, and mascara.
To be fair, most of the participants really could use a little help in the fashion department. But generally their problem is that they don’t know how to buy clothes that fit. But that could be solved with a trip to the local department store. Quality clothing does not have to come from expensive New York boutiques, which about 99% of the population cannot afford if they are not being given $5000 by a TV show. Most of the participants start out with perfectly nice hairstyles and makeup routines.
I think fashion is silly, in case you couldn’t tell. I don’t understand why some unseen force gets to decide what’s in style and the rest of us are supposed to go along with it, however ridiculous it might be. Apparently the ‘70’s are in again, which doesn’t make any sense at all because it’s all a bunch of hideous junk that no one would ever wear if they weren’t just being fashion lemmings. Plus, I value modesty and fashion gives absolutely no thought to modesty whatsoever.
Anyway, I don’t understand why we need a reality show to turn people into fashion lemmings. Of course, I don’t understand why we need most of the reality shows on TV, but I’ll save a discussion of reality TV in general for another time. Right now I’m talking specifically about “What Not to Wear.” The show always ends with the participant talking about how much the experience has changed their life for the better. Occasionally they’ll do a follow-up show where they see how several past participants have kept up with what they “learned.” Usually they’ve become more normal versions of their new fashion lemming selves.
I’m not in style. I put a lot of thought and effort into how I look, but I’m not in style. And I don’t care. Most of the time, I’m perfectly happy with the way I look. I honestly think that if I was ever offered a chance to be on the show I would decline. So, here’s to everyone who takes the road less traveled and refuses to be a fashion lemming.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
A Brain That Never Sleeps
I just finished a book. I think it was called The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University. It was about this guy who goes to Brown who decides that instead of spending a semester in Europe he’s going to spend a semester at Liberty University, an evangelical university founded and run by Jerry Falwell.
It was a good book. I read it in little more than twenty-four hours. I just couldn’t put it down. But I’m not sure why. It’s my kind of book. It’s funny. The author is a college student, so he doesn’t sound like your typical PhD author. But it’s not like I wanted to keep reading so I could find out what happened. It’s pretty easy to guess from the beginning how it’s going to end (this book is non-fiction). It was just really interesting stuff.
Liberty University has lots of rules. There is something like a fifty page handbook that lays out all the rules. Most of them are what you would expect from an evangelical university: no drinking, no drugs, men and women not allowed to enter each other’s dorms. In fact, none of the rules the author mentioned seemed unreasonable to me. But then, that’s me.
There seem to be two things that matter more than anything else to the evangelical college students in the book: abortion and gay marriage (and in case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last century, they see both of these things as wrong), gay marriage in particular. One of the author’s roommates rants continuously about how much he hates gay people. The issue seems to come up practically every other page (although this could be because the author has two lesbian aunts and multiple gay friends). And after gay marriage and abortion, they care most about bringing unsaved people to Christ (these are the type of evangelicals who believe that you can’t get to heaven unless you’ve been born again). They ask people about their faith and spend their spring break trying to convert strangers because they are honestly concerned about the state of others’ salvation.
But what the point of the book turns out to be is that just because people have different religious or political beliefs that does not make them horrible people. And that goes for both sides. The author makes friends with people whose stance on gay rights he finds abhorrent, and he even interviews Jerry Falwell at one point and finds him to be very kind and human. And this, this whole point, is what got me thinking.
I have a lot of very liberal friends. Actually, I have mostly very liberal friends. Some of them have said, at one point or another, that they are afraid of what would happen if the evangelical “right-wing nutcases” took over America (I’m not sure how any political or religious faction could take over America but whatever). If they did, what would happen? Abortion and gay marriage would be illegal? Would that be the worst thing that could happen? In the interest of giving attention to both sides, would it be the worst thing that could happen if abortion and gay marriage were legal in all fifty states? No, that wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen, either. But would it be the best thing that could happen?
I go back and forth on how I feel about gay marriage. The truth is, deep within my heart, I think it’s wrong. But I think we have much more important things to be worrying about than who is getting married. Besides, this issue doesn’t really affect me (except in the sense that everything affects everyone). If gay marriage is legal, then gay people will get married. My life isn’t going to change.
I have slightly stronger feelings about abortion. I’m pro-life. Very pro-life. I believe that life begins at conception and abortion ends a life. But (and this is one of my biggest buts) I don’t necessarily think that just making it illegal is going to solve the problem. I think the argument that if it was illegal rich people would just go to another country to get an abortion is a load of boogers. Rich people are always going to have advantages that poor people do not. Keeping abortion legal is hardly contributing to economic equality (and having an abortion costs money anyway). It may be true that if abortion were illegal some women would have back alley abortions, but there are probably just as many who wouldn’t simply because it’s illegal. The problem I see with passing a law against abortion is that just because a bunch of Congress people in Washington make a law doesn’t mean the rest of America is going to agree with it. Making something illegal doesn’t mean that people are going to think it should be illegal (of course, this could be said about virtually every law in existence and that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pass laws). If we really want to stop abortion, we need to convince people not to have abortions. If people decide it’s wrong, then it won’t matter if it’s legal or not.
Okay, I got a little off topic so I could express my views on gay marriage and abortion. So, as long as I’m expressing my views, let me say that I don’t get the whole converting strangers thing and I have absolutely no desire to convince everyone I know (or don’t know) to accept Jesus. I would love it if there were more religious people in the world, but I think trying to convert spring breakers is a little like putting an election bumper sticker on your car. It’s not like anyone is going to decide who to vote for based on a bumper sticker on your car and it seems equally unlikely that anyone is going to adopt a new religion because some weirdoes on the beach suggested it.
I’m not sure what the point of all of this is, really. These are just things that I think about all the time, along with many other similar issues. As I said, I have a lot of very liberal friends, and sometimes it’s hard to be a conservative with a lot of liberal friends. My friends and I don’t agree on a lot of things, but they don’t seem to think I’m a horrible person. But then they talk about politicians or just generalized groups of people (like evangelicals), whose views I often agree with, as though they are evil, evil people who have ulterior motives, usually power or money. I’ll give you an example.
A couple of years ago a senator from Idaho was caught soliciting gay sex (or something like that) in an airport bathroom. I have to say, I don’t really follow what my representatives are up to, but apparently this guy was very anti-gay rights. After he was caught in the bathroom, I believe he said (probably more than once) that he was not gay. Most of my liberal cohorts didn’t believe him and called him a hypocrite for being anti-gay and then soliciting gay sex.
I got so tired of arguing with my family and friends about this guy (and I don’t often get tired of arguing). I think a person has a right to say that they are(n’t) gay and be believed. If we’re going with the theory that gay people are born that way, then it could also be possible that a person could be gay but still believe (for religious reasons) that homosexuality is wrong. It would be awfully strange, but still possible. But mostly, I think a person has a right to be against gay marriage and not be considered a horrible person.
Well, this definitely wasn’t the post I set out to write and I’m having trouble deciding how to finish it. None of these issues have easy answers and it would be impossible to make everybody happy. For now, I think I’ll just leave it at that, although I think there are probably a lot more posts where this one came from.
It was a good book. I read it in little more than twenty-four hours. I just couldn’t put it down. But I’m not sure why. It’s my kind of book. It’s funny. The author is a college student, so he doesn’t sound like your typical PhD author. But it’s not like I wanted to keep reading so I could find out what happened. It’s pretty easy to guess from the beginning how it’s going to end (this book is non-fiction). It was just really interesting stuff.
Liberty University has lots of rules. There is something like a fifty page handbook that lays out all the rules. Most of them are what you would expect from an evangelical university: no drinking, no drugs, men and women not allowed to enter each other’s dorms. In fact, none of the rules the author mentioned seemed unreasonable to me. But then, that’s me.
There seem to be two things that matter more than anything else to the evangelical college students in the book: abortion and gay marriage (and in case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last century, they see both of these things as wrong), gay marriage in particular. One of the author’s roommates rants continuously about how much he hates gay people. The issue seems to come up practically every other page (although this could be because the author has two lesbian aunts and multiple gay friends). And after gay marriage and abortion, they care most about bringing unsaved people to Christ (these are the type of evangelicals who believe that you can’t get to heaven unless you’ve been born again). They ask people about their faith and spend their spring break trying to convert strangers because they are honestly concerned about the state of others’ salvation.
But what the point of the book turns out to be is that just because people have different religious or political beliefs that does not make them horrible people. And that goes for both sides. The author makes friends with people whose stance on gay rights he finds abhorrent, and he even interviews Jerry Falwell at one point and finds him to be very kind and human. And this, this whole point, is what got me thinking.
I have a lot of very liberal friends. Actually, I have mostly very liberal friends. Some of them have said, at one point or another, that they are afraid of what would happen if the evangelical “right-wing nutcases” took over America (I’m not sure how any political or religious faction could take over America but whatever). If they did, what would happen? Abortion and gay marriage would be illegal? Would that be the worst thing that could happen? In the interest of giving attention to both sides, would it be the worst thing that could happen if abortion and gay marriage were legal in all fifty states? No, that wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen, either. But would it be the best thing that could happen?
I go back and forth on how I feel about gay marriage. The truth is, deep within my heart, I think it’s wrong. But I think we have much more important things to be worrying about than who is getting married. Besides, this issue doesn’t really affect me (except in the sense that everything affects everyone). If gay marriage is legal, then gay people will get married. My life isn’t going to change.
I have slightly stronger feelings about abortion. I’m pro-life. Very pro-life. I believe that life begins at conception and abortion ends a life. But (and this is one of my biggest buts) I don’t necessarily think that just making it illegal is going to solve the problem. I think the argument that if it was illegal rich people would just go to another country to get an abortion is a load of boogers. Rich people are always going to have advantages that poor people do not. Keeping abortion legal is hardly contributing to economic equality (and having an abortion costs money anyway). It may be true that if abortion were illegal some women would have back alley abortions, but there are probably just as many who wouldn’t simply because it’s illegal. The problem I see with passing a law against abortion is that just because a bunch of Congress people in Washington make a law doesn’t mean the rest of America is going to agree with it. Making something illegal doesn’t mean that people are going to think it should be illegal (of course, this could be said about virtually every law in existence and that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pass laws). If we really want to stop abortion, we need to convince people not to have abortions. If people decide it’s wrong, then it won’t matter if it’s legal or not.
Okay, I got a little off topic so I could express my views on gay marriage and abortion. So, as long as I’m expressing my views, let me say that I don’t get the whole converting strangers thing and I have absolutely no desire to convince everyone I know (or don’t know) to accept Jesus. I would love it if there were more religious people in the world, but I think trying to convert spring breakers is a little like putting an election bumper sticker on your car. It’s not like anyone is going to decide who to vote for based on a bumper sticker on your car and it seems equally unlikely that anyone is going to adopt a new religion because some weirdoes on the beach suggested it.
I’m not sure what the point of all of this is, really. These are just things that I think about all the time, along with many other similar issues. As I said, I have a lot of very liberal friends, and sometimes it’s hard to be a conservative with a lot of liberal friends. My friends and I don’t agree on a lot of things, but they don’t seem to think I’m a horrible person. But then they talk about politicians or just generalized groups of people (like evangelicals), whose views I often agree with, as though they are evil, evil people who have ulterior motives, usually power or money. I’ll give you an example.
A couple of years ago a senator from Idaho was caught soliciting gay sex (or something like that) in an airport bathroom. I have to say, I don’t really follow what my representatives are up to, but apparently this guy was very anti-gay rights. After he was caught in the bathroom, I believe he said (probably more than once) that he was not gay. Most of my liberal cohorts didn’t believe him and called him a hypocrite for being anti-gay and then soliciting gay sex.
I got so tired of arguing with my family and friends about this guy (and I don’t often get tired of arguing). I think a person has a right to say that they are(n’t) gay and be believed. If we’re going with the theory that gay people are born that way, then it could also be possible that a person could be gay but still believe (for religious reasons) that homosexuality is wrong. It would be awfully strange, but still possible. But mostly, I think a person has a right to be against gay marriage and not be considered a horrible person.
Well, this definitely wasn’t the post I set out to write and I’m having trouble deciding how to finish it. None of these issues have easy answers and it would be impossible to make everybody happy. For now, I think I’ll just leave it at that, although I think there are probably a lot more posts where this one came from.
Just a Thought
Let me be honest. I hate makeup. I hate how expensive it is. I hate the time it takes to put it on. I hate the way it makes my face look after I've been wearing it all day. I don't wear a whole lot of makeup. Sometimes I go all out for such things as Christmas Eve church. But normally, it's a crazy and wild day if I wear eye shadow.
This morning as I traipsed to the bathroom to put on just enough makeup for a trip to the grocery store I had a thought. What if we all just refused to wear makeup? I mean everyone. Not just normal people, but celebrities, supermodels, everyone. And if everybody stopped wearing makeup, then everyone would stop buying makeup. There would be no need to sell makeup, no need to advertise it.
I realize that this is never going to happen. The makeup industry probably makes a zillion dollars a year. Celebrities and supermodels aside, I'm sure there are plenty of normal people out there who feel that makeup gives their self-esteem a boost. But if everybody stopped wearing makeup, if everybody looked natural, we wouldn't have some higher standard to compare ourselves to.
I suppose I do enjoy those crazy and wild days where I break out the purple eyeshadow, but I hate the feeling that I have to put on makeup before I can leave the house. If makeup really is supposed to make us feel better about ourselves, then why can't I wear it if I want and not wear it if I don't want to? I know the answer: I can. Heaven knows I wear enough strange clothes out of the house where everybody can see. I don't know why I care what the world thinks of my face.
I think I'm going to officially make today No Makeup Day in the world of Melissa. I'll still wear my makeup and I'll still hate it. Probably. But maybe not. It's just a thought.
This morning as I traipsed to the bathroom to put on just enough makeup for a trip to the grocery store I had a thought. What if we all just refused to wear makeup? I mean everyone. Not just normal people, but celebrities, supermodels, everyone. And if everybody stopped wearing makeup, then everyone would stop buying makeup. There would be no need to sell makeup, no need to advertise it.
I realize that this is never going to happen. The makeup industry probably makes a zillion dollars a year. Celebrities and supermodels aside, I'm sure there are plenty of normal people out there who feel that makeup gives their self-esteem a boost. But if everybody stopped wearing makeup, if everybody looked natural, we wouldn't have some higher standard to compare ourselves to.
I suppose I do enjoy those crazy and wild days where I break out the purple eyeshadow, but I hate the feeling that I have to put on makeup before I can leave the house. If makeup really is supposed to make us feel better about ourselves, then why can't I wear it if I want and not wear it if I don't want to? I know the answer: I can. Heaven knows I wear enough strange clothes out of the house where everybody can see. I don't know why I care what the world thinks of my face.
I think I'm going to officially make today No Makeup Day in the world of Melissa. I'll still wear my makeup and I'll still hate it. Probably. But maybe not. It's just a thought.
Monday, May 11, 2009
And In Other News
I do not live in a small town. I live in a fairly large city. It's not New York or LA, but it's the biggest city in the entire state of Idaho. It's bigger than any city in four other nearby states, although I can't remember which ones off the top of my head. But the local newspaper is the most ridiculous joke of a newspaper in existence.
I can't really blame them. The economy sucks. People probably aren't interested in subscribing to a newspaper that wasn't all that fabulous to begin with. But they keep making it less and less fabulous. The actual small town where I went to my single semester of college (population approximately 20,000, less than one tenth the size of Boise) had a more interesting local newspaper than we do.
Case in point: in today's newspaper there were two letters to the editor about the extremely contentious topic of whether or not the daily crossword puzzle is too hard. And these two letter writers were apparently responding to a previous letter about the crossword puzzle. I have read some pretty silly letters to the editor, but I think these two win the prize. Somewhere out there are three people who feel it is necessary to take the time and effort to write a letter to the editor about the crossword puzzle. And the newspaper apparently had nothing better to print.
People say printed newspapers are going to die out, replaced by the internet. I think that's a shame, because the internet can never really take the place of the real thing (that goes for most everything, not just newspapers). But at the same time, I can understand not wanting to read a newspaper when two out of five letters to the editor are about the crossword puzzle.
I can't really blame them. The economy sucks. People probably aren't interested in subscribing to a newspaper that wasn't all that fabulous to begin with. But they keep making it less and less fabulous. The actual small town where I went to my single semester of college (population approximately 20,000, less than one tenth the size of Boise) had a more interesting local newspaper than we do.
Case in point: in today's newspaper there were two letters to the editor about the extremely contentious topic of whether or not the daily crossword puzzle is too hard. And these two letter writers were apparently responding to a previous letter about the crossword puzzle. I have read some pretty silly letters to the editor, but I think these two win the prize. Somewhere out there are three people who feel it is necessary to take the time and effort to write a letter to the editor about the crossword puzzle. And the newspaper apparently had nothing better to print.
People say printed newspapers are going to die out, replaced by the internet. I think that's a shame, because the internet can never really take the place of the real thing (that goes for most everything, not just newspapers). But at the same time, I can understand not wanting to read a newspaper when two out of five letters to the editor are about the crossword puzzle.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Noises, Noises Everywhere
During the one semester that I spent at college I had a mini refrigerator in my dorm. It made noise. I woke up one morning at three a.m. and it was making this horrible rattling noise that I can't even describe. I tried and tried to go back to sleep but the noise was so loud. Finally I got up and unplugged the refrigerator so I could go back to sleep. The next morning I plugged it back in and it was fine. No more noise. For the rest of the semester the noise would periodically start up again, I would unplug it for awhile, and the refrigerator was fine. But I couldn't sleep. It took me ages to fall asleep at night because my room was right next to some sort of furnace or water heater that made a noise similar to the refrigerator noise. So I would be almost asleep and then I would wake up again, sure the refrigerator was making noise. Finally I started sleeping with earplugs so that I was unable to hear the imaginary noises.
Sometimes my old-as-I-am car makes noise. I call it the helicopter noise. It sounds like a really tiny helicopter. I don't know what causes the car noise, but it usually stops if I drive the car around for awhile. It's a persnickety old thing, but I love it.
Now my computer is making noise. It's making a noise that sounds an awful lot like the old refrigerator noise (and the car noise), and it's driving me crazy. I can't stand to even me on the computer without listening to music on my headphones. Even when the computer is shut (it's a laptop and the noise stops when it's shut) and I'm in a different room, I can still hear the noise in my head. I'm going to try to get the computer fixed. I hate hearing noises.
Sometimes my old-as-I-am car makes noise. I call it the helicopter noise. It sounds like a really tiny helicopter. I don't know what causes the car noise, but it usually stops if I drive the car around for awhile. It's a persnickety old thing, but I love it.
Now my computer is making noise. It's making a noise that sounds an awful lot like the old refrigerator noise (and the car noise), and it's driving me crazy. I can't stand to even me on the computer without listening to music on my headphones. Even when the computer is shut (it's a laptop and the noise stops when it's shut) and I'm in a different room, I can still hear the noise in my head. I'm going to try to get the computer fixed. I hate hearing noises.
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