Rich people are better than us

Lego Kate and Wills

You know what? I absolutely am getting up at 5am to watch the royal wedding. I know it's anti-feminist and anti-Republican (er, the Australian version therof), I'm going in with my eyes open, and I just don't care. I want to see the pretty horses and the fancy hats and the dress and tiara. I've always been fond-ish of the Royal Wales family; my mum kind of looks like Princess Di and my brother kind of looks like Wills. And an excuse for cake and champagne pre-dawn is never passed up. Especially 5am champagne that you had to *get up* for, not *stay up* for... mmm... sleeping. I might actually get a couple of those Dunkin Donuts commemorative donuts. And then I'll get a whole dozen more of the regular ones. Who am I kidding?

Now, what coverage should I watch? CNN probably won't turn off the scroll- which I truly hate- but might have some actual news and better close ups. Style Channel has a dangerously high chance of a Giuliana Ranic appearance, but will have better dress commentary. Is PBS doing anything? What about my beloved NPR? Do I get BBC America? Must check.

Feminist Halloween Costumes

Pic of Halloween in our street
Squirmy didn't get that nick name by being still.

Remember how I so briefly mentioned on Monday that Squirmy likes to pretend things are violins? Somehow, she became a little obsessed with violins a couple of months ago. It may have been buskers at the farmers market, or a segment on Sesame Street, but what ever it was she really began to dig them. This became especially awesome when I discovered I could play NPR Classical Radio in the car instead of bloody Play School or the Beatles. Squirmy's love for John, Paul, George, and Ringo was cute for about a year, but a 12 month audio diet of Revolution gets a little old.

ANYWAY, the violin obsession, plus her sheer terror at the idea of wearing an Elmo suit informed her Halloween costume last month. She went as the violin player in an orchestra. Specifically, Isabelle Ballot Cailliere the First Violin of the Vienna Philharmonic and one of only five women since 1842 to have played as full members of the orchestra. Rock out, right?

Squrims wore black leggings, a black turtleneck, black socks and black patent-leather shoes. Totally cute, warm, comfy, not hazardous, and unlikely to reinforce worrisome gender stereotypes (odd sexualization of small children a whole 'nother post in itself).

Except we couldn't find a violin so she had to carry a recorder. And she didn't really get trick-or-treating. But she did get eating Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for dinner and dancing to the Monster Mash.

Voices

On Tuesday I am giving a presentation to my class on In A Different Voice, by Carol Gilligan. It's a great book. I find it really helpful for thinking about exclusion and privilege and meaning and truth and so on and so on. And I'm really not that into psychology- it just makes sense to me. But I know in my class there is this one guy, this awful, stupid dickface prick who's going to heckle my presentation and downplay the importance of what I'm saying and he's going to say that when Gilligan focuses on women's voices THAT'S SEXIST and that when she describes relational thinking as equal to hierarchical thinking IT'S ACTUALLY LESS DEVELOPED or we wouldn't see it in children and uneducated people. Fuck this dude for ruining the mental process of presenting a great text. I'm so pissed off that I have to consider his reaction when planning my discussion. And I'm equally pissed off that in the written thingy I have to go with it, I have spent what I consider to be disproportionate time emphasizing that men can think relationally, too. Seriously, can women not have one single fucking thing to themselves? To quote Lizzie Skurnik: "I am quietly outraged at how apparently it is against the law to not talk specifically about boys and what they might need/enjoy/prosper from for five seconds."


Note to reader: I have noticed that you have a particular weakness for Young Adult novels. Particularly the adventures of Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden. You really, really should read Lizzie Skurnik's book Shelf Discovery and the archive of her columns for Jezebel. Ignore how ug-mo Jezebel looks these days. Columns are at the right.