Another entry in my I Judged This Book By Its Cover And Was Only Partly Wrong list. Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, by Jillian Lauren Sounds trashy, right? I thought it would be a guilty pleasure, a fast read. It was a fast read, but there was more to it than I expected. Instead of titillating tell-all or bad romance novel, Lauren’s book is really what it aspires to be: a great memoir. Some Girls is the true story of the time Lauren spent in the harem of the Prince of Brunei, but it’s also a coming...
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In Praise of Blogging
Not V&V in particular — that would be just slightly too self-congratulatory, even for us. After I posted about the dog shooting at Adams Morgan Day, I heard from Simon Owens, who pointed me toward an interview he conducted with DCist Editor-in-chief Aaron Morrissey. The topic is DC bloggers scooping traditional news outlets, both with the aforementioned story and in regard to others (the Discovery Channel hostage situation in particular). It’s an interesting article, and you can find it here. As for the dog story itself, an update from Washington Post perhaps validates my hunch that the...
Continue reading...This is not okay
True story. In the early evening; still really light out, I was walking near my apartment a couple nights ago when some creep waggled his penis at me. It was kind of awful and also so absurd. Why would anyone want to do that? I wasn’t very scared for my safety- he seemed content to just stare at me walking by, from about two feet away, while displaying his penis. Here’s how you know I’m a bleeding heart liberal. Amid my shock and disgust and anger, part of me also feels bad for the guy. My evening...
Continue reading...Police News of the Weird
This afternoon I stopped by Adams Morgan Day in DC, an annual street festival. B. and A. and I ate at Amsterdam Falafel, always a treat, and then I was talking to a couple friends while B. and A. walked around checking out the assorted booths. At around 1:15 pm, things got weird. Reports vary, but one thing is for sure: “There was definitely a gun involved,” says B. According to eyewitnesses, two dogs (a poodle and a rottweiler or pug) got into a scuffle. The poodle and its owner left the scene, while the man with...
Continue reading...President Obama invokes President Bush, for the better for both of them and us
At today’s press conference, Anne Kornblut asked: Nine years after the September 11th attacks, why do you think it is that we are now seeing such an increase in suspicion and outright resentment of Islam, especially given that it has been one of your priorities to increase — to improve relations with the Muslim world? And the president answers: I think that at a time when the country is anxious generally and going through a tough time, then fears can surface, suspicions, divisions can surface in a society. And so I think that plays a role in...
Continue reading...Girls who wear Abercrombie & Fitch
…I’m not one of them, and never was. I never imagined the song could be about me. Actually, I’ve never been inside an A&F store, on some sort of vague “principle” formulated when I was about 14. That was also the age when I became a teeny bit obsessed with the band LFO. My years of listening to top-40 radio were limited but intensive. In particular, I would often listen to the top 8 at 8 on Q102, and then call in to try to be the 8th caller and win a prize. One night this worked,...
Continue reading...Poem of the Week
Part II of last week’s theme: villanelles. I’ve read and re-read this poem in at least three different English classes, and haven’t yet tired of it– to the contrary, I find more to like each time. And it seems apropos in the whirlwind of unpacking to post a poem dedicated to the fine art of losing things. One Art by Elizabeth Bishop The art of losing isn’t hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door...
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Things that suck about moving: -packing -unpacking -no Internet in apt for days (thank you, Cleveland Park library) things that don’t: – awesome friends; who make moving lots faster and more enjoyable. Yay community! Also, pizza. -getting furniture finally into the best conceivable arrangement, after first dragging it all over the room in all kinds of ugly ways -windows, finally, after 1 1/2 years in the cave -sitting in my new reading nook, next to the bookshelves I’ve just filled. Books are my favorite part of both packing and unpacking. Bookshelf organizing strategies, folks? I went with...
Continue reading...A land where everybody's drunk and ugly
Maybe when you read this: The nation’s females were lambasted when asked which country had the ugliest women in an international poll. Votes poured in, with people from around the globe eager to point out how overweight, unladylike, and generally foul British women are. Major complaints centred around how many are ‘rude’, ‘drink pints of beer like men’ and ‘end up drunk in the gutter’. The UK’s (not so) fairer sex were also accused of unashamedly breaking wind and belching in public, of letting their fat hang out, were smothered in ‘bad tattoos’ and committed crimes against...
Continue reading...The New Republic Editor Martin Peretz is a bigoted asshole
I mean, at least Fox News couches their hysterical Islamophobia in polite-speak. Martin Peretz, the editor-in-chief of The New Republic, on the other hand, eschews propriety and lets the bile just roll out: But, frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have...
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