Dream 5/30/2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
what would baby storm do?
I have about a year to decide what to do with myself after I graduate college, and right now I'm in a delightful late-Spring lull during which I have plenty of time to think about the future. Floaty thoughts of post-grad freedom combined with a healthy dose of Weeds and reality wedding TV has somehow landed me on the topic of traditions.
Here's my slightly convoluted question of the moment: How important is it to do away with traditions that carry historically harmful meanings if these meanings have little power in our current world?
For example:
To me, a father walking his daughter down the aisle and "giving" her to her husband-to-be at the altar communicates a message of gender inequality and carries with it a terrible history of women as property. But is this tradition harmless in modern society? If the bride and groom treat each other as equals and the bride is legally a free and independent woman, does it matter if their wedding ceremony contains this symbolic gesture?
Many would argue that there's no point in destroying this "sweet" tradition simply because of its possibly sexist undertones. I might agree if I believed that we lived in a post-sexist society, but that is simply not the case. I think that in order to really move forward, we need to wash ourselves clean of traditions that are rooted in inequality and oppression whenever we can stand it.
Another issue in the same vein: People have been talking about this Canadian Storm baby. Storm is a child whose parents have chosen to keep his or her sex a secret for as long as possible in order to free him or her from the confines of gender roles imposed by society. Hmmm. A lot of people out there think that these parents are total whackjobs, but I believe that their hearts are in the right place. Starting very early, children get bombarded with lessons - both implicit and explicit - about how to fulfill their assigned gender roles, and I think that these lessons can be extremely harmful to EVERYONE. I'm definitely in support of examining and reworking concepts of gender in order to create a healthier, happier, more equal society.
But are Storm's parents really helping their baby? It seems that in de-emphasizing biological sex differences, they might actually be over-emphasizing gender. I mean, doesn't this situation leave us all waiting to see which gender Storm will choose as Storm's own, thus emphasizing gender over other qualities that Storm will discover within?
Now I'm actually watching the link that I posted for Baby Storm. Ugh...some of these View women are really annoying. I love Whoopi Goldberg, though.
Anyway, if anyone ever actually reads this, I'd love to hear your thoughts! I have a lot of unanswered question marks in here, as well as several disputable points.
The image from the top of this entry is from subversivecrossstitch.com.
Update: Okay, well of course Jezebel wrote about this and I love just about everything that they ever say. I should have linked to that instead.
pomegranate ice tea
Outfit 5/28/2011
The photoshoot for my first outfit post was a bit of a shit show (no tripod, no photographer), but it yielded some interesting results. Personally, I much prefer seeing whole people rather than bits and pieces, but this was the best I could do. So here I am, in bits and pieces:
My favorite part of this outfit is the embroidery on the sweater. It's very high-school-teacher-who-will-never-give-up-her-creativity (i.e. me in ten years)
This got quite Alice-in-Wonderland-esque, which I love.
The whole outfit, blurred.
Cardigan: Karen Nicol
Dress: Kimchi Blue (I bought this for Valentine's Day a few years ago, and it's become one of my most worn items. I bought it in the largest size and took it in by hand, because their dresses tend to be made for very straight-up-and-down bodies)
Bracelet: hand-woven by my sister
Shoes: thrifted Clarks
Action shot of my dog Milly frolicking.
Sunglasses: Target
Nailpolish: Forever 21
We had my best friend and her parents over for a family celebration of her 21st birthday. I made iced pomegranate green tea with lime (non-alcoholic - we did mojitos on her actual birthday and had limes left over). The tea tasted more like juice and ended up matching my dress!
just call it "la bouche"
Dream 5/27/2011
I stayed up late last night and woke up inexplicably early, which left little time for dreaming, but I did have a brief vivid dream which resembled a makeup ad from the 1950s.
I also remember someone telling me "just call it la bouche." I was insulted by this, for some reason, although I don't exactly know what "it" was.
I struggle with the assumptions that people may make about me based on my appearance and interests. Contrary to what some have said, I am not a 1950s housewife-in-training. I can be enthusiastic about clothes, makeup, and even my vacuum cleaner and still be an intelligent, strong, compassionate person. The people who know me the best know this about me. I'd like to find a way to reflect the apparent contradictions of my personality in this blog, as well...feminist rants are sure to come.
Friday, May 27, 2011
hallucinogenic oranges turned her into banana bread
Here are some images from an epic dream I had over a year ago.
here, let me find persepolis for you
Dream dossier no. 1: 5/26/2011
Here is my first attempt at documenting a dream in images. Although most of my dreams seem to have clear narrative structures, the images are what stand out most to me. I'm curious to see what the images look like together and to see if I can find any common threads from dream to dream.
do I dare to dream in a dress?
Hello everyone!
Who knows what this will turn into? For now, I want to use this blog as a dream diary and an outfit log. I have lots of vivid dreams, especially during summer, and I love wearing colorful clothes, which mostly end up being dresses.
Before I have any readers (i.e. before I have any courage at all to publicize), I’ll basically be talking to myself here. My first question to self: why a blog?
And my answer:
1) Last summer, I became addicted to tons of independent blogs about clothing, travel, music, and DIY. Blogs are my eye candy. I love seeing non-models wearing interesting outfits, and I’m intrigued by the lifestyles and opinions of individuals from around the world.
2) I want a new creative outlet for the summer, and I’m drawn to blogging because it is an interactive medium.
3) I kept a blog during my semester abroad in Argentina and I miss it a lot!
That’s all for now. Much to come soon!
Love,
Isabella
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