Feminist? Or just a Product of my Generation and Family?

A little story for you: (it will give you some context for my next post)

Several weeks ago, I was hanging with some friends at the home of an acquaintance-friend. (Mostly acquaintance, but I'm friends with his friends... you all know what I'm talking about, right?)

So, earlier in the day this guy had purchased two containers of chocolate chip cookie dough from some little kids peddling it door-to-door. Their dad was out of work, and they were selling cookie dough to try and help bring in some money. So he bought two. Sweet, right? I thought so.

A little later that night, we're all hanging in the basement playing a game, and someone mentions that those cookies were sounding pretty good right about then. The problem? They were still in dough form in the containers they came in.

So this guy leans back and smiles like he's really proud of himself, motions to the door leading upstairs where the kitchen is, and says, "Ladies?"


Do I even need to finish the story at this point?


So, apparently the look I gave him was pretty expressive, because another guy friend who was there reacted pretty quickly to my reaction. The gist of what he said is, "Whoa. Sarah looks pissed."

Well, no kidding.

First of all, who's making the assumption that just because someone is female they are automatically at home in the kitchen?

And secondly, where the bleep did his manners go? I can guarantee to you that if he had made the same assumption (that we could all bake cookies well) (incorrect assumption on his part--I can't bake a cookie to save my life), but at least phrased it more appropriately, I would have been happy to head upstairs and bake the freakin' cookies. But what on earth makes him think that his 1) ignorant assumption and 2)smug presentation would make anyone want to go bake him cookies?

Let me be clear--it's not like I threw a fit about it. I don't remember if I even said anything (verbally). My face just conveyed my feelings for me.

I don't consider myself to be a feminist, but I do get annoyed when guys say idiotic things like "The man is the prince of his home and shouldn't have to help clean. When he gets home from work he should just get to relax. He shouldn't have to help around the house or with the cooking or the dishes." (A semi-direct quote. It was said in French, so... you know. But you get the idea.)

So, this leads me to wonder... would you say that makes me a feminist? Is that something that just comes from growing up in the family I did? Or does it just make me a product of this generation?

Would you say that you are a feminist? Or a champion of women's rights (men, if you're not okay with calling yourself a feminist.)

Pompidou Center and Modern Art- a Love/Hate affair?

If you are not a fan of modern art, it's probably because you think of Modern art as things like the contents of a garbage can being put in an acrylic box and labeled as art.

It's true. There's a display like that at the Pompidou Center, as well.

Now... let me just say, that I don't think that the contents of the garbage can are visually pleasing or took a lot of effort for the "artist" to arrange (or dump) in the acrylic box. However, if you think of art as a way of examining mankind, the human condition, or as a slice of everyday life (you may... you may not... I'm not going to tell you what art is or isn't), then I can see the value in it. But to me, if it's going to be labeled as art, then there should at least be some kind of commentary along with it. You know, if there's going to be three Coke cans, a subway ticket, and a half-eaten sandwich on display, then maybe use those items to address branding (since Coke is a universally recognizable brand), or how a subway ticket identifies the garbage as coming from a certain place, and therefore makes the rest of it that much more interesting (maybe).

Anyway, I'm not necessarily trying to defend "garbage can" art to anyone. I think I'm more trying to understand what purpose, if any, there is in displaying it.

HOWEVER, that is not really my style of Modern Art. So when I say I love modern art, please don't let that be the thing that jumps to mind. Instead, why don't you think of these?

Wind by Xao Wou-Ki (I love how moody this canvas feels, even without knowing the title).

Untitled XX by William de Kooning (I just love the riot of color and that there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it).

Detail of a painting by Simon Hantai. He folded the canvas a bunch of times until it was small, then only painted the surfaces that showed. Unfolded it, refolded it, applied more paint. After many times of doing this, the resulting canvas is randomly covered in color (possibly more than one) or even left completely blank in places. He did have a purpose in doing this (something to do with ignoring the will of the artist in the placement of paint, letting it just be random, etc.), but I just really like the overall effect.

Oh, Mark Rothko. I think your paintings are wonderful. Deceptively simple-looking little festivals of color.



Love me some Jackson Pollock. This is a detail of 'The Deep.'

Nicolas de Staehl's "Les Toits." I absolutely LOVE this painting. It's quickly becoming a new favorite. I'm kind of traumatized by the fact that he killed himself after meeting with a particularly harsh art critic. I hope I get to meet him in heaven and tell him how much I love this painting. (Is that weird? Maybe just a little, but I would totally say the same thing about Monet, Van Gogh, Pollock, Rothko, and many others.)

Kupka's "Autour d'un Point" (..."Surrounding a Point/Dot" maybe?). Very graphic. Very cool.

Kupka's "Animated Lines" and Delaunay's "Rythm with no end"

Jasper Johns - Figure Number 5

More Simon Hantai. This is titled 'Painting' and called "Pink Writing." You can see there are a couple of different things going on with splotches of color and the dripping black circles...

but what you may not realize at first is that all of the texture and detail covering the whole canvas coms from handwriting on the canvas. Hantai wrote directly onto the canvas (I think it took the better part of a year or more) in pen. If I remember right, he copied down famous quotations or inspiring passages of literature or other texts. He made himself write on the canvas for an hour every day or something to that effect, until it was complete. I would never put myself through that, but he seems to be the very dedicated, experimental type who is willing to put in a lot of time to see the results of a certain approach (c.f. the folding canvas experiment noted above).

So, there you have it. My favorites from the Pompidou Center. Yep, there were some things I thought were more difficult to appreciate than others, but I still found many things I thought were lovely, thought-provoking, and very (even excrutiatingly) detailed.

Gleaning Wisdon from 6 Billion Others

I went to the 6 Billion Others website today to see if I could find out how much tickets are for the exhibit (I can't wait to go!!), but instead found inspiration from one of the videos.

"We don't choose where we are born, but we choose who we want to become."

Bones in the Real World: Forensic Anthropology and Genocide

So... I love CNN.

Today I read this article about how forensic anthropology and DNA testing are being used in Bosnia to identify bodies buried in mass graves, which eventually allows the bodies to be turned over to the victims' families.

What a wonderful thing for those families. It's like Bones times a million (but it's actually real, not a t.v. drama). I want to be a forensic anthropologist. Kind of...

But not really, because I'm squeamish. I'll just get my fill from watching the awesome show and having a celebrity crush on David Boreanaz.

Advertise on Your Child's Homework

I think this article is sad, but I applaud the teacher. He ensured that his students' success continued despite a lack of funding. Very cool.

And yet not cool that it was necessary.

Sarkozy to Obama: A Letter of Congratulations and Support

On the home page of the French consulate's website there was a link to this letter from Nicolas Sarkozy (Pres. of France) to President-elect Obama. I realize not many of you are as interested in Franco-American relations as I am, but I'm posting it anyway to show what seems to be a good example of how this election has been perceived by the rest of the world.

Letter of congratulations from President Nicolas Sarkozy to President-elect Barack Obama :
Mr. President-elect, Dear Barack,
The American people have just chosen you to preside over their destiny for the next four years.
Please accept my warmest congratulations, both personally and on behalf of the French people as a whole. Your stunning victory rewards a tireless commitment to serving the American people. It is also the crowning achievement of an exceptional campaign whose brilliance and high tone demonstrated the vitality of American democracy to the entire world, while keeping them spellbound.
In choosing you, the American people have chosen the path of change, openness and optimism. At a time when the world is in torment and doubt, the American people—true to the values that have always been at the very core of America’s identity—strongly expressed their faith in progress and in the future.
This message from the American people resonates well beyond your borders. At a time when we must face enormous challenges together, your election raises immense hope in France, Europe and beyond: the hope of an open America, characterized by solidarity and strength, that will once again lead the way, with its partners, through the power of its example and the adherence to its principles.
France and Europe, which have always been bound to the United States through their ties of history, values and friendship, will thus be reenergized to work with America to preserve peace and prosperity in the world. Rest assured that you may count on France and on my personal support.
Please accept, Mr. President-elect, the expression of my highest regards.
[Handwritten:] and my warmest wishes.
[Signature] Nicolas Sarkozy
His Excellency Mr. Barack H. Obama President-elect of the United States of America

I read several blogs of American expats in France, and every one of them mentioned how much the French took interest in this year's election (to the point of being very unusual). Everyone over there wanted Obama to win, and a couple of these bloggers mentioned that they noticed a distinct improvement in the way their more casual acquaintances treated them immediately following the election (not that they were super rude before, but after the election they warmed up a bit).
One of my coworkers also mentioned to me how much easier my life in France will be because the election went the way it did.

And as a side note...

I have to say, I didn't vote for Obama (I wasn't really happy with either Obama or McCain, truth be told), but I've been very impressed with him so far. I hope he continues to be frank and forthcoming with the American people and that he follows through with his ideal of bringing Republicans and Democrats together with open minds focused on progress and what is best for the American people. I think that's an ideal that most presidents would say they wanted, so here's hoping Obama can get the right support to make it a reality.

"There is No Charge for Awesomeness... or Attractiveness"

How great is this line?*

Wouldn't you love to be able to say this to someone? Be on the lookout for good times to say this. I will be looking, too. This sounds like something I would say, anyways, in one of my "I'm pretending to think more highly of myself than I actually do" moments.

Sometimes I think that people who don't know me very well think I'm a total narcissist. And I can't say that I blame them. I frequently speak very highly of myself, mostly as a tongue-in-cheek joke. But most people who don't know me well don't quite get it... so then I just look like I'm an egomaniac.

Oh, well.

Still... don't you think everyone should think of themselves as awesome? I think they should.**

Take the poll on my sidebar and tell me if you think you're awesome!! This could be a life-changing self-affirmation moment. But only if you let it be. :)

*From Kung Fu Panda
**But I think their opinion of themselves should be tempered by the realization that everyone else is awesome and deserves to be heard, respected, and supported, too. I think there are people who have unreasonably elevated opinions of themselves, and as a result, the way they treat other people is just atrocious.

The IPA

I took a French linguistics class a couple of years ago where we had to memorize* the International Phonetic Alphabet.

You might not think it is interesting, but I am completely fascinated. It's a great resource for linguists because it allows you to understand how a word should be pronounced in another language, even if you have no experience with the language outside of the IPA.

Singers also use it according to Wikipedia (which I had never thought of before, but it totally makes sense). (Hello, Josh Groban??)

We also used this a little bit in an English Language class, in which we also learned about different regional dialects and pronunciation patterns in the US.

This NPR clip highlights some examples of these differences, focusing on the Northern states in the US.

So fascinating.

Maybe when I'm back from Paris I'll do a masters in linguistics and travel around the world gathering "research" on the way words are pronounced in different places.

*I don't remember it anymore. I wish I did.

The Challenging Pleasures of Art

In the September/October newsletter from the Orem Public Library, they included an excerpt from Dana Gioia’s commencement address at Stanford in June. Gioia is the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. His address really resonated with me, so I thought I would share parts of it with you (with emphasis added in multiple places). You can find the entire text here.
Please note: This is not me preaching... I just found myself agreeing almost out loud with so much of what he said, I wanted to pass along the thoughts that he so aptly conveyed.

Marcus Aurelius believed that the course of wisdom consisted of learning to trade easy pleasures for more complex and challenging ones. I worry about a culture that bit by bit trades off the challenging pleasures of art for the easy comforts of entertainment. And that is exactly what is happening—not just in the media, but in our schools and civic life.
Entertainment promises us a predictable pleasure—humor, thrills, emotional titillation, or even the odd delight of being vicariously terrified. It exploits and manipulates who we are rather than challenges us with a vision of who we might become. A child who spends a month mastering Halo or NBA Live on Xbox has not been awakened and transformed the way that child would be spending the time rehearsing a play or learning to draw.

If you don't believe me, you should read the statistical studies that are now coming out about American civic participation. Our country is dividing into two distinct behavioral groups. One group spends most of its free time sitting at home as passive consumers of electronic entertainment. Even family communication is breaking down as members increasingly spend their time alone, staring at their individual screens.

The other group also uses and enjoys the new technology, but these individuals balance it with a broader range of activities. They go out—to exercise, play sports, volunteer and do charity work at about three times the level of the first group. By every measure they are vastly more active and socially engaged than the first group.

What is the defining difference between passive and active citizens? Curiously, it isn't income, geography, or even education. It depends on whether or not they read for pleasure and participate in the arts. These cultural activities seem to awaken a heightened sense of individual awareness and social responsibility.

Art is an irreplaceable way of understanding and expressing the world—equal to but distinct from scientific and conceptual methods. Art addresses us in the fullness of our being—simultaneously speaking to our intellect, emotions, intuition, imagination, memory, and physical senses. There are some truths about life that can be expressed only as stories, or songs, or images.

Art delights, instructs, consoles. It educates our emotions. And it remembers. As Robert Frost once said about poetry, "It is a way of remembering that which it would impoverish us to forget." Art awakens, enlarges, refines, and restores our humanity.

You don't outgrow art.