Into the Madding Crowd

Artists, Beasts and God

Voltaire said, “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”  It seems innate to our human nature to need an existence beyond ourselves, to have something to strive for and to know we are not alone in this vast universe.

Just recently Harper’s Magazine featured a series of essays in honor of the King James Bible’s quadricentennial.   The King James Bible is one of the most influential (if not the single most) versions of one of the most influential books in our history.  In a society that in many ways seems to have lost touch with the notion of organized Religion and is largely skeptical of God, I wanted to see what the scholars had to say on the subject.

Where am I coming from with this?  In short, I was born and raised Catholic.  Until four years ago I was always active in the Church by choice.  Through out my studies, I was intrigued that every culture through out history has had some kind of belief structure: a God and set of mythology.  Even more interesting are the parallels between all of these systems.

Four years ago I joined the Mercy Volunteer Corp, where I volunteered for a year in intercity Detroit and worked with women and children.  Now I won’t say it made me lose my faith, if anything I came out more hopeful; but it did make me question what we believe, why and what place it serves in my life now. I am still figuring that out.  How are you supposed to grow and learn if you don’t first question? I don’t know what is or isn’t; but in my opinion, things are far too intricately woven for there not to be a higher power, or perhaps I too just don’t want to feel alone. Continue reading…

Lady Madbeth and the Green-Eyed Monster

You’re out with friends and your current interest shows up.  The night progresses; you drink more.  You notice your interest is playing bar games with someone else.  A knot forms in the pit of your stomach and something clicks in the back of your head.  You can’t help but put yourself near the situation to feel it out.

There is no situation though.  Sometime after you’ve already felt the fool and gotten past the drunken twinges in the back of your mind, you snap back to reality.   It’s your friend getting along with your interest, that’s a good thing.  Why were you worried in the first place?

Somehow it creeps in under your skin, to the back of your mind.  It pokes at your thoughts and makes your blood start to boil until you can’t fight the notion any longer.  Jealousy, we’ve all felt it.  I’ve never been the jealous type and I’ve felt it.

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Turn and Face the Strange…Hair

It’s time I should peck at this here blog again. Not that an actual chicken pecking randomly at these keys could make such ramblings any less coherent. But since I’m currently at the crossroads of multitudinous and momentous changes, I thought it might be worth an update — at the very least for posterity’s sake.

Of these things about myself, the following are going to or have recently changed, and I await the day when I can look back and definitively impart meaningful reflections on it all. But for now, there’s not much to do but experience it all in stride and try to keep my ducks organized. Continue reading…

Kiss or Be Kissed, Love or Be Loved

Its the moment you spy your love from across the room, you make eye contact, linger a moment and then shyly look away.  Its the dreamy looks in your eyes.  Its the little things we do that are slightly out of character, yet we don’t think twice.  Its the music swell during the longs shots of two characters in love.  It’s Love.

All of us, in some way, shape or form want to find our happily ever after. The Disney movies we grew up on ruined the whole finding love thing, in a good way.  I know have the wonderful fantasy of being swept away by my prince charming as he rides up on horseback and scales the tower to rescue us.  I’m realistic, though, I will settle for the Richard Gere type who scales the fire escape instead… I’m no damsel in distress, I’ll be rescuing him right back.  I’m not going to lie, I get a little fluttery every time I see a couple kiss on screen. Continue reading…

Love in the Time of Self Help Books

Its that time of year again.  Red and Pink pop up everywhere.  Chocolate and cheap stuffed animals line drug store aisles.  Bookstores set up displays of those silly self help book on finding love.  And, somewhere along the way we all secretly hope cupid might strike us with one of his arrows when we least expect it.  (Though the mere desire would negate the whole not expecting thing).

Yes, my dear friends February is upon us and with it comes Valentine’s Day.  It’s the only day of the year where I actually hate being single.  Granted, I’m not the lovey dovey, touchy feely, super romantic person.  I don’t like PDA and spectacle makes me blush.  I’m a romantic at heart, but I really don’t mind being single.  I don’t have time to date or the extra energy to put into a relationship that I’m lackluster about.  I’m 26 in New York City after all; the odds of me finding my Mr. Right, right now are slim to none.  Truth be told I’m really not looking.  Anyone who has braved the New York dating scene will know what I mean.  It’s not hopeless; it just takes a lot of patience.
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It’s an Epidemic Out There

Law Is SRS BSNS, But Irreverence Is Fun

“If courage is the secret of liberty, the first task of free men is to call things by their right name.”

The above quote is from a relatively insignificant case in a NYC criminal court in 1970, regarding the obligation judges have to call out police officers who are obviously lying about the legality of an arrest. (If you’re really curious about the case name, it’s People v. McMurtry.)

Although it’s from a pretty much unknown case, speaking to an arguably specific instance, it really stood out to me when I read it. I mean, I underlined it, dog-eared the page, and I’m now writing a blog post about it so something must have struck a chord.

I think there’s a couple reasons for this.

First, that’s just some really good rhetoric. As a former English major, and someone who spent a good many nights participating in a debate society in undergrad, I have a very healthy appreciation for the art of language. Judge Younger (the author of the opinion this is pulled from) could have easily pulled from over-used trope or cliche to make the same point– maybe something like one must call “a spade a spade,” or maybe some Shakespeare misquote about names and roses (you know the one). On the other hand, he could have gone the blunt route and just declared “judges have an obligation to call out lying cops when they’re obviously spewing BS.”

Judge Younger didn’t choose either of those options, however. He chose to use artful language that would be at home in a speech by any great orator advocating for honesty, openness, and discourse.

By way of convenient transition, this brings me to my second reason: the sentiment and spirit behind this quote calls for forthrightness, sincerity, and courage to stand up to a perhaps powerful or loud opponent that wants to pretend justice is being served when it is really being thwarted. It reminds me of Jon Stewart’s message in his speech at the Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear a few months back: there’s a need to get past petty politicization of words, ratings-boosting exaggeration (“This politician’s a G-d Hating Commie!” “This one piece of legislation is literally going to drag America to hell!” etc, etc), and the intense blame game that is constantly being played out between the two major parties.

Basically, just have the courage to speak up when necessary and call things what they are.

When I’m through with law school and actually an attorney, I want to live up to this quote by challenging unjust laws and making sure people have the liberty to speak freely and honestly.

Yes, that’s right. I am going to kick [legal] ass and take names [for the purpose of naming them]. Look out, nouns. I plan to go after people, places, AND things.

The Best of 2010 in 20 iPhone Photos

In preparation for the new year (or rather in preparation of life with my new iPhone 4, Smartacus), I’ve taken it upon myself to revamp my online presences and clean up my digital life. And while my Facebook albums may have been better organized, I found that nothing captured my day-to-day life in 2010 better than the hodge podge of photos taken with my old iPhone (God rest your soul, Falkor). Out of the 484 snapshots I took on-the-go, behold the top 20 or so that really epitomized what it was like to be 23 years old (for the last half anyway), alive and semi-well in Neue Yawk Shitty.

1) International Pillow Fight day at Union Square, a rally I participated in wholeheartedly. Continue reading…

Beauty mags can suck it: 4.5 products that rock

In the same fashion of Martin Luther — who tacked his “95 Theses” on the door of a German Catholic church in 1517 to protest the corrupt dealings of the priests and thus kick-starting the Protestant Revolution — I’ve got my own treatise to nail on the figurative doors of leviathan beauty magazines. For every glossy pushing out unnecessary “must-have” products and a pinwheel parade of “this season’s trendy colors,” here’s me, flipping my emblematic bird.

Not that I don’t enjoy indulging in the eye candy of the hyper-real how-to’s and the flashy fashion spreads. But having reached the age of reputable adulthood (sort of, anyway), I find that I can’t take the product advice seriously any more. Working in PR with product-hungry “bloggers” has made me cynical toward the oft-nonexistent line between advertising and editorial. And I’ve certainly been through enough subscription cycles of certain Conde Nast bastions to see the same material re-hashed over and over.

So despite not being a beauty “expert,” I’m going to dish out some #realtalk on products. Here are four (actually five) that are truly awesome. This is what I really use, what I vehemently swear by and what I would actually recommend to others. And coming from someone who is the Benedict Arnold of brand loyalty, that’s not a chump change testimonial. Continue reading…

Death, Taxes and Rent

These I have done to pay my rent:

• Tied bows on books for Cole Haan.
• Worked in the GQ fashion closet.
• Worked every Wednesday for two months as a receptionist at a carpet store.
• Fliered for a “Woman’s Health Event” in professional dress in the snow/sleet.
• Made turbans for Marc Jacob’s Holiday party.
• Drove two 12 year old boys 2 hours so that they could play paintball.
• Staffed test screenings for movies.
• Steamed clothes for Anne Taylor.
• Worked a fashion show.
• Coat checked a holiday party.
• Organized a strangers home office.
• Assembled Ikea Furniture.
• Secret Shopped.
• Spent 4 days stuffing gift bags for Shiseido.

For New Yorkers, rent is an inevitable as death and taxes.  You either find someway to pay it or you get out.

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