caitlin shanley // blog

america's next top mushroom

it lives in my yard

ho hum

This little blog of mine is so terribly behind that I'm not sure I will ever be able to catch up. I have even received complaints! So, for lack of a better formulated topic, here is a list of items that I purchased at the Binkley Baptist Church bi-annual yard sale this past Saturday:

sausage biscuit
box with text indicating its purpose for holding rubber bands and paper clips
gold picture frame
mail holder that hangs on the wall
framed needlepoint seagull
striped tie from The Man Store, which was apparently located in Asheville
ashtray with an illustration of the national bank in Carmi, Illinois
small lampshade
feather headdress
red cashmere cardigan
piece of slate with an illustration of a bird
two scarves

I very nearly bought an industrial sized coffee maker, because it was beautiful and avocado green, but I do not need to make a minimum of 10 cups of coffee at one time.

There are currently six hours before the start of fall classes and for some reason I cannot sleep.

inspiration nation

This past weekend I got to spend some time with the wonderful women of the Wanderlust tour, who are biking from New Orleans to NYC to talk with people in different communities about reproductive justice and promoting social change. These women were so smart and outspoken and just all around interesting and amazing people. They were from all different professions and places and backgrounds, and it was really inspiring to see them come together for such an important cause. However, while there were a few Texans in the bunch, the rest of the South was sorely underrepresented (as is too often the case, I'm afraid). Maybe next year's tour will include one of our own (I'm talking to you, Chandra).

Seeing the ladies on tour also reminded me of my supersecret desire to represent the South on Sister Spit tour. I had two friends tell me this week that I should write some sort of creative thing, and I must say I am beginning to feel the urge. But don't I have to get a real job when I am finished with graduate school? I worry about that. Taking a class about Management for Information Professionals is making me think about what I am going to do with my life, and it's a little scary.

Things that are so good in my life right now:

firefox 3 (omg my keyboard shortcut addiction is so thoroughly enabled. also it saves my tabs! this is what love is)
engaging in outdoor activities (shocking!), such as quarry swimming, bike riding, and my lifelong favorite, porch sitting
making tag clouds with wordle. look at this attractive summary of my personality that i created!

p.s. SATC movie

the new york public library pictured in your film is NOT A LENDING LIBRARY

apparently i am too gay and square to go to the movies

note to my mother: this entry contains minor sex and the city movie spoilers, so if you haven't seen it already, please avert your eyes. i won't ruin it for you the way you ruined that one season of the L word for me by telling me about the whole dana dying of cancer thing.

anyway. today was a dichotomous day.

It started with some life-affirming goodness, that is to say a nice work lunch (I learned that a guy in my department has bumper stickers that say "I [heart] reproductive rights" and "starfleet science academy") and then fancy dinner with the Ipas board, all of whom are these amazing and important people. I ended up sitting at a table with a member of the Kenyan Parliament (former UN Person of the Year in Kenya) who casually mentioned having had lunch with Barack Obama the other day. It is nice to be reminded that I work for a really important organization that has done so much work to secure women's rights all over the world. And just on a day-to-day level, I am excited to be in such a diverse workplace, with people from all different countries and backgrounds and sexual identities and fields of study, which feels so right and good. It's refreshing, like when you leave Asheville after living there for a while and remember that in some places in the world, not everyone is from the exact same white, upper-class background. So, early evening was fantastic.

And then...I went to see the sex and the city movie. I mean, I wasn't expecting it to be great. I was just expecting it to be tolerable, and less than two hours long (it was neither). And while I'm talking about diversity, am I crazy or were there some serious problems with representation in this movie? It was a red flag for me at the beginning of the movie when I saw a woman of color enter the bathroom, relate some sort of cryptic omen, and then leave never to be seen again. i said, out loud, "if there is not another non-white character in this movie i am just going to die." (i mean, new york city is pretty much all white people, right?) but no, later on an african american woman (played by the talented jennifer hudson) shows up, as carrie's SERVANT, who loses her shit when carrie gives her a handbag for christmas. Why doesn't Carrie just pay her enough so that she can select and buy her own handbags? Doesn't carrie make like a billion dollars an hour, enough to pay her personal assistant handsomely? Also, what about that part where miranda actually chases a white guy with a baby (her words) in order to find an acceptable apartment in chinatown?

And on top of that, I am increasingly freaked out by this whole cult of baby/marriage. I know this is a ridiculous question, but is that really normal? Is that what people want? I mean, I like shoes, cosmopolitans, sex, cities, etc., but do most women want to have these women's lives? And why can't I go to the movies and see something that doesn't end up with everyone married, usually with their very own biological child (I'm looking at you, Baby Mama)? I find it incredibly depressing.

also, carrie bradshaw is such a terrible writer that it's just distracting. oh honestly.