A tale of two cities and their centers

To be honest, going "back home" has always been difficult for me. You might remember a post I did some time ago called "Who Says You Can't Go Home," but I've been thinking about it even more now. During freshman year, I would go home about once a month, both to see my family and to see the guy I was dating. Since we had a lot of mutual friends, there would be no shortage of things to do. And since I'd only be home for a weekend (or in the case of a holiday, a month), there'd be enough time to make me feel appreciated but not like it was overbearing.

Then summer came. Summer was tough. I had left that guy after finding out some sickening stuff about him, fended off his unwanted calls and attempts to contact me, and had a difficult time of trying to re-adjust to being back up north. I felt like I had returned to a puzzle I was no longer part of, a block on a Rubiks Cube trying to fit into a jigsaw puzzle. I had gone to college and found a niche, and I had none of the support or like-minded people around me. I'm not saying I was miserable, what with the family and concerts and other great things going on, but it was still a tough adjustment. I didn't know if I had changed too much, or if they just weren't the type of people I could really say I fit in with. The coming years made me even closer to the university and college community (feminists, advocates, activists, etc.), which of course made it even tougher to go back up north. When I'd get off of work, drenched in sweat and smelling like chlorine, I would check my email. It was pure torture to read messages about all the summer activities down there, with me up in my tourist trap of a hometown where one couldn't get anywhere without driving.

I think I recovered some of that sense of belonging this summer at La Casa. I received the invite for their fall banquet last weekend. Sadly, it's on a school night so I cannot attend, but it brought back all those memories of interning there. I'm not saying La Casa was perfect--it had its flaws (like the dress code!), but it was one place in that whole town where I felt I could act like myself. When I was with the staff (and NOT with the clients, that would be unprofessional), I could talk about anything I wanted and learn more about them. It was (shock*gasp) OKAY to label yourself as a feminist! I found people I could look up to; ones who weren't the stereotypical "role model" type but rather the type who lived their beliefs through their work. Halfway through it, I felt as though I was one of them and was for the first time in a long while happy to be back home. You might be thinking, "They're in your field, Alex, what did you expect?," but not everyone who is in crisis work is going to be close to me.

Before the internship began, I was somewhat reticent about going home, and I kept on thinking I would miss RCS. I did miss RCS. Now that I am back down here, I miss La Casa. Thanksgiving break is in a little under two months, and the fact that I will be doing some court dates or fundraising stuff once I get back makes me look forward to going "back home." It took me twelve years before "home" felt like home, but I guess it's better late than never.

Wonderful weekend

So I am now one year older and wiser and more flamingly opinionated than ever...

Dinner and beverages at Crane Alley--$10/person (12 people)

Entry fee for Pygmalion Festival--$5/person (3 people)

Coffee at coffee hour--$2.50/person

Phone calls--20 min./person

Celebrating with a dozen of your nearest and dearest buddies, having the lead singer of Zmick dedicate a song to you ("Sexy Crazy" ;) ) at Pygmalion, trying to make that perfect cup of Turkish coffee from memory and succeeding, and knowing that your family is coming soon to continue the celebrating--

BEYOND PRICELESS

There are some things money can't buy. Thank goodness for all of them.

Oh yeah, how you shine like a miracle girl.

What's the deal with all the booty being flashed around?

Seriously, I'm not kidding. Seems like almost every woman who's in a major magazine peels off the duds. Now, I am not talking about the airbrushed models in the "male interest" magazines but rather the cover and center shoots of well-known ones.

I'm not entirely sure as to what the females in the photos get out of it. Yes, I know I like to glam it up and flaunt what I've got at times. But this is somewhat different because I've never done the full monty and all were just because I wanted to, not for some male gaze.

The female musicians and actors in Rolling Stone, Spin, and Blender almost always are in some stage of undress. If you're a bigger woman or have unusual looks, you're usually reduced to a paragraph or two and almost never with a photo (unless, of course, you're Jennifer Hudson, who photoshopped her cover shot to look more like a size 0 than the 16 she probably is). Bust magazine, which supposedly is the zine for the "new girl order," featured some actresses and spoken word artists in their skivvies at most. Even Fierce, a multicultural/multimedia magazine I followed for a while featured a "stagewear" section that was little more than a glorified Sports Illustrated swimsuit centerfold (kinda disappointing for a grl who is into fashion and stagewear). Then, an engineering magazine at my own college, Technograph, featured a "technocutie" each month. Yeah boys, as if women have no place in the engineering world except in booty shorts and heels in the pages of your stinkin' magazine. (And if any of those engineers ever met one of those technocuties, they probably wouldn't even warrent a second glance.)

I don't see a male equivalent of it. Sure, there's Cosmo's "Guy Without His Shirt" column, which features a shirtless guy from the waist up. And I don't like adult mags, so I'm not going to comment there. But I certainly haven't seen female-oriented magazines with guys flashing their, um, goodies around. Can you imagine a guy in a speedo gracing a page in Bitch or Ms.? Probably not. In Advocates' Monthly (you advocates and prevention educators ought to know what that is...), could you picture an advocutie that's a guy? (Hey, it's a female-dominated field..like engineering is a male-dominated one.) And could you visualize a guy in the now-defunct Rockrgrl (may its memory be eternal!) using a guitar as a fig leaf? Sound ridiculous? It does--just as much as objectifying a female is.

So what is it that the women get out of this? Is is an act of self-liberation? Is it brainwashing into societally determined roles as a sex object and nothing more? Do they even have a viewpoint on it? I'm not expecting them to channel the ghost of Mother Teresa every time they do a photo shoot, but I wouldn't mind seeing a little more imagination and creativity and a little less softcore porn.

"Sell me, sell you," the porpoise said

They never seem to get it, do they?

My interest in music just collided with the upcoming election. Seems like every candidate's got a theme song or at least something to play when they come out on stage. When I saw Obama speak in Springfield a few years back, they played "Shout" and "Suddenly I See." (If I had the nerve and funding to run, they'd be blasting "Activity Grrrl" as loud as they can.) All fitting songs for said folks. However, I can't exactly say the same about the other side. I thought it was bad when that paragon of hatemongering and bile Rush Limbaugh used the Pretenders' "My City Was Gone" for his talk radio theme song (and without paying them or asking if he could!). That song is very anti-conservative and not exactly fitting with what he preaches, but he wound up using it for many years. It's scathing and sharp, as only Chrissie Hynde can do it.

Now I know I should be bi-partisan, but I haven't run into the same problem with the Democrats. This article is more about the music and the message. I thought the use of "My City Was Gone" was bad. But just today I discovered something just as bad, if not worse for an audiophile like me!! Apparantly, during the RNC, they played (the horror the horror) "Barracuda" before Palin came out!!! And it was the Heart version, the REAL version, not the rotten old Fergie version. Now this is unforgiveable!!! Yes, I know that was her nickname when she was playing basketball, but (1) she didn't have permission to use it and (2) the song is nothing like her. It's about the corporate and soulless nature of the music business, and how record execs will do anything to make a profit (there's a line in there that goes, "And if the real thing don't do the trick, you're gonna make up something quick"). Then again, politicians will do anything to get elected...but that is still BEYOND unforgiveable!!!

[I just found out that the girls in Heart issued a cease and desist order to the McCain campaign, saying that they didn't want him illegally using a their song to endorse a candidate they didn't support. You go girls! No word on what happened with "My City Was Gone."]

See you in Arcola!

Well, I looked up some more about Arcola. All I can say is that it's pretty stereotypically small-town. After reading about it, I have made a solemn promise to never call C-U or Mahomet or Savoy "rural" because Arcola is WAY more so! The funny thing is, the advocates with urban origins are the ones doing the display and workshop, so we're all in the same boat pretty much.

The highlight of this Broom Corn Festival is the Lawn Rangers. I don't know if I'm doing the booth or workshop on the day they perform, but they seem like something else entirely! Apparantly, it is a "high-precision, lawn mowing drill team" that does stunts! Dave Barry was one of them for a while, and he's written several columns about his experiences.

Somehow, I don't think he's making anything up.

This is either gonna be entertaining or "are-you-kidding-me." I mean, how do you do stunts with a lawn mower? I know I've mowed my lawn at home before, but the most exciting thing that I've done there is try to avoid the rocks and my mom's plants. Not that thrilling. So how do the Rangers do it? Do they push the mowers and do formations with them? Do they RIDE the mowers and do tricks atop them? And what does it have to do with broom corn?

[Oh yeah, and I found out what broom corn is. It's decorative corn that you can't eat. You can use it for brooms and industrial purposes if you like, but it's not edible. What do Lawn Rangers and broom corn have in common? Guess I find out Sunday!]

Proof that I'm still a city grl

Well, well, well...

What happens next?

Quad Day was a smashing success, classes look interesting (but pretty demanding!), the GRE is royally kicking my butt, and the end of the stint at La Casa was as good as any intern could hope for. They even threw a send-off party for the other intern and me! Complete with balloons and cards and a teal cake for me and a white one for him. Feminist Majority starts up tomorrow, which is both exciting and nerve-wracking.

But this weekend I signed on to help staff an RCS booth at a festival and later help with a workshop. I have a ride to said festival, but I am not too sure of where it even is or much about what it celebrates. Anyone know where Arcola is? Better yet, why is it that I haven't heard of it before like now? I assume it's a smaller town in East Central Illinois--but where is it even? I looked up its website, and all it talked about was how Arcola Is Amazing (something I find out when I go there, I guess) and how it was the broom corn capital of the world. And that is what the festival celebrates. Broom corn! I mean, I am familiar with corn as anyone from my state would be. My school has a cornfield on campus. But what's different about broom corn? Can you sweep with it? Can you eat it? Can you (hmmm) do BOTH? Do animals eat it? And why does it merit a festival? Maybe it's the kind of corn with the fringe on top, but I always thought they called that sorghum. Guess I'll ask my advocates who are going to it, so I know what to expect. But if you do know what either is, please let this urban grl know...