Meme Time

I and some co-conspirators have decided, in honor of the World Cup, that we shall make vuvuzelas the new all-encompassing term, a la "smurf."  Join us, won't you?

Here are some examples to get you started:

Bartender, I'd like a vuvuzelas but can you make it with vodka instead of gin?

I'd call in sick but my boss will go completely vuvuzelas.

I think it's the integration of vuvuzelas that really made Bill T. Jones's choreography in Fela! Tony-worthy.

It's unbelievable - both Home Depot and Wal-mart are out of vuvuzelas - how am I supposed to finish this landscaping in time for the 4th of July?!

Go ahead, updated your Facebook status.

Boycott Hip Hop?

Oh man.  It's one thing to boycott gas stations when you don't have a car, but what about your favorite music?  Adolfo made an excellent point on Facebook today:

Why is it that Lil Wayne, Kanye West and other rappers who coined the phrase, "No Homo" get support from their record companies and fans when if ANYBODY made a song saying, "NO blacks, NO handicaps, NO women, etc" the media would come down on them like white on rice.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how bullshit it is when people who are not of a group don't actively support doing the right thing, as if it doesn't affect them.  I am crazy about gay rights even though I'm not gay because I am, however, a woman and black, and so I understand how vital it was for legal changes to happen before my time, and I think it was just as much men's/white people's responsibility to put those changes in motion.  These things bleed over too, and you never know when injustices that seemed far away might affect you directly.  We're all responsible for an equal, just world.  Kumba-f'ing-ya.

Boycott BP

I don't have a car so I don't think about this stuff as much, but I really hope those of you who do are boycotting BP and all the BP brands.

BP brands to boycott include Castrol, Arco, Aral, am/pm, Amoco, Wild Bean Cafe, and Safeway gas.

I'm proud to say that I drove around on an empty tank two weeks ago to avoid the Arco station.

Citizen Journalism Meets Seattle Stupidity

The internets are abuzz with this straight-outta-Seattle video of a cop acting questionably during a jaywalking pullover:



Though I can see why Anthony tipped me on it thinking I would go Politically Involved Minority Woman Apeshit, my first reaction is actually Former Seattlite Disgust.  In college, there was a tiny two-lane street that ran between the bookstore and the student center where we'd routinely get fined for jaywalking.  I wish I had a picture, it's completely ridiculous.  I still to this day, after ten years in jaywalkitoff NYC, get all apprehensive when crossing even on corners in the Pacific Northwest.  Way to be tough on crime Seattle!

The problem with this video to me is that a) we don't see what may have provoked the cop to get physical at all in the first place, and b) if a cop was trying to handcuff me or whatever, the last thing I would do is fight back because anyone with even a cursory knowledge of TV crime dramas knows you can get slapped with an assault of a police officer charge.  Also, where's his partner? 

But as I'm sure the comments on this coverage will support, this one's going to piss people off, on both sides.

Crap, I really hope that's not the cop I dated in college.

The Latest (but hardly new) Assault on Women

I don't know what's making me so particularly interested in feminist issues lately.  Well, yes I do: I'm female, and I have experienced nearly every benefit and drawback of being a woman in modern America.  Yes!  Free drinks, rides home, doors opened!  No!  Taken less seriously professionally, being scrutinized for personal choices, being called a bitch for behavior for which men are respected, even applauded!

But hats (heels) off to Debrahlee Lorenzana, who's catching everyone's shit in a big way.  This exact scenario happened to a friend of mine a few years ago (also in finance, hmm) - hotter than her coworkers, she gets blamed for her coworkers' reactions.  At first you're like, yeah, to have such problems... but it runs both ways. 

War Checklist

A great op-art from the Times:

In Which the Mayoress Reveals Her Platform

I woke up at 6:30am today, a Sunday, and found myself mentally summarizing my stance on every issue.  I know, what?

So, in the tradition of Sunday morning punditry, Meet the Pressler:

In Which the Mayoress Uses a Metaphor

Seriously, guys - I don't think anyone knows how to fix Wall Street.  Further, if anyone did know, the system of our elected officials needing to raise a trillion dollars for every election sort of precludes them from reigning in the industry that supplies a huge proportion of that funding, right?  More on that here.

It just occurred to me that my last encounter with a finance guy more or less sums up the past two years in the American economy: after a drunken evening we returned to Goldman Partner's ostentatiously large Tribeca penthouse where he started off promisingly then fell asleep at the wheel.  Next day: dismissive text not acknowledging the fail. 

Indicative, right?

Facebook & Privacy

I posted this article on my FB page yesterday (general summary: "If you’re going to do stupid shit, make sure you do it without cameras present. If you’re an idiot, and let cameras in, or if you get drunk and tweet, THIS ISN’T FACEBOOK’S FAULT.") and liked the debate that ensued.

Here you go. Ross gets italics so you can get a sense of his British accent.

That's a Pretty New Arts Degree You Have

It may be too late for the class of '10 and those of us who chose this insane career path out of love for the arts, but maybe those high schoolers out there whose parents haven't blocked access to my blog can be forewarned (thanks to Thomas Cott for the tip):

Arts majors have three of the Top 10 lowest-earning college degrees

Posted on Yahoo.com's HotJobs website

There's no denying the value of a college education: According to recent U.S. Census surveys, the median salary for college grads is more than $20,000 higher than that of people with only a high school diploma. And the unemployment rate for people with bachelor's degrees is almost half the rate for people without. But some degrees are worth more than others, as PayScale.com shows in its 2010 report on the earning power of bachelor's degrees. No surprise, engineering degrees continue to be top earners -- and (also no big shocker) you have to go pretty far down the list before you see the liberal arts well represented. But there's more to choosing a major than comparing dollar amounts. We salute and congratulate the graduates whose interests (and hard work) have led them to the following degrees -- the lowest-earning degrees on PayScale's list:

#10. Drama (starting annual salary: $35,600; mid-career annual salary: $56,600)
# 9. Fine arts (starting annual salary: $35,800; mid-career annual salary: $56,300)
# 8. Hospitality and tourism

# 7. Education

# 6. Horticulture

# 5. Spanish

# 4. Music (starting annual salary: $34,000; mid-career annual salary: $52,000)
# 3. Theology

# 2. Elementary education

# 1. Social work

Today in Sports

Football
Can someone explain to me why they didn't release Invictus this year instead of '09? It seems obvious, what with the World Cup being this year AND in South Africa. Marketing slam dunk. I mean, goal. My best guess is because it's too unrealistic that SA would win the World Cup. Let's be honest.

Basketball
Why is it just now the Eastern/Western Conference Finals? When I was your age, the final-finals were the first week of April. I remember because that's when I wore my Clyde the Glide Bart shirt in 7th grade that Fox soon pulled because the maker didn't have rights to reproduce Simpsons images. This was before eBay, clearly.

Baseball
I met some lovely gentlemen from the Panama Metro baseball team this weekend. As you probably already know, they are currently in game 4 of the national championship playing against Bocas del Toro, who haven't been in the finals since 1960. It's a regular Yankees-Red Sox '04 situation! Panama Metro was expected to sweep but Bocas took it in game 3, which I'm sure has absolutely nothing to do with my meeting and drinking with the players the previous night.

Are We Obsessed with Happiness?

Something hasn't been sitting well lately. The older I get the more I feel like I need to have accomplished, and everything around me seems to reflect this puzzling message, when shouldn't we have figured out more as we age, not less? And as a result, be more content, joyful, even... gasp! Happy??

Apparently I'm not alone.