Who are the Disenfranchised White People?

I usually disagree with Ross Douchbag Douthat, the smug, often borderline-ignorant conservative Times columnist, and it's no surprise he chose this as his subject matter for his most recent column.  But I found it of particular interest as someone who once wrote a one-act play solely on the topic of deciding whether to check the box on her Yale University college application (I didn't, nor did I get in - your loss, bulldogs!).

Glenn Beck Has a Point

In a rare moment of agreement between The Mayoress and The Dickhead, it's true: Michelle Obama did not make the best satorial choice for her goodwill visit to oil spill territory.

Shuttered.

Key economic indicator of the week: is it just me or are a lot of places closing?  Not just places that probably shouldn't have existed in the first place (call me a Republican, but "if you build it they will come" is the worst business plan ever), but beloved neighborhood standards that you never imagined would disappear.

I was walking up Elizabeth Street last week and Cafe Colonial - site of my first-ever NYC brunch in 1999, was down, making way for a Rag & Bone.  Perfect new tenant and all, but this being just a couple blocks from the CBGB-turned-Varvatos, you can't help but wonder who's next.

Artepasta, the West Village standard for decent cheap Italian, was suddenly gone when I walked past two weeks ago.  I even had my birthday there in '03 or '04 (not to rival Dana, whose bday has been there I believe every single year except last, when we moved around the corner for Drag Queen Brunch - solid).

And now I just read that the Ohio Theater in Soho is closing after 29 years - it was such a great space housing some really solid work.

So what is it - these businesses can't keep up with their original operating costs, or are landlords being unreasonably greedy in this economy?  I just fear that all of Manhattan (and beyond) will be major chains and nothing else - who else can afford these retail rents?

If you've noticed any surprising closures I'd love to hear about it - comment below...

"Americans are a little too complicated about everything"

New Yorkers are all abuzz about New York mag's cover article this week: Why Parents Hate Parenting.  As someone without kids who also doesn't want kids, I find this sort of candidness incredibly refreshing.  As you know/can assume, having kids is the more popular choice, and I have heard everything from "Oh you'll change your mind" to "I just feel like my life had no meaning until I had my kid," which um, hmm, puts me on the defensive.  If everyone would just be like, hey, yes, I chose this but it's really hard, I don't always know what do do and my whole life isn't always transformed for the better because of this, it's just another choice with pros and cons alike, I know I'd be a lot more likely to want to jump in and help out, from babysitting to listening to shaking up a mean martini.  Lord, if we all didn't have to project perfection all the time, wouldn't like be so much more bearable?

Ha - great comment by scpimpjuice:

so... of the commenters on this thread... parents are happy! Great!  The childfree are happy! Fantastic!  And everyone would be happier if the other group would stop criticizing the other's choice! Wow, so simple.  If someone says that they don't want kids, or that they want 25 kids, the best response is, 'How lovely, I wish you all the best'. Then change the subject.

 

Eh, not that simple.  Can I also have a shower and paid work leave and less taxes because I'm not putting anyone through school?  Just sayin'.

Yes, We Know, It's Hot.

I just checked in on Foursquare to "Heatpocalypse NYC."  No doubt.  I was complaining to myself this morning on the commute that probably half the status updates and tweets today will have something to do with heat, when it dawned on me that it's not boring to talk about the weather - the weather has fried us so much that our brains don't function beyond registering what's obvious.

So how is The Mayoress dealing?  Personally calling* every New Yorker to unplug unnecessary appliances, hydrating, and gearing up for swim lesson #3 tonight.  Yeah, you heard me.  Watch out, Ironman!

*blogging

Can You Feel It?

WHAT.  An earthquake in Canada felt in NYC?!  Nature never ceases to amaze, especially this year.

Check out this awesome form - fill it out if you felt the quake, or even if you didn't:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/events/us/2010xwa7/us/form.en.enabled.html

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: