love your body already!

Like most women, Stacey Politi has faced body-image crisis from time to time. after holiday meals, she's stood with the beautiful women in her family and complained about her own body, as they criticized themselves. Saddened and frustrated, Politi decided to do something about it:

“I figured if every time I looked in the mirror, I had something screaming back at me to ‘remember my beauty’ I was bound to remember one of these days,”

So Politi created Eve's Rib Clothing--a t-shirt company designed to empower women of all sizes to broadcast their beauty to the world.

Eve’s Rib Clothing comes in all sizes and is made to make every woman feel comfortable in her own skin. These shirts are meant to help women love themselves and to make sure that the little girl you see while walking down the street is raised in a world where it is known that “obsessing over pounds is only for British Bankers.”

A portion of every purchase from evesribclothing.com goes to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), the largest not-for-profit organization in the United States working to prevent eating disorders and provide treatment referrals to those suffering from them.

fix your jones for beauty all around you @ www.evesribclothing.com

Posted by sarah t. at 2:39 PM 0 comments

Tom Robbins...A Genius Speaks of Love

I've learned something that many women these days never learn: Prince Charming
really is a toad. And the Beautiful Princess has halitosis. The bottom line is that (a) people are never perfect, but love can be, (b) that is the one and only way that the mediocre and the vile can be transformed, and (c) doing that makes it that. Loving makes love. Loving makes itself. We waste time looking for the perfect lover instead of creating the perfect love. Wouldn't that be the way to make love stay?

Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet. That would mean that security is out of the question. The words "make" and "stay" become inappropriate. My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free.

(sigh)

Tom Robbins...timelessly eccentric. Worth a try.

Read Still Life With Woodpecker...if not for a treatise on the true meaning of love...for a heroine with an unhealthy crush on Ralph Nader. When you're done...try Skinny Legs and All...if not for a smarter look at the Arab/Israeli conflict than any middle eastern scholar can give you...then because it opens on "newlyweds driving cross-country in a large roast turkey."

I promise...you may be perplexed...but you won't be disappointed.

fix your jones to curl up with a really good book @ the tom robbins page at amazon.com

Posted by sarah t. at 1:01 PM 0 comments

Wednesday at the Movies

Point is, what's so wonderful is that every one of these flowers has a specific relationship with the insect that pollinates it. There's a certain orchid look exactly like a certain insect so the insect is drawn to this flower, its double, its soul mate, and wants nothing more than to make love to it. And after the insect flies off, spots another soul-mate flower and makes love to it, thus
pollinating it. And neither the flower nor the insect will ever understand the significance of their lovemaking. I mean, how could they know that because of their little dance the world lives? But it does. By simply doing what they're designed to do, something large and magnificent happens. In this sense they show us how to live - how the only barometer you have is your heart. How, when you spot your flower, you can't let anything get in your way.

fix your jones for a really good movie @ susanorlean.com, or buy it here

Posted by sarah t. at 1:16 PM 1 comments

school's out...for fridays

in today's 'what the hell?!?" segment...

CNN reports:

In parts of the American West such as Salmon, sharply higher fuel prices have prompted a growing number of school districts to save money by shortening the school week to four days. School systems in such remote, sparsely populated areas, where school bus routes can stretch across many miles
and take hours to complete, say far higher transport and other energy-related expenses are squeezing already shrinking budgets.

So much for global competitiveness....

fix your jones for educational insanity @ education-world, the christian science monitor, and a school district in south dakota. (be sure to take note of the fact that no one can prove increased achievement)

Posted by sarah t. at 5:13 PM 0 comments

ceasing and desisting...

the red badge of honor that so many web-geeks wear with pride is a fascinating item--a sword weilded with heavy-handed fervor by the largest of companies to squash competition, ostensibly. Unfortunately, all too often, the cease and desist underscores the bullies on the playground of life--attacking the meek without thought or remorse.

be warned, big bullies. the meek...they shall inherit the earth...i've heard, at least.

Enter the story of The Chocolate Farm, a home-grown chocolatier in Denver started in 1998 by then 11-year-old Elise MacMillan and her 13-year-old sage of a brother, Evan. Elise had learned to make chocolate from her grandmother when she was 3 and, a born overachiever, she started a chocolate stand at a local farmers' market when she was 10. The stand became a full-blown business--website (designed by Evan) and all--and the siblings now employ 20-40 people, depending on the season. They plan to turn their business over to professional managers in the fall, when Elise goes to college.

So fine...maybe we all hate these kids just a little bit for their drive and determination, but all-in-all, a pretty cool story, right?

Not according to the people over at Russell Stover. According to the Denver Post,

The corporate confectionery, which owns Whitman's Candies, wants the Macmillans to stop using the word "sampler." On their website, www.thechocolatefarm.com, the siblings sell a "Chocolate Farm Sampler," which includes three-quarters of a pound of candy and a recipe book.

Russell Stover advertising executive John O'Hara gave the Chocolate Farm an ultimatum in a Thursday e-mail:

"The Sampler mark has been used by Whitman's since 1912 and has been registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since 1922. ... Please ... remove the Sampler mark from any and all material that you may be using; otherwise, Whitman's will have no other choice but to pursue legal remedies."

Uh...Sampler...as in, A representative collection or selection: a sampler of American short-story writers. A variety; an assortment. As in...sample our chocolates and worship at the feet of child entrepreneurship.

The story is enough to make us cry out--don't back down alliterative child duo! Elise and Evan 4-ever!

Never fear. They benefit from their youth--Elise's moxie is charming. "It's a generic term. Anybody ought to be able to use it. Nobody has confused our Chocolate Farm Sampler with a Whitman's Sampler." Evan's self-deprecating flattery is endearing. "We feel flattered that they would consider us a threat," Evan said. "It just seems like the most ridiculous thing in the world to go after a couple of kids with a small chocolate business."

Lay on...Elise and Evan! Exeunt, fighting!

fix your jones for farm-raised chocolate and no bullies @ thechocolatefarm.com

Posted by sarah t. at 2:13 PM 1 comments

Sorkin vs. Fey--Thursdays on NBC

Running scared as usual, the guys over at NBC, while freaking out about the fact that ABC is destroying them in the ratings, have made a colossal error in judgement. They are lining up two "behind the scenes of a sketch comedy show" series next season. From the Seattle Post Intelligencer:

Aaron Sorkin's show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" is the most prominent new series on NBC.

Sorkin, creator of "The West Wing," brings Bradley Whitford from that series to his new show, along with Matthew Perry of "Friends" and Amanda Peet. It's about the turmoil and romance backstage at a network comedy sketch show, and NBC is telegraphing its importance by scheduling it at 9 p.m. on Thursdays - once the time slot of "Cheers" and "Seinfeld."

NBC has also scheduled "30 Rock," a comedy that Tina Fey of "Saturday Night Live" wrote and stars in, about the backstage world of a network comedy. Reilly (Kevin Reilly, NBC Entertainment President) said he wasn't worried about two new similar series, saying the tone is very different.

"If they were two cop shows, nobody would waste a minute of breath on it," Reilly said.

this is true...but they're *not* two cop shows, genius.

well...i've been a sorkin fan since Sports Night...and i'm sick and tired of tina fey's potty humour...not to mention her atrocious acting...so Studio 60 is where my money is.

fix your jones for all things aaron @ bartlett4america.org, sportsnight.net, and the studio 60 on the sunset strip blog

Posted by sarah t. at 3:17 PM 0 comments

Wednesday at the Movies

Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occured to you that you don't go on forever. Must have been shattering. Stamped into one's memory. And yet, I can't remember it. It never occured to me at all. We must be born with an intuition of mortality. Before we know the word for it. Before we know that there are words. Out we come, bloodied and squawling, with the knowledge that for all the points of the compass, there's only one direction. And time is its only measure.

Now available on DVD!

fix your jones for a very good movie @ Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead or buy it here

Posted by sarah t. at 12:07 PM 0 comments

See Sophie. See Sophie Get Me a Coke.

A sweet little home movie good for a smile...Sophie, a beautiful labrador retriever, gets a drink from the fridge, flushes the toilet, speaks, and grumbles. She also puts the average dog to shame with her mad skillz.

take a look...



and then...

fix your jones for dog training tips @ The Dog Daily and The Trick is in the Training

Posted by sarah t. at 1:22 PM 0 comments

cukoo bananas quote of the day

Posted by sarah t. at 3:26 PM 0 comments

it's friday. expand your mind.

From Kirsten Johnson -- an artist we should all know.

My work has always been portrait based - driven by a need to capture expression and emotion.

Working with inanimate objects hasn't changed this, it's focused it.

The emotions depicted / written are complex and specific, contrasting with the extreme simplicity of the subject. Needy. Gorgeously insincere. Morbidly curious. The use of chalk not only references a child's world but suggests impermanence. Always the same two socks are used - scrutiny through repetition. The viewer takes on a more active role as he / she relates to the emotion stated or decides that manipulation is taking place.

How does footwear with buttons sewn on to it appear to be "paranoid"? Is it "paranoid" because we are told it is "paranoid"? Why do we feel the need to transfer emotions?

genius. just genius.

fix your jones for sock puppets more human than most people @ kirsten johnson's touchy feely

Posted by sarah t. at 4:39 PM 0 comments

pumpkin eaters

despite being glued to the fantastic coverage (well done with the constant scooping the big kids, guys) that the crimson has been turning out about poor downtrodden kaavya viswanathan and her "accidental internalisations" of 2, 3, 5, 7, any number of books that have been released over the past few years. But I can stay silent no longer...

After being scolded by Katie Couric, mocked by her peers, and (eek!) bitch slapped by Salman Rushdie, Kaavya received her death blow earlier this week when Harvard Alum and Little Brown publisher Michael Pietsch announced that Little Brown was leaving its prodigal teeny bopper out in the cold.

I'll confess...I received a smidgen of joy and evil glee when I heard this...I, like any other self-reflective would be young author, felt the sting of jealousy that this 17 year old got a $500,000 two book deal like manna from heaven while I'm squarely in my mid-twenties, working nine-to-seven every day to make ends meet. Alas...my loathing couldn't last as long as the controversy...and now I feel pretty bad for this kid.

The facts:

young indian prodigy is nagged and pushed by her over-achieving neurosurgeon of a father into getting into harvard whatever it took. he even hires a 25,000 college advisor to give his little girl an extra leg up. the kid's a pretty good writer (unless she plagiarized her essays as well) and her advisor says, well...a book deal sure won't hurt your chances of getting inside the hallowed halls of harvard yard. one hell of a marketing meeting later, a 17 year old (and some professionals who are hired to 'sex up' mediocre books) get a cool half million dollars to write two books.

what i assume happened next:

young indian prodigy *freaked out*...and when she came down from her anxious, intimidated state, decided that the risk of getting caught plagiarizing in the literary world is about as slim as getting caught plagiarizing on an ivy-league campus. slim.

ah...but kaavya...you didn't consider what happens if you end up in that narrow alley of the cheaters who get caught. smug laughter. loud accusations. microscopic inspection. ostracism. alienation. and did i mention a bitch slap from one of the greatest authors of the modern age?

take her money away, expel her from harvard...fine...but don't doubt that her punishment is cruel and unusual and devastating already. not only does she have to suffer her crazy father's likely insane criticism and the fact that, at 19, her reputation and all work she's ever done will be called into question...she has to go back to academia and face some of the greatest minds in the world, turn in papers, and walk the already hyper-critical hallways and landscapes of cambridge. her social and academic life is ruined.

and with a name like kaavya...she's not bound to be forgotten quickly. may i suggest she consider changing it? kate. that seems like a suitably commonplace pen name...and you can keep the k.

fix your jones for kaavyagate @ the crimson and the harvard independent and for some stunning data on the prevalence of plagiarism @ plagiarism.org

Posted by sarah t. at 12:30 PM 0 comments

wednesday at the movies

There are stories of coincidence and chance, and intersections and strange things told, and which is which and who only knows? And we generally say, "Well, if that was in a movie, I wouldn't believe it." Someone's so-and-so met someone else's so-and-so and so on. And it is in the humble opinion of this narrator that strange things happen all the time. And so it goes, and so it goes. And the book says, "We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us."

fix your jones for a very good movie @ http://www.magnoliamovie.com/ or buy it here

Posted by sarah t. at 12:17 PM 3 comments

tra la...it's may

May Day?

belgium, may 1, 2006

or mayday?

chicago, may 1, 2006

fix your jones for the beauty of community organizing @ the montgomery bus boycott, cesar chavez, and the women's suffrage movement

Posted by sarah t. at 4:30 PM 0 comments