Connect
Category: politics
#240; Friday I’m in Love
I find myself struggling to count my blessings this week. Work has taken on a demanding life of it’s own, my family is holding on to hope as my grandmother was hospitalized just after Thanksgiving, many of my friends are going through very real personal trials, and my confidence and self-assurance have taken major nosedives thanks to all of this.
I figure, there is no better time to focus on the Love in my daily life than when I’m feeling kicked while I’m down. So here you go, it’s Friday, and I’m in Love.
→ Everything that Nicki Minaj touches. Girl is gold. Her voice, her spitfire, her style, her pure confidence. I need more of all of that in my life. Been listening to Pink Friday non-stop all week, hoping to up my own badass, awesome chick levels.
→ This emotional, heartbroken playlist.
#331; Occupy the Upper East Side
I’ve been loving the celebrity-watching going on in NYC at the Occupy Wall Street protests – everyone from Rosanne Barr to Lupe Fiasco has showed up (here in Boston we’ve had an impromptu performance by Amanda Palmer and a pep-talk by Cornel West), but one of my favorite responses so far has been from protester Penn Badgley. His ironic, jaded opinion on his line of work just tickled my fancy.
#occupywallstreet – Gossip Girl star Penn Badgley was picketing personally this week. Yep, carrying a sign and all. “I mean, listen, it’s cheesy,” he said, “but I want to do whatever I can. Let’s be honest: I’m on fucking Gossip Girl. It’s absurd that celebrity power is what it is, even on that scale, but, like, use any tool you have, you know?” – Source
#229; friday I’m in love!
I love this time of the week! It’s like everyone wakes up in a better mood no matter the weather, the day ahead, or the sleep the night before. And so, it’s Friday, and I’m in love.
- Obama’s jobs plan – I’m not the best Democrat in the world, especially when it comes to money & social programs spending, but I think the bill announced last night really is a good combination of both Parties’ ideals and goals and will actually do something to create progress in our industrial economy. Woohoo!
- The community here at theluckiest.net and on twitter at #theluckiest! In a week of big change and total exhaustion, a month full of grey days, missed opportunities, and cold rain, you have kept me going, inspired me, and made me smile. I’m an incredibly lucky girl!
- I’m loving all of the media and reflection on Sunday’s anniversary. Yes, I’ll be writing about it here, but there are those out there who bemoan “over-saturation” and claim the media are just sounding off or using the anniversary to gain ratings or make money. Poppycock. All of it. In my opinion what good came from 9/11 was our coming together as a country, as a people, and around the world. This public mourning process in the media is part of that, so let me have all the over-saturation those guys don’t want. I’ll read every article and take a moment for every photo.
- Everyone and everything on #mhsm on twitter. What an amazing group of people, companies, and non-profits focusing on mental health and Stopping the Stigma!
- And to leave this on a lighter note: The hypocritical world of the hipster barista. Needs no explanation.
Tell me, this Friday, what are you in love with?
#227; one powerful woman
“I’m not going to mislead anybody. Politics is really hard. And it is harder for women. There’s a double standard, and you can’t complain about it. You just have to accept it, and be smart enough to navigate it. And you have to have a pretty tough skin. To paraphrase a favorite quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: If a woman wants to be in politics, she has to have the skin of a rhinoceros. Most men who go into politics just think they’re great. They believe they can do anything. Most young women, not only in politics but in most areas, are more cautious and more likely to say, ‘Could I really do this? Am I good enough?’ I was talking to a friend and very successful businessman the other day, and he said, ‘The thing that still annoys me more than anything is that I see all these young women who are so much more capable than they allow themselves to believe. And I see so many young men who are so much less capable but who believe they are God’s gift to the world.’ I would just say to women: Try it! Put your foot in the pond and see if you want to swim.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Glamour (via The Frisky). How freaking amazing is she?!
#207; friday I’m in love (with bloggers)
→ First things first, my new writer!crush? Julie Klausner. Because she wrote this book. And this article on Jezebel. “The larger issue is that it is a lot easier for men – or even guys or bros – to demean us, if we’re girls. It’s much harder to bring down a woman, or to call her a moron, when she’s not in pigtails and Ring Pops.” That is teaching self-respect.
→ Dakota Fanning showing young Hollywood how to do it right (then again, hasn’t she been doing that since she was, what, 7? Rock on, girl).
→ All things Boston, hockey, Massachusetts, championship-like, and black & gold.
→ Reading blogs like ThoughtCatalog feeling very, very grateful that I’m finally emerging from my quarter life crisis, comfortable in my own skin, settled into my own heart and mind, and no longer ‘too cool’ as a jaded hipster child trapped in an adult’s body. Granted, it’s still fun to read.
→ “I don’t know about you chaps, but I’m known by my face around here.” – Christopher Hitchens (with whom I don’t often agree), writing for Slate Magazine about the Anthony Weiner scandel & eventual resignation. Tells an awesome British anecdote.
→ And once again from the brilliance that is Jezebel, wonderful news coming from the military (for once!) – a bill has just been put forth that would open up insurance & abortion access to women who are either in the military or dependent upon it. Woohoo! Good luck to everyone fighting for its passage!
