Your Friday Awesome: Move Those Hips, Soldier!

The soloist needs to be awarded a medal for those hips alone.

My step-brother is headed back to Afghanistan this week. I really hope this kind of thing goes on in the Air Force, too.

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

I started this blog one year ago today. It's the first one I actually posted to consistently - though lately that has meant posting pretty much just Your Friday Awesomes. I'll try and be better about that.

In the last year, I made some awesome friends, reconnected with old ones, moved and turned 30. But, it has also been The Year of the Blog.

In that first post I talked about all the things I may or may not write about. Now I think of this blog as a sort of place where my politics and personal experience intersect. In other words, it is explicitly and implicitly feminist - which is no surprise to those that know me. But, it is also the reason I've been posting less frequently. Lets face it, the world is pretty fucked up most of the time, which is why sometimes you just need a bit of awesome on your Friday.

Some of the things I thought I might write about originally I've started writing about in other places (hence, The Year of the Blog). So, if I'm not posting a whole lot, you might find me in one of these places:

motherjones.com - On the self-appointed nerd beat.

Why Is This A Thing - Like I said, the world is dumb sometimes. Here we make fun of the lighter side of it.

@gamelikeagirl - Yeah, I started a Twitter, and its on video games, what of it? At least Renee is there with me.

Hearts & Points - I started a video game blog with my husband, too. Its pretty new. Co-op for life!

Your Friday Awesome: 94 Year-old Mills College Graduate

Next month, Hazel Soares will graduate from Mills College, a women's college in Oakland, with a degree in Art History. And don't think she'll rest on her academic laurels:

"I'd like to be a docent in a museum," Soares said.

"I have the endurance and I would totally put my heart into it," she said. "I've put in my time and I do have the background for this kind of work, you know."

Rock on with your awesome self, Hazel Soares.

Thanks to Nnekay for the tip!

Hit Girl Kicks Ass

I went and saw Hit Girl Kick-Ass this weekend and figured any sort of review I wanted to do would be a long time coming because there is a lot to unpack, and well, I am actually unpacking since I also moved this weekend. Lucky for me, I don't have to because Kate Harding just said everything I would have said, only better:

I really like the fact that Hit Girl makes some people who are usually comfortable watching SBUAALOPD [Shit Blows Up And A Lot of People Die] films incredibly uncomfortable. Because if you get past the sputtery “It’s a little girl! How could you?” response — which, granted, most people probably won’t — then it’s the kind of discomfort that leads to important questions about what we’ll tolerate watching, and why. I like that I walked out of there with a gut reaction of “That was awesome!” immediately followed by an intellectual reaction of, “Damn, it’s fucked up that I thought that was awesome.” That tells me I just saw something new, if nothing else. And on further reflection, the new thing for me was not a violent, remorseless, brutalized, potty-mouthed child but a female action hero with all the agency and skill of a man, whom the audience is not supposed to want to fuck. That is a pretty awesome thing, even if it is also frankly pretty fucked up that I thought that movie was awesome.

Sorry, that was the conclusion, but it a really good one and so is the rest of the review so go read the whole thing.

Your Friday Awesome: Ladybird's Bluebonnets

Yep, just bluebonnets.

I spent last weekend in Austin and the hill country visiting friends, seeing an amazing play, and being brought to wistful tears by a repaired sidewalk and a chopped down magnolia tree (more on that later), but April in Central Texas means bluebonnets. And they are awe-inspiring. Thanks Ladybird.

And thanks to Starr C. of Suburbtopia for the image and a fantastic visit!

Quote of the Day - A Five Year Old on Erykah Badu

That’s OK. It’s just her body. I have a body. Daddy has a body. You have a body and boobies.

 Amazing.


Via Feministe.

Your Friday Awesome: Enlightened Easter Reading

This was the first book I ever read on my own (and didn't just memorize in my dire quest to learn to read), and once again, it is no surprise I have a masters degree in Women's Studies. Written in 1939, this short, beautifully illustrated children's book discusses sexism, racism and classism all in a tale about the Easter Bunny, of which there are five, and all of whom are well-to-do tall white rabbits. That is, until the little brown bunny shows them up and saves the day.

Strangely, I thought about this book a lot around the time I was getting married. One of my earliest memories is reading the book aloud, particularly the line, "and by and by she had a husband." I pronounced it "hush-band" and was thoroughly displeased with my kindergarten self (nerd, remember). And now, 25 years later, I still think "hush-band" every time I talk about my husband.

But that line has more to it than my realization that I would make mistakes. Not only does that line suggest that the bunny had a life prior to marriage, one of the major themes is that when she does get married she is burdened with numerous children (the need for birth control!) and must find a way to balance her desire to be an Easter Bunny with the care of her home and children (working women! valuing work in the home! work/family balance!). Though one wonders if that "by and by" part means husband-bunny took off and she is single mom too, since he is nowhere to be seen again.

In short, the book is amazing and I was glad to see that the New Yorker reviewed it last month:

Lyrical writing, glowing illustrations, fuel for the imagination, a sense of humor, and, of course, a message: plucky little girl bunnies who defy prejudice and believe in themselves can grow up to become fully actualized lady bunnies who raise smart, happy, kind children and do fulfilling work outside the warren.