Is Glamor Gone?
I feel rather lost at times and like the world around me has lost all it’s luster and has become dull and dirty like gems of a well worn necklace. I look at things of the past when glamor was everywhere and and women put effort into their appearance. I’m not slagging women on this matter, but more society. Maybe it’s that with the computers and technology of the world we as humans have become cold and fatalistic. People no longer feel that dressing up, and putting an effort out there is important, why bother, what’s the point? So instead people just throw on baggy jeans a t-shirt and sneakers. Women throw their hair into ponytails grab a messenger bag.
I almost feel like the art of putting together a flawless outfit is dying out, women no longer care if their belt matches their shoes and purse. Wearing a stylish hat means a baseball cap with the latest sports teams logo on it.I know that many women I have talked to feel that this is because now that we are liberated women we don’t have to dress up for men. we no longer have to wear fancy heels and stalkings or do our hair to be appealing to men anymore. Furthermore that women who do dress up, or wear heels all the time, making sure to put an effort out there at all times are degrading themselves. That the make up and nails and heels are just to flaunt their bodies at men. What ever happened to the idea of dressing up and looking nice for yourself? I know that everyday that I go out wearing heels and make up, my hair is done, my purse shoes and belt co-ordinate, not because it pleases men(I couldn’t give a sparrows fart about what men think) but because it pleases me.
I do it because I like the way the make up evens out my skin, covers blemishes, and provides protection from the sun. I like the way the colors on my eyes and lips emphasize their beauty and curves, the colors complementing my own natural colors. I wear the heels because I love the way they make my calves and legs look muscular(and because I actually have naturally short tendons in my heels and have always needed atleats a 1 inch heel on my shoes or I’m in pain.) I like the coordination because it make the over all look that much more phenomenal, and also because I am a Virgo and I care about such things. I do my hair so that it’s the most pleasing to my face it make me look all the more better. I do it all because of the way it makes me feel. I won’t lie it is also pleasing when i see a man reacts in a positive many to my overall appearance, but this is even because I know I didn’t do it for him.
It’s kind of like Eve Enslers Monologue “My Short Skirt” from The Vagina Monologues. My appearance is all for me as is everything underneath it!
My Short Skirt by Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues
It is not an invitation
a provocation
an indication
that I want it
or give it
or that I hook.
My short skirt
is not begging for it
it does not want you
to rip it off me
or pull it down.
My short skirt
is not a legal reason
for raping me
although it has been before
it will not hold up
in the new court.
My short skirt, believe it or not
has nothing to do with you.
My short skirt
is about discovering
the power of my lower calves
about cool autumn air traveling
up my inner thighs
about allowing everything I see
or pass or feel to live inside.
My short skirt is not proof
that I am stupid
or undecided
or a malleable little girl.
My short skirt is my defiance
I will not let you make me afraid
My short skirt is not showing off
this is who I am
before you made me cover it
or tone it down.
Get used to it.
My short skirt is happiness
I can feel myself on the ground.
I am here. I am hot.
My short skirt is a liberation
flag in the women’s army
I declare these streets, any streets
my vagina’s country.
My short skirt
is turquoise water
with swimming colored fish
a summer festival
in the starry dark
a bird calling
a train arriving in a foreign town
my short skirt is a wild spin
a full breath
a tango dip
my short skirt is
initiation
appreciation
excitation.
But mainly my short skirt
and everything under it
is Mine.
Mine.
Mine.
Pieces
Lately I have been thinking a lot about quilting, so I went out and bought these two fabrics to start off with to make a quilt I think I may get two more colors maybe a nice dark blue and maybe a black I’m not sure nor am I sure what kind of quilt I am going to make but it’s gonna be cool! I like the idea of quilting and haven’t done one before but I am hopeful. I like the idea of putting something together piece by piece and it making this large item that can last generations… I want to use a wool batting for inside the quilt so that it will be nice and warm in the winter…I knit you know that right? I don’t always talk about it but I do knit! what am I working on right now well let’s see…
First we have a a simple triangle shawl that I’m knitting on on US5 needles with some thick and thin super soft cotton yarn that I rescued from a tragic Old Navy sweater that my mum got me for the holiday two years ago. It was always too big and would fall off since it was a scoop necked sweater after about a hour the neck band would have slid down my shoulders and be at my finger tips. It just wasn’t good. But I LOVED the yarn and the feel of it… So I sat down a week ago and carefully undid all of the seams and unraveled the whole thing, leaving me with three large balls of yarn and one medium ball of yarn, thanks to the front, back, and each sleeve being one solid piece of yarn, and then the wide ribbed neckband, so I definitely have enough for this shawl and maybe even enough when I’m done for a loose knit tank top.
Then I have socks, this is Lorna’s Laces pin stripe I believe or something like that anyway. I have been “making” Ryan socks for a little over three years but something always happens… well not this time! I’m going to knit them and finish them, this is sock number one, and I have been working on it for awhile but It doesn’t get a whole heck of a lot of work done since it sits on my desk and i have been working a lot lately! The heel is my own modified short row heel.
Finally we have my new top down cardigan made of Touch Yarn’s merino… Sooo soft this is a new Zealand yarn company and their yarns are just beautiful, especially their possum merino blend. I know many Americans are prolly reading this and thinking “ewww opossums” but this is a different animal to the American Opossu, this is a soft cuddly creature… imagine cashmere and alpaca blended together and thats possum! This sweater is made using the top down raglan sweater wheel. very simple…Well I want to get back to knitting and I’m sure you do too I will hopefully continue to update frequently… talk to ya all laters
Novel…
I’ve had several ideas in my head kicking around begging to be made into a novel, and lately I’ve actually been working on them and doing lots of research… research that involves biographies of Queen Victoria, history books focusing on Victorian England, and Science Journals… do I have you intrigued? gooood… I really like writing always have… I know grammatically I’m not that great of a writer but the ideas oh those I have in spades…. I think my biggest problem when it comes to writing is the over thinking… I take what could be a really cool image and over think it and then over write it to the point that the writing can be dreadful… I’ve been really studying authors whose writing styles I like and how they tell their stories and what format that they use… I have been copying whole paragraphs from some of my favorite books then slowly making changes to them to describe a scene from my book(all the same scene) but in the way that they would have wrote it and really enjoying the differences… I know I can write essays I’ve done it before(In fact I have a job writing a column for a Australia transgender magazine), I know I can write a slam poem, I can even write a short story(that won several awards) BUT can I write a whole novel? Can I stick with it long enough to finish and write a book? I just have to remember to calm down and stop thinking and just let my fingers write. Too often I try to make my first copy my final draft (and with essays this often is actually the case) but I am allowed to and even should go back change things rewrite them and move them around… I need to step back and just let the scene unfold from my fingers.
Oy Vey
It’s bee awhile since I’ve updated now hasn’t it… I wish I could say I’ve been up to a alot of things but really I’ve been up to a lot nothing…. I had my first fashion show in late February(actually it was on the 29th can’t get much later than that).. we are starting to head into the winter months and i’m gearing up for it by knitting lots… some hats and sweaters and a few scarves and a shawl…. Okay i don’t really know what else I should write here so I’m going to leave for now will write soon tho…
