This line is what really grabbed me in my creative writing class. A couple months later it was a shit rain day, everything wasn’t going “right” and Charles Bukowski’s poetry was the only thing really making sense lately. Yankee Tattoo in Burlington, Vermont has never done me wrong and I highly recommend Anthony. As for the placement, I wanted something others could enjoy sometimes, and me all the time.
she’ mad but she’ magic
Well, guess I just figured out the place I’ll get my next (birthday?) tattoo.
So I’ve recently made an interesting decision/discovery about body hair.
I’ve been going back and forth on the issue of whether or not I want to radically reject beauty norms by doing away with shaving altogether. I realize that it’s really a personal choice and whether or not you shave doesn’t make you any more or less body-positive or pro-woman, but the thing is, I couldn’t figure out whether I liked silky smooth legs because I genuinely liked them or because I felt like I was supposed to. (And to be honest, even though I know this is bullshit, I’ve always felt like a “bad” feminist for being so obsessive about shaving. But more on that later.)
So I stopped shaving for…probably about a week and a half…and discovered that I can’t grow good body hair. A week and a half of not shaving my legs and though it was a bit prickly to the touch, you couldn’t see any hair unless you put your eyeballs a few inches from my leg. In fact, upon further inspection, you could see that there were patches of my legs that still didn’t have any hair at all on them. It was pretty much the same for my pits. And then I remembered I didn’t even start getting armpit hair until I was about 15 and even then, it was like three itty bitty hairs and I started shaving them.
And I think that’s interesting. It’s kind of like how some guys can’t grow facial hair or it comes in patchy or whatever. I can’t grow good leg hair. And it just kind of gave me some insight into how there would be this whole slew of expectations and standards of leg hair if leg hair were the beauty norm. And maybe there sort of is for a certain kind of feminist.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is that by radically rejecting beauty norms and asking other people to do the same, you create your own set of beauty norms, which is just as harmful. Am I a bad feminist because my leg hair comes in patchy? No. Are you a bad femme if you have thick leg hair? Of course not. We should all just take care of our bodies however we see fit and stop using silly little things (that we can’t always control) like body hair to define how radical we are. Because after I finish shaving my sad excuse for leg hair until I’m soft as silk, you can bet I will use that razor to slice up the patriarchy.
So yes. Be proud of your furry legs! Be proud of your smooth legs! All legs are awesome, so let’s just forget how they look and use them to kick ass instead.
Sarah and I are so often on the same page and I always think she says things so much better than I ever could!
The traditional study of world history tells us that history is made primarily by people wearing funny hats. In today’s episode of Crash Course, I argue that history is actually made by people like us.
Thanks for watching and sharing Crash Course. I hate encouraging people to share stuff they like—I mean, obviously if you like something you will share it—but…yeah. If you like Crash Course, and you want it to continue to be a thing, sharing is the most efficient way to make that happen.
Hi guys! Just wanted to send you a quick update and let you know that PART TWO: PENNSYLVANIA is right around the corner! We’re planning for dinner on Friday with a special guest!
What we wanted to know from you: got any cool ideas for dinner/dessert?
Two things:
1. This is me shamlessly plugging the blog my boyfriend and I run. You should follow us.
Houston is on my mind today, for a bunch of reasons, including (but not limited to):
A customer came in today and I saw a Texas driver’s license peaking out from his wallet. Usually when this happens, I comment on how I’m a fellow Texan and get super stoked about it. When I mentioned it to this guy, he asked if I missed home. I said, “Right now? Yeah. But not generally, no.”
I said that I missed it right now because fucking NATO is providing me a massive headache and a large panic attack because of all the shit and hardship downtown is going through right now.
And because of that, I’ve been feeling homesick to a place where it’s quieter and more subdued, where downtown is an adventure, not a chore, where the summer I’m loving right now is every day.
But I think more than that, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that home is Chicago now more than ever; it makes me feel grown up that I won’t be going home at all this summer because that’s what growing up means: you don’t have the opportunity to leave the place you’ve made your own to visit the place that made you.
I spent so much of time loathing that place and now that I’m away, I wish I could go back and change things, remember why people live there, discover all of the awesome places about Houston that I was too stubborn to love when I was young.
Also, Sarah posted “Houston, Texas, baby <3” on my Facebook wall and it made my heart leap a little bit, but that may just be the Beyonce lover talking.
