Last friday, I had a travel nightmare. I was flying on Northwest from a smaller regional airport to Detroit then to Boston. Well, the incoming plane we were supposed to be on never left Detroit, so we were told to go race downstairs to get in a cab to drive us to Detroit an hour away. We were also told that there were only 15 seats available to about 50 or more people who were originally booked on the flight. So I rushed ahead because I wanted to make my plane but clearly this whole practice was not fair to everyone. The people on international flights were given priority.

In the end, I missed my connecting flight and got put on the next one out which was just two hours later. So I did what any traveler does in such a situation, goes to Chilis Too (Why is it “Too”) in the airport and have a salad and a margarita…

After my margarita, I strolled around and finally got on my plane, landed in Boston, got a cab to the hotel, slept, got a cab from the hotel to the conference ($22.00 later seriously), took the T back to the hotel, took the T to the train station, got on a train back to Penn Station, and then a cab to Brooklyn.

Now I wonder why I would be anxious to fly again this Friday back to the Midwest to look at potential homes to move into once I start school in August. Yeah I have a lot to do !@*#&$^*%$#**$$.

Maybe I’ll have another margarita…hmmm.

The programming on WE tv confuses me a lot! Whenever I flip through the channels, I never really paid attention to WE tv except to notice whenever there were any wedding related shows on: Bridezillas or Rich Bride Poor Bride. When I’m bored I do like to watch the bride centered tv and reflect back on my wedding day and how glad I am that it’s over (the planning I mean.) Then there was Bulging Brides which wasn’t a big hit for the feminists (myself included), see feministing post.

I enjoy WE tv when I just want to watch dumb tv. However, I have to admit I was PLEASANTLY surprised when I came across High School Confidential, a documentary style tv show about high school girls in a Kansas City suburb and their four years in high school. I have watched three episodes so far and have seen young women deal with suicidal thoughts, their parents divorce, sex, marriage, drugs, eating disorders, and on. The episodes are narrated by an omnipresent, female voice (we never know who the voice belongs to) just telling the girls stories without indicating what is morally (politically) right and wrong. It is honest, raw, and wonderfully realistic. While not all shows are compelling as others and some editing and more direct storytelling is sometimes needed, it is the reality tv show I have perhaps ever seen that is just interested in conveying what it is like to be a teenage female today. I feel like telling my aunt who is raising three girls and other mothers and fathers to watch this show.

So yes I am confused by WE tv that offers such an excellent show like High School Confidential and than strikes it down with their bridal and body obsessed shows.

Delayed flights when I have a short connection already.  Why didn’t I pay closer attention to the connection time?  I don’t know.  Maybe because I’m not flying directly home but to Boston for a neat conference, People and Land in the Atlantic World, 1500-1825. Also why don’t airlines have direct flights straight into Harvard’s campus? You think they would have figured that out by now.

1. The Museum of the Moving Image - POSTPONED! See this post.
2. BAY RIDGE, NY: Ever since I first saw Saturday Night Fever when I was 13, I was obsessed with going to Bay Ridge. For awhile Saturday Night Fever was one of my favorite movies. It still is a highly rated movie for me BUT I take issue toward the ambivalence of rape in the film. This does not take away from the fact that I live in the same borough as this neighborhood and can jump on the R train any day and go down there to stare longingly at the Verrazano Bridge like Tony Manero.
3. WAVE HILL, BRONX: I’ve always wanted to go to this botanical garden since my mom and I got lost driving around Riverdale. This won’t be as easy to get to as Bay Ridge but it is worthy of a trip nonetheless.
4. RIDING A SUBWAY LINE FROM START TO FINISH: I’m not sure what subway line I want to do but I’m thinking of the A line because it begins in Manhattan then goes through Brooklyn and ends in Queens, an unusual route for a train.
5. NYC TENEMENT MUSEUM: Now I think I visited this museum when I was 14 on a field trip BUT I definitely think its time to go back 12 years later to really soak it up and appreciate it.

SLC = Salt Lake City!

This article really enlightened me

At the moment, Massachusetts is the only American state where civil marriage is legal for gays and lesbians. But surprisingly, Holly and P.R.’s wedding was more than just a public demonstration of their commitment. In September 2005, Salt Lake’s then mayor, Rocky Anderson issued an Executive Order granting same-sex partners in the City proper the same health and other employment benefits available to heterosexual couples. Executive orders have the force of law based on existing statutory powers, and require no outside backing for them to be enforced.

I had NO idea that this law was enacted. Neither did I think that Mormon SLC could *perhaps* lead the way for some gay rights laws.

by July 2….give or take a day.

Happy birthday brother. I don’t think you read this!

Oh how I have longed to the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. I’ve wanted to do this since I got my M.A. four years ago. What was I waiting for? What kept me from getting on the R train? Pure laziness and a reluctance to go beyond Manhattan during the weekends. I used to go to Queens all the time in 2005 and 2006 to meet one of my good friends for drinks in their hoods. Then I just sorta stopped…

Well this weekend is my friend’s going away party at her house in Queens. I was planning on asking the husband if he wanted to go by the Museum on the way there. I went to their website to find out more info and only to learn that it is closed for renovations.

WHAT!

Clearly, this is ALL MY FAULT. I almost went about one thousand times. I remember that one May day I was going to go there but then decided not to because it was supposed to rain. Um ok. Wish I had gone that day.

I was going to write a list of five things I am to do/ see/ visit before I left NYC and this was going to be number one. It still will be but with an addendum that I have to come back and see it.

Because I’ll be back all the time right?

The new design for the museum…it will be BEAUTIFUL!

is going to change considerably from commentary on randomness (politics, pop culture, feminism, mormonism etc.) to more personal, hyped, in full panic mode posts about preparation for the great beyond AKA grad school.

Of course, except to see some pop culture posts from time to time.

Sincerely, Ms. Rose

TO DO UNCATEGORIZED:

- Make a list
- Choose move date
- Contact new city realtor
- Make a reading list by faculty/ foundational reading/ interest reading
- Price movers
- Price rental moving trucks
- Look into rental properties
- Look into storage facilities in new city
- Pack up my things in parents house
- Decide what books from there I want to keep
- Go through storage unit downstairs at my house
- Go through storage unit at parents
- decide whether or not to take bookshelves from parents

POSSIBLY TO DO:
- Sell books?
- Look into a one week summer program?

I will be adding to this list and crossing things out as time goes by!

Gone to Paradise for six days to celebrate my fabulous mother’s 50th birthday!

Back after the 14th!

Love, Ms. Rose