Things I hope I never have:

 

A boyfriend who writes “Happy Birthday” on my Facebook wall when it’s my birthday.

 

A gluten allergy.

 

A vehicle larger than a mid-sized sedan. Hatchbacks are acceptable.

 

More than three children. Maybe even more than two children. Or one.

 

Lupus.

 

A working knowledge of Derrida.

 

That’s all I can think of right now. Carry on.

 

In Pictures

My Edina (Tricia), Smith (Elizabeth) and Minneapolis life (Anne) collide on one couch. Also, still adjusting to my hair being this short – I kind of like it.

Evan, Rachael and I went to Hot Dougs, reputedly the best hot dog establishment in the world. This is me eating a veggie dog with everything. I thought it was good, but Rachael tried it and said it tasted like her “grandmother’s carpet.” Also pictured are the fries that were fried in duck fat, and the cheesy fries --as who could not purchase both.

This is the foie gras dog, which of course Evan ordered as he’s no stranger to excess.

Hot Dougs was definitely worth the more than hour wait in the cold.

Musical number of the day is Steely Dan’s “Peg,” as it’s playing in this cafe and it used to be my beloved ringtone. And it features the vocal stylings of the incomparable Michael McDonald.

Oh, Lyndon!

I enjoy that the 1890s post provoked much discourse – on and off blog. With all the comments, I would have to agree with Liz: that the decade of most importance will be when scientists discover how to make vegetables taste like candy. I also kind of can’t believe I forgot that the 1890s was the first decade of mass-produced beer.

I’m in the thick of the Lyndon Johnson book now, and have pulled out my three favorite (and kind of prophetic) Lyndon Johnson quotes or Doris Kearns Goodwin-embodiment-of-Johnson descriptions.

ONE

“It is the politician’s task to pass legislation, not to sit around saying principled things.”

As much as I like principled things, the whole stink of the Senate in the past months, this hits me as key. However, there is a flip side to no principles aka Joe Lieberman.

TWO

“[Johnson] was convinced that an insistence on “principled platforms” would wreck the two-party system by making impossible an alliance between men of disparate convictions, and encourage the emergence of many single-issue parties. Against those who called for cohesive parties and crusading leaders, Johnson advocated “loose parties and unifying leaders.”

And really, has the Senate done anything as revolutionary and good since Civil Rights legislation under Johnson? I am at a loss.

THREE

And now my favorite, Marxist-spouting Lyndon Johnson:

“My grandfather taught me early in life that neither misery nor squalor is inevitable so long as the government and the people are one… so long as the government assumes the positive role of eliminating the special interests that cause most of our problems in America—who had the money supply and knowledge and possessions in New York, Chicago, and Boston. They’d always been paid proportionately a far higher percentage of the total end product than they deserved. They lived off our sweat, and even before air conditioning they didn’t know what sweat was. They just clipped coupons and wrote down debentures we couldn’t spell and stole our pants out from under us…

They’re leeches, cancerous, and they’d be unnecessary evils if we had the right kind of money management. And they control our banking and money system. If we ever have a revolution and throw out our system for Communism or fascism, they’ll be the prime reason for it and the first victim.”

I’m really only to the end of his Senate years, but the book is overall very fascinating and enjoyable. I really like Lyndon Johnson, although he also sounds terrible: a liar, a bully, incredibly crass. Nevertheless perhaps, the most shrewd politician, uh, ever.

Music of the day is Totsee Roll, because I was doing Tae Bo today and Billy Blanks Tootsie Rolled and it was one of the greatest things I have ever seen.

The 1890s

So, a while ago—maybe last May—I was having this conversation with my friend Jed and his little sister about what decade in American history was the most dramatic/climactic/demonstrative of change. His sister was about to study the 1960s for the summer, and she and Jed kind of took the side of the 60s for being the most important. I, however, obviously took the Smith American Studies course about the 1890s and knew that it was by far the most transformative decade in American history. I was meaning to send a snarky email of some sort with plotted points emphasizing that I am totally right, but forgot about it shortly after. However, a recent American history text binge has led me to pick up this train of thought again. This will probably be really boring to anyone not interested in American history, as i don’t really elaborate on many of the points. Believe you me, they are all really important and have scads upon scads of further ramifications (especially the cultural ones, re: shopping, mass consumerism, the popularization of “going out”).  Here we go, in no particular order.

Things that happened in America in the 1890s:

• Tens of thousands of settlers flood plains lands, responsible for a deterioration of land that will eventually lead to dust bowl
• Sierra Club founded (1892)
• Battle of Wounded Knee (1890) along with non-policy and further Americanization of American Indian peoples
• Plessy vs. Ferguson Separate but equal legislation passes (1896)
• NAACP formed (1890)
• Grange farmers establish more cooperatives
• The People’s Party established (1892)
• Rise of steel, skyscrapers this is, kind of a big deal of cities. especially new york and chicago — which more or less came to being in the 1890s
• Depression of 1893-97
• Theodore Dreiser publishes Sister Carrie (1899)
• Immigration boom for Southeastern Europeans
• Mass production of products begins (Coke, Hershey, Lipton, Del monte)
• Rise of consumption, b/c of mass production
• American medical and bar associations established
• Homestead Strike (1892)
• Mississippi becomes first state to “legally” limit civil rights (1890)
• Jacob Riis’s How the Other Half Lives published, documenting the terrible condition of American slums
• Carnegie Hall Opens (1891)
• University of Chicago established
• China Exclusion act extended
• First Gas powered automobile invented (1893)
• Frank Lloyd Wright opens his own architecture office (1893)
• First Subway opens in Boston (1897)
• Pullman Strike (1894) + Federal Injunction to stop strikes
• National American Woman Suffrage Association founded (1890)
• Sherman Anti Trust Act passes– although it isn’t used for a decade or so
  
• World’s Columbian Exposition (1893)
• Silver standard is first argued by farmers + populists
• William Jennings Bryan’s Cross of Gold Speech
• Palace coup in Hawaii (1893), Hawaii annexed in 1898
• Frederick Jackson Turner’s Frontier Thesis published (1893)
• White Man’s Burden written by Rudyard Kipling (1899)
• Teller Amendment (1898)
• Begin of Open Door notes with China
• Feature films are invented and become popularized
• Amusement parks, like Coney Island, popularized and allow lower + middle classes an outlet for fun, dating, etc.
• Incandescent light makes urban streets navigable at night, and allow nightlife for the first time (for people who weren’t involved in prostitution or heavy drinking)
• Ragtime music explodes
• John Dewey publishes The School and Society
• First department store established in Chicago
  
• Thornstein Veblen publishes The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)

Convincing enough?

A ragtime ditty for the day.

The Value of Nothing

I’m very much into  this book I bought, The Value of Nothing by Raj Patel. And yes, my reading of it was inspired by his appearance on the Colbert Report. At the bookstore, there were actually three other women asking for it, because of the Colbert Report. I read almost half of it today, which is complicated by the fact that I’m sitting and reading it in the (I confess, wonderfully accommodating) ING bank café.

The sleeve reads: “Opening with Oscar Wilde’s observation that ‘nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing,’ Patel shows how our faith in prices as a way of valuing the world is misplaced. He reveals the hidden ecological and social costs of a hamburger (as much as $200), and asks how we came to have markets in the first place. Both the corporate capture of government and our current financial crisis, Patel argues, are a result of our democratically bankrupt political system.”

I’ve never really been a student of economics, but I did—before reading—have vague notions of who the key players are, and who may be “good” (Keynes, in particular) and who “bad” (more or less everyone from the University of Chicago), but I’ve never really learned what externalities, and have never really thought–at least not in depth– of use value versus exchange value.  It’s a great read, and I’m already at Part Two, which starts off with:

“It’s one thing to know that everyone has a seat at the lunch counter, but how do we figure out how everyone can pay for the meat?” Sounds promising. That was Obama, btw.

My favorite part, so far, however, is this:

“Other experiments have probed white North American society’s cultural attitudes toward generosity a little more by playing the Public Goods Game. The game works like this: I give you (and many other people) a fistful of tokens, and tell you that you have to choose between two ways of investing them. You can invest some (or all) of them in my bank, in which case you’ll get a guaranteed rate of a penny per token. Or you can invest some (or all) in a community bank. The community bank pays out to everyone, regardless of whether you invested in it, and the more that is put in the pot, the bigger payout for everyone. It doesn’t take many toens in the pot for the payout to everyone to be bigger than a penny per token.

“The collectively rational outcome is for everyone to put 100 percent into the chest, but for any individual, the rational decision would be to hope that everyone else puts in 100 percent while you put in 0 percent – which means you get the collective payout and the penny per token from you investment in the individual bank account.

“When high school students in Wisconsin played the game, they didn’t behave like Homo economicus and put in 0 percent—instead, they put in 42 percent. The experimenters varied everything from the payout schedule to the number of people in the group, and the amount that people put in remained roughly the same. They did it with a general group of college students, and the results were similar. With every possible permutation they could think of, there was only one time that the cooperation rate fell to 20 percent—and that was when the game was played by first-year economics graduate students.”

A big ha, ha, ha here, right? In good news: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/us/15tax.html?hp

Also, consider giving to Haiti relief fund. The texting thing is great, but if your parents pay for your family plan like mine, you can also donate online. I’m actually getting my O- butt down to the Red Cross blood bank tomorrow, too — something I’ve ashamedly never done. We’ll see how that goes.

Musical selection:

The Last Ten Years

So, my friend Arielle told me about this exercise : write down everything you can remember, or that you consider formative, in the last ten years. I may have blurred the high school years a little bit — but this was interesting. I tended not to include incredibly personal things, and really only used ex-boyfriend’s or teacher’s names, as I found it funny. This is more cathartic than anything. Do your own.

Here Goes:

2000: Was a moderately good runner on the Cross Country team; Started hanging out with the opposite sex; watched A LOT of movies in Mr. Johnston’s “English” class, including the old Romeo & Juliet where you see her boobs for a long period of time; felt strangely that my family was among only tens in Edina to have a Gore sign in the yard

2001: was the “upstairs maid” in Valley View’s production of Annie; Sam Liebo broke my middle school heart; I recovered; Saw Elton John live in nearly front-row seats; Started High School at Edina; took AP Bio; Memorized the Krebs cycle and a lot of other stuff that I no longer have memorized; Went to my first ridiculous Edina dance; Broke Tom Lydon’s heart; he recovered; got my Mr. Peanut pajamas for Christmas

2002: Saw Simon and Garfunkel live; Tried acupuncture; went on Accutane and pretty much blanked entire year out of mind; except for AP History with Brian Simpson and the infamous History video incident

2003 : Spent the summer at Carleton’s Summer Writing Program; Got my first real job at the Bead Monkey; Applied to seven different schools, thinking that I would probably go to Sarah Lawrence; Got my driver’s license; Got to drive a ’97 Passat outfitted with a cat-in-a-hula-skirt hood ornament

2004 : Opted to take an independent study on the Chronicles of Narnia instead of AP Physics; Traveled to London for Spring Break; Got in to almost all schools and decided on Smith; Graduated from Edina High School; worked incessantly at Nordstrom in the fashion jewelry department; Traveled cross country to Smith, stopped at the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and Niagra Falls along the way; Moved into Jordan House; Drank a lot of Smirnoff; Wanted to transfer from Smith; Figured out that I loved Smith

2005 : Smashed my Ibook laptop with my printer; Bought my 1993 Volvo, Seymour; Spent the summer at Oxford University; Traveled all around Ireland, Paris and England; Was the Head Of New Students of Jordan House at Smith; declared a double major in American Studies and English Lit; spent Thanksgiving at Plimouth Plantation

2006 : Took George Colt’s Writing about American Society class; spent Spring Break interviewing old people in Iowa for said class; Moved to DC for a semester and worked at the Smithsonian; Snuck into a lot of bars because I wasn’t 21; Broke my collarbone while trying to do a keg stand

2007 : Lost my grandpa; Traveled to Berlin; Started my thesis;  got to say “hi” to the Dalai Lama while I sat studying for finals on Chapin Lawn; traveled to Memphis, Alabama, and Mississippi for field work; Interned at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Met Evan; Began my senior year at Smith; Discovered the Bookmill in Montague, Massachusetts; Spent a lot of time at the Dirty Truth and the Smith library

2008 : Finished my thesis; Graduated from Smith, Traveled cross country home and visited Frank Lloyd Wright houses along the way; Moved to Minneapolis; Got my first apartment in Uptown; Started taking public transportation regularly; Got my first job with benefits; Worked media (read: not politics) at the Republican National Convention

2009 : Traveled to Jamaica; Relished having a steady income; Decided to move to Chicago; Moved in with Evan; Experienced being a poor freelancer; Applied to copious amounts of things; Spent my first Thanksgiving sans-family

Theme song, naturally:

My Feelings About Lyndon Johnson

Well, I haven’t really formulated them yet. But, I’m following a syllabus of sorts from my advisor, which has led me to read various texts dissecting American history. I’ve always been more of a cultural history rather than a political (or, Christ, economic) history kind of gal. Regardless, I’m about to start reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s biography—Lyndon Johnson and The American Dream— so I’m sure I’ll actually have feelings about Lyndon Johnson relatively soon.

Growing up I always had this vague image of him as a skinny, menacing devil. Probably because of, you know, that whole Vietnam thing. Or the picking-up-his-dog-by-the-ears thing.

However, I think it’s interesting to think about the fact that Kennedy, his predecessor, so revered, really didn’t accomplish nearly as much as evil-pants Johnson (if anything). Granted, Kennedy was assassinated, and one could argue that the “seas of change” could only come full-force in the mid-sixties, regardless of who was in the big boy chair. Still, Kennedy had a fancy-pants group of advisors, the country’s (relative) support, the looks, the status.

I’m not trying to compare it to Obama, because it’s a scary thought, but…

What if the “good guy” really doesn’t govern as well as the not-so-nice guy?

On that note, music of the day is the #1 song of 1963, when Lyndon Johnson was sworn into office:

And We’re Back

Without further ado, my non-Sutton Family Christmas Card lists of the year

Five Favorite Things about 2009:

1. The Wire

I don’t think I need to elaborate.

2. Surviving sans-Mac

I’ve been rocking a Lenovo ideapad U350 since September.  And, I have to say, I’m pretty much sold on it – especially considering it cost about $500 (with discounts) as opposed to $1200. It’s way lighter and more portable than a MacBook Pro, and really has everything I need for the time being (except for a disk drive—which explains why I haven’t been burning cds for you).

3. Moving to Chicago

Although it hasn’t worked out all to plan (re: I’m not making $70k), it was a good decision. I’ve stayed surprisingly afloat on freelance jobs, and feel comfortable getting around one of the country’s biggest cities. People actually want to visit me now, and when they do visit, I have all the time in the world to spend with them. Who knows what the next months (or interviews) will bring, but for the time being I am happy, have some money in the bank, and have Evan in my immediate vicinity.

4. Living With Evan

Turns out I really like him.

5. Walking

This goes hand in hand with the Chicago thing, but one thing I loved this year was commuting via my own two feet. It’s almost an unheard of thing in Minneapolis  — I remember having meetings  seven blocks away downtown and people DRIVING to them. Granted, it’s at least ten degrees colder there, but still, I love being able to walk the 20-40 min downtown to on-site work for the day, or to buy groceries, and not feeling like it’s incredibly out of the ordinary. Yeah, it’s cold – but it’s doable. And, I’m pretty sure I can attribute my marginal weight loss to it, too. It’s truly an interesting thing only being in a car, at most, 4 times a month (be it a late night taxi cab from Wicker Park, or Rachael driving me to Target). I like it.

Five Resolutions for 2010:

1. Drink More Water

I’m fairly good at this already, but could always be better.

2. Become Like, Super Buff.

By this I mean, “tight.”

3. Keep Busy

Whether this means working out more, volunteering more, studying/reading more, visiting more, or writing more, I want less time on the couch being bored and more time… not.

4. Eat Less Dairy

This does not include eggs, and not really milk as I hardly drink it. It really is cheese-specific. Since I don’t eat meat, I probably compensate a lot with cheese. This is not giving up cheese, as that would be ungodly and impossible, but more saying goodbye to cheese as a necessary garnish. It’s like cookies for cookie monster – now a “sometimes food.”

5. Stop Worrying About Money.

This one is the hardest, especially because I live in a city with the highest sales tax in the country. Any suggestions?

For our song of 2009, I guess I’ll go with Sleepyhead by Passion Pit, because I saw them at Lollapalooza and listened to them all summer.

Ugh, the Yankees.

My friends Ceda + Max were in town last night, and over some Three Floyds Ceda commented that I better start updating my blog.

I have actually been waiting for pictures from my friend Katja’s trip to the city. So let’s blame her. She and her friend John were driving from Philly to Bellingham, WA for her new jobbie and stopped for two days. We had a touristy time, chock full of Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the waterfront and Rick Bayless’s new restaurant, XOCO. So that would have been a great post.

Lately I have enjoyed  watching my Twinsies kick butt/exceed expectations. This current series with the Yankees (which I’m watching right now) has proven to me that East Coasters/Yankees fans are, indeed, smug and awful. There was a certain condescension towards people from the Midwest at Smith, a “oh that’s cute that you’re from there,” and it’s something I had forgotten about until this series; a lot of people who went to Smith—smart people—literally didn’t know where Minnesota was. Or Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois, for that matter. Anyway, I think the awfulness of the population is concentrated in Yankees fans. Look around, people. Just because you’ve got the most doesn’t mean you’re the best.

Particular dislikes: the TBS announcers who narrate “The Twins aren’t losing. Can you believe that?”; the sheer celebrity status of their players + the fact that they pay their players 4x as much as ours. Just looking at Yankee Stadium and thinking how much people paid for their seats makes me want to throw up in my own mouth.

The next two days may be Kathryn’s version of stress incarnate, due to some very long awaited for 4+-hr obligations. Is that vague enough for you? Regardless, I’m back and better than ever.

Musical selection of the day is Lady Gaga, Poker Face, in the spirit of the march today on Washington. Enjoy.

Bathing, etc.

I have not stepped foot outside today. Freelance work is ridiculous at the moment, which is why I’ve neglected you.

One thing. I love Sabon. Do you know it? My dear friend Shmiegs introduced it to me a few years ago–she (Halley) brought a box of it from glamorous NYC when she visited me over a summer in Minneapolis. Conveniently, there’s a store right around the corner from me here in Chicago.

I just detoxed from a day of sitting at my desk, hardly moving from 7:30 am — 5 pm (okay, that’s a usual workday. but when you’re in your own home it’s… horrendous) with a bath full of Sabon Honey + Peach mineral powder and a good lotioning with Apple Lavender Body Creme. The stuff is outrageously expensive; I dropped about $45 on said two products. But they claim to be from the dead sea, or some other exotic place stocked with essential oils and natural salts. Anyway, I feel better and I smell amazing.

I did feel a little bit like Margot Tenenbaum, though–taking a bath, in the loneliness of a city apartment after a day in a line of work that almost necessitates isolation (Evan is at a “Porcupine Tree” show tonight. Lord knows what that even is–some kind of new-agey Jethro Tull, as I take it). So Margot Tenenbaum. Only much less skinny. And not a playwright.

Minus today, I have been out and about. Here’s some photographic proof.

Rach and I went to the Garfield Conservatory, the greenhouses just west of Chicago. This is an aloe plant. Doesn't one of the "leaves" look like something Anthropologie would stick a pin in and charge $68 for?

So many koi. Koi for all! They had those human-like mouths and big, gnarly whiskers. Rachael was not pleased. I didn’t get a picture of it, but there were these enormous plants in the “Tropical” room that totally made us feel like we were in a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids! montage. Minus the giant Whoopie Pies, unfortunately.

Funny story. Much of the time we spent at the Conservatory, Rach and I debated/questioned if things we saw were real. Giant lilypad? NO. giant fake glass lilypad, etc. So when we walked outside we were both like "that fake crane looks so real!" "does it have feathers?" Then we watched it fly away.

Yesterday Evan and I took the blue line down to Wicker Park, where everyone our age who looks like us live. I was excited to try some non-deep dish Chicago pizza, so we checked out Piece. It was New Haven style, actually, which I never tried on my multiple trips to Yale (thanks, Jed).

It was very delicious. Parmesan, garlic, spinach, mushrooms and anchovies. Anchovies are the greatest. Evan and I both agree that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ruined them for our entire generation and only the few, the proud, the strong have stuck with 'em.

The establishment reminded me much of Northampton Brewery, actually–and not just because of the peace signs or the young drunks. It was quite lovely, and! A brewery, too.

Evan enjoys a beer.

So, bunnies, that’s what’s new. My friend Katja is stopping by tomorrow night, on her cross-country trip. I would like to note that I’ve already had three visitors in Chicago (Emma, Arielle + now Katja), whereas I had NONE for an entire year in Minneapolis. Just wanted to put that out there. You’re all greedy.

Musical selection, doesn’t really have an explanation. Except: look at James Taylor. and Carly Simon. That was cute.