Tonight's Jam

I was slightly obsessed with this song in 2011, and it pleases me that Emeli Sandé is finally playing on the Top 40 radio stations in North Carolina.

Emeli Sandé, "Next to Me"

Friday QuoteDay

"It's the disconnect of being trained since birth to look a certain way, only to have dudes turn around and go, 'Don't you know we hate all that stuff on your face?' Like it was our idea! Like women collectively woke up one day and thought, 'Wouldn't it be awesome to slap a bunch of chemicals and dyes on our faces every morning from now on?'

We've got a multi-billion dollar industry doing their best to remind us daily that we need what they're selling, so don't act all befuddled about where we got the idea that we looked better this way. Plus, it's not like men don't still expect us to look beautiful. They just don't want us cheating with cosmetics. Hope your face is naturally flawless! 

And while we're talking, don't you ladies know how annoying it is that you're all hung up on your weight? Sure, we expect you to have a great body. But don't be one of those lame girls who orders salads on a date. We like to see you eat! 

Most of the time, when men say they prefer 'natural beauty,' they don't mean that they're ready for us to start leaving the house the way we roll out of bed in the morning. They mean that they want us to look perfect without appearing to try. 

Basically, it's a trap. 

— Emily McCombs, Editor at XOJane, "On Men Who Don't Like Women In MakeUp" 

Weekly Flâneur: Book It

Click to enlarge.

The Main Library of Uptown Charlotte has featured a multitude of literary quotes on its outer columns since 1996. (Though the building itself has been around as long as I can remember. And I remember being kicked out of Main as a small child for being rowdy* with a friend in the late 1980s, so that's at least 20 years. They let me back in. Eventually.) It's a lovely way to enjoy some light outdoor reading on a lunch break from the skyscrapers that dwarf the building, before heading inside to grab a book on hold or wander the stacks.

Since I missed both Weekly Flâneur and Friday QuoteDay last week due to travel, I'd like to think that a photo of a quote can make up for it? What say you, dear friends? All smiles and forgiveness, or will you take your flaneuring needs elsewhere? (Kidding, I know you'll stay here with me forever! BBFFs, best blog friends 4eva!)

Mr. B is fond of Groucho Marx's quote, and so one recent night out on the town I snapped this pic. The first shot I took was without a flash, which ironically made the photo ... too dark to read. All the quotes can be found here.

"Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend, and inside a dog, it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx

The bonus side quote reads:

"The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it from you." B.B. King

And hidden behind them both is this quote:

"One of the greatest gifts adults can give – to their offspring and to society – is to read to children." Carl Sagan

Let's all go take a blanket outside to the newly sprung grass and read a book in the sunshine. Don't wake me if I fall asleep. See you there.

*Well, not so much rowdy. More like a champion of justice. Another child stole my friend Katie's purse, containing a prized $2 bill inside, so I tackled him while she punched. We were in full Brownie Troop uniform. The attending librarian who found two girl scouts sitting on a boy's chest and beating him took pity on the thief and hauled us out of the kid's section and straight to the troop leaders, who happened to be our mothers. Sorry, Mom/Scout Leader!

A Few Things That Have Happened Lately

•  Yesterday I wrote that I wouldn't be writing this week. Humans are creatures of multiple contradictions. Looks like I'm blogging after all!

• If you follow me on my personal Twitter, you'll know I'm somewhat obsessed with the TV show Spartacus ending, and if I was a true Internet writer worth my salt I would have already written at least 20 feminist critiques and analyzed the show and its nuanced performances of gender reflected in hyper masculinity and the blatant examples of the failings of a patriarchal society but then I open up this picture of Dan Feuerriegel in a tub and I'm just like, hi. Um, hi.





Source: Coffee-table book In The Tub by TJ Scott, available at Kickstarter.



I mean, I just, what. I can't. With this. Abs. Seriously. Hi.*


I sincerely hope that there is another writer out there in the wilds of the Internet who can entertainingly dissect this show with a critical and informative lens the same way other shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead are constantly dissected. I'm sorry it's not going to be me. Because, yeah.

• Bullet lists are still a thing at FitC. And everywhere else on the entire Internet for the rest of history.

• According to collective cross-over pop culture and literary knowledge, Hemingway stood at his dresser to write. A few of my colleagues praise the stand-n-write mode. Me? I dunno. I'm trying it now, safely away from prying eyes in my bedroom, and it makes me feel silly. But I can step away to pace, which I frequently get up to do when writing anyway, so I suppose it erases the whole push-away-from-the-desk-in-my-chair-to-stand step in my writing?

• There's a pond near my house with a pair of Canadian geese, and recently one goose got too close to the road and was hit by a car. And everyday this week I've driven by and seen the lone mate near its fallen friend and my heart breaks a little each time in ways that I never knew it capable of breaking for a small, mourning goose.

• I'm so sorry for that last bullet point. I know. I know!

• Here's some crocheted bunnies I have made. They are all going to good homes.
  






It's true what they say about bunnies. I left them alone and boom! Room full.

• If you're wondering why March has fewer posts than February and January, may I remind you that David Bowie has a new album to listen to? That's why.

• A Thing I wrote today: This week I am working temp in an office and writing two stories. After being unemployed for so long it's so much activity. It's like, WHOA whoa there. All this activity. Shouldn't we be taking a nap or something? I mean, isn't it time for a TV marathon break in this office? No? Man.

• I wasn't even going to blog this week. I blame Dan Feuerriegel.

*If you want to follow me on my non-anonymous personal Twitter, drop me a line and we'll continue this intelligent discussion.

Working Girl

As many of you know (and are tired of me telling you), I work as a freelance writer and will occasionally take a job writing in-house for a company. For the past two weeks, I've been hired to do some temp work as an editor at a newspaper while the current editor is on vacation. I started last week, which means that poor FitC didn't get any love. I also interviewed and accepted to cover another editorial job with a local magazine in the coming months, which is great for my bank account, bad for blogging.

Sadly, there was nothing new here last week and I'm afraid I have nothing new for this week. But please stick with me and know that I will be back to snapping pics and loving on David Bowie with my words soon enough. A working Natalie is also a happy Natalie, so I'm sending extra smiles and love to each and every one of you. Thanks for reading, and see you next week!