miss chisomo

The New Woman

The New Woman - Miss Mary L. Pendered

“In the first place, I submit that the ‘Advanced Woman’ […] does not so much require to be courted as convinced. The word ‘court’, I take it, signifies to solicit, cajole, persuade, or - as a slang term defines it - canoodle, and the so-called ‘New’ woman is not to be canoodled. Either she falls in love or she doesn’t; and if she doesn’t, it is not necessarily due to any failure of method on the part of the man who wants to marry her. He may, at all events, be sure that she is quite ready to wed the one who can command her respect, attract her senses, and assure her of his right to her, whether he be intellectually her superior, equal or inferior. For the most highly-developed woman is not all brains, and there are to be found in the average man diverse other qualities as compelling and worthy of worship as intellectuality. 
Moreover, there ought to be less difficulty about coming to an understanding with an ‘Advanced Woman’ than with a traditional one. The latter is hemmed in by pretences and the fear of what outsiders may say or think. The former should be free from such considerations, and, when a man has satisfied her that he is desirable, should be prepared to meet him with the frankest encouragement. Coyness and modesty are not confused in the mind of the ‘Advanced Woman’.”

Thanks to Will T. for enlightening me.

The fallacy of “children’s” literature

I’d always thought the grand assumption that classic children’s books were strictly about innocence amidst fantastical worlds was unrealistic. At age 18 I became obsessed with the OZ series after finding out that L. Frank Baum was a feminist and portrayed Dorothy in the Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a strong-willed female who had to lead three male underlings to find courage, wisdom, and sensitivity before she could find her way home to her lazy, deadbeat uncle. Lo and behold, the magisterial wizard turns out to be a fraud, a demure man hiding behind a bellowing voice and excessive histrionics in an effort to mask the world from his insecurity about the mediocrity of his existence. Lewis Carroll penned Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass with unparalleled brilliance. Carroll was a mathematician, a logisicst and a nontheist; In Through the Looking Glass, the Queen demands Alice to believe in the impossible to which she proclaims, ‘one can’t believe impossible things’. The Queen replies, “I dare say you haven’t had much practice. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” Then there’s the infamous Walrus and The Carpenter poem. Such intelectual undertones become obsoleted by the fact he was allegedly a pedophile who photographed young girls in the buff and was especially smitten with a young girl named….Alice. J.M. Barrie (author of Peter Pan) kinda preferred hanging out with young boys. It kind of changes your perspective on tales of innocence doesn’t it?

Literary dealbreakers: I will dump you for reading dumb books.

The old adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” has now taken a backseat to an important argument - is it fair to judge a person by what (s)he reads? I don’t have an answer but I have an opinion. Check out the NY Times article.

I’m selling out…

For over a decade I’ve been a faithful PC user. Why? It is relatively easy to upgrade and fix on your own. Genius bar not necessary. Macs have traditionally been used by a small but burgeoning demographic of American society called graphic designers. But now Steve Jobs has reached beyond this meekish bunch and has managed to convince the elitists that it is the operating system of choice. I resisted. A nonconformist by nature, I’ve refused to buy into this Mac user mentality; the entitlement that comes along with owning this sexy white sliver of a machine was offputting enough.

“Oh, you don’t own a Mac? You’re missing out!”

Really?! What exactly am I missing out on? It is a machine, not a cultural movement. I missed out on the Harlem Renaissance and the Abstract Impressionists. Now Guitar Hero… that is a cultural movement. That invention has reached fever pitch and has elicited many a geek burrowed in a dusty basement with such fervency that hasn’t been witnessed since Dungeons and Dragons hit the scene in 1974.

I digress. The point is my PC has crashed on me for the last time and I’m willing to see what the fuss is about. Sorry Steve Balmer. Vista just isn’t working for me. I’m crossing over to the other side…