Kryptonite
When he first moved into our house, our new room-mate gave me a bag of gummy sweets and declared that they were 'girl's kryptonite'. Well they don't rob this woman of her superpowers or threaten her life but I do find gummies irresistable. Aren't they pretty?
I especially love the sour ones. Many's the time I've supressed guilt while plowing through a bag of Haribo Star Mix or Sours and now, as new roomie discovered, the little grocery shop on our corner has started selling small bags of mixed gummies. My will-power is nervous.
Anyway, speaking of my addictions, I picked up the new issue of Bust yesterday. I love love love reading magazines and I especially love Bust because I can actually relate to the writing and the features inside. My only complaint is that it only comes out once every two months but I can live with that. I just have to try to curb the impulse to buy other mags during the waiting period. Every once in a while I'll give in and pick up a Cosmo or similar and inevitably end up frustrated and angry. I used to buy Cosmo in my early twenties and I liked it, has it disimproved in content? Have I just changed? I know that I have changed a lot in the past few years but surely I was never taken in by monthy repetitions of 'twenty ways to please your man in bed'/'twenty ways to look thinner'/'twenty ways to shop smarter at the mall'.... Of course I'm exaggerating here but perhaps not that much. And the advertising...pages and pages of skinny white women pushing overpriced designer gear that I wouldn't even want even if I could afford it. So, given that I find most 'women's magazines' completely unsatisfying and irritating, I get pretty excited around new-Bust time. Yesterday I skipped into the magazine and newspaper store by our house and over to the spot where Bust and Bitch and their sisters hang out. There she was!
I appreciated my good fortune all the more when, as I was leaving the store, a slightly distressed woman approached the counter and in a voice tinged with desperation asked the clerk 'Um, don't you have the new copy of Fibrarts yet?' Clutching my mag in my hot little hands I felt a pang of sympathy and wanted to urge her just to be patient, not to buy another recklessly just to fill the void. But I didn't, I left and hoped that there was a new Fibrarts for her behind the counter, just waiting to be shelved or the like. And scurried home. I have to say, my evening went rather nicely with those gummy treats, great reading, a pint across the road, and the results show of So You Think You Can Dance at which I only cried twice (Mary Murphy's wonderful use of leopard print cheered me up so no harm done). LJ was out being active and playing hockey. I have promised myself to do some crunches today. Just after I finish the book reviews.
I especially love the sour ones. Many's the time I've supressed guilt while plowing through a bag of Haribo Star Mix or Sours and now, as new roomie discovered, the little grocery shop on our corner has started selling small bags of mixed gummies. My will-power is nervous.
Anyway, speaking of my addictions, I picked up the new issue of Bust yesterday. I love love love reading magazines and I especially love Bust because I can actually relate to the writing and the features inside. My only complaint is that it only comes out once every two months but I can live with that. I just have to try to curb the impulse to buy other mags during the waiting period. Every once in a while I'll give in and pick up a Cosmo or similar and inevitably end up frustrated and angry. I used to buy Cosmo in my early twenties and I liked it, has it disimproved in content? Have I just changed? I know that I have changed a lot in the past few years but surely I was never taken in by monthy repetitions of 'twenty ways to please your man in bed'/'twenty ways to look thinner'/'twenty ways to shop smarter at the mall'.... Of course I'm exaggerating here but perhaps not that much. And the advertising...pages and pages of skinny white women pushing overpriced designer gear that I wouldn't even want even if I could afford it. So, given that I find most 'women's magazines' completely unsatisfying and irritating, I get pretty excited around new-Bust time. Yesterday I skipped into the magazine and newspaper store by our house and over to the spot where Bust and Bitch and their sisters hang out. There she was!
I appreciated my good fortune all the more when, as I was leaving the store, a slightly distressed woman approached the counter and in a voice tinged with desperation asked the clerk 'Um, don't you have the new copy of Fibrarts yet?' Clutching my mag in my hot little hands I felt a pang of sympathy and wanted to urge her just to be patient, not to buy another recklessly just to fill the void. But I didn't, I left and hoped that there was a new Fibrarts for her behind the counter, just waiting to be shelved or the like. And scurried home. I have to say, my evening went rather nicely with those gummy treats, great reading, a pint across the road, and the results show of So You Think You Can Dance at which I only cried twice (Mary Murphy's wonderful use of leopard print cheered me up so no harm done). LJ was out being active and playing hockey. I have promised myself to do some crunches today. Just after I finish the book reviews.
2 Comments:
hello hello! speaking of kryptonite, ms gxx, i have a little mmm, anti-kryptonite(?) for you, which i picked up, state-side, during my ventures. you'll see, you'll see (she says, ominously)....
no really, i didn't forget yr date... just yr address. i left it at my mom's, so she can send it straight up.
in other news, i, too, picked up this BUST issue. was nearly floored when i discovered that one of the featured designers is an old flame's sister. that i used to live with. and chill with. as in, she dressed up in my wigs and i took her to thrift stores. super glad to see that she's thriving. she did have a dream, though...
anyway, i've since passed it on to ms L, where i'm currently staying bc i'm between flats. this is more of an email than a post, but after being denied internet access for weeks now (more or less) i'm indulging in fun... and procrastinating writing people back properly, i suppose.
surprised that yr that keen on the mag... i myself found it a bit annoying and white and come become a feminist, all you have to do is participate in this version of consumer culture. suppose that it's a good alt to cosmo, though. but i don't like the super-model-esque jean ads, nor the ads for cigs, despite knowing that the funds have to come from somewhere....
have you seen the latest bitch? speaking of funds: check out the new mother jones. there's a really good piece on class, and how the working poor have so much going for them... in terms of obstacles keeping them firmly rooted in the category 'working poor'. anyway, ms L wants to go for a walk, so i must sign off.
wishing you well, love. perhaps a post from me soon, once i'm a little less transient.
xxx shumi
Great to hear from you! Yes, I have read the latest Bitch - I bought if for my trip to Vancouver and thought the features were great. I appreciate your criticism of Bust and welcome it - a large part of what I identify as the core of my feminist belief is re-evaluating my take on things/my understanding/my assumptions in light of criticism or points of view other than my own. I certainly don't think Bust is a faultless publication, or one I read and never feel exasperated with at all. Mind you, I don't think there has ever been a text I've read and didn't feel exasperated with at some point. I do think the magazine promotes feminism but I don't think it suggests that all you have to do is buy into an alternative consumer culture. I guess, given my stay-at-home/very limited funds situation over the past year, this magazine has been very comforting especially because the text is heavy on craft/DIY projects, the kind of projects that I have had time to think about and ones that fit my limited budget at the moment. In this way, it's been really relevant to me.
I really appreciate your insight - and I'm glad you posted here rather than emailing me! It's great to have some discussion.
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