Happy Pesach to those who celebrate! I don't but I make a mean passover flourless chocolate cake which I'll be serving with dinner tonight. And I bought some matzo and cream cheese that I've been snacking on all week because all those years married to a Jew apparently gave me matzo cravings.
Anyway. When I did my Perry Style Fierce Friday post, one of my friends said she liked it but wished it had been purple and orange instead. I thought about it, and although I wouldn't have thought to put them together, that's actually a nice color combination. See?
Orange fish swimming in purple sea anemones.
Orange and purple sunset.
Orange and purple flower.
So today following her request and wearing purple and orange with a cuddly theme. I've got on my trusty orange-cuffed pants, an orange shirt that says "I would cuddle you so hard," black and white necklace, purple and orange nail polish, fake diamond earrings, a hugging person ear cuff, black sneakers, and my purple hoodie.
Me smiling at the camera - I tried (and failed) to slick my hair.
Me showing off my hugging person ear cuff.
Body shot.
Me showing off my t-shirt.
My nail polish. The photo doesn't do it justice. It fades from orange to purple.
Today was a very full day. I feel pretty much like this dancer:
Ballet dancer in a tutu lying face down on the floor.
My day started with work. Then after work I had ballet class. And then I left ballet class to rush off to take a Chemistry test. A very difficult Chemistry test. Oh well. At least now I've done enough acid-base titrations to say that I thoroughly understand this Chemistry joke:
Picture of a woman doing an acid base titration with the caption "Drop the base."
Ok. My most recent charity donation was to Daily Table in Dorchester and I decided it was worth making a post about them. (Maybe I'll post about the other organizations too?) At any rate, you can read a recent article about Daily Table here called "Waste Not, Want Not: Combating Food Insecurity in Boston" by Nolan Gawron.
Picture of the Daily Table storefront.
Let me just say - I absolutely LOVE their model of combatting food insecurity.
Food pantries and soup kitchens are a godsend and I'm so glad they exist. I have used them in the past and so have many of my friends, some of whom are on food assistance currently. That said, these places can feel humiliating or embarrassing to visit. Grocery stores can often be really expensive if you're looking for healthier options like produce. And although many farmer's markets now take EBT and some offer discounts for it (huzzah!) they can still be a bit pricey. This is a huge reason why many poor people wind up eating crappy fast food so often - it's fast, cheap, filling, and not stigmatizing.
So what are you supposed to do if you're broke, possibly on food assistance, and struggling to afford healthy food within your budget? It's a problem faced by about 14.5% of US households. It's also exactly the problem that Daily Table is trying to address.
Inside of Daily Table.
They offer groceries that are priced to compete with fast food, in a store environment that is dignified rather than embarrassing for shoppers. The Daily Table sources their groceries by "recovering" food from supermarkets, growers, and food distributors who have a surplus that was going to go to waste. As a country, the US wastes about 40% of the food we produce so food waste is a huge problem that's also tragic when we've got so many people who are hungry. So basically Daily Table is solving both hunger AND food waste all in one go! It's a model for solving food insecurity while preserving people's dignity and it is economically sustainable and good for the planet since it's recovering otherwise wasted resources and putting them to good use. How awesome is that?!
Flow chart showing where Daily Table sources its food.
And as an aside: I have friends who are low income and who have gone to Daily Table to buy groceries. If you follow my lead and decide to support them, you'll be helping my friends afford to eat.
Fairy houses are small structures that people build out of natural materials. They're intended to be a place for the fairies to visit, and making them is a fun creative adventure that gets you in touch with nature. Here are some examples of fairy houses I found online that other people made:
A very fancy fairy house.
A fairy house in a tree.
A pine tree fairy house.
A bark fairy house at the base of a tree.
A few days ago at dinner I mentioned my fascination with fairy houses and Plum told us about an island in Maine called Mackworth Island where people built tons of fairy houses in the state park and now there is a permanent fairy village there. The kids were instantly excited about fairy houses and we decided to make one for the garden. Secondo was very set on figuring out how to make a fairy kitchen with a refrigerator so they could have food, while Primo was focused on how we would construct their beds and chairs. Terzo was convinced actual fairies would come and live there and wanted to know how we would protect them from cats and squirrels, while Mini T (our newest kid housemate who is three) wanted to know if she would be able to see the fairies.
The sign from Mackworth Island's Fairy Village.
Since today was overcast it seemed to me that it would be the perfect day for fairy house making. My friend Alice came to visit and we rounded up the kid housemates for the project. We wound up making a fairy house with a popsicle stick door, a mini fence, a pebble walkway with dandelion head "lights," a seashell well, a tiny wood and moss table and chairs made of buttons, a tiny tire swing made from twine and the tire of a broken toy car, and a pinwheel stuck next to it all for good measure.
Ok. I came up with this outfit idea the last time I had a cold. I'm wearing it now because I feel like it. Long story short - Texas is immunocompromised so if I even suspect that I'm coming down with something I need to wear a mask and gloves to avoid getting him sick. All of the mask-wearing got me thinking about how I could incorporate germ protection into a Fierce Friday outfit. I took my inspiration from an unlikely source: Asia!
You see, in Asia, people wear surgical masks in public. This is partly due to flu season, partly due to heavy air pollution, partly to hide zits or cold sores, and partly because now they are cool. I googled it because I was curious about why I kept seeing so many Asian people wearing surgical masks in the subway and I found this article that gives some background explanation. So I decided to wear a funkier mask next time I got sick. And then I figured if I was going to wear a mask, then I might as well take some inspiration from k-pop (that is, Korean pop music).
I'm wearing a black skeleton face mask, dark wash jeans, black fishnet shirt with a black tank top that says "I don't sweat I sparkle" over it, black cap, screw earrings, pink sparkly nail polish, and pink shoes. I figure the fishnet/no sleeve shirt combo will keep me cool in the heat and if I do get sweaty my shirt will explain to people that "I don't sweat I sparkle."
So is this k-pop style? That's debatable. K-pop style tends to be more sophisticated and androgynous with a lot of funky asymmetrical cuts but since they don't make that sort of thing for fat guys I'd have to DIY it and I'm lazy. At any rate, here's my outfit:
Me!
A picture focusing on my shirt and nail polish.
Me making bizarre eyes at the camera.
Body shot.
Side headshot so you can see my screw earrings.
And since I feel like it, here is BigBang's "Fantastic Baby" which is the first kpop video I ever saw:
Guyliner! Gas masks! Jewelry! Raves with lion dancing! Rebellion against the music-hating state! I hope you can see why I like this music video.
That all said, I have two more things to point out...
Thing one: this whole wearing face masks in public thing is kind of fun, but it is totally an example of white privilege. If you don't believe me, do a thought experiment about what would happen to a black man who chose to walk about the city in a face mask like the one I am wearing today. No good, right? People would judge him as dangerous and he might get stopped by the police. If you are white and you choose to walk in my fashion shoes then I need you to remember that you're able to do so because of white privilege. And I want you, my fellow white people, to dedicate your time and energy towards ending racism. Because if you're white and you are not doing that then you are part of the problem. Let's work to be part of the solution instead, ok?
Thing two: I am giving you a required reading link to the article "Why We Need To Take Responsibility For Anti-Black Racism in K-Pop" by Chris Lee. The link is about anti-black racism in kpop, and it specifically calls out BigBang for some asshole shit. So basically love the music, hate the BS.
In ballet class today we practiced walking across the room. On tip toes. With attitude. This? Much harder than it sounds And my ballet teacher told me that I need to swagger more. Pretty sure my attempts to swagger wound up more like a cross between mincing and prancing. Sort of like this guy:
Cartoon of a naked fat brown man with pink hair prancing with a flower garland.
On a more successful note, I finally installed a wall-mount jewelry organizer. Goodbye chaos! Hello fashion! The colors in the picture look a bit weird because I took the photo at night, but hopefully you get the idea.
Picture of a black metal wall-mounted jewelry organizer with jewelry on it.
This week's slam is Rachel Rostad performing "To JK Rowling, from Cho Chang":
And on an unrelated note I'm letting you know that because it's 4/20 Ben and Jerry's is having a buy two get one free deal on their Brrritos. Two scoops of ice cream, chocolate cookie crumbs, and fudge - wrapped in a waffle wrap. So personally I think you should use this opportunity to follow my brilliant plan. Get a friend to agree to buy a Brrrito if you buy one, then find a homeless person nearby and ask if they want to come along and get the free one. You get ice cream, your friend gets ice cream, and the brand new friend that you just met gets ice cream. And as an extra special bonus, you get to feel happy that you helped someone's day be more delicious than it otherwise would have been. Smart, right? What are you waiting for?!
But on a more light hearted note: I laughed and laughed when I saw this cartoon. Why? Because when I was learning calculus and before I saw this I came up with these same dance moves myself. And I still actually do them when I need to remember how to draw a graph…
A stick figure doing various math graphs (sin, cos, tan, etc) as dance moves.
Friends, in the past I have dyed my hair many colors. The most notable attempts were the long dark purple head banger hair, the spiky platinum blonde super gay looking hair, and the multicolored mohawk. All of which were unfortunate decisions, and all of which required far more upkeep than I am willing to put into my hair. Straightening? Combing? Hair gel? No thank you! This time I am keeping my same old haircut which requires no upkeep. I'm just going to make it a fun color.
I'm going to use Manic Panic because it's vegan and it reminds me of my youth. I've picked out three colors: Cotton Candy Pink, Atomic Turquoise, and Mystic Heather. You are going to tell me which color to use, by leaving a blog comment with your vote. I'll dye my hair the winning color on the first Fierce Friday in May. Because obviously crowd sourcing my hair color is the best plan, right?
Option A: Cotton Candy Pink
Option B: Atomic Turquoise
Option C: Mystic Heather
Since I'm dying the hair on my head I plan to go for it and dye my armpits as well. I realize that I'm very late to the party with that particular beauty trend but I've been wanting to do it since before it became popular (when it was only the weirdo queers doing it). I also very briefly considered dying my eyebrows, facial hair, pubes, chest hair, etc but have decided that would be overkill. I'm sure you're relieved.
I'm posting some pictures of random men with these hair colors that I've ganked from the internet so you can get an idea of what they might look like on other white men who are more conventionally attractive than me.
And just for fun… Here's a video of some guys dying their armpit hair:
* Because it's relevant to the topic at hand, I should mention that the colorful armpit hair beauty trend isn't necessarily accessible to everyone. Here is a good article a friend of mine posted a while back about how shaving isn't always a choice for women of color.
My big questions going into this:
* Will I look like an easter egg?
* Will my armpits and head hair end up the same color?
* Do I need to bleach the hair first if I'm already blonde?
* Am I supposed to buy fancy dyed-hair shampoo now?
* Will this fade out eventually or am I gonna be shaving my hair off to get rid of it?
* WHAT COLOR WILL YOU GUYS PICK?!?!?!
Please vote for your favorite color and stay tuned for the big reveal on the first Fierce Friday in May!
In lieu of studying (which I should have been doing) I spent some time this weekend gardening with Plum, the kid-housemates, the kid housemates' kid friends, and the kid friends' mom. We made the last of the garden beds using more scrap bricks and an old tire. Then we assembled and hung a bunch of planters along the garden walls. We even set up a small table and chairs so the grownups can drink tea and survey the backyard while the kids play.
Kids building our newest raised bed.
Kids filling hanging planters.
Plum and Kids' friend fold a tarp.
The newest raised bed with scrap brick wall and recycled tire planter.
Hanging baskets looking good in their new home.
Today my housemates Joy and Mini T helped me out with making bamboo trellises and planting a bunch of herb and flower seeds, plus some beans and lettuce.
Joy and Mini T planting flowers in the round bed.
Joy and Mini T planting beans and lettuce in the rectangle bed.
