My Style

Everything happens for a reason...

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:04:53 -0800

In this case, what I mean when I say “Everything happens for a reason” I mean...

If I wasn’t looking for a job, I wouldn’t have had the time to come volunteer for Fuse chasing ballots. If I wouldn’t have volunteered, I wouldn’t have sat down at Kristin’s desk to make calls. If I hadn’t sat down at Kristin’s desk to make calls, I wouldn’t have seen the bright pink sticky note which read amongst other things “3/15 TUES - GIRL TALK SHOWBOX SODO” And If I wouldn’t have seen that I wouldn’t be almost ready to throw up with joy since I just purchased two tickets.

By the way, he dropped a new album: ALL DAY (still looking for the link to download...Ben already has downloaded it and it is *good*) which according to MTV, broke the internet

GTL: Gym, Trying to Find a Job, and Laundry

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:26:53 -0800

It has been exactly a week since I found out I would be losing my job after November. The election didn’t go very well for my organization (or for many progressive organizations in the United States) and so instead of a contract extension / permanent placement with the organization (as had been the hope from both sides) my position is no more. I am incredibly fortunate that they are paying me through my contract (end of November), but giving me the time off to look for a job. This “time off” however is quite a shift from working upwards of 97 hours per week for the last few weeks of the election. I’ve only not been in the office for two and a half days and I’m already having to suppress hintings of freak-out mode.

So, in order to suppress the freak out and (more importantly?) actually find a job and (most importantly?) not let the next three weeks go to waste, I have a plan:

GTL

While I’m not a huge fan (or huge critic) of Jersey Shore, I do have to credit them for the naming structure of my plan. My GTL life will consist of Gym, Tan Trying to Find a Job, and Laundry. Here’s the breakdown:

Gym: I purchased (thank you, LivingSocial !) a one-month membership to the Olympic Athletic Club in Ballard at an extreme discount. My goal is to get in there at least five days a week. It’s far away from where I live (by Seattle standards) but so far it’s working out (pun pun pun).

Trying to Find a Job: Although my gym membership does include unlimited tanning, I don’t need the risk of skin cancer or the wrinkles. Besides, this T is much more important for my sanity + survival. So far I’ve applied to two full-time positions and have been setting up meetings with everyone I know who I think could have some insights as to where to get a job. I also applied to a part-time job at the JCC down the street from our place (where Ben also works part-time) and have been booking my schedule with as many babysitting jobs as I can get.

Laundry: This piece of the plan is more broad reaching. When you suddenly go from being in the office more than at home (by a lot) to not having a job, it feels weird to be home. It feels great to get to spend more time with Ben. It feels odd to be alone so damn much. This time is giving me the opportunity to actually settle into my home and get organized in a way that I haven’t gotten to do in several months. As for actual laundry, I’ve been doing that too and I’m taking some dry cleaning to out to be done today.

You’re More Recognizable than Jackie O

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:14:04 -0700

While I’d love to think that I could ever be more recognizable than Jackie O in terms of her keen style and amicable grace, what the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) actually means (when they gave me that line as a result for a personal data risk assessment quiz) is that I am at HIGH risk when it comes to my personal data being exposed online (especially to the government). Boo out dated laws. Boo unclear -at best- privacy settings on Facebook and other sites.

Yay ACLU for taking on this issue!

Take the quiz HERE and then act by signing the ACLU’s petition to re-vamp these very outdated laws which determine our privacy rights in an increasingly electronic age.

SUMMER READING LIST

Sat, 3 Jul 2010 20:37:28 -0700

Is it Summer?

Yes, I mean capital ‘S’ Summer. All hail the Arizona Summer. Endless sunshine, until the excitement of the monsoons. (disclaimer: I’m not actually in the 110 degree heat so I *know* I’m romanticizing it).

I know that Seattle summers can be beautiful (I saw it last year in July while apartment hunting). However, so far this “summer” has been mostly 50 and 60 degree days and drizzling rain.

Anyway...until Summer (capital ‘S’) comes to Seattle I will be:
1) Rocking Bus Trips and other forms of support for our just-finalized Bus Candidates (woot!)
2) Getting people to pledge to vote at the Capitol Hill Block Party (email me at christina@washingtonbus.org to join the Vote Bot Army and get in on the pledge to vote campaign)
3) Reading the books listed below (and also open to *your* suggestions for great summer reads) - yum!

**Click: When we Knew We Were Feminists J. Courtney Sullivan and Courtney E. Martin
**Trading Up Candace Bushnell
**Where There is No Doctor: A Village Healthcare Handbook David B. Werner, Jane Maxwell, J. Maxwell, Carol L. Thuman

Youth Table Retreat

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:42:35 -0700

Today and tomorrow I’m in Washington DC for a Youth Table Retreat. It is largely being put on by Campus Progress and the Youth Engagement Fund. The Bus Federation is out in force and I’m happing to be repping the Washington Bus and the youth of Washington State.

Going to retreats, conferences, and events like this always remind me how incredibly small the world is--I could limit this statement to ‘the world of my field,’ but really, the world of my field is tiny and the entire world is small. There is Rock the Vote, US PIRG, USSA, Campus Progress, League of Women Voters, Progressive Future, all of the Bus Federation--and more represented here. I get to see a lot of familiar faces and meet some new ones as well.

The best part so far was hearing Trail 2010 speak. Campus Progress was hosting a press conference for the four walkers of @Trail2010. They were so incredibly inspirational. I had seen that they were just in Arizona and was lucky to be at this press conference where they shared their experiences of their journey (both from Miami to D.C. and to Arizona).

No RatsNo BoysNo Pants

Tue, 8 Jun 2010 14:56:13 -0700

I just got back in town from a wonderful Girls Trip to St. Lucia.

It was such an amazing adventure and I consider myself supe)r lucky to have gotten to go on such a fantastic trip with wonderful people. It’s not every week I get to experience other countries and cultures and while this wasn’t a total emersion into the St. Lucian lifestyle (we stayed at a resort after all), our group of gregarious ladies, we made a lot of local friends.

St. Lucian Take-Aways:
1. Everyone on the island (no really, everyone) knew, loved, and spontaneously broke into the song “Sweat” by Inner Circle...this song is ridiculous, but we learned to love it (plus we were sweating a lot...hot, humid island that St. Lucia is in June).

2. The beach is not my relaxed place. I LOVE the beach, but I love it so much that I want to be in the water, SCUBA diving, doing water sports, playing games, building sand castles, wrestling in a circle (yeah that might’ve happened...). I definitely took some beach-nap time during my week stay, but while I have more fun than maybe anywhere else while on a beach, it’s never total down-time.

3. Even though I sometimes feel as if I have SO many more places to visit and explore (my 30 countries by 30 years old always nagging at my mind), I am incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunities that I’ve had to travel as much as I have—both in the United States and abroad. PLUS this trip reminds me how important it is to me to prioritize traveling, building on new experiences and creating memories.

1. Jet Skiing is HARD...at least in the ocean (maybe everywhere, this was my first time). It was my first time and it kind of kicked me in the ass (or more I hit the water really hard on my side and head when I fell off).

Now it’s back to work (love) and life in Washington State (love except for the rain in June).

Changes for Christina

Fri, 14 May 2010 21:27:56 -0700

Points to anyone who gets the American Girl reference in the title (future blog posts may include Christina Saves the Day!--that’s the dream).

I have some exciting news! After a lot of thought and reflection, I decided to take a new job with the Washington Bus. I am SO excited to begin working for the Washington Bus as their Field Coordinator. However, this means that I will be leaving my position as Organizing Director of the Washington Student Association (WSA). This was a difficult decision to make, but I look forward to continuing to work with many of the people I met while at WSA in a new capacity with the Bus and continue to organize for positive social change!

The Washington Bus is an uber amazing organization that works across the whole state of Washington. I’ll be updating Mystyle blog as I go forth on this new adventure, however in the meantime, you should definitely check out their website: www.washingtonbus.org and also the super nice interview they did with me as a welcome on their blog, Hella Bus.

Since I’m super dorky fabulous, I made a video to celebrate this change...and because I always strive to hustle (in the give-your-best-effort way) you may be able to guess the background music- view it below!

My Blog, Myself, Arizona

Wed, 5 May 2010 21:03:21 -0700

So I lay no claims that I have perfected my blogging (as in...I kind of haven’t posted in a little over two weeks), but in an effort to make this blog less like my childhood diaries (which sometimes ended abruptly when I’d get swept up in a huge-life-moment-event), I am back in the saddle to continue writing.

As you may have heard (it seems to be all I can hear about), my home state of Arizona has recently passed some incredibly oppressive legislation (Senate Bill 1070) that is designed to target people based on the color of their skin and is disguised as immigration crack-down. I’ve met Russell Pearce (a particularly awful AZ State Senator)...I’m not a fan...and he and other legislators like him are ruining my great state.

I’ve sat through meetings (here in Seattle) where the topic of conversation has been ‘How can we hurt Arizona the most.’ Not fun to sit through. It’s also not fun to see ‘Boycott the Grand Canyon’ plastered across twitter via the #SB1077 hashtag feed. Arizona is really messed up right now, and I don’t cut the lawmakers who let this happen any slack. However, I don’t think boycotting is the answer...it’s only going to hurt local businesses and their employees who in many cases are completely against the new law.

Below are some of the articles regarding SB1070 that I have found most interesting/helpful in grappling with this mess.

The Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/article/Arizona-College-Officials/65360?sid=cc

CNN Politics
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/23/obama.immigration/index.html?on.cnn=1

Change.org
http://immigration.change.org/blog/view/so_whats_in_the_arizona_bill_everyones_talking_about

Salon.com
http://www.salon.com/news/immigration/index.html?story=/news/feature/2010/04/26/is_arizona_immigration_law_constitutional

Yahoo Sports
http://bit.ly/asIKWv

Glee Returns

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:23:51 -0700

Campus Progress had an interesting post on the return of the much-loved Glee: SEE HERE
While I think it’s such a fun show, I applaud Campus Progress for looking at it critically.

Glee definitely takes on some serious themes/topics, but doesn't always handle them in the best way, or in the way it could to promote a better outlook for our society (i.e. one where rape is not a joke, where the trans or any part of non-gender conforming community gets respect, or one that respects women).

I Love the musical numbers in the show, and enjoy the overall campy feel. I recognize that its entertainment, but that doesn't mean I don't cringe when Sue calls a student a "shemale" or when Puck tells Quinn she'd better not get fatter (she's pregnant) or he'll break up with her. This is entertainment, wide-spread-mobs-of-obsessed-fans-and-viewers-entertainment. Why can't we hold our entertainment to a higher standard? I am a firm believer that things can still be hilarious, but also promote non-oppressive, inclusive models of behavior.

I would agree with the 'Sue is villain of course she does bad stuff' if she was a *real* villain. Her offensive behavior is used to get cheap jokes, not to examine why the behavior is offensive or what kind of bigotry it promotes.

I <3 you, Glee, but you could be doing so much better!

Fashion Friday

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:33:45 -0700

There are so many fashion blogs out there that make me feel what I can only somewhat accurately describe as jealous. Is it still jealousy if you don’t actually want to be the person, you just want to be best friends with them and borrow all their clothes, shoes, accessories?

Currently I am crushing on http://whatiwore.tumblr.com/ where Jessica Schroeder shares what she wears and basically makes me want to move to Brooklyn just so I can raid her closet (thanks Serena for turning me on to this awesomeness!)

I am also loving a new pair of sandals I bought in anticipation for 1) SUMMER and 2) a trip to St. Lucia that I JUST found out I’ll be going on at the end of May (I am intensely excited for what will be my last hurrah before buckling down for an thrilling season of Get Out the Vote campaigns for students in Washington State).

There is however something I am not loving...Ben and I moved in together about three months ago and THANK GOODNESS that we are loving living together (so no, that’s not it). There haven’t been any unbearable quirks we’ve discovered about living together (another thank goodness), but I have discovered how much I really dislike how men are marketed to in the mainstream. You see, Ben and I each get a couple of magazines (mostly because he is stealth at finding them for free if you order online). The “male” magazines we get are: GQ, Car and Driver, and Maxim (although we didn’t order Maxim we keep it--I read the articles literally about “How to Cheat on Your Girlfriend” and try to laugh instead of verbally punching Maxim with angry LTEs). So far the only “female” magazine I’m receiving on any regular basis is Shape--which I really love.** My beef is with the ridiculous ads that accompany the magazines targeted at men. I get that my more feminine mags emphasize femininity often in both their articles and their advertisements, but the men’s magazines do it in a way that is almost always if not absolutely always degrading to women. While the femininity in female-marketed magazines may reference men in the get-that-hot-yoga-guy-to-ask-you-out way, the male-marketed magazines seem to reference ‘putting women in their place.’ Whether its a sadistic commercial about a car (don’t even get me started on the Super Bowl ads) or a Dockers advertisment. I know Dockers as the pants company with ads featuring pleasant people partaking in jaunts around San Francisco, not the Dockers that demands that men “WEAR THE PANTS” and proclaims this the “SECOND DAWN OF MAN”...really?

Dockers claims that at some point “the world decided it no longer needed men” (sometime after black and womyn’s suffrage I’m sure because you can bet there aren’t any people of color in these ads and the initial opening references nostalgia for the good old days when “women rarely had to open doors and little old ladies never crossed the street alone”).

Thank you Dockers, I will TOTALLY give up some of my social and civil rights if some khaki-wearing man will allow me to not lift my finger at every doorway...because apparently without *real men* who are wearing *real pants* “[t]he world sits idly by as cities crumble.” One last thank goodness is that Ben was disgusted as well (yay for feminist boyfriends!).

Okay, I’ve ranted, and I’m starting to think that I should take more time to analyze marketing trends and how marketers attempt to pin-point subjects across class, race, gender, and other statuses/areas. This topic is fascinating to me and definitely deserves more than my occasional rants.

In the meantime, does this bother anyone else? And whether it does or it doesn’t--check out those shoes! Mmm...summer’s coming!

**PS I didn’t touch on this too much, but I think you get the idea (from my quotation marks around the words) that I am not a big believer that magazines have to be only oriented toward one very socially constructed gender or the other. I just recognize that they often are conceptualized and designed that way.