Quarterlife: The Internet’s Young Upstart Program Gets a Smackdown from the Network TV Hag.
Current mood: focused
Category: MySpace

Quarterlife made history as the first internet show to move to a major network and then, well, flop. Not belly flop, drown actually. The internet TV show (TV show, sorta an incorrect term now, huh?) was blowing up Myspace when it was thrown up on NBC and then with little mainstream success, disintegrated from both media outlets.

But what is ’mainstream’ anymore? For me, the internet IS my mainstream! The ability to convey information at such a rapid rate is compelling for a busy gal like myself. I love the smorgasboard of content some of my favorite sites throw at me. I can search randomly on myspace for new artists, create a playlist of these artists on projectplaylist.com to listen to while I browse Perez and read my favorite writers’ blogs like The Golden Pencil and CopyBlogger. I’m able to nosh on delectable pop culture and simultaneously research several writing assignments. Getting a little lust filled just writing about it actually. The internet is, simply put, amazing.

So is bite-size TV. Snackable cinema, if you will. Quarterlife aired in 5 to 10 minute episodes on average. With a new episode released every Thursday and Sunday. Not that you ever just wanted to watch ONLY one episode anyways, it was completely addictive. 7 million people watched over the 4 month run.

Centered on a group of twenty-somethings negating life’s crucial as well as not-so-critical daily decisions, it was a very relatable drama. Do you ever feel like every choice you make is carving an indelible life path? One that you may regret? That suddenly you’ll wake up at 45 knowing the day to day bullshit distracted you from where you really wanted to be? I do. That is one of my biggest fears…

but knowing I’m not alone helps. You have Deborah the submissive daughter under her father’s thumb, loving her job stability working for the family company but secretly hating herself because she feels she’s meant for more. There is Lisa, the self destructive sex pot who shines brighter on stage than she ever thought she would, you just have to cheer for her in the end. Danny is spoiled and immature, once more, he realizes that these passing years are not affording him the comfort of being an indecisive fool anymore. He starts cheating on his girlfriend, after all, he may not know his life path but he doesn’t want to be penned in by her either right? (I’ve been a Danny, unfortunately) And among several other characters, of course there is Dylan. The main character who blogs about her day to day activities, how she feels… about everything.

Belonging, noun:

1. To be proper, appropriate, or suitable.

2. To fit into a group naturally

3. To be a part of something else.

We all want to think we are contributing to the world. Hoping what pays the bills invests back in our souls. There are so many choices… compromises. Grad school is so popular now because it is a legitimate way to delay this foray into adulthood. (Calm down law students, I only meant about half of you)

As soon as I saw Quarterlife advertised on Myspace I recognized the typeface as the same that was used for a book I bought about two years ago: Quarterlife Crisis. Written by Alexandra Robbins and Abby Wilner, it is a serious examination of the college grad ’Now What?’ phenomena. It contains practical advice for the challenges inherent in making decisions that affect 20-somethings and their self esteem: where to live (should you move home to save money and negate your independence?), the sustainability of relationships, finding that your career path, etcetera, etcetera. I read it with a journal in hand, taking notes, trying to figure myself out… I was also 21, having my crisis early you might say: I don’t think I’m quite done freaking out yet.

At times Quarterlife was immature. A few episodes into the series, I thought: ’Okay,they are behaving like children’ but powerful acting shined through and before I knew it I cared about the characters.

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The Pregnant Man: Surmising the Significance of ‘Sex’
Current mood: working
Category: Life

Thomas Beatie is a transgender, legally male and married to his wife Nancy in Oregon. Nancy unfortunately had to have a hysterectomy years ago but Thomas decided to keep his (her at the time) reproductive rights and now has become pregnant with child. The timing to start a family just seemed right. As Beatie aptly puts: "Wanting to have a biological child is neither a male nor female desire, but a human desire."

So yes, a man is having a baby. Jump on this shit National Enquirer! Oh wait, Advocate beat you to it. Check it out!

I think this event raises a lot of interesting issues about sex and sexuality; not only, biologically and psychologically but socially as well.

While Beatie and his wife are entirely unconventional, I feel there is nothing wrong with the way in which they are choosing to have a baby. They are performing as a straight couple would, a male and female, wanting to start a family. Yes, they could have tried adoption (or have, and met too many obstacles) or surrogacy which is also quite expensive. But if you have all the equipment (ovaries, check; uterus, check; sperm bought from the local bank; check) then only fear of social resistances can stop you. As a woman who chose to live her life as a man, I believe Thomas Beatie has the bravery to face this too. Are those that are upset about this first upset because they believe that choosing to live a life other than that of the body in which you are born into is wrong? Believing that trans-genderness is immoral and that God makes no mistakes? Probably. Now that freak show wants to have a child??! He gets to have it both ways now, which pretty insulting to everything that has been normalized in us of how things are supposed to be. But I’m too liberal to be upset ;)

Is sex biological or psychological or purely societal?

Biology shows us that there are two sexes. Female and Male. Well not necessarily. While rare, intersexed or hermaphrodite people do exist; and in a degree that suggests this is not a biological abnormality but a biological variance. None of us are black and white, we’re all a little grey, and some of us don’t even know it. Meaning there are plenty of people who have the perfect male or female depiction on the outside but whose other sexual organs, internally, are more ambiguous. Furthermore it could not be until genetic testing for a completely unrelated health concern reveals to a ’female’ that ’she’ has an interesting amount of XY cells. Those are the more discrete cases, the ones that don’t make someone noticeably shudder. Deciding what makes a person intersexed is difficult, but I do know this, according to information posted on the Intersex Society of North America website, about 1 to 2 of every 1,000 births undergoes some form of surgery to ’normalize’ their genital appearance. So unless you are from a small town I have to believe most of you have met at least 1,000 people in your life. That odd looking girl who sat next to you in English class who had an inordinate amount of facial hair? There might have been a reason. Please read Anne Fausto-Sterling’s article titled The Seven Sexes… or better yet read an updated summary HERE.

My interest in intersexed people relates to Thomas Beatie b/c who is to say that he was already some part physiologically male before the sex change? Let’s demystify what it means to be male and be female. Please read this article on a trans-gendered female, only 6 years old.

I love the color pink. But do I love the color pink because I am a woman? Has my biology determined my mentality? Are they interconnected, interdependent, or perhaps malleable?! Do I love the color pink because I am a woman and have been taught to love pink? As well as horses, tulips and heels I guess. And when a guy wears a pink shirt, why do I find that attractive? Perhaps because he is comfortable enough with the whole spectrum of his sexuality? (Ahem, Polo collar poppers, I am not talking about you) At the same time I’m competitive, aggressive, ambitious, quick to anger and calculating. This could make me a worthy business opponent if I didn’t have the glass ceiling clunking down on my head, after all, I am a woman. Or perhaps this would make me the demonized Hillary Clinton. Do these characteristics make me more mentally MALE? So should I cut my hair short and ’perform’ more of a male role? Or can I still be assertive, while showing off my legs in a cute skirt and dancing around to Britney Spears in my living room? As you can see, I have more questions than answers, but through it all I still know who I am. Sex does not create identity.

Social constructs create ’SEX’ and what we define as normal and not-normal for a man or a woman. These standards change as society does, after all, women weren’t supposed to drive at one time, and obviously thinking on that matter has evolved. So why was ’SEX’ created at all? One word: power. (think about the driving thing again please…) ’SEX’ like race and socio-economic status are hierarchical structures in which one is favored over another. You’ve heard of rich white men ruling the world. So think of the following relationships and who ends out on top—

Men: Women               Rich: Poor                    White: Non-White

"Society, being codified by man, decrees that woman is inferior; she can do away with this inferiority only by destroying the male’s superiority." –Simone De Beauvoir (One of the smartest women ever, an absolute saint)

So why the hysteria over trans-gendered people? Because they violate the power structure. By being able to move between the sexes (if there is a between), they deviate what people have been teaching each other for thousands of years is simply the only way. This ’Man’ giving birth to a baby is a double offense and I love that. Not only could ’she’ choose to become a ’he’ but Thomas kept reproductive rights. So not only can he have all the benefits that come from being a man (inherent respect from other men for one) but also carry a new life. It smacks in the face of tradition and religion.

Is this a startling glimpse into our future? Where sperm can be frozen and chosen, with women co-existing in psychological male and female roles, pairing in which ever way they choose and making the male becomes physically obsolete? It sounds like science fiction and yet with Thomas Beatie it becomes closer to a science fact.

So Thomas Beatie, a former female and his wife are going to have a child. I know that the child is anticipated with happiness and will be immensely loved and that’s all I care about. After all who needs traditional parents when you have this fuck up from Texas placing his 2 month old in a microwave.

Currently listening : Blackout By Britney Spears Release date: 30 October, 2007

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Consumerism: Controlling All You Cunts
Current mood: enthralled

I think I may have to redefine what success is, or I may never be happy.

Grim, I know.

Invariably, when I think of the future I reason to myself, that as a writer, I will probably never make a lot of money. And then the notion sneaks into my brain; "Well, my husband will just have to have a good job." And no, I don't think that's an un-feminist thought, quite the opposite... but a tad pathetic? Yes.

So where did this come from? I am a tasteless mix of burning American greed, Korean financial values and let us not forget, Madonna's Material Girl was released the same year I was born. Every conversation I have with Mom Mom involves a variation of: "Shannnnnnon, You keep your eyes open! You maarrrry richie guy some day!"

Shunning all that, where does this independence leave me? Probably working two jobs, writing when I can, and falling into the deadliest pit of consumerism. My friend Devin works 13 hour days at a mall as a detective for loss prevention; he has about one day off during which he runs errands, does his laundry, and pretends to have a semblance of life that goes beyond new mothers stuffing clothes from Steve & Barry's into their strollers. As he shows off his new couch and flat screen TV, I ponder if he really has time to enjoy these things. He continues to tell me about his plans for living room surround sound. I ask him about the job he hates. I ask if maybe he would rather spend his money on EXPERIENCES rather than THINGS. He's smart enough to know what I'm getting at, but shrugs it off as something uncontrollable, as if he is simply a spoke on the unstoppable American economic wheel. Ugh, I'm crushed.

I find it ironic Devin apprehends people not willing to pay for products they covet, while he suffers from the same intense desire to consume…as a measure of completing his life. Loss Prevention. We don't want to lose items, but it's okay if we lose our minds. Objects are valued over Substance.

Personally, I consider myself thrifty. One of the greatest gifts my mother endowed me with in raising a family on a tight budget was resourcefulness. I love to create!! Creativity is a drive that fills me with pride when I make a delicious meal for myself, tailor a skirt, write an article, or make a toy for my dog.

Has purchasing goods replaced creativity? Is buying (mass-produced, inauthentic goods) equal to the satisfaction of 'creating' without the act of mental stimulation and in some cases, problem solving?

That rush, the high you get when you think you've found the perfect item…OR perhaps you just wandered around the grocery store with this longing hunger (and I don't mean the gastro kind) that was not satiated until you found something to bring to the register… is THAT feeling of "completeness" the same feeling I get when I create something? I've been subject to both, and I have to say they are quite similar, but I know there is no need to lecture you on the lasting effects of what is genuine.

So as I stood in line at Rite Aid today I noticed Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Hearts by the register and then thought of the Christmas wrap on sale in aisle four. As we come out of this whirlwind of Christmas gluttony that leaves us panting heavily and searching with puppy-dog eyes for the next buying occasion that is Valentine's Day… could we please make ourselves aware of the bottomless credit-laden spending abyss attached to all holidays? Attached to the greater perception of happiness? What. The. Fuck.

By the way, my friend and I got mugged two days before Christmas. Valerie got thrown down and had her knee scrapped up very badly. At least that was all; she still walked away with her character intact. Happy Fucking New Year Hapless Philthy Criminals!

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