Monthly Archives: June 2008

by | June 10, 2008 · 9:47 pm

confession: i was once a charlotte.

Or at least I had a t-shirt that said I was. I was once among the proud millions to own a shirt proclaiming my “unique” Sex and the City personality. I ordered the cheaply made light pink shirts for myself and my friend Kelsey (who, in my defense, really IS Charlotte, down to the high-pitched shrieking in the presence of a baby) in the height of our SATC obsession. It was the high school days, when, embarrassingly, the weekends were most often spent with a pint (or two…) of Ben and Jerry’s and a six-episode SATC DVD.

The funny thing is, I never really was a Charlotte. Sure, maybe (especially in high school), I was a leeeetle prude, but as a thirteen-year attendee of Catholic school, I certainly never was a WASP. And by now, I probably have as much whore/bitchy lawyer/neurotic writer in me as the next girl. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I think Kathleen’s right.

And for the record: you can now purchase my “I’m a Charlotte” t-shirt at a Denver Goodwill for about $1.00. It’s a great deal, people: it was never worn.

[Posted by Mallory]

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by | June 10, 2008 · 9:32 pm

SATC! COSMOS! OMG! live YOUR life.

I’ve watched every episode of Sex and the City. A few weekends ago, I saw the movie (with my gurrrrrrrlz! Cosmos! LYLAS). I’ve been sucked into this image, and as I lie here on my bed with my Mac (just like SJP! But 100 lbs heavier), I can’t help but wonder…has the quirky narrative of Carrie Bradshaw and company drowned out our own internal monologue?

My life right now is as far from Sex and the City as it could possibly be. I’m not fashionable, I don’t live in a city, and chastity is the name of my game these days. And I seem to be the only person to realize that being pink doesn’t hide the fact that cosmos taste like pure vodka. Despite all of this, there is something so relatable about Sex and the City. And that’s just the problem. It has become a reference for our everyday lives, blurring the lines between reality and fiction. We are part of the Sex and the City generation, and we’re growing up. If you think I’m crazy and over exaggerating the impact the show has had, just know that Aiden was the number one name for boys born in the U.S in 2003. And has been ever since. Coincidence? I think not.

We are also the online generation. The internet has provided numerous ways for us to show the love. Sex and the City, like Grey’s Anatomy, provides a plethora of quotes for girls to use as away messages and favorite quotes on Facebook. Examples ripped from the profiles of my loved ones:

“So just live. Make mistakes, and have wonderful times, but never ever second guess who you are, where you have been, and most importantly, where it is that you are going.”

“Later that day I got to thinking about relationships. There are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started, and those that bring you back. But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you find someone to love the you you love, well, that’s just fabulous.”

For more just fabulous material and to find the perfect profile quote, please visit http://www.sexandthecityquotes.com/. Yup. There’s an entire Web site devoted to it.

In the Sex and the City world and now the real world, we are asked to identify ourselves by character. In fact, there are t-shirts out there that say “I’m a Samantha” (so you’re a slut?), “I’m a Charlotte” (WASPy prude?), “I’m a Miranda” (bitch?) or “I’m a Carrie” (emotional train wreck?) For the record, I’m a hybrid. I believe I’m a Carrie/Miranda, but who knows? The point is this: There are more than four types of women in this world—and thank god for that.

That being said, there are universal truths shared among women when it comes to men (read: we are superior, men are jerks, whatever). But just as there are more than four types of women, there are also more than two or three types of men. Comparing our lives to Sex and the City and other chick shows may be fun, but it might not be totally healthy. You can’t make your own mistakes if you’re making the ones Carrie and Company already made. (OMG, this is JUST like that episode of Sex and the City when…) You won’t learn from those mistakes if you take Carrie’s word for it without exploring how you really feel.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to be negative—it’s fun to go to the Sex and the City movie with your best friends and drink pink vodka, but real life is way more complicated than that. You don’t need Carrie to tell you to love yourself. You can have the same life experiences in a solid pair of Rainbows as Manolo Blahniks or Jimmy Choos. So don’t look for an Aiden, Big, McDreamy or McSteamy. Just look for your own soul mate—and if he happens to be as hot as Aiden, lucky you.

[Posted by Kathleen]

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by | June 9, 2008 · 2:58 pm

six words to change the world.

Whenever I read a blog that isn’t wildly successful — one that’s started by an average person simply because they wanted to write — I love to see them articulate why they started a blog. Based on my highly scientific research, I’ve found that most people started blogging simply because they wanted to. (A sophisticated observation, I know.) Blogging provides something to do, and it connects you with a larger world. People just want to share a little of themselves, and thanks to the Internet, it’s pretty easy to do that these days. I also think most people secretly (or not so secretly) imagine that their blog will make them ridiculously wealthy and famous and that they can quit their real job and work exclusively in the afternoon, while wearing sweatpants.

Kathleen and I would be lying if we said our motivations weren’t pretty much the same as everyone else’s. Both of us like to write, both of us have a lot of opinions, and both of us love blogs. We’re the ones who truly enjoy a snarky comment on Wonkette, the ones who secretly wish we were Heather and Jessica from Go Fug Yourself, the ones who g-chat each other instantly when there’s a new post on Stuff White People Like. And neither of us would complain if blogging led to a life where we worked from an amazing penthouse apartment in D.C. and pranced around in fancy pajamas drinking gin and tonics in the middle of the day, occasionally pausing to write a mind-blowingly witty and insightful blog entry. Neither of us are actually banking on this happening, but hey, a girl can dream.

So while Kathleen was bored at home, and I was bored temping as a receptionist, we starting g-chatting about blogs. A friend of ours from college had recently started one, and both of us confessed that we had toyed with the idea in the past. While helping each other brainstorm about our own potential blogs, I threw out the idea that we write one together. About 3 seconds later, Kathleen said that she loved the idea, and here we are.

A word about the title of this blog. Right before we graduated from college about a month ago, I discovered a book called Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs From Writers Famous and Obscure. The idea of the book is to challenge people to pen their own six-word memoirs, a challenge to which my friends and I have become addicted. It’s thrilling to whittle a scenario, or a life, down to only six words. One of my favorite examples from the book is Stephen Colbert’s: “Well, I thought it was funny.” Simply because it’s fun, we wanted to incorporate the idea of the six-word memoir into our fledgling blog. And with a nod to each of our idealistic natures (I’m going into conflict resolution, Kathleen breathes politics), we threw in the “change the world” part. Because we each hope we can, with or without the blog.

[Posted by Mallory]

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