How could I NOT be Team LC...

When she is soooo good at not letting Jason make her look bad on TV? The way she managed not to cry...that was fantastic. When I was 19, I didn't know many girls with that type of composure and self-restraint. And I certainly wasn't one of them.

Go LC!

Very Interesting

I've been getting the Daily Candy emails forever. Recently, the company launched a DC-specific email, which is nice...even though I don't actually live in DC, I could, ostensibly, go there from time to time to shop or have dinner.

Anyway, that's not what's interesting. What is interesting is that today I got a Daily Candy DC Dedicated Email (that's what they call the ones that are ads, not editorial)...and it was for the Times Select service.

Quite creative on the NYT's part, actually. Not that I would ever, ever consider paying $50 a year for columnists I only read in excerpt anyway...but I'm a little impressed with their focus and targeting.

My Dream World

Last night, I dreamt that Jessica and Ashlee Simpson went to the LBHS prom.

With Jason Schwartzman, who actually made me realize it was a dream.

Clearly, I spend too much time with the internets and the MTV.

Something My Sister Is Right About

"Hung Up" by Madonna is an awesome song.

BTW

I will resume posting more regularly sometime this week. Just not today and possibly not tomorrow either. I've been busier with work these past two weeks than I have been since I started consulting. Which is a good thing. But leaves me feeling more than a little blog-deprived.

The Writer's "Rough Brand of Radical Chic"

At some point during the past few years, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm never going to be a literary powerhouse. I am not my generation's Salinger. I will not be writing the Great American Novel. This used to upset me. Now I'm OK with it.

Starting last November, though, just after the election, I started to wonder if my inability to write in that way - that way being: fiction, commercially viable and adored by the literary community, self-conscious but not overly so, zeitgeisty and classic all at once - if my inability to write like that was somehow related to my politics. Was my hawkish idealism, my unwavering patriotism, my unabashed capitalism getting in the way of a certain type of creativity?

This New Yorker review of a book on Hemingway and Dos Passos in Spain during the revolution makes me think that yes - for whatever reason, my political sensibilities cannot coexist with the literary person I'd hoped to be.

While the author states that Hemingway "lacked a sense of politics," his appreciation of the romance of communism and taking a side - his "rough brand of radical chic" - gel perfectly with the absolutist, realpolitiky qualities that make me love his writing.

I know that I could never compromise myself politically (I am too much of an idealist for that) to help myself succeed creatively. But that certainly doesn't keep the major pangs of jealousy at bay. Hemingway's life - Paris, Cuba, Key West, Africa, Spain (not necessarily in that order) - and the salon-like community of expatriates - it all makes my Power Point presentations and office in Towson (nice and sunny as it is) feel very small.

At the same time, the author mentions that Hemingway seemingly had to destroy a marriage or a close friendship every few years, just to keep it fresh. That sounds painfully selfish and lonely to me.

And not worth it. I suppose.

I'm nearly illiterate.

Erin just pointed out that I've actually read more books on that Time list than I thought. I definitely read the Grapes of Wrath the summer before tenth grade. Again, for Miss Brady.

What does it say about my reading comprehension skills that I missed a book in a list?

And what does it say about America's reading comprehension skills that I actually scored high in reading comprehension on standardized tests?

9%

That's what I would get on a test that scores how many of Time's 100 greatest novels I've read. Nine of them. What does that say about me, as someone who theoretically likes reading more than the average person?

1. I'm lazy, even about what I read.
2. I like trashy writing.
3. I'm idiosynchratic.

Also, it suggests that maybe only including books written after 1923 is sort of limiting. Why even publish the list if you're not going to do the job right? Or, at the very least, make it since 1900?

Just for the record, of the nine, I read five of them for high school. But I'd actually read two of those on my own already. Actually, I'd read six of them before ninth grade. Just for the record, the nine are:

Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret (obviously, I read this in fourth grade, just like every other girl since 1963, when it was published)

Catcher in the Rye (summer after eighth grade)

Gone with the Wind (I think that was also the summer after eighth grade, though I can't actually remember finishing the book)

Great Gatsby (spring of eighth grade)

Native Son (tenth grade - and anyone who had Miss Brady for English will agree that writing the in-class essay for this was one of the most memorable academic experiences EVER)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (also in Miss Brady's tenth grade class)

The Sound and the Fury (read this at the beginning of AP English. Damn, it was hard.)

The Sun Also Rises (another eighth grade read...though I'm pretty sure I also wrote a paper on this at some point)

To Kill a Mockingbird (read this on the interminable trip my family took the summer after I was in eighth grade. Also of note: Cooper and my friend Ryan both named their dogs Scout after the main character)

Reading back through this list, it's pretty clear that eighth grade was a major reading year for me. During that year, I also remember polishing off the entire John Jakes historical fiction series the Kent Family Chronicles. Guess that's what happens when you take a sullen thirteen year old on a three-week family RV tour of the Rocky Mountain states...

Disappointment of the Weekend

We had a really fun night on Friday. My sister and one of her roommates came up (they were home for fall break) and we met a bunch of people out for the last happy hour of the year at Belvedere Square. Now that the weather's getting colder, the outdoor evenings wind down.

Post-happy hour, we spent a few hours at the wine bar, entertaining the bartenders (especially Erin and Lis) and celebrating Bill's birthday. When we got home, Cooper made a fire in our copper fire pit (first one all year!) and we hung out in the backyard for a bit.

Unfortunately, I must have enjoyed the fire a little too much. Granted, Cooper nearly drowned all of the wood in lighter fluid - most of it was so damp from the rain last week that it never would've ignited otherwise. And I did realize that, as a result, the fire was particularly sparky. But it wasn't until we got back inside, in the light, that I noticed that my shirt had caught on fire.

It went out, actually, before I really noticed. And, to be fair, the shirt was tissue paper thin. And only $10. But I got it in Paris! Now it looks like someone stuck a lit cigarette right in the middle of my chest...I don't think there's any way to hide it.

So until cigarette burny shirts become a mainstream fashion statement, I guess it's retired...

Well, I didn't win.

...the Manolo essay contest. But that's OK. It was good practice for me to write the essay (300 words is NOT VERY LONG and requires lots of editing skills). Plus, it was worth me paying attention just to read the essay that came in second place. I loved it - it epitomizes the kind of writing I love, hope to do, and actually think I could do if I just got it together and tried a little harder.

In related news, I'm reading a new book that I loooove, purchased especially for me by my mother-in-law on her recent trip to the Culinary Institute of America. It's an anthology of the best food writing of 2005 - just a simple collection of essays. I've read some of them before (several are from Food & Wine), and some of them are better than others, of course, but overall, it's pretty fantastic. The short essays hold my attention for just the right amount of time, and the subject matter makes me constantly hungry, and influences my behavior in an embarrassingly direct way.

On Saturday, I read an essay about Murray's Cheese Shop. I then went to our cheese shop, Atwater's, and bought of a bunch of fancy cheese, some of which is so, um, fragrant that even I have a hard time eating it (it is delicious, but the musty, damp sock odor is tough).

Good food weekend, though. So at least I could drown my writerly sorrows in high-fat-content foods...

Look What I Got!!!

LC Shirt
Originally uploaded by Kit Pollard.

Impatient

Cooper's cousin Emily works at Hollister (she's in college) and told me last night that she got me one of the last Team LC shirts in her store.

She's supposed to drop it off to me today. CAN'T WAIT.

Word Verification

For the two or three of you who sometimes leave comments...I've turned on word verification. I know it's annoying - and I'm sorry about that - but it's less annoying than all of the comment spam I've been getting lately.

I can only imagine how bad the spam would be if I had more than 10 readers...

Reprise

Anyone who's trying to maintain a minimum level of interest in Harry Potter until the next book comes out - which feels like it won't be forever - should be reading this blog. I've linked to the author's HP analysis before. She has an amazing ability to pay attention to small details and to really back up her claims. English teacher's dream.

Recently, she's been poring through all of the HP books and has developed a list of "set-ups" - ideas, characters, and elements Rowling has introduced that will likely lead to "pay-offs" - new information - in the final book. Very interesting for anyone who's into the series - and especially impressive considering she has a real job and kids.

Hottttttt

I do not cruise for transvestites in my expensive sports car.

Very funny. I have a great deal of respect for this guy, despite the fact that he let a short, nameless woman convince him to buy a pair of leather pants. I'm glad he's sold them for over $100.

I actually also own a pair of leather pants. But I am a girl. And I have actually only worn them twice - both times during the fall of 2000 (that was my party girl phase). Unfortunately, even if I wanted to wear them these days (and they are still hanging in my closet), they are a size 4. I haven't been anything close to a size 4 since, well, the fall of 2000. I was so young then. Young and resilient. And thin.

Those days feel so long ago. At least I have the pants to remember them by.

One More Thing

HUGE congratulations to my brother, who spent the weekend in NYC, trying out for Jeopardy. He, along with only three others out of the pool of 50, made the show. Now we just need to keep our fingers crossed that he actually gets called up. He's on a list of about 600, about 400 of whom will be asked to be on the show over the course of the next year.

Obviously, the entire Waskom family is extremely excited and proud.

I will be back.

Sorry for the very, very light posting lately. I was crazy last week, preparing for our weekend guests and housewarming festivities (all a big success, no thanks to the weather). More on that later. And more on other things as well...but not until after I finish some work. I have a lot of "real work" to do between now and Wednesday, but hopefully I'll squeeze in a little bloggy time here and there...

And then I should be back to my regular, light, flexible schedule. So I can blog all I want.

Question about This Whole Harriet Miers Thing

How long will it be before someone suggests that Bush doesn't actually want Miers confirmed? That the nomination is all a Rovian plot to make Harry Reid feel "heard" by the administration? And that Bush's real nominee will be the next one - the one who comes after the public is tired of hearing about the confirmation process and just wants resolution?

Unbelievable.

I was a little sister of the Epsilon Iota chapter of Sigma Nu.

My brother sent me this link, with a note that said "an Onion article about the Sigma Nus at W&M." I thought he was making fun of my frat-boy hippie college friends. Then I read the article and I realized that, actually, the Onion staff is making fun of my frat-boy hippie college friends.

Ridiculous. And so, so true.

Blinking and Tipping

I haven't read any of Malcolm Gladwell's books. But I know I really ought to. For one thing, people who have read them keep telling me I should (including my Uncle Larry, just this past weekend). For another, every time I read something Gladwell has written, I'm impressed.

Like this New Yorker essay on the anatomy and social ramifications of the Ivy League admissions process.

Everyone who knows me also knows that I am kind of a school snob (kind of? I'm sure you're all saying) and that I am maybe over-proud of my own alma mater. So naturally, I read the article, assuming that the W&M admissions process is at least roughly similar to that of the Ivies (except, of course, that W&M has that pesky in-state requirement). After reading the article in its entirety, I think I'm right to think so.

Very interesting article, especially since I can't get enough of the subject. Unfortunately, my thoughts on it have jumped all over the place - they're not even close to coherent. So here they are, in no particular order.

1. Love it when social science and brand management intersect. More people outside of traditional marketing departments should think about what they're doing in terms of marketing. Wrote about it on the other (KPC) blog...here.

2. Reading this article on the heels of the one I just read (the review of Capote, which I posted about below) was especially interesting. I'd just noted that Capote and Harper Lee were friends, and wondered about the relationship between success and accident of who you know.

If Ivy admissions are all about admitting students who will become superstars after college, they must think about the fact that their superstars will help one another rise to the top just by the virtue of being friends - even if that help is intangible. This is undoubtedly true for Harvard - everyone knows that Tommy Lee Jones and Al Gore were roommates there. Along the same lines, my cousin John was Chris Moore's roommate there freshman year, and ended up investing in Good Will Hunting as a result. That type of thing happens all the time.

Gladwell gives this phenomenon short shrift, however. He posits that families encouraging their kids to attend Ivies are misguided in the belief that going to an Ivy (over another school) will result in those kids becoming superstars after college. (And he has some fairly convincing statistical evidence backing up his claim). The reason for this misguidance is in admissions: the philosophy of the Ivies (admitting those who are already poised to become stars) is in direct contrast to that of, say, the Marines (trusting that the environment will shape stars - or good Marines).

In all this discussion, though, he doesn't even mention the value of social networking at an Ivy. And I know that's got to fit in somewhere.

3. Definitely interesting to read about Harvard's alleged "happy bottom quarter" approach. Within my first few days at W&M, the president made a scary yet obvious speech to the incoming freshman, explaining that though 85 or 90% of the new freshman class had been in the top 20% of their class in high school, that type of relative success simply wasn't possible anymore. Never forgot that speech. It totally shaped the academic fear and misery that W&M loves to foster.

4. My parents were right that team sports are really important to include on college applications.

5. Finally, at the risk of sounding cocky (and it's not even a risk - it's a certainty), after reading this article, I started thinking that maybe I should've applied to Princeton. Part of the reason I didn't was because I knew who else was applying from my high school, and I knew they had (slightly) better grades and scores. However, I'm nearly certain I was more well-rounded...less dorky (and believe me, I was a dork. Just less so than some of the others.)

Then again, why go to Princeton? I had a great college experience, both socially and academically. And I'm not sure what would be different about my life right now if I'd gone to an Ivy. It's possible that I'd be in the exact same place: sitting in Baltimore, blogging instead of working, increasingly content without superstardom.

I guess I'll just always have to wonder...

Interesting

I didn't know that Truman Capote and Harper Lee were childhood friends. (I guess if I knew more about either one of them, I would have.)

Makes me think about how success happens. About the role of determination and ambition and actual talent vs. the accident of place or birth. I suppose that the fact that they found each other as children and stayed friends means they probably saw something genius in the other, and encouraged that. But maybe one of them was more genius, and the other wouldn't have done much if it weren't for the friendship.

And, of course, it makes me think of all of my friends, especially the doctors. Not that any of us is a Capote or a Lee (but maybe?)...but I have always thought that my grades in high school had a lot to do with having smart, driven friends.

Kitchen Confidential

As soon as I heard about this show, I thought, "I will love this." And then I totally forgot about it until I was flipping through the DirecTV guide last night. And once again, I thought, "I will love this."

And I should love it. I have got to be the EXACT target audience for it. I read the book, laughing out loud like a jackass for much of it. I develop crushes on male celebrity chefs (but not Rocco DiSpirito). I want to be a female celebrity chef (but NOT Rachel Ray). For whatever reason, life behind a stove actually seems glamorous to me.

So I watched it. And I...liked it. The acting is fine. The characters are straight out of the book. The jokes were pretty funny, for a sitcom. But I didn't looooove it.

Maybe it's because it was an early episode, so the cast is still gelling and the writers are still laying groundwork. Or maybe it's because it was on just after Arrested Development, which is written unlike any other show on TV. (Though I've read a few critics of yesterday's episode. Maybe it's because I don't watch it all the time, but I thought it was funny.)

Anyway, I will continue to try Kitchen Confidential, but I really hope it gets better. Or maybe I'll have to work on lowering my expectations.

I <3 Condi

Is it weird to have a girl crush on the Secretary of State? I hope not.

I know that I am a big IR geek (actually, that's not quite true. I went to college with a lot of big IR geeks. Comparatively, I know next to nothing about current foreign policy and international happenings. But I digress.)

Anyway, Condi spoke yesterday at Princeton's school of international affairs (to which I almost applied...but the application involved two brand new essays and I probably wouldn't have gotten in anyway). Tigerhawk describes the speech and links to the transcript here. Likemost other speeches that touch on turning democratic political ideals into reality, it gave me goose bumps.

She makes it clear that we are living in times of extraordinary potential. At the same time, she explains that we're not the first generation to be living in such times, and that the political climate our grandparents dealt with (the Depression, WWII, communism) was in many ways much bleaker than our own. Whenever I read things like that, I'm reminded that it is pretty remarkable that during the part of my lifetime when I could comprehend politics, I've seen the fall of communism throughout most of the world, plus the beginnings of what I believe will be a massive shift towards democracy in the middle east. Even China will most likely succumb entirely to capitalism in my lifetime.

The fact that all of these changes have happened in the last 15 years is unprecedented. Entire past generations lived without seeing a fraction of what we've experienced since I was a freshman in high school.

All of which, of course, is why I majored in international relations in the first place (good thing I have that degree to help me comprehend what I read on the internet...since that's about all I use it for).

Extraordinary times, indeed.