Presents for Me!!

[alyrthia]

I got two fantastic presents in the last 24 hours. One was a very ravishing and very hip scarf sewn in two pieces--light-weight, and wide, from Ms_Banazira. She said it was for me in my hippiness. I love it because accessories are so uplifting, and she knows it. I needed the lift. I am appropriately uplifted.

Second. Another friend, ratcityres, who knows I am

Comments

[mechtild]

I love it because accessories are so uplifting

Ha ha! I had never thought of that, not being an accessories wearer, but I remember in studying costuming, accessories were huge, providing so many vital clues to the personality, taste, status and mood of the wearer. "It's all in the details", one of them said.

I haven't heard of Dan Savage, Alyon, I'm so out of it. But I'll notice when I see his name again, now that you have raved about him. :)

[alyrthia]

I'm not any sort of organized accessory wearer, either. But a bit of color or a dash of something unusual --that I like in an outfit. Usually with scarves they either slip off of me or choke me. This is nice and wide and light --not bulky, and yet substantial coverage. It works for me.

As to Dan Savage, I recomend you check his books out of the library--I've read his Savage Love column for years, but fell in love after reading his books (and in many book reviews I've seen people say the same--they get kind of obsessed with him after they read his books, just like me). My first rec would be The Commitment, which chronicals the year leading up to his and his boyfriend's 10th anniversary. They ponder marriage--both with reservations. The boyfriend doesn't want to act like straight people. Dan doesn't want the jinx. His Catholic mother is really lobbying very hard for it. And yet their 6 year old son is against it (doesn't believe boys should marry boys). It's extremely entertaining, and yet profound-- well researched and well argued--

[mechtild]

Well, you've done a great infomercial on him, Alyon.

This made me laugh:

He also is asked to speak at universities to answer questions about sex--he says that since abstinance-only sex ed, kids going into college are often clueless

I always think of northern Minnesota as pretty backwards, but kids here (judging my daughter's tales and the reports of my acquaintance working in the schools as paras or teachers) know quite a lot about sex and sex acts, from pretty early on. In spite of it not being taught in public schools the way it was, kids here learn all about sex, and get whatever practice they can get, a lot earlier than the students where Dan Savage has been speaking. Must be the cold weather. ;)

[alyrthia]

That's funny!! Dan says kids are having sex a lot--but a good proportion just don't know what they are doing or really how to treat one another. For instance a study just came out that a high number kids who want to stay virgins are having anal sex, to, you know, preserve their virginity. Which is pretty weird logic. And while they don't get pregnant that way, they also are often unaware that they still need to protect themselves against STDs. That was one example he rails at. He gets letters from young people who have been having sex, but lack some basic knowledge about contraception and protection that we all learned about long ago. I believe one study showed abstinance only educated kids having a higher rate of pregnancy (but I'll need to look that up).

If you can take a dose of The Stranger (warning--language and flipness), you can check out this recent column in which the studies are addressed between letters. http://www.thestranger.com/