These Very Words Were Once Said to Me

"You know, Tawny, when you post something on the internet...anyone can read it."

Having not been previously privy to this information, you can image how surprised I was to find out.

studentbody

studentbody
Originally uploaded by tawnillia.

I was so hard core. What? Can't you tell?

I Loves Me Some Stage Makeup

My obsession with Cirque Du Soleil has become officially unhealthy. I am currently willing to go into a silly amount of debt to make it to the next performance within 500 miles. And DID YOU KNOW there is a DVD SERIES documenting the trials and tribulations of the performers as they perfect their backbends and handstands?!? I feel like I've found religion all over again, and this time, I intend to remain a devout follower.

katia

katia
Originally uploaded by tawnillia.

Fashion Shmashion

Last weekend Julie and I and our little baby of a clothing company, Armour sans Anguish, participated in a local fashion show. We had the loveliest of all lovely models and it went so well! The turnout was amazing and Julie and I almost cried with joy and exhaustion when we heard everyone clapping and cheering. Emily, the designer whose home this took place at and the creator of the label Filly, was so gracious and kind. It was an incredible boost to my confidence, and besides, I got to spend the weekend with pretty girls. A success.

Click on the picture of Katia for more shots taken by my Phil.

Lawd, I've Seen The Light

Wow, I mean, two minutes ago I was a total feminist, but these guys changed my mind. Whew! To think I almost turned out to be an empowered individual! Close call.

They made a statue of Us

14a
Originally uploaded by tawnillia.

And put it on a mountain top.

This One Is For The Haters

I love this woman's blog. She makes cool things and is witty and edgy. I mostly like her because she posts stuff about hate mail. So does Dooce and many other bloggers, seeing as blogging kind of opens you up to the hate, makes you susceptible to it, etc. I will admit that once, when I was a cyberspace novice, I posted "hate" mail on someone's comment board. It was really more like "exasperation" mail, but it made her VERY angry with me. If anyone else with half a brain would have read her nonsense about feminism being shitty because, after all, "men made things like washing machines and vacuums to cut down on the time women had to spend doing their god-given chores, therefore allowing women to WATCH MORE SOAP OPERAS" (I'm so not kidding) they would have written her a bit o' hatred too. I mostly just gave her links to historical sites concerning who actually invented these appliances and also to some reputable feminist scholarly work. She, I'm assuming, didn't read it.

I, on the other hand have read a particular piece of hate mail quite a few times. I had made the HUGE and apparently DEADLY mistake of emailing a group of former comrades a link to an article concerning a particular matter of concern. This matter of concern is definitely not some self-proclaimed area of expertise for me, I just find it interesting. When some responses refuting the article I had sent out began FLOWING in, I decided that before I wrote back, I would do more research. Thus, it took only 3 or 4 days before someone had decided that I was a coward and was never going to write back. The thing is, I'm married. I had a full-time job and was going to school at the time. My brother was sick. My husband's father was sick. I was busy. My life was not such that I could spend every evening playing video games and talking shit about people I don't really know, as this particular hater had the privilege of doing. Below is the email he sent me, a portion of it.

I was going to wait for you to respond to J's post, but it's clear that your "source" and I used that term loosely has been proven wrong, and you're not going to respond.

I look over your "source" and I wondered two things:

1) Who is this guy and why should I believe him?

2) Why is there no links, sources, or anything that remotely looks like evidence?

This is why I take everything you say with a BAG of salt. That's like the opposite of the scientific method.

1) I have a conclusion (Microsoft is an evil multi-national corp, with greedy executives)

2) I look for "evidence" to support my conclusion.

3) I dismiss all evidence no matter how factual that disagrees with me.

4) I tell the world that I'm right using my BS sources and if you disagree, you're probably racist, sexist, greedy, or something else bad.

Liberal Logic.....the anti-logic

J furnished you with a source, and gave you the insight of a business owner........but he disagrees with you, so he must be wrong........don't you go to College. I think he meant to put a question mark here.

Maybe you need to grow up a little. I have had many political talks with J and when I'm wrong, I admit it, and he does the same. And at no time do we get so butt hurt that we avoid each other.

To paraphrase from your BLOG:

How many political discussion have you got in and had your feelings hurt: To many to count.

How many people don't get to hang out with your husband anymore because of their political views: At least 3 from my count.

I found your blog and it's cute, but maybe you should be honest with yourself.

I guess that is a good way to be right in your own mind all the time.......Divorce and or push away people if they don't think the same way you do.

The End.

Yeah, he must be right. I mean, don't you all seek scientific journals as conversation starters in your circle of friends? The truth is, I had about 16 or 17 "sources" with this matter of concern in it. I chose one, literally at random. This is a mistake when the male version of Ann Coulter is on the other end of your email. The funniest thing, at least to me, is that I honestly don't know this person well enough to write a huge email about the nature of their evilness. Why he thought he knew me that well has been explained to me (a little bird used him as a complaints-about-Tawny receptor), but seeing as he GOES TO COLLEGE (which is the ultimate test of intellectual rigor, obviously) he should've known, heresy isn't reliable. Especially when the little bird is a drama queen. If he had waited a few more days (after I had had a meeting with a professor whose specialty is this certain matter of concern, done more of my own research, and found someone who could decipher the ambiguous "source" that had been sent to me by J), he would have gotten a lengthy response. The moral of this story? This is what an adult would have written:

Hey Tawny, I was waiting for your response to J's email. Were you going to respond?

See? Now, wasn't that easy? that's what grown-ups do, they wait patiently and don't flip out because they have nothing better to do with themselves.

Why write about this almost 1 year after the acquisition of this email o' hate? Its cheaper than therapy and easier on the eyes than actually looking at the hater.

You are LaFawnduh. Why are you so sweaty?


Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
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Living Life W.C.

For three days Phil and I had no computer. Put simply, we were living life W.C. (without computer). After we realized that it had gotten sick, Phil took it to the doctor. The next passage is an actual adult conversation taking place between two childless grown-ups.

T: SO?!? What did the doctor say???
P: *sigh* It's too soon to tell.
T: Oh My God! I hope everything is OK!!
P: All we can do is hope. Hope and Pray.

Apart from the praying business, that's pretty much accurate. I didn't realize that living W.C. would be so terrifying. I had no idea what Dooce's baby Leta was up to. I had to look out of the window to check the weather. I had to HAND WRITE a paper for my Auto Ethnography class (don't ask, I thought I was signing up for "Topics In Ethnography"). Because our computer is also our DVD player, I had THREE DAYS without Kiefer Southerland in 24. I'm amazed we survived what with all the free time spent on actual conversation and midday shagging.

yummy husband man

DSC_7449
Originally uploaded by graphics84.

This is Phil.

I know! I know!

If there were some way we could persuade the entire Iraqi population to go on life support or do really convincing fetus imitations, they would ALL BE SAVED!!! Welfare mom? Get a feeding tube! Instead of whining about your desire to raise your kids at home, the Right will not only feed you when you're hungry, they'll feed you when you're not!