xxii

Myrtle rainbow! (at North Myrtle Beach)

Sun, 05 May 2013 18:00:47 -0400

Myrtle rainbow! (at North Myrtle Beach)

<a href=”http://tylerlyle.bandcamp.com/track/when-i-say-that-i-love-you”...

Wed, 01 May 2013 22:03:01 -0400

<a href=”http://tylerlyle.bandcamp.com/track/when-i-say-that-i-love-you” data-mce-href=”http://tylerlyle.bandcamp.com/track/when-i-say-that-i-love-you”>When I Say That I Love You… by Tyler Lyle</a>

Before hello, sometimes goodbye.

A heat map of apartment prices in Washington, DC. On a more...

Wed, 01 May 2013 15:23:00 -0400

A heat map of apartment prices in Washington, DC.

On a more positive note, a comprehensive map of DC’s rooftop bars.

Yesterday I got a flat tire. I didn’t get it from driving over a nail or from a leak in my...

Wed, 01 May 2013 01:21:00 -0400

Yesterday I got a flat tire.

I didn’t get it from driving over a nail or from a leak in my “valve stem” (apparently one of the top five causes of flat tires). No miscreants showed up in the dead of night and let the air out of my wheels.

Nope – I pulled in too close to the curb and scraped up against its corner, ripping a horizontal slit in my tire wall about a third of the length of my index finger.

In the hours that followed, I was utterly useless. I didn’t know if I had a spare. (I didn’t.) I didn’t know how to use the little…temporary-inflation-sealant kit that I didn’t know had been in my trunk this whole time. I didn’t know who to call to find the tire I needed, or how to install it, or how much it should cost. Oh, and all this happened because I couldn’t park my car.

I was depressed, and for a while I couldn’t figure out why. It wasn’t because my car was out of action – the damage wouldn’t be prohibitively expensive, no one was hurt and I could live without my car for half a day. Why did I feel like such a failure?

Then I realized it was because I felt like a bad woman. Like: If I’m supposed to be all independent and self-reliant, why am I still pouting and peering while my male friends inspect the tire I punctured with a bad parking job? Shouldn’t I be rolling up my sleeves and being all, I’ve got this? Do I need to turn in one of my feminist cards now?

It was then that I came to realize society has created two ideals for women to emulate. The first is a familiar adversary: the Victoria’s Secret model, perennially pretty, able to cook, clean, sew. Over time, being a strong woman has increasingly meant steering away from her: “I am no Rachael Ray! I keep sweaters in my stove!”

But there’s another “ideal woman” out there: in movies, on TV, in ads. She’s more cunning, but equally harmful and with the same roots. She’s the “strong, independent woman,” who pulls up in her motorcycle to rock music, shoots a gun with perfect aim, drinks everyone under the table – oh, and changes a tire without a man’s help.

It’s as if women are now being pulled in two directions. In one direction is the “traditional, home-keeping woman,” which means chilling out in the kitchen. In the other direction is “strong woman,” which means holding your own at the pool table and being able to, I don’t know, kick box. (RAWR MANLY THINGS!) (God forbid they get TOO manly and start doing things like roller derby or playing rugby, because that’s like, lesbian-y and weird.)

The “ideal strong woman” is insidious because it’s easy to be a feminist and reject the former. It’s harder to be a feminist and reject the idea that you should never let a man do anything for you. That’s why I felt like a bad feminist when I had to stand aside looking confused as hell while my tire gradually took on the appearance of a used balloon.

I talked to a friend about it today and she said this: “Being a strong woman isn’t about how you perform these individual tasks. It’s about how you bring yourself to the world.” That resonated with me. Being a feminist doesn’t mean ensuring I know how to perform every task out there traditionally performed by a man. It doesn’t mean rejecting my boyfriend’s help with fixing my car because that help makes me inferior. It just means embracing who I am (a lightweight, afraid of guns and terrible at pool) and expecting equal treatment for that.

Sure, now that I’m driving by myself more often, I should probably learn how to change a tire. But so should lots of men that probably know as little about it as I do. And hey, I know a whole lot about other things. So I’ll hold on to that feminist card for now.

My favorite work from four years at the Chronicle.

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:29:57 -0400

Senior Slideshow: Melissa Yeo - Images by Duke Student Publishing Co. Duke Chronicle

"“In a way I’m fortunate to have dug deep into something at Duke that sits so close to my..."

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:40:00 -0400

“

“In a way I’m fortunate to have dug deep into something at Duke that sits so close to my heart. Sure, many mornings have seen me hunched over the paper, rubbing my temples and asking “Why?!” (or “REALLY?!”)

But that’s only because I spent two years caring more about this newspaper than my grades, health or social life. There’s value in investing yourself in something that doesn’t always make you feel successful or proud, but always makes you feel like you’re an irrevocable part of it—something a lot of us would say about Duke.”

”

- Sign that it’s time to graduate, no. 2837: my senior column has landed.

daydreamingcatfish: In a deli on Flickr. Via Flickr: A 1/15...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 12:10:37 -0400

daydreamingcatfish:

In a deli on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
A 1/15 shot with a camera shake. Shame on me. I need to learn to take a deep breath and use 3 seconds to swiftly change the ISO.

This whole area looks so delicious. I’ve only tried one restaurant out of hundreds - must come back!

I had lunch at this deli while in London!

staff: It’s been almost a year since our first sponsored post...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:53:02 -0400

staff:

It’s been almost a year since our first sponsored post appeared in Tumblr Radar. Since then, our fashion, entertainment, and brand partners have created some truly delightful blogs and racked up tens of millions notes on their posts.

We’re incredibly proud of our partners’ creativity and have been constantly amazed by how well these creations can fit into our Dashboards. So today we’re bringing these posts over to our mobile apps.

It works very simply: Every now and then you’ll see posts from our partners as you scroll through your mobile Dashboard.

So, basically: “We’re going to start running mobile ads now, because every brand and its grandma has figured out that mobile is a great way to monetize, and we need more money.”

Don’t couch your attempts at opening new revenue streams with wobbly claims of bringing users a better experience. It’s unbecoming.

Sitting.

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 01:04:07 -0400

When I took this picture I was sitting in the gardens, slightly after 4 a.m. Light-headed and light-hearted from two glasses of champagne, the presence of good conversation and the knowledge that in just a few weeks, I will no longer call Duke my home.

I was with three of my closest friends – people who know everything about me and who I want in my life forever. For the first time in awhile, we were sitting and talking with no end goal in mind. There was no class in half an hour, no meeting to rush off to; we weren’t waiting for a cab, or for a movie to start.

We were just sitting – sitting in our problems, instead of pushing them aside or pretending they were insignificant. Sitting in our contentment, instead of equating it to complacency or worrying about whether we’d be more content elsewhere.

When I look back on my senior year, this is one of the moments I’ll want to remember most. There’s so much pressure at Duke to be at the best parties and in the best pictures. Everyone forgets that parties and pictures are just shells for what matters most.

While at Duke, I’ve done a lot of running: to class; to the Chronicle office; to the middle of basketball courts, camera in hand, throngs of reveling Maryland fans at my back. All the memories associated with those things have their own meaning to me. What I haven’t done enough is sit: sit and let myself laugh, cry, listen, confess, be still and connected to wherever I am.

"Even when advertising demonstrably works and is highly cost effective, people in finance and in the..."

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 23:48:46 -0400

“Even when advertising demonstrably works and is highly cost effective, people in finance and in the boards of companies don’t seem to like it very much. Since they have a mental model of the world in which everyone has perfect information, they have of course constructed in their heads a vision of the world in which marketing shouldn’t exist.”

- Rory Sutherland

(via Chicago Tribune Honors Boston With Amazing Tribute From One...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:42:34 -0400

(via Chicago Tribune Honors Boston With Amazing Tribute From One Great Sports Town to Another | Adweek)

The Hell of American Daycare

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:00:16 -0400

The Hell of American Daycare:

An investigation into the barely regulated, unsafe business of looking after our children.

In 2011, the median annual salary for a child care worker was $19,430, less than a parking lot attendant or a janitor.

On a day like today, I think everyone can spare 80 seconds for...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:47:23 -0400

On a day like today, I think everyone can spare 80 seconds for this.

"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of..."

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:16:00 -0400

“If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.”

- Hermann Hesse

Photo

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 22:08:16 -0400

Durham's top ten

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 21:38:54 -0400

I’m helping my friend Alex – who was a foodie before foodies were a thing – put together a list of Durham’s top ten places to eat and drink. I thought I’d share it here, in case anyone has plans to swing by the Bull City.

Mateo $$ / tapas, drinks
Toast $ / sandwiches
Nana’s $$$ / new American
Fullsteam $$ / brewery
Mami Nora’s $ / Peruvian chicken
Sam’s Quik Shop $$ / beer and wine
Toro Pizzeria $$ / pizza
Rue Cler $$ / French
Geer Street Garden $$ / new American
Gregoria’s Kitchen $$ / Cuban

Ira Glass.

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:33:17 -0400

Ira Glass.

Photo

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:48:36 -0400

at Nasher Museum Cafe

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 15:48:34 -0400

at Nasher Museum Cafe

theartofanimation: Maja Wrońska

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:15:02 -0400

theartofanimation:

Maja Wrońska