Why I don’t have a problem with ‘Shit Girls Say’

As a feminist, I’ve had a lot of people ask me what I think about ‘Shit Girls Say.’

“How do we feel about this?” a fellow leader of the feminist discussion group on campus asked me in an email, attaching the link to the dreaded girl video.

When I first saw the title of the video and that it was a man dressed in drag for humor purposes, the eyes rolled into the back of my head. Not. Again., I thought to myself. My short answer has been that I think it’s funny. On a gut level, I didn’t have a problem with the video, unlike others online. But I didn’t feel like I could explain why. Let me take a whack at it:

The humor in SGS comes from the stereotype of middle/upper-middle class white women speak. As it is shown in the video, white girl talk is equivocating, overly polite, circular, and soft. So, it isn’t so much that SGS is making fun of the words rather than the tone by which it is delivered. This is a distinction I feel I need to make before proceeding to defend its honor.

While the response Shit Girls Say Tumblr, providing thought-provoking quotes all by women, is a quip I can appreciate, it totally misses the boat, and here’s why: SGS is not about the content, it’s about the delivery. SGS isn’t suggesting that women can’t put together thoughtful, intellectual statements. Instead, SGS is poking fun at the way white women punctuate and deliver their language. I think this is best captured in Episode 1, when the girl concurrently says, “could you, like, turn it up a little bit?” and “could you like turn it down, a little bit?”

We need to be able to laugh at ourselves. There’s no harm in SGS, and we poke fun of white men in the same way, via countless ‘bro’ culture videos, etc. Criticism for criticism’s sake gets us nowhere and detracts from the issues that are really at hand, pervasive, institutional patriarchy that I’m just not seeing in SGS.

… I know, right?!

Feminism: A Love Story

I want to tell you a love story. It happened when Jessie met feminism.

I’d like to start this love story by telling you that I love stories. My mom told stories to my brother and me constantly when we were little. Though the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” held less bearing to a 4-year-old boy and 6-year-old girl than watching the Death Star explode on VHS, the stories she told us, despite their lack of mythical creatures and explosions, still stuck with me.

One of my favorite stories was “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” This one’s about an emperor whose tailors sew him a suit made of fabric they claim is invisible to anyone unfit for their position or “just hopelessly stupid.” Instead, they simply pretend to dress the emperor and really give him no clothes at all. The emperor, in fear of seeming unfit for his position, pretends he can see the clothes and so do his ministers. Though a child blurts out the emperor is wearing no clothes, he continues to parade the streets in his trousers for the ironic fear of seeming hopelessly stupid. What a silly story. I never forgot that one.

So let’s fast forward a little bit, in my story, not the emperor’s. Most people who know me know that I identify as feminist.  I wear it like a badge of honor in a world that constantly belittles its cultural significance. But I wasn’t always this way.

Before I considered myself feminist, I didn’t want to believe in what I considered excuses. I wanted to be a strong person without using the “limitation” of cultural gender oppression as a crutch. I didn’t want to complain; I wanted my successes to speak for themselves. I muted the ‘knock, knock’ feeling that I was insufficient to just try harder, and chalked up my insecurities to just being a teenager.

But the knocking grew louder. I started to see patterns, and I started to get angry. There was a reason I felt so uncomfortable in my own skin: I was reaching for an unattainable ideal. So were my friends. And much of it was rooted in gender.

When I started counting the double standards I saw placed on women daily, I was pissed. Why does she “get around” and he is a player? Why does she have PMS, but he’s just angry?

And these gendered expectations are certainly not limited to women. Why do young men feel the need to be six-feet tall and have the ability to grow a full beard when they’re only 16? And God forbid they can’t bench press 250.

We live in a culture of varied and interacting forces carefully cultivated to make us feel like crap.

When I watch the news, read the paper, watch TV or sit in a classroom, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” is always in the back of my head. My mom wanted my brother and me to grow up to be the kids who blurt out that the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes.

That’s what feminism means to me: having the courage to stand up and point out what no one else is saying and having the tools to decipher what needs to be said. Sometimes it’s as simple as saying to the emperor, “Dude, you’re not wearing any clothes.” Sometimes it’s gathering the bravery and articulation to explain to someone why what they’re saying is bigoted, even if it’s not meant to be that way.

So from depression to anger to action, my idea of gender and my growing affinity for feminist thought ultimately brought me to UP’s Feminist Discussion Group. This weekly gathering of thoughtful humans meets to discuss policies, images, words and news items that are working against us by either discrimination, stereotyping or any other perpetual form of oppression.

If you’d like to discuss these issues, join our mailing list by emailing me and come to our meetings on Mondays at 6 p.m. We’d love to have you.

People just don’t fall in love like Mimi and Rodolfo anymore, do they?

Blog universe, how I’ve forsaken you. I apologize and intend to begin self publishing semi-regularly once again. If anyone cares… Maybe someone cares a little bit?

Today I was inspired to write a little somethin’ by none other than Puccini. I guess that means it takes a lot for me to be inspired while on summer vacation, doesn’t it? It’s gotta be one of the greatest composers of all time AND my favorite opera to do the trick. Nonetheless, it happened. Here is my rave, my rant, my desperate plea to share an art form that so many my age have yet to discover.

I arrived to the corporate hell hole and place of summer employment that is Jamba Juice this morning at 8 a.m., only to find out that my shift was cut. Over-scheduling isn’t something I usually cherish, but for this day in particular, something about it felt right. So, so right.

I got home, settled in with some loose cotton and strawberry yogurt, and began searching the web. I somehow began looking at movie times, where I found and was reminded of the MET Summer Encore series that is at a movie theater NEAR YOU, yes YOU! When I saw that a local theater was showing La Boheme at 10 a.m., I was there faster than you can say Mango-a-g0-g0.

I don’t want to sound like a walking billboard, but screw it: it was awesome!

First of all, it’s the effing Metropolitan Opera. So the singers, the conductors, the directors, the sets are all top of the line. I got to show up to an opera in my American Apparel hoodie and flip flops. I was able to see EXPRESSIONS without the use of binoculars. I sobbed my way through “Che Gelida Manina” with no one in the four chairs on either side of me, in peace and total non-embarassment.

Opera as cinema somehow worked. It was ceremonious, theatrical, consuming and awe-inspiring. Everything an opera should be, just on a smaller scale.

Ticket: $18 – but I got in paying $7.50 by using my AMC gold ticket that I bought in two packs from Costco, which was an unplanned smart move. Look into it.

Duration: 4 acts, 130 minutes

The Met filmed the performance I saw in April of 2008. Franco Zeffirelli directs, Angela Gheorghiu sings Mimì, and tenor Ramón Vargas plays her lover, Rodolfo. Nicola Luisotti conducts. Each of them spectacular. I need to watch more opera before I feel comfortable truly reviewing their performances.

Now, why does opera constantly inspire me to put my words out into the blogosphere? Because of experiences like buying my ticket at the theater today.

When I went up and asked the box office worker, a girl almost exactly my age, for one ticket to see La Boheme, she looked at me blankly. I had to explain to her that La Boheme was an opera, the MET opera film. She didn’t even know it was the name of an opera, or the opera at her theater (that she could probably be watching for free)!!!

It’s ridiculous that something so, so beautiful can be so completely ignored by the general public and worse, stigmatized as it is today.

So dammit, don’t see the latest Katherine Heigl romantic comedy flop. Go see something that’s true and real and beautiful.

The anatomy of a “Gleek”: who really watches “Glee”?

Coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) and Mr. Shuester (Matthew Morrison). Courtesy of www.thepostgameshow.com

I do.

A “Gleek” myself, I am consistently shocked at the amount of people who aren’t watching “Glee.” That is, until I realized that “Glee” is a very polarizing show.

Like “Cheerios” coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), “Glee” is in your face, over-the-top and outrageous. Watching an episode requires suspense of disbelief and a propensity to enjoy show-tune(y) covers of popular, contemporary music. Which, let’s face it, isn’t everyone.

While watching the first comeback episode last week and nearly peeing my pants when Jonathan Groff and later Idina Menzel came on the screen, I realized what “Glee” is. Porn for musical nerds. It totally, completely is.

“Glee” gives us what we want and then rips it right back away, leaving us drooling for more. For instance, letting Rachel (Lea Michele) and Finn (Cory Monteith) be together for, oh say, about 15 minutes and then RIPPING THEM APART once again! Jesse (Jonathan Groff) soon saunters in with his gorgeous stare and his hairdo (which I admit, though a bit ridiculous, sort of, kind of, drives me wild).

That’s right, I’M ON TO YOU, “GLEE” EXECS!

Then we have Mr. Shuester (Matthew Morrison) who lives up to all our husband fantasies, as perfect as he is. Though much of it is the crushes we develop on the perfectly concocted male leads, “Glee” is not just a hormone-feeding machine.

I can’t talk about “Glee” without, at least, giving a hats off to Jane Lynch. This woman is incredible. I would challenge anyone to try to find one moment when Jane Lynch is looking at a camera in any show, movie or commercial, and not being completely hilarious. She is wildly inappropriate and totally ridiculous yet somehow manages to bring subtle humor to her character.

Well hello there, Finn (Cory Monteith). Glee poster (2009).

There are no weak spots to pick on in the show overall. There aren’t any holes in the plot, nor are there any characters that weaken or don’t add to the show’s punch. School faculty and students that could be innocuous or dull somehow always manage to blow us away.

Now, as promised, the kind of person that likes “Glee”:

1. Likes to fantasize about a relationship (that could definitely happen) with Finn, not Cory Monteith, Finn. (yes, we know he’s a fictional character). For many, the fantasy love life now includes a brief (or not so brief) interlude with Jesse, the bad boy who will break your heart. Finn will definitely be there to save you.
2. Is convinced that he or she is meant to play a very specific, very pivotal role in a Broadway musical. I am Maureen from RENT. Case in point.
3. Has spent countless hours in his or her car (alone or accompanied by equally as geeky friends) singing along to all, some, few or one of the following musical soundtracks, more often the O.B.C. (Original Broadway Cast, of course) version CD: Legally Blonde the Musical, Wicked, RENT, In the Heights, Spring Awakening, Les Miserables, Evita, West Side Story, Sound of Music, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat, South Pacific, Phantom of the Opera,  Hairspray and so on and so forth. (Really, it could take me all day.)
4. Would, if they had the talent, been apart of every high school activity related to singing, dancing and/ or tomfoolery.
5. Is or was a relatively minor part of their high school. “Gleeks” are not necessarily from the bottom of the barrel, nor were they the cream of the crop of their high school. Most of them felt like they got by being mostly unnoticed and had less of the “shining moments” that the “Gleeks” have in the privacy of their studio. Hopefully, most of them didn’t get “slurpies” thrown in their face on the daily.
6. May or may not have had a viewing party at their house for one or more of the High School Musicals, or maybe, also Camp Rock.
7. Remembers very clearly their first or favorite stage musical, and hopes to someday see something that surpasses its glory. For some, this happened at Spring Awakening; and they now can relive this moment weekly, watching both Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff in their living rooms.

I think, for many of us, the show (like High School Musical) provides not only perfect weekly entertainment for a people who love musicals, choreographed dance and Cory Monteith, but also something that hits close to home. The glee kids at McKinely High are like we were, and still are today. They’re relatable and as talented as we wish we could be. Also, who doesn’t love Lea Michelle?

Glee will be running until June this summer on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. following American Idol on Fox. Tune in, but brace yourself.

Blog ya later,

J – Slice

Cast of Glee. Courtesy of www3.timeoutny.com.

‘Trouble in Tahiti’ opera showcases students, innovation

It’s not every day that while backstage at the Newmark Theatre in downtown Portland, you literally run into Jeffrey G. Beruan donning eyeliner and red flames painted on his chest, in costume as Plutone, before an opera by Monteverdi.

Nonetheless, on Friday, I spent my evening at the Newmark blogging with two college students and one professor for the patrons and staff of the Portland Opera.

After working with Claudie Fisher, 2002 UP alumna and public relations and marketing coordinator for the Portland Opera, on reviewing some operas and musical theater touring shows, the Portland Opera asked me to blog for the opening night of “Trouble in Tahiti.”

The production of “Trouble in Tahiti” was a Studio Artist performance, meaning that many of the performers were straight from the conservatory or other students of opera.

“Many of them have never had opera roles before, and this allows them to get experience that they can put on their resume,” said Julia Sheridan, publicity and publications manager of the Portland Opera.

The opera on Friday was a triple bill. There were two acts by Monteverdi, “Il Ballo Delle Ingrate” (The Dance of the Ungrateful Women) and “Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda” (The Battle of Tancredi and Clorinda). After intermission, the cast performed Leonardo Bernstein’s “Trouble in Tahiti.”

While the Monteverdi acts were written in 1600, Bernstein’s piece was composed in 1952. Though it doesn’t seem to make much sense to push the two operas together, the Portland Opera welded the two operas into a cohesive performance.

The first act, “Il Ballo Delle Ingrate,” began with Venus (Daryl Freedman) and her son Cupid (Jennifer Forni), whose arrows were no longer making people fall in love. Cupid and Venus decide that they must find Pluto (Beruan) and ask him to release the ungrateful dead so that the human race can see the consequence of their sinful, unappreciative living.

Like “Trouble in Tahiti,” the Monteverdi acts were mostly set in the 1950s. While Venus wore a golden toga, Cupid wore a red zoot suit. While the costumes varied, both productions took place on the same descending white platform, ending in a large arch. A projection screen was also used in both productions.

While speaking with the stage director Nic Muni, he told us about the both history behind the Monteverdi and Bernstein pieces and the production that the Portland Opera created.

“It’s a very circular discussion creating a production,” Muni said. “You start out with just throwing some ideas on the table, and then you start to sift through and start to focus on which of the ideas you really feel are central to the piece, both on visual terms and conceptual terms.”

Monteverdi is considered to have created opera with his first in 1607, L’Orfeo.

“(Monteverdi) had to invent certain ways of notating,” Muni said. “A diminuendo, for example, no one had ever notated that sign in music.”

Before it was referred to as a diminuendo and had its own symbol, Monteverdi would refer to a note getting gradually softer by tying two half notes together. He would write forte over the first and piano over the second, and this would create the decrease in sound.

Bernstein was also notable for his innovation. Most famous for his musical, “West Side Story,” Bernstein is referred to by many as the first great American composer. His opera, “Trouble in Tahiti” has an English libretto and themes that are entirely American.

In fusing the two operas together, each character that is introduced in the Monteverdi pieces continues on to the Bernstein piece as a silent member of the stage.

So, housewife Dinah (Daryl Freedman) and husband Sam (Jose Rubio) each have affairs with Pluto and Venus, instead of the originally written affair with Sam’s secretary, Miss Brown.

“This is really a world premiere in terms of these three pieces occurring on the same evening in the same production,” Muni said. “And so we’re all, I think, very curious to see how it will work.”

It was inspiring to see two revolutionary works revolutionized, in a sense, with upcoming performers who are still learning all the tricks of their trade. Ultimately, blogging for the Portland Opera was incredible learning opportunity that I’d be more than happy to do again (and again).

My blog can be reached at www.jessiereads.wordpress.com and The Beacon’s blog is at www.upbeaconstaff.wordpress.com. For more information regarding the Portland Opera, go to www.portlandopera.org.

Post-opera thoughts

As one of my fellow bloggers said, “This is like a marathon!”

Blogging in 25 minute spurts is pretty demanding, but I’m giving it my best shot! The Bernstein piece was very cool. I’ve never seen contemporary opera or anything close to Trouble in Tahiti.

In it, there was a trio of “suburban” singers, who forcefully recommended the joys of suburbia to the protagonists. The characters from the Monteverdi acts were also part of the Bernstein piece. This one wasn’t exactly an upper, but it was gorgeous, sensual and an English major’s wet dream.

Courtesy of Cory Weaver/ Portland Opera

Let me explain further. This Bernstein act along with the Monteverdi ones was filled with symbolism. As the characters travel through time, the concept of love develops. Plutone and Venere (Pluto and Venus) continued into the 1950s, where they were still major players in the developments.

Rich with dichotomy, the Bernstein and Monteverdi pieces truly did work together. They taught a lesson.

Bernstein also wrote West Side Story and several other critically acclaimed operas. Like Monteverdi, he is recognized for his innovation, referred to as the “first great American composer.”

All in all, a solid evening. Much better than this Tuesday, which I spent watching Cats.

At the intermission

Wow. I would say that I’m speechless, but that wouldn’t make me a very good blogger, would it?

We just saw the Monteverdi acts, which were written around 1600. According to Muni, Monteverdi was one of the first if not the very first person to compose opera. You could definitely hear it in the music as well. I’m not sure if it was just my untrained ears, but it seemed like the aria and recitative were more fluid than in more recent operas.

The transition between acts was fluid. One of the lost souls from the first act became the narrator for the next.

Much of the music for this opera was played on the harpsichord, which we saw in our backstage tour. The harpsichord being used was made locally.

It was gorgeous. Very slow and simple, but this opera was beautiful. It was not just the music, though, it was also the visuals. The stage used a projector, which is the first I’ve ever seen in an opera production. Spencer, my photographer, noticed Ground Zero in the projections during the battle sequence of the second act. We confirmed with the stage director that Ground Zero, among other pictures of destruction, were in the background.

I’m really liking the “student” aspect of this performance. I always enjoy understudy and student performances because it’s usually ver apparent that the performers are both giving their all and trying to prove themselves, which proves for an interesting and inspired performance.

Before the opera, blogging

After arriving at around 6:00, we begun our whirlwind tour of the Newmark Theatre backstage. This particular performance is a Studio Artist production, that accepts performers from different conservatories and training programs for opera performers.

Because many (I think all) of us are relatively unfamiliar with opera, the tour was a 101 crash-course in the backstage operations that it takes to run a smaller opera. We were able to see the backstage and we actually ran into “Pluto” while backstage, who will be a part of the Monteverdi acts.

The backstage was surprisingly small, there was barely room for the seven of us on the tour to walk through without running into the lighting on the sides of the stage. For this size production, there are only four or five backstage hands rather than the 30 to 40 that it takes to run a show in the Keller Auditorium.

The benefits? At this theater, every seat is no more than 65 feet away from the stage.

We just finished meeting the stage director, Nic Muni, and receiving our backstage tour Laura Hassell, director of production for the Portland Opera.

Each of them were extremely helpful in giving us an idea of what has gone into making this opera. While Hassell’s main domain is the technical aspect of making the show happen, Muni has been working on the conceptual aspect of this production for a year now.

According to Muni, the two Monteverdi acts that we will see tonight have never been performed together; and the Portland Opera has pulled elements from each of the works in order for them to relate to both each other and the Portland Opera season, Love & Marriage. Interestingly, Muni and others made their own arrangement for this evening. Muni is anxious to hear what others think about how they have arranged it.

I’d like to thank Spencer Degerstedt, my friend and official photographer today for making others and me nervous by snapping shots when we least expect it and also covering the backstage tour/ conversations.

Pre-blogging jitters for Portland Opera’s “Student Blogger Night”

This evening, I’m one of four college bloggers for the Portland Opera’s opening night of “Trouble in Tahiti” by composer Leonard Bernstein. I am absolutely, unequivocally excited.

I’ll be blogging on my personal blog (here), my college newspaper’s blog and posting on my Facebook page.

First, we’re scheduled to arrive and receive a backstage tour with other college bloggers. Next, we meet with stage director Nic Muni and subsequently blog, before the show begins. The show starts at 7:30, and we will then blog both at intermission and after the show ends.

This production of Trouble in Tahiti is a Studio Artist production. So the bloggers (as well as the performers?) are students. As far as I’m concerned, all of us will be trying to do the same thing: impress the hell out of those professionals. Key word, trying.

Courtesy of Cory Weaver/ Portland Opera

All blogging will take place in the lobby of the Newmark Theatre in downtown Portland at 1111 SW Broadway (at Main Street), where the show will take place.

Now, a bit of background on the opera itself, for me and for you. The fabulous Alexis Hamilton, director of education and outreach for the Portland Opera, provides all the information you need for a Portland Opera production. Her study guides are on the Portland Opera website and here.

Composed by Leonardo Bernstein, who some refer to as “the first great American composer,” this opera is not one of the most famous in existence; but it is certainly recognized for its innovation and purely American aim.

Composed in 1952, Trouble in Tahiti advertises “the charms of family life” and the cult of domesticity. My guess is that the Portland Opera will have a similar take on this opera as they did with Cosi Fan Tutte. Mozart wrote Cosi , and the Portland Opera used a production with a 1950s setting to make the questionable (sexist) assertions about women a little more tongue-in-cheek.

From what it seems, Bernstein’s opera gives a good deal of sympathy to Dina, the housewife of the opera. Unlike Mozart’s assertion that “Women are All Like That” in Cosi, Bernstein’s opera further investigates the plight of the housewife and her abused emotions.

As well as Trouble in Tahiti, there are two other acts Il ballo delle ingrate (The Dance of the Ungrateful Women) and Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda by Claudio Monteverdi.

Blog ya later.