Dodging shoes? Surely a bit better than dodging bullets.

I don’t know, geez, I felt a little sorry for George Bush. For about a nano-second.

Dodging shoes? Not so much fun as you close down your faux-presidency.

But I guess it’s a helluva lot more fun than dodging bullets without a Kevlar vest and getting up close and personal with a roadside bomb while riding in under-armored, frickin’ soft-topped Humvee. Which is the position he put American soldiers in when he launched a preemptive war with an unprepared military.

I thought I was over my anger with G.W. After all, he’s so passé.

But, unfortunately, his déclassé lives on.

Read Bush League to get my thoughts from 2006 on the Bush legacy of déclassé.

Bush League

This column first appeared in 2006.

An article in last Sunday’s New YorkTimes on money and class issues in America got me thinking.

Our country’s class systems used to run along lines that while certainly financially based were also at least partially skewed by education, lineage, a good backhand, and knowing how to spoon soup from a bowl.

Slowly, the use of class as a defining social stratum has eroded and while that may be a good thing, we’ve lost the concept of personal “class” along with it. (more…)

I’m a sucker for the season …

I’m a sucker for the holidays. Most of the year, I’ve got my nose to the proverbial grindstone, but the holidays bring out the kick-up-your-heels side of me.

I mean, really, from a female perspective, what’s not to love?

You get to dress up. You get to show a little skin. You get to wear ridiculous shoes and put sparkly stuff all over your neck and ears and legs and lips. You get to try on eighteen outfits and then go back to the very first one. (more…)

Café chess — très sexy

Here’s a column that ran in 2006, but today, I’m so jonesin’ for my life in Boston, that it feels apropos to post.
—————————-

I spent this past Monday morning, a holiday, lazily finishing what was left from the Sunday NY Times. Sitting outside, a cup of Joe percolating through my veins; the day, the city, seemed full of unforeseen possibility.

Throwing a few pens, a notepad, a book, my journal, and a pack of Marlboro Lights – all the accoutrements of café society — in an oversized bag, I headed off for one of my favorite lazy-day activities – hanging in a café, drinking coffee and writing letters. (more…)

Party blast … or party bust … it’s up to you to make it fun

This year, be the party captain of your soul, be the mingling master of your fate. Whether you’re a host or a guest, the next party you’re at can either be a bust or a blast – and it’s all up to you.

Party-goers owe it to their hosts to be at the top of their game — the “I’m terribly fun, fabulously witty, and oozing with Clooney-like charm … and so are you!” game. So what if it’s your third party in a week and you’re not feeling it? Then you’ve got to fake it, baby! Trust me, the fun will follow. (more…)

Loafing … creatively

Hey, I have to send a major THANKS out to the new editor at Creative Loafing — Cooper Levy-Baker — for providing a link on his paper’s website to my MC Reality blog. The exposure is massively appreciated and my column is the only non-print-associated blog listed in the section of Suncoast Links.

Makes a girl feel kinda special.

For those of you who don’t know Cooper, but who voted for Obama — didja know that he was the mastermind (or at least one of them) behind the wildly successful Obama headquarters/campaign mission here in Sarasota? Well, he was!

You can check out Creative Loafing’s website and see lots more about what to do in and around Sarasota and also read some hot shot writers in the area — I particularly enjoy the food critic column by Brian Ries — read his latest here.

Pricking our hearts … giving pelican-style

I heard from All Faiths today, and in just one week, Reality readers have donated $612 to help feed the needy and hungry folks in our community. That’s the equivalent of 970 meals if you can believe it! Isn’t that amazing?

I’m really blessed (and I don’t say that lightly) and very grateful for the response from so many of you. Thank you SO VERY MUCH for participating in the drive.

There’s still time to make donations — the drive continues through December 18th. (more…)

Fatherly lessons I wish I’d had

This piece originally appeared in print in June 2007. I think it was a wish list of my own really — wishing I’d had a Dad who not only stuck around, but taught me how to stick up for myself from an early age instead of having to learn it all firsthand at the school of hard knocks. Of course, who ever listens to their father!?.

In a confusing world that tells girls to get good grades and “save themselves” for marriage and then shows them they’re nothing without a Pussycat Doll body and a closet full of Jimmy Choos, it’s up to Dads to tell and teach their daughters what they need to know: (more…)

Opening the Kimono — sexy stuff for a stormy Sunday

Sounds sexy, right? And it is. (more on that later)

Opening the Kimono is the name of a book I just finished reading a few minutes ago. Let me set the stage: I woke at 7 am this morning to go outside and tackle my untamed yard. My yard grows rabidly and I’m always behind the eightball when it comes to representing a civilized presence on my street. (more…)

RSVP — French for “I’ve got class”

I just today received my first invitation of the 2008 holiday season. They’re late in coming this year, but they might just be fewer than years past. I think the economy has relegated most parties to the sidelines. The invitation, to which I unfortunately had to send regrets, inspired me to post the following rant against those callow enough to think RSVP means “come if you feel like and don’t have anything better to do.”:
———————————–

A French acronym for “Répondez S’il Vous Plaît,” RSVP, when translated, means “Let me know whether you’re coming or not so I can know whether to order an extra truckload of liquor and hide all the jewelry.” (Okay, not quite… but you get the idea.) (more…)