#FoodForThoughtFriday Goodbye 2016

So, 2016 is almost at an end.

Which is kind of a relief, since this year has been full of ridiculous and sad things happening worldwide.

I mean, it wasn't all bad. I skimmed this article by The Guardian this morning about how some things are okay/better in the world this year; so if you need something positive to look at and remember that not everything sucks, here you go.

But anyway, I've been thinking more about this whole "New Years Resolutions" situation today, and I had more thoughts than those I wrote about a few weeks ago, and wanted to share that with you.

Also, my good friend Maggie, who runs a vlog posted a great video of 12 resolutions that aren't diet-related, which I think you should check out, because they were all great suggestions. So, here's the link for that. I fully support non-diet resolutions because, as Maggie says from the get-go, they're super difficult to do and when people make those, they often end up not keeping them and then feeling bad about it.

Also, today's yoga session has got me thinking about the use of the term "resolution." 

So, at the beginning of a lot of yoga sessions, the leader might set some intentions for the day, like "today I hope we'll all be grounded and feel good in our yoga" or something like that. Today was the first yoga class I've been to in a few years, and I really enjoyed it and left feeling pretty okay [note: the reason I wasn't feeling better was that I got some spring rolls last night and didn't realize they had shrimp in them until I was like halfway through one and my body is hardcore rejecting this because it's been like straight up 6 years since I've eaten any animal and it doesn't know what to do with it; this caused a lot of problems, and about halfway through the class I started feeling pretty nauseous from this and it was gross, but digestive issues aside, it was great yoga].

But anyway, I think that the word resolution is a strong word and puts a lot of pressure on those who make goals for the new year because you're like "ahhh I have to do this it's important," and I think that makes it harder to stick to the goals we set.

So, I'd like to advocate for calling them our new years intentions instead of resolutions. That way, it's more like, this is something I'd like to do, something I intend to do, but I'm not putting all this unnecessary pressure on myself to do it. That way the whole process would be less stressful and people might be more likely to succeed in their intentions than they are in their resolutions.

So, let's take a look at some new years intentions that we can all set for ourselves

One really good one is to read. This one was included on my previous post as well as in Maggie's vlog, and I can't express how great it is to set reading goals!

This doesn't mean that you have to like read a whole book every day or every week or even every month, but it's a really good idea to set an intention to do at least a little bit of reading every day. Maybe you don't have a lot of time, and you can set a goal to read, like, a chapter a day. One of my favorite professors in college said that he would set aside time first thing in the morning when he woke up every day to read a chapter in a book. This was for lots of good reasons, including that it's one way to make sure that no matter what your day looks like, you've done something for you first (I think his statement included the phrase "stick it to the man," but don't quote me on that) and that's a really great attitude. I think I mentioned in my other post about new years goals that I plan to try and read a book every week in 2017 (books ranging from 100 to 300 pages, mostly) but that's an ambitious goal, so if you don't think you're at that level of bibliophile, then no worries, set a goal that is attainable for you. My 2016 goal was a list of 14 very specific books and I read 13 of those books and a bunch of other books, but by picking specific books, I limited myself and as the end of the year approached, I lost the motivation to read those books, so I'm giving myself a looser goal for 2017.

Another one, this one was featured on Maggie's vlog, but not my earlier post, is to make a habit of writing and sending letters to people you care about.

This is just a great way to spread love and positivity into the world, and it's something you can customize for your personal preferences/time constraints, etc. And it'll spread joy to others, so what's not to love about that?

My next intention is to move more.

My goal for 2017 with this one is to do at least a mile a day and to run a race each month. For the daily mile, this can be running, walking, jogging, biking, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, anything that involves moving a mile. The race goal is just to get me out into the running community more; I recently started running and want to embrace that as a healthy lifestyle for me. Movement can mean all sorts of things though. Maggie suggests walking more bc walking is honestly so wonderful like I can't even put in words how good walking is for you, mentally and physically and emotionally. But you could do yoga or pilates or any kind of thing. I also really enjoy jumping rope, and I have a friend who kickboxes and one of my coworkers is really into martial arts. There are so many ways to move and anyone can find something they enjoy, so like, find something that works for you, and don't forget to set attainable goals and just follow through on an intention to move more for well-being.

I'm also going into 2017 with the intention of practising mindfulness more.

Mindfulness is the practice of just living in the moment that exists right here and right now. It's about acknowledging, accepting, and embracing where you are in this moment. And it's really good for your mental health. And it's harder than you would think; the idea of just experiencing the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and feels that surround you at any given moment sounds like it would be easy, but it takes a lot of practice. That's why making it an intention, rather than a resolution makes all the difference. If you struggle to turn all the thoughts off and just be, even for a moment, mindfulness will not come easily to you; you'll have to work at it, but it is so worthwhile to have even just a few moments of silence to just be. You can do this through yoga, meditation, or even just taking a moment to stop thinking about whatever is in your head and just focus on your 5 senses and experiencing what's around you, instead of worrying about what might happen tomorrow or the next day or what happened yesterday. 

And there are tons of other things that you can set as intentions for 2017

Some good ones include:

Take care of yourself (by visiting your appropriate health professionals when you should)

Share more of yourself (by donating items, time, or money to causes you care about)

Snuggle more (snuggling has many health benefits)

Practice positivity (verbal affirmations, little written affirmations, etc.)

Celebrate more (celebrate little things as well as big things--anything good; you can also celebrate bad things bc they give you perspective)

Let love in (for example, adopting a new animal friend is a great way to let love into your life)

Don't hold things in (esp. negative things like anger, hate, sadness--let it all out)

So, go forth into 2017 with intentions that are workable and attainable for you to live your life in the way that's best for you.

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

Sick Days

Happy #SelfCareSaturday

Today I took care of myself by calling out from work (I had a 3-10 shift at Target) to spend a second day of R&R to finally kick this cold I've had for like 3 weeks (legit though)

So, in short, I did not do much today.

I woke up at about 7 because my phone alarm is set up so it goes off 9 hours after I go to sleep and that was the time for waking by that setup. And then I picked up my Boss Babes adult coloring and activity book and did some of the activities (wasn't much in the mood for coloring).

I also did general basic hygiene stuff like brush my teeth and take a shower (showers are nice bc the steam helps get the goo out of my throat, lungs, and sinuses).

And I called Target to let them know I couldn't come in because of being sick (they weren't too happy about it, but I was like, yo I need to not get more sick and this ended up being a super good call bc I was having some dizzy spells and also some digestive problems throughout the day which would have made a Target shift completely awful).

And I worked on my grad school application statements of purpose. I only got one to a state of close-to-finished (really a first draft which I will have to edit probably), but I figure the other three will be easier than the first one because I will have more of an idea of what I'm doing--because all the guides in the world can't truly prepare you to write 300-1000 words about why you should be accepted to a particular graduate program. My goal is to get this one in this weekend and have drafts of the other three to send to my recommenders so they know why I'm applying to each of the programs.

I also watched a lot of recorded tv. We record a lot of tv in my house and don't get to sit down and watch it that much, so we were down to like 14% of our dvr space being available, and so we had to get through a good chunk of what was in there. Not all of it was mine, but I got the ball rolling and my mom ended up watching a bit of stuff that she's more interested in than me while I went upstairs to read and ended up taking a nap.

I went upstairs with the intent of, like, finishing a book, but after a chapter I was pretty tired, and after two chapters my eyelids were really heavy, so I went ahead and crawled under the covers and took a two hour nap.

When I woke up, it was dinner time, so I had some dinner, and then sat down to watch the last bit of my mom's recorded show, and now we're watching Love Actually and I'm writing.

I mean, I'm sure there were a few other things I did today. Like, I remember reading a really long article about how time management is ruining our lives (SO TRUE) and at some point I reorganized all the little app icons on my phone so that they fit all on one page (folders are so handy), but those are less important than the just-sitting-around-and-resting parts of my day. 

Because, like, getting enough rest, especially when you're sick, is SO important. Like, I started getting a cold on the 3rd of December, guys. That's 3 weeks ago. And I was almost better and then last weekend it started getting worse again (either because I wasn't taking proper care of myself or because my niece came to visit and was a little bit sick and I caught her cold on top of what I already had) and so throughout this week, I was just a big, yucky mess. It was really awful.

So I decided that working a 3:30-midnight shift yesterday and a 3-10 shift today wasn't worth getting more sick because then the rest of 2016 would have been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week.

And I've got things to do that don't involve being a yucky mess. Like enjoying life. And not being a yucky mess. I mean, I'm a yucky mess most of the time anyway, but usually less so.

So, I guess what I'm trying to get across is that it's important to work and contribute to society (even if society doesn't generally recognize what you're doing as contributing bc people are like so rude to retail workers guys) but it's more important to take care of yourself because at the end of the day, you've just got you, and maybe a couple of other people if you're lucky, and you don't wanna miss out on all the good stuff bc you're working yourself sick.

Just take care of yourselves, bbs.

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

#FoodForThoughtFriday Body Modifications

Happy Friday!!

Today for Food for Thought Friday, I'm going to look at body modifications
[e.g. tattoos, piercings, etc.]

I got the inspiration for this from my therapy session yesterday, when my counselor saw the tattoo on my forearm I guess for the first time and was like "whoah you didn't strike me as the tattoo kind of person." 

And like, that's only a little unreasonable. I mean, I suppose that tattoos invoke an image of like super badass types and I'm only badass on the inside for the most part. Like, I'm a pretty low-key individual when it comes to most stuff, and even my tattoos are low-key, like, most people don't know what they're all about, and that's because I don't share that openly with everyone.

So anyway, I'm gonna talk about body modifications and such today.

Starting with myself, I currently have 3 tattoos and 2 body piercings.

My tattoos are:

1. an open birdcage with a bird flying away from it just inside my left hipbone on my lower tummy (idk it's a difficult place to describe, but like a somewhat typical place for a basic girl to get a tattoo, ya feel). I got that one when I was 18 and it's just black ink on my skin.

2. a rising sun with the words "The sun will forever keep rising" on my right shoulder/upper back. My good friend/roommate during my junior year of college, Shannon drew this one for me. This one is partially in color (the sun part is shaded with orange and yellow) and I got it when I was 19.

3. a compass rose on my forearm with only the N label for north. This one is "upside down" in tattoo terms because it's facing so that I can read the N for north instead of the rest of the world (I think this is a weird convention bc like, don't humans mostly get tattoos for themselves? maybe not? maybe that's just me?) And I got it when I was 21.

And I've got my right nostril and my upper navel pierced (bc apparently you can get the bottom part of the belly button done or like get both or get like 4-way belly button piercings, but that sounds like it would hurt idk if that's what you want, then rock on with it). Currently, I'm wearing a yin-yang stud in my nose and my belly button has a barbell with a red gem on the bigger bottom ball and a light/bright green (it's Peridot colored if you know what that is) on the smaller top ball (Christmas colors, of course!).

So my piercings are just like things that I did when I was 20 and 21, respectively, for fun because I've kind of always wanted a nose stud and a belly button ring, and they only cost $25 each because there's this place in my college town of Frederick where they do $25 piercings (it used to be only on Mondays, but now it's every day, and they do $25 because the guy who does the piercings has been doing it for over 25 years, not because it's a shady place).

But I put a lot of thought into anything I'm going to have permanently etched in ink in my skin. (Yes, in. The ink goes in between certain layers of your skin and just kind of chills there)

One time I was in the dining hall and a girl I barely knew came in and was like "wanna see my new tattoo!" and then presented her foot with a brand-new tattoo of a silhouette of a cat. We asked about it and she was just like "I went in for a nose piercing and the guy was like, 'no, no, you should get a tattoo' so I just got this. I like cats!" And I was like "whoah, that's really cool" because like I couldn't get a tattoo on a whim because I would freak way out. But she could and it's really admirable to have that abandon in life (to a certain extent, and this situation falls within reasonable bounds of just randomly getting a tattoo--it was a cute little cat and like the odds of realizing 30 years down the line that you don't want it anymore are pretty minimal).

But I digress. 

Each of the 3 tattoos I have represents something of meaning to me and has a special meaning to me; and each of the dozen or so tattoos I'm planning on getting throughout my life also has special meaning to me and I will continue to consider each of them until I'm like 100000% sure about getting each one of them at the same time as I have enough money to do so (a lot of them are only on hold because I'm saving up for them)

The first one, with the bird, represents a difficult time I went through in high school and takes inspiration from a song by Jack's Mannequin (those who know me know I'm moderately obsessed with Andrew McMahon and everything he creates musically) called "Broken Bird," which was a bonus track on their last studio album, titled People and Things. This song really spoke to me when I first heard it and got me through some tough times at the end of my high school career and brought me into a happier place early my college career. I got the tattoo during winter break of my first year as a Christmas present from my mom. Specifically, this one is an homage to the line "broken bird, now you're free" in the song and I'm going to end it there because the world doesn't need to know all of the background for it.

The second one, with the rising sun, apart from being drawn by a good friend for me, is a message of hope. It is also a reference to a Jack's Mannequin song, "Keep Rising," also off of People and Things, and actually directly quotes the song. I got this during winter break of my sophomore year in college to represent a positive attitude that I was working on developing and to remind myself that the sun will, indeed, keep rising for (my) ever. 

The third one, the compass rose, is not a reference to a Jack's Mannequin song. Crazy, I know, right? Compasses and navigation are just something that I've always had an affinity for. Like, I own a somewhat large brass compass and have a decent few pieces of jewelry that feature a compass rose. I learned orienteering as a kid in Girl Scouts and the entire concept of being able to find your way with a simple magnetic needle and a piece of paper [note: the piece of paper must be a map] was super appealing to me. I mean, when I first learned orienteering, I was just in an open field at camp, but it's still really cool and too many people don't know how to find their way with a map and compass. I also took orienteering my first year in college and actually did use a compass and map to find places in the woods which was super exciting. This one also has another layer of meaning aside from just that I know how to use a compass to figure out where tf I am. The fact that it's pointing North for me, instead of for everyone else, means, to me, that no matter what I'm doing or where I'm going, I need to be making the choices that are right for me, not for others. Which is also a large part of why it peeves me so much that it's considered upside-down. Like, how dare you suggest that getting something permanently etched on my skin as a reminder to myself is somehow wrong, or that I should only get things tattooed on my body for others is backwards [or, more literally, upside down]? I've worked too hard to refocus my life to be about me instead of others to let you tear that down, so fuck off. I get asked about this one a lot because it's obviously visible to people on a regular basis, and sometimes I'm just not in the mood to talk about it [read: when I'm working at Target], so I'll say "it's pretty and I like it" or ask why people are so curious about what I'm doing with my own body, which I've heard is frowned upon. But anyway, the real reason is the doing stuff for me part, not just because it's pretty (although that is a nice feature of the work that my artist did). And I got this one on Halloween during my senior year of college; I went with my two roommates to get tattoos done together and we all sat in the booth together and took turns and it was like an adorable roommate bonding experience [and no, we did not get matching tattoos, because we all wanted different things and respected each others' personal choices in the matter]. We then went home and threw a Halloween party at which none of us was supposed to consumer alcohol [I can't remember if they did or not, but I didn't because I'm a party pooper and a rule follower and also don't like alcohol]

And there are like at least a dozen more that I want to get, mostly related to Jack's Mannequin/Something Corporate/Andrew McMahon/[in the Wilderness] lyrics (wow, what if he read this and thought I was a total creep or something--I'm not, I just really love what he writes, his lyrics are top-notch, just listen to "Fire Escape" by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, his current band and most recent single and you'll get it probably). But some are also not, like I'm planning on getting a dogwood flower on the back of my right elbow and a black-eyed susan on the back of my left elbow to represent the two states where my heart feels most at home (the dogwood is the state tree/flower of VA and the black-eyed susan is the state flower of MD--I don't know what I'll do if I find another state that feels like home, since I only have 2 elbows, but that's a worry for another time). So, yeah.

And now on to the food for thought part:

People act like body modifications such as those described above are the mark of a hooligan or something, but they're not. Like, some people want to wear their emotions and/or art that they really feel on a deep level, and that's totally rad. Sure, it's not for everyone. Some people prefer to decorate their homes or cars or a canvas, but some people want to decorate their literal body, and that's cool. I like decorating my literal body with pretty pictures that mean something to me because I feel like it's an effective way to show my story, which I can share as much or as little of with people when they ask about it. And piercings are like, so harmless for the most part. Sure, they kind of permanently alter your appearance (even if you take the thing out, the holes will probably never fully heal--just look at my former earlobe holes and you'll know) but they're cute and fun and people should do what they want to do with their proverbial $25.

And there really isn't one type of person who gets tattoos or piercings. All kinds of people can, will, and do get them.

So yeah. You do you, boo.

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

Speaking of Great Speeches...

Viola Davis gave one this week, too!

Viola Davis won the #SeeHer award, a new award in this year's Critics Choice Awards, and her speech was pretty great.

THINX did a great post about this one, too, so I'll link that for you here. [It even includes an embedded video of the speech itself]

So, the moral of this week is: women are amazing and relevant! Madonna's Woman of the Year Speech did a great job of calling out sexism [and ageism] in the music industry, and Viola Davis' #SeeHer speech did an excellent job of calling out sexism and racism in the film industry. 

And as important as calling out sexism is, calling out racism is probably [definitely] way more important for feminists.

Feminism as we've seen it in the past and as we're often seeing it now misses out on a lot of people. White feminists tend to forget their non-white sisters. And cis female feminists tend to forget their brothers and sisters who aren't cis females.

But we cannot progress while still leaving others behind.

So, always remember that there are others out there who are not like you, but are every single bit as deserving as you are of equality.

While Davis' speech was short because of the nature of the ceremony, she got some important points into there, namely that:

1. generally, roles for African-American women in film are roles such as maids, where the costume likely involves an apron

2. roles for African-American women aren't usually roles that get the label of "sexy"

And these are things that trace way back in history to the time of slavery and the justifications people gave for enslaving their fellow human beings.

And it's about time that this stops being the norm, because it's wrong. Anyone can be anything, and Hollywood needs to portray that.

One more time, for the people in the back: Anyone can be anything

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

How 'Bout Madonna, Y'all?

Madonna recently received and accepted Billboard's Women in Music Woman of the Year award

But, like, she didn't just smile and wave like a *good* girl

She delivered an amazing speech about the sexism and double standards that she has faced over the course of her 34 years in music.

And, like, she didn't drop the mic [bc that's actually really, really bad for microphones and she probably knows that--don't ever drop a mic for real guys] but she may as well have.

Instead of writing my own super long blog post about it, I'm going to send you over to the THINX blog, because they wrote a long post about it. 

And, as a bonus, here's a link the video of her speech so you can hear it for yourself; it's definitely worth it.

And I'm gonna leave you with one of my favorite songs by her:

And another, more recent song, featuring another great woman in music (this one's linked because I can't get it to embed from youtube)

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

'Tis the Season

Hello friends!

It's been a while. I've been pretty busy between work and other stuff. And I bet you have too. But here we are now!

I spent this weekend in my college town of Frederick, Maryland visiting friends and professors and former coworkers from my museum days and it's been pretty awesome.

And on top of, like, getting to see all these people who I love a lot, I also got to spend time in my favorite downtown area and shop small businesses, which I don't get a lot of time to do in my normal life because I'm always working and stuff.

Since I got paid the day that I left for my trip, I had plenty to spend on various items from the downtown Frederick area; and since I was in my favorite small town area I didn't feel guilty about using my paycheck on what I was getting (which is a thing I usually feel when I spend money). I also spent less money than what I tend to when I'm shopping online, because when you shop in person, you then have to carry stuff around with you, which is actually pretty inconvenient. But I digress.

So, I went on my usual tour of the downtown Frederick shops: Curious Iguana (bookshop), Dancing Bear (battery-free toy store), Retro Metro (multitude of weird and cool items of varying varieties), Voila (tea shop--sorry to my friend who works at one of the 10 other tea shops...), the Pasta Palette (excellent pasta), the McCutcheon's Factory Store (McCutcheon's is a local apple company and they make all kinds of cool preserves and stuff), and the National Museum of Civil War Medicine gift shop (cause I'm a member and get a discount there and there's always something interesting to pick up).

When I have more time and the things I got aren't all in my trunk 5 blocks away, I'll talk about what I got, but until then I'm just going to stick with a short post about shopping small businesses and supporting the local community, because the people who own small businesses are just that: real actual human beings who get really excited when you buy stuff from them instead of going to a big retail store. Also small businesses usually have much cooler stuff than big retailers because the people who own small businesses put their own personality into their businesses and so it's like a little piece of them that they're putting out there for others to enjoy, and that's a really cool and brave thing to do.

I also got to hang out with some of my former professors, as there was a party in one of their apartments on Friday night that I went to with the friends I was staying with, and another at another's house tonight, so that was really cool. They're all really great people, and I was planning to visit them at the school before leaving tomorrow anyway, but getting to see them outside of the school environment was like a real treat.

And now I'm getting ready for some good sleep, 'cause it's been a long weekend and I ended up staying out way past my bedtime on both Friday and Saturday, so I'm going to go to sleep at a decent hour (meaning one that is actually followed by a PM instead of an AM) tonight, and I'll post more tomorrow or the next day once I get settled back down in Richmond.

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

#WomanCrushWednesday Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Rhianna, and the Williams Sisters

Happy Wednesday, y'all!!

Today's a big one! We've got Woman Crush Wednesday but, like, on a larger scale!

So, first: Lady Gaga

I've loved Lady Gaga as a human since she came out with "Born this Way," an encouraging anthem about being yourself. Yeah, she's got some other songs that are enjoyable, but this one really rings out for everyone [and it doesn't hurt that she wrote it as an homage to the early 90s music empowering women and the LGBT+ community]

But, on to what's going on most recently. Last week, Lady Gaga was on the Today show to promote the Share Kindness campaign and opened up about her own struggle with PTSD. This isn't the first time that Lady Gaga has opened up about topics considered taboo, either. Two years ago she shared her story of surviving a sexual assault; and her most recent album, Joanne, which has created a lot of buzz around the topic of sexual assault as well. So, long story short: Lady Gaga is up to some good, stigma-breaking things in the world. And even if she once wore a dress made out of raw meat (which is not just icky, but also bad for the environment) she's done a lot of great stuff.

Next Up: Feminist Role Model Extraordinaire, Beyonce

We all know that Beyonce is one of the biggest feminist role models in pop culture these days, focusing on various definitions of feminism by supporting movements for people of color (instead of just for white people like a huge number of white feminists do).

Well, Beyonce has just been nominated for an amazing 9 grammy awards, all very well-deserved. This year, Beyonce has released a bunch of music, from Formation to Lemonade, that was not directed at white people (*gasp!*) which is a very important and pretty unprecedented move on her part. Amazingly, white people have still felt the need to comment on it, as usual, but these comments have gotten a lot of responses about how it's not for them anyway, so whatever, guys.

The fact that Beyonce has earned and received the highest number of Grammy nominations for this year, when she released some of the most (in white people's opinions) controversial music is a step in the right direction. It's great that we can accept, acknowledge, and reward her for making great music, now we just need to get to the point where people don't freak out about it not being for them specifically. 

So, just try to remember that not everything is made for you (I mean, I'm also white so it's not made for me either) and understand that the world cannot be just for white people, yeah?

And Beyonce is a star (in the like being famous sense and the being excellent and amazing sense both) and pretty close to flawless, so like, let her do her thing. She doesn't need your permission anyway.

Moving on to Rhianna

Some of you may know that December 1 is World AIDs Day. If you're not among those who knew that, now you do. December 1 is World AIDs Day.

Well, this year for World AIDs Day, Rhianna got together with Prince Harry (the ginger one in case you, like me, didn't know which prince was which) to go be tested for HIV. This was a part of a bigger message that (1) getting tested for HIV isn't too difficult of a process, just a simple blood test and (2) anyone and everyone can and should get tested--HIV doesn't just affect gay people or transgender people or black people, literally anyone can get it. So, if you haven't been tested recently (or ever) and there is any chance you could have come into contact with the fluids that transmit HIV (blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid, breastmilk, vaginal fluid, or rectal fluids) in a way that could have allowed them to get into your system, y'all should go get a test done. It's short and simple and you can easily locate a testing center near you through this website.

Last but not least: Venus and Serena Williams

The Williams sisters are excellent both on the [tennis] court and off. Recently, they started a center for victims of gun violence in their hometown (Compton, CA), which they named after their sister, Yetunde Price, who was a victim of gun violence in 2003. The center, called the Yetunde Price Resource Center, is set to start accepting community members next month and will provide resources for victims of all types who have experienced gun violence. This center is a step in the right direction in a nation that has seen increased gun violence and death, especially among African-American youth and frequently perpetrated by police, in recent years (Compton itself, according to Complex has had gun-related homicide numbers triple in 2016 alone). 

Weekends

So, I think about the weekend a lot.

Like, a lot a lot

My main thought about the weekend is, why do so many people consider Sunday to be the first day of the week, yet count it as part of the weekEND?

The idea of the weekend is that it's the end of the week, right? So why is Sunday commonly considered to be the first day of the week, instead of the last?

Now, in the grand scheme of things, this isn't really important because weeks come one after the other in an endless cycle regardless of how we think of the days of the week. For all it matters, Wednesday could be the first day of the week and nothing would really change.

But it still bothers me a lot. Why call it the weekend if it includes the last day of one week and the first day of the next?

I mean, I consider Monday the first day of the week, and so does one of my employers (Mathnasium). Target, however, considers Sunday to be the first day of the week, as do many other organizations.

But that's not what's important right now.

What's really important is why weekends exist.

I took a class on Labor History of the United States during my senior year of college and learned (among many things) that weekends came about as part of the labor movement. You can thank unions and people who did walk-outs and strikes for your two days off each week, and for the fact that those two days off, for everyone who works a 9-5 Monday-Friday job (those who work in retail or food service or many other industries are not so lucky) coincide with those of many of your friends and loved ones. 

But if you don't have a 9-5 Monday-Friday job, you may have a weird weekend schedule. 

For example, when I worked at a Museum, I was generally working Tuesdays and Thursday-Sunday. I chose this to be my schedule, mainly because having two days off in a row is super-duper boring to me. I don't like not having something to do two days in a row, it's horrible. So I chose to have two days off non-consecutively (Monday and Wednesday) while I was working there, and that worked for me. Of course, this schedule overlapped with my being a full-time student for the better part of a year, so I didn't actually really have any days off at all since full-time studenting is pretty much a job and during the school year I had a second job in the Career Center at my school which I was working on Mondays-Wednesdays. But that's beside the point.

Now I usually work 7 days a week because I have 2 jobs and work 5 days a week at one (Mon-Thurs and Saturday for Mathnasium) and 2-5 days a week at the other (varies, but almost always on Friday and Sunday at Target). But a lot of peoples' jobs don't allow them to have Saturdays and Sundays off because places need to be open on weekends so people with those nice Monday-Friday jobs have things to do. Like, I would totally be in support of everything being closed on weekends so that retail workers and restaurant workers and stuff don't have to work those days, but then everyone would have nothing to do on weekends, and the world would not be happy (and like the people who work in places that are open on weekends would suddenly be free on weekends and also have nothing to do and it would just generally not be very much fun for anyone).

I think it would be super cool/better if there was some sort of thing where retail workers automatically get every other weekend off to enjoy the weekends, and if they don't want the weekends off, they can work the weekends they would have off and give other people the chance to have more weekends off or something. 

Either that or people working on weekends could be like automatically paid time and a half for those hours. I know some major companies do this (lookin' at you, Costco--time and a half on Sundays).

Anyway, those are my thoughts on weekends.

Really I'm just angry that Sunday is considered the first day of the week AND part of the weekend. Like, that's completely ridiculous.

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

#FoodForThoughtFriday New Years Resolutions

Happy Friday!

Today for my #FoodForThoughtFriday post, I'm going to look at this whole New Years' Resolutions situation.

It's a thing that people have been doing for decades, selecting something they can work at to improve their lives in the New Year; and most people, year after year, don't succeed in their New Years' Resolutions. So I want to talk about that.

So, let's start with the concept.

People select a New Years' Resolution that they think would be a great way to make their life better. Sounds great, right? Yeah, I'm gonna do this thing to have a better life next year! Rock on!

But if you want to improve your life, why wait for the new year? Why not just do it now? If you're sure that making this change will improve your life in one way or another, wouldn't it make sense to implement it as soon as possible?

Also, a lot of people pick very vague resolutions, things like "I'm going to eat better," "I'm going to exercise more," or "I'm going to get healthier," which sound great, until you realize it's really hard to gauge those things. And when we can't gauge our goals, it's a lot easier to give up on them.

So, I'm all about new years resolutions, but I recommend deciding on a specific goal ahead of time and working to implement it earlier than just January 1 [note: I have seen people succeed at New Years' Resolutions that they started on 1 January, such as my friend who decided that in 2016 she wouldn't dye her hair or have any major haircuts because it was a thing she frequently did on a whim and she wanted to adult more and she's been very successful with that goal; I also gave up soda and chewing gum as New Years' Resolutions in high school, and those were successful because they were very specific and both improved my life in ways].

So now let's look at some good, specific goals we can set for ourselves as resolutions for 2017. I'll start with my own goals:

My first goal is to take and post a photo to instagram every day. Which sounds like a really silly resolution, but I've found that I don't do a very good job of documenting my life as it happens, and I really want to, so I'm setting a realistic goal to help me do that. By taking and posting a photo every day, I will be able to keep track of my life through the pictures and the captions that I'll write with them. Sure, not every picture and caption is going to be super substantial, but it's a start, and it leaves the door open for future goals to improve my life documentation.

My second goal is to walk or run or bike at least a mile every day. This is another thing that I can easily track. I already track my walks and runs with two separate apps (Charity Miles and Runkeeper) and I was operating on a goal of exercising 3x a week this year, but it just didn't feel like enough. By selecting the goal of doing a mile a day, I am giving myself flexibility in the activity I do, as well as flexibility in the distance I move. This also allows me to have my "rest days" without having any days where I am fully sedentary (which is super unhealthy for you). 

My third goal is going to be to read a book every week. Which adds up to 52 books. This year, my reading goal was 16 very specific, very long books, and I'm close to reading those, I just need to finish Alexander Hamilton, which I took a break from by accident and read both The Angel's Game and The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon to get all of my goal books read. That being said, I've read like a dozen or so books that were not part of my list, so I'm going to operate on a less strict list next year. And I've done this year's goal by dividing up the total number of pages in the 16 books I selected last December (10 thousand and something pages) by the number of days in the year (366 days since it's a leap year) to get about 30 pages a day. Now, I stuck to this 30 pages a day rule for about 1/2 of the year, often reading more than I was supposed to, but also often not getting enough reading on a given day. My hope is that by having a less specific goal, I'll do better at sticking to it--I've got a few shelves full of actual books and a kindle with tons of books on it, and access to my local public library, so I've got literally hundreds, maybe thousands of options, and it's always possible to get more. This goal will just be about buckling down and picking up a new book every week (and I'm going to try to stick with books that are in the 100-300 page range for the most part, because I have to be reasonable with myself and much more than 300 pages is going to be a bit too much for me, 300 pages in a week is like 43 pages a day which is more than my goal for this year was).

My fourth and final goal is going to be to run a race every month. I've already gotten started on this one by signing up for the 1st Day 5K in Midlothian (a town near where I live) which is just a 5K on 1 January. Committing to a race each month is easy to keep track of because at races you generally get a bib and you also get like confirmation emails and probably pictures and times get posted. It's also a good way to make sure I keep up with moving every day because I'm hoping to do races of increasing length throughout the year for the most part--my true goal is to run the Marine Corps Marathon in October, so I'll work toward that by doing increasing lengths of races (and hopefully training with others who are interested in the same races as me) and see where it goes. 

So, those are my "New Years Resolutions," which I've already started working toward because why wait to improve my life until next year when I can do it now, right?

Other things I'm incorporating into my life include the intent to be more eco-friendly and to waste less by using reusable containers wherever possible (including asking places where I get takeout [read: Chipotle] to put the food items in a bowl brought from home, rather than their own disposable ones) and trying to be more financially responsible (so far, not so good, but I'm working on saving more of my paychecks and not buying everything that I see and think "yeah that looks awesome!") and giving more (which I've started by automatically donating $10 from each Target paycheck to United Way and $10 from each Mathnasium paycheck to the Elephant Sanctuary, and plan to continue more by donating a few items each month to charity and things like that).

So anyway, those are the goals I'm working toward, and I encourage everyone to work toward improving their lives in whatever ways they think will be best for them. Don't worry about what your friends or family are doing, just worry about you. Only you can make goals that you will keep and that will actually help you improve your life.

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

Sometimes I'm a Walking Disaster

So, it's Thursday and it has thus been like almost a week since I last posted.

Oops!

But I promise I have a good reason. Kind of.

So, on Monday, I was working on getting the stuff out of the other bedroom for the holidays so that someone could stay there if they were planning on staying in our house. So that was important. And then I also had work from 3:30-8 which was also important.

Then Tuesday, GIVING TUESDAY, I was busy running errands (y'know, after I did more room cleaning). I had to return a library book, renew my two other library books and pay a fine for them being late previously (oopsies). I also went to Goodwill to donate like a whole bunch of stuff (seriously guys, like 3 of those bags you get in the mail to leave with stuff to be taken by the salvation army but they never came back for them so they were just sitting around the house PLUS a suitcase full of stuff incl. the suitcase itself PLUS a laundry basket full of stuff incl. the laundry basket itself). And then I also went to Tropical Smoothie Cafe because they were doing a Giving Tuesday special where if you got a certain type of smoothie, they donated $1 to Camp Sunshine, a camp for children with life-threatening illnesses. I also had Chipotle because by the time I'd done all of these things, it was definitely lunch time and Chipotle was right there.

Once I got home, I did some reading to keep up, and then I had work from 3:30-8:45.

On Wednesday, I had double work. So I woke up at like 7 am in order to be at Target in time to open. But of course no one let me in the employee entrance, so I was just like standing there waiting for someone to come let me in until 8:00, when it became more practical to just go in the front door since that's when it gets opened at my Target, which meant that I was kind of late to work even though I was early because you're not there until you clock in and I couldn't clock in until I could get into the building, y'know? Anyway, I did my 4-hour shift, and then I went home and had to have lunch because I forgot my snack when I went to work since I was sleepy from waking up early. And then I went for a walk because it was super nice outside and I wanted to spend some time out there. And then I had to go to work from 3 until 6 and then went home for dinner and the rest of the night got away from me somehow...

So then it was today. And today I actually overslept. I woke up at 8:32 for a 9:00 appointment that was 20 minutes away. This is partially because I didn't get enough sleep the night before and partially because the alarm on my phone sometimes doesn't work if I leave it on the side table, which is where I leave it because I don't want to sleep with my phone in my bed, y'know?

So I got up and got dressed and was only like 5 minutes late to my appointment, which I think is pretty impressive considering the late wake-up.

After my appointment, I ran to Target (not for work) to get the CD I was supposed to get someone for Christmas. Then I was informed that this was the wrong CD so I had to turn around and go back to return the CD then I had to come home and order the right one online. Also, while I was at Target I picked up a stocking for my cat, an ornament that is shaped like the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones and another ornament that is an elephant head with a crown on it. And while I was looking for the CD that I was supposed to get, I also ordered a few books online (2 from Barnes and Noble, 1 from Amazon). And then I had to get a shower and then I went for a walk because there wasn't enough time for a run because I had to be at work at 2:30 and I was at the center that's like half an hour away and I was there until 7:15 then it was late and I got home and ate dinner and now am writing about all of this.

So, anyway, that's my day. Tomorrow we will resume regularly scheduled posts with Food for Thought Friday and hopefully I'll be able to start keeping up with it again!

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

Long Weekend *(Kind of)

Well, hello there!

I hope everyone has had a great long weekend/Thanksgiving weekend/normal weekend for non-US individuals 

For me, it really was a long weekend, in the sense of using the word "long" to describe a week that seems to never end.

So, to start with, I actually had to work Thursday night. I went in to Target at 5:45 pm since we opened at 6:00 that night for our "Black Friday" doorbuster sales or whatever. All I know is that it was late and I was tired and I saw someone buy like 20 bears that were each 3 feet tall for some unknown reason.

I also had to work Friday and yesterday and will be going in to work this evening as well.

So, it's been a long weekend/week, ya feel? (I actually don't remember what the last day I had off was, but my calendar says it was the 20th of November so I guess that was it)

Anyway, I think that's just a thing for people working in retail. It's awful, but someone has to do it, right?

On the bright side, I've been up to some fun stuff this weekend (when I'm not at work, that is)

On Thursday, I helped my mom make the Thanksgiving dinner. Since I'm vegan there were a few things that had to be done in 2 different ways so that I could have this item but everyone else wouldn't have to eat the no-meat-no-egg-no-dairy version. Because of this, I made my own sweet potatoes (actually just because I don't like the regular kind my mom makes, I could technically have eaten the regular ones but I'm just not that into sweet potato casserole), my own stuffing, my own mashed potatoes, and my own carrots. I mean, I didn't do any of these things completely by myself. My mom did the final bake/roast of the sweet potatoes (though I did all the other stuff that got them into the container they were in for this part), my mom pre-cut the bread for stuffing and roasted the vegetables that went in it, my mom boiled all the potatoes for mashed potatoes, and she did the carrot slicing. But I still did a bit of work.

Apparently it's easier to make a Thanksgiving dinner with help than by herself.

So we cooked and then later we ate and then after that I went to work.

And, what's even cooler than that I got to help is that my vegan mashed potatoes were so good that people didn't notice they were the vegan ones until I said something (I mean, they were eating all of my potatoes, guys, I can't eat theirs but they can eat mine so it's not fair if they eat all of mine and leave no potatoes for me, right??) that in the future, we only have to do one batch of mashed potatoes for big family meals! This will save a ton of time and also make the entire meal healthier for the family and friendlier for me. It's really a win-win-win, ya know?

So, yeah. That was Thursday. I intended to make a post on Thursday, but got all caught up in the Thanksgiving stuff and watching the parade and the dog show, so I didn't.

On Friday, I had work at a weird time (12:45-5:15) so I didn't get to do much since there aren't many hours before 12:45 and it's the time of year where it gets dark at like 4:30 or whatever, so I really just hung out a bit. Nothing too exciting.

But yesterday, Saturday, was a BIG. DAY.

Every year since like 2008, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, my mom and sister and I go to cut down our Christmas tree, then bring it home and decorate it! So, on Saturday morning, my sister came over and put her laundry in our washing machine (hers broke on Friday night) and then we set out.

First, we had to stop by Target to pick up some things from Wondershop (the Christmas section). We needed outdoor lights because there's a new thing where if there aren't lights on the outside of the house, Santa can't find my niece to bring her her presents. We don't know how this started, but we can't be the reason why Santa doesn't come this year, so we got some big, colorful, round lights to put around the big window and front door and down the front porch railings.

We also picked up a couple of other things because we're having our second tree in the living room this year for my niece (she lives in a different state and couldn't be here for the big tree, so she's getting her own special tree in the living room that she gets to decorate all for herself and it's gonna be awesome).

Then we drove like an hour and a half to a Christmas tree farm to get our Christmas tree.

Normally, it's only like 45 minutes to an hour, but the farms we usually alternate between [Christmas tree farms close every couple of years to let the trees grow, so you have to have a backup] were both closed. We [I] ended up selecting a farm that was a bit farther away than usual because this farm also had alpacas.

It was mildly disappointing. They had lots of different kinds of trees to choose from, which was exciting to me (I thought a Virginia Pine or an Easter Red Cedar might be nice, rather than our usual Eastern White Pine) but my sister didn't like the other types of trees. The Eastern White Pines they had were a little smaller than we usually go for, or else way bigger than we are allowed to get because of the size of the room the tree lives in. And the alpacas were nowhere to be seen! I thought that they'd at least be visible from the tree part of the farm, but no dice. I did get a nice pair of alpaca socks though [so, a lot of vegans don't believe in using anything made from any part of any animals, but I'm a little more lenient when it comes to wearables; I'm not into leather or anything, but if the animal doesn't have to die to make the wearable item, I'm okay with it--alpacas and sheep and other fleecy animals can be shorn without being harmed and need to be shorn yearly in the spring anyway, so we may as well find a nice use for their fleeces--that being said, it's best to be careful about where you get your fleecy stuff from--make sure the people who shear the animals do so humanely and nicely without hurting them].

ANYWAY, we found a suitable tree, and then bought it and brought it home to decorate. The tree we got was an Eastern White Pine, our usual, and about 6 feet tall. It was very easy to cut down because it was younger than the ones we usually get, it seemed. Once we got it home, I barely had time to go to the bathroom before the tree was up on the stand, waiting to be decorated! My sister handled the lights while my mom helped find the last couple of bins with Christmas decorations (somehow after 4 years, it's still always a struggle to get all of it out of the basement). 

While we were pulling our ornaments out, we found that a lot of the cardboard boxes we've kept them in for decades had gotten a bit yucky from the basement flooding earlier this year, so we had to eliminate these boxes [we had to throw them away because they were moldy and I don't think you can recycle moldy boxes] as we got the ornaments out. We got all our ornaments onto the tree, put the second tree up in the living room, and then it was time for me to get ready for work.

But, we got everything set up, so, now it's just a matter of waiting 3 weeks for our first Christmas! 

[my niece and sister are coming over the weekend before Christmas this year, because they were here for Christmas last year, so they're going to be with the other side of the family for the day of and with us the weekend before--it's gonna be two Christmases this year, whoo-hoo!!]

Anyway, that's how my weekend has been so far.

Today has been pretty chill. I just woke up and played some games on my phone and read a few chapters in I Am Malala and then went for a run, which ended up being a much longer run than I anticipated. It turns out that I run a lot longer and farther once I stop thinking about how long and far I've run, so instead of counting my miles or my time, I just listened to Hamilton and ran until the end of "Non-Stop," because by then it turned out to be noon and I was getting very hungry.

And then I ate lunch and now I'm doing this, but it's also time to sign off so I can make the meal that I'll be eating at work tonight, since my shift is long enough for a meal break. So that's all for now!

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

Happy Monday!!!

Happy Monday, Everyone!!

I mean, I know people usually don't like Mondays, but how can anyone be down this week? It's Thanksgiving week! Which means people with regular jobs have off on Thursday and probably Friday, too. Which means it's a short work-week!

I mean, for most people.

I actually have to work every day this week, including Thanksgiving (Which I'm pretty upset about, but I already posted a really long rant-ey post about that so I'm just going to let you check that out on your own by clicking here). 

But I'm not gonna let that get me down! It's gonna be a great week!

To start with, I just started reading I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and I'm pretty excited to read about the youngest Nobel Laureate in history. I'm only about 40 pages in, with a goal of getting to at least page 90 today, but so far it's been really interesting. She does a great job of explaining the culture that she was raised in so that the reader isn't just thrown into this world that may be completely different from the one they live in [like, I knew a little bit about Pakistani culture, but I would have been completely shocked if she hadn't explained the culture of the Swat Valley where she grew up, because it's so completely different from what I've experienced in my life].

I'm looking forward to learning more about the culture she grew up in and her activism to promote education for girls, because that's a cause I care a lot about. So I'm probably going to read this book much faster than I would normally read, but that's only if I can actually get myself to sit down for a while to do so. 

Anyway, other than reading, my day is supposed to include a long run, which I have postponed due to the fact that it was below freezing outside when I got up and I'm not about to try and run in below freezing if I don't absolutely have to. So I'm probably going to head out for my run at about 11, to give the sun a chance to get high enough in the sky to actually produce some warmth and hopefully it will be like in the 40s by then (It's 36 now at 9:45, so it's looking solid).

I also did one of my training modules for my instructor position at Mathnasium, and that was a good time. I am really appreciating the way that we instruct at Mathnasium because it makes more sense than how I was taught in school growing up and if I had been taught the way that I'm learning to teach others now, I would have been much better off throughout my education.

And, finally, I am scheduled to instruct this afternoon/evening, and I'm excited because the students I work with are all pretty cool and helping them is always a fun time for me.

So, ta-ta for now, I'm going to log off the computer and get to my reading for the next hour and 15 minutes.

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

Tiny Homes, Mighty Living

Okay, so normally, I do #OutInTheSunday, but today I've been thinking a lot about tiny houses.

Also, I just spent like an hour sorting through the giant bin of my Build-A-Bears from my childhood. I have 13 sitting out on my bed right now, and I think that's only like half of the number I have total. I had a major BABW thing, you guys.

Anyway. I've been thinking a lot about tiny homes lately.

Like, they're so cute and smart.

One can build a tiny house on a very small budget (ranges from less than $10,000 to about $50,000 for upscale tiny houses) especially if they are frugal about getting their supplies and build it on their own for the most part. 

I mean, you do have to get the land to put it on, but a small plot of residential land can be pretty inexpensive in the grand scheme of things.

For example, based on my credit score right now, I would easily qualify for a loan that would be enough to buy a small plot of land and then build a tiny house for myself.

And, like, building my own tiny house would be so cool, because I could plan everything to be suited to how I want to live.

Obviously, I probably won't be building my own tiny home too soon, since I'm still trying to figure a lot of stuff out. 

But I want to talk about what my ideal tiny house would have.

So, as is common in tiny houses, it would have a loft bedroom for me to stay in. I would probably want to create a loft in which I can fit a full or queen size mattress, no need for a bed frame, and build some clothing storage into the walls of this loft, probably more like shelving than drawers. I would obviously want to install a sunroof/moonroof so I could stargaze from my bed and be woken up every day by the sun. I would definitely require that there be some sort of rail so that in case I roll over too much in my sleep I don't fall to the level below, but that's probably a pretty reasonable thing, right?

I also have this weird vision of a rope ladder going up to the master loft, but I'm not sure how practical that is if I need the toilet in the middle of the night.

I might also install a small second loft as a guest bedroom/reading room. This one would have shelves as well, but might have a futon instead of an actual bed, or just a smaller mattress. And there would definitely be books. And a guard rail. And another sunroof for optimal reading light when there are no guests staying there.

The tiny house would be powered by solar panels, because solar is an excellent renewable power source.

Also, it would be like super ideal to have a collapsible roof. Like, when the tiny house is stationary in a place, the roof can be peaked, but if I decided to move, I would want to be able to collapse it to be more travel-friendly. I'm not really sure if this is possible, but wouldn't it be SUPER neat?? If collapsible roofs are not available when I'm building, I'd probably install something like mildly slanty. It would have a super low slop, but enough to allow rain and the like to actually run off of it [I have this huge aversion to the concept of flat roofs because my primary and secondary schools had flat roofs and there were always problems with these roofs leaking; on the flipside, I also have a major aversion to like the standard A-line roof because like, it doesn't make sense to have the tallest part be the middle of the roof, especially when I'll likely have my bed against the outer wall--I just want a roof that I won't whack my head on when I wake up.]

I'm not sure how I would get water into the house. That would be something I would need help with (also probably the electricity thing, but I'd be a little less useless with that--I learned a little bit about electricity in my high school shop class).

I would probably install either a low-flow toilet or a composting toilet and I would get a shower/bathtub combo (I've always wanted a bathtub that covers my knees and boobs at the same time, you know?)

The kitchen would be pretty minimalist. Just a small range and oven and double sink. Probably a microwave and a toaster that would be kept in a cabinet when not in use. No dishwasher, because that would take up a lot of space that would be better used for cabinets/storage. So I would have under the counter cabinets and above the counter cabinets, under the counter to store dishes (pots/pans, plates/bowls, cups, and storage containers) and I would probably have a small refrigerator/freezer, like the kind you get for a college dorm. Ideally, the kitchen would be pretty small, just under the guest loft, and it would have a window over the sink so I could like watch birds while I wash dishes or something like that.

I would put my dining area just outside the kitchen. I have this dream of a pedestal table with built-in bookshelves in the pedestal stand part, for extra storage and because I'm low-key obsessed with books//reading.

Hypothetically, I would have the dining and living area be the same area, with a booth-style dining situation. My fancy pedestal table would be there and the booth would be like built into the wall, with a storage situation underneath like piano benches are. The storage would have my fancy place settings and napkins and tablecloths and blankets since the booth seat would double as a couch for watching movies.

I would set up an entertainment center with my tv and dvd player and I would have to have a way to connect my tv directly to netflix because HDMI cables are a mild to moderate inconvenience to deal with. 

I'm actually not sure how feasible a combination dining/living area would be, so in the case that I can't have that, I would put my pedestal table in the corner by the front door, with some chairs, and have the living room area outside the kitchen for optimal popcorn snacking during movie nights.

Rather than having a whole laundry set up, I would probably just have a larger sink in the bathroom to hand-wash my clothes in, and I would have a clothesline outside in the summer, or across the house in the cooler weather, that would be strung from one loft to the other. Like half of my clothes are supposed to be hand-washed anyway, so why bother with a washing machine? 

I would also probably install a small hallway-like bit between the two bed lofts which could be used as a reading nook. I'm not sure if that would work out or not, but if it would, that'd be super cool.

Anyway, I think that's it. If I missed anything, I'll definitely update.

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

Late #FoodForThoughtFriday and Happy #SelfCareSaturday !!

Happy Saturday!!

Since I missed yesterday's post because I had a weird shift at work, I'm going to start with yesterday's #FoodForThoughtFriday post:

Food for Thought Friday: Black Friday and Thanksgiving day shopping 

For anyone who does not live in the United States, every fourth Thursday of November, we have this holiday called Thanksgiving which is based in some pretty sketchy historical details. [TL;DR: The very first Thanksgiving dinner may have been a group of Pilgrims and Indians sitting down to a happy feast, but after that, Puritans attempting to escape religious persecution in England came to Massachusetts and took the land that belonged to the Wampanoag nation and also killed them with smallpox]

I don't know why it's the fourth Thursday of November, but I thought it was the last Thursday until one year, November had 5 Thursdays and it wasn't the last one.

Anyway. Over the years, people have largely grown disillusioned with the "Pilgrim and Indian" notion of Thanksgiving, because, you know, it's awful. [Like Columbus Day. Also awful.] And Thanksgiving has kind of grown into something less about History and more about spending time with friends and/or family and being thankful for what we have. Which is great. It's a great way to be more mindful in your life, and something that we should definitely do more of [thus the birth of the #ThankfulThursday hashtag in recent years]. 

But also in recent years, this whole concept of "Black Friday" has started to overshadow Thanksgiving. Which is not so good.

In a nutshell: Black Friday, or the Friday after Thanksgiving (so the fourth Friday in November) is the "official" start of the holiday shopping season [not sure how that works because I definitely do not wait until a month before Christmas, the winter holiday I happen to celebrate, to start shopping]. It is a day when humans venture out into the world of retail shops to buy everything they want to give their loved ones for the winter holidays. There's even a website about Black Friday because it's so big now. The "black" in black Friday refers to the fact that the stores supposedly record losses in red, and gains in black ink or something silly like that.

And on Black Friday, stores offer super deals for things that people want to buy for the holidays, like, toys and electronics and stuff. And usually stores that participate also open early to let crazy shoppers who want to get out of bed at 3:00 in gosh-darn morning in for these deals and extra-super-special deals called "doorbusters" [because these people are busting down the doors--oh, you're closed, Target? NOT FOR ME, SON]

Anyway, over the past few years (lookin' at you, 2013, you started this) large retailers have been stepping it up a notch (or fifteen) by opening EVEN EARLIER than Friday, like, Thursday night, or sometimes Wednesday. And, of course, this is a problem when Thursday is supposed to be a holiday about spending time with friends and family and eating large quantities of turkey or not-turkey and stuffing and other such holiday fare.

So, long story short, super-stores like Walmart and Target and all those big-name retailers we love (or love to hate) have been opening on Thanksgiving.

Which wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that when they open on Thursday, the poor souls who work in retail [read: me and others like me, trying to make ends meet post-graduation, single parents trying to make their ends meet to take care of their precious babies, and sometimes non-single parents who just, like, work at Target because they get paid better than minimum wage and get benefits if they're full time, and sometimes non-parents for those same reasons and all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons] get pulled away from their families on Thanksgiving day just before 6 pm to go cater to the crazy shoppers who leave their families by choice to make sure they get the *it* toy or the giant plasma screen TV or whatever it is that they NEED, but don't want to buy at full-price.

Of course, not all retailers do this (bless you, TJ Maxx, Homegoods, Marshalls, Costco, etc.) but a lot of them do. And it's pretty screwed up. 

Because not only do these shoppers drag retail workers out of their homes and away from their family and friends to come in so you can buy whatever for 50% off or whatever, they're rude about it. They are, by and large, not going to be apologizing for the fact that they're coming in, and will possibly even get angry at the retail workers for not having something they want because, like, OBVIOUSLY, it's the cashier's fault that we only stock x number of this thing and you were the (x+1)th person to come looking for it or that the thing didn't ring up what you thought it would because the system is missing some discount that you saw a sign for, but we didn't because we're not out on the floor checking sale signs.

Now, I've never been a shopper on Black Friday (or pre-Black Friday) because I'm not about to go shopping with thousands of other people who could potentially, I don't know, trample me, stab me, pepper spray me, shoot me, or hit me with their car. This is a dangerous thing to do, guys. And of course, if it's dangerous for the shoppers, it's also dangerous for the workers, who we should care about (and I'm not just saying this because I work in retail now--seriously, my fellow Target Team Members are some of the sweetest people I've met and deserve all the good things).

So, like, if you can practice the self-restraint to NOT go shopping on Thanksgiving day and let retailers know that this isn't something the American people want or need, then please do. And if you can't, then at least be nice to the people who you interact with in the store, because you don't know them, and whatever is making you upset while shopping is probably not their fault. Feel free to come out on Black Friday, though. Just don't get violent while you're shopping. Like, it's not the end of the world if you don't get your precious little Jimmy or Janie or whatever your child is called that "Hatchimal" [the big toy of 2016, think how popular furbies were when they came out, or tickle-me-elmo when he came out] for 25% off. We really only have a few of them at a time [the shelves in my Target appear to only hold 8 Hatchimals at once, 2 rows of 4]. And there will be more at a later date, I'm sure.

#BoycottThanksgivingDayShopping #PracticeKindnessonBlackFriday 

Okay, moving on to #SelfCareSaturday

Today's #SelfCareSaturday Plans include:

Working at Mathnasium for a few hours.

Reading.

Doing my training modules for Mathnasium.

Possibly going to a grocery store with my mom to get stuff for Thanksgiving.

Possibly pulling some stuff down out of the attic.

Possibly getting some of my stuff out of the other bedroom in the house so that my sister and niece can stay there next month when/if they come down for Christmas.

Maybe going for a walk since it's gonna be b-e-a-utiful outside this afternoon.

Bullet Journaling for Organized Living

So, by now, you've probably heard of a "Bullet Journal," the latest craze in keeping your life organized

And if you haven't, where have you been?

Anyway, a Bullet Journal is a way to keep your life super organized. It's kind of like a day planner, a journal, and a calendar all in one thing that you can carry around with you.

I started my first bullet journal in late May/early June and I'm still working at getting to a point where I actually use them effectively.

My first bullet journal was a Leuchtturm 1917 "Pocket" size journal with an orange hard cover and grid paper. This was really great for carrying around because it literally fit in my pocket (though I usually kept it in my purse). And I used it pretty well for a little while, then didn't, then got tired of trying to fit everything in something so small. As I approached the end of the journal, I decided to switch to a different one and use the remaining pages for other things, such as my holiday shopping list and various other things.

After that one, I was looking for something bigger with the dot grid type of page, but my budget did me in and I ended up using an old sketchbook that had 100% blank pages and was kind of large, as sketch books often are. This was working pretty well for me for a couple of weeks, and I was doing much better of keeping up with it, but then it became super inconvenient to bring it places and it ended up being left at home a lot and so I'm a little behind in bullet journaling right now. I do, however, plan to use this notebook through the end of 2016, with the pages that are left at the end of December being used for various other purposes (so far, I've started a New Year's Resolutions page and I'll probably use some of the pages for their intended purpose--i.e. sketching).

My next bullet journal, which I will start in January, is a Moleskine hard-cover notebook. It has lined pages and is a nice size in between the sizes of the two I've already tried. I also have a bit of time between now and when I'm planning to actually start using it to get a nice layout set up inside. It's still not my ideal notebook (I've been eyeing the Leuchtturm 1917 medium (A5 paper) hardcover with the dot grid pages, preferably in red [just in case anyone was wondering what they could get me for any holiday and is so inclined]), but it's definitely a step in the right direction. It has 240 pages, which is *hypothetically* enough for Jan-August assuming that months average about 30 days, but I'm aiming to use it for January-June, the first 6 months of the year, in order to give me space for the index at the front and the "future log" that is common to bullet journals, as well as my monthly and weekly overview pages.

I'm still on the hunt for my ideal layout, as well as the right pen(s) because I like to have nice pens because then I feel more obligated to write nicely so as to not waste the beautiful pen--plus, I really love to color code my bullet journal items.

How do you like to stay organized?
What is your best piece of advice for bullet journaling?
Let me know! I'd love to see some nifty ideas!

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

#SelfCareWeekend and deactivating facebook (again)

In the interest of self-care, I didn't do much online this weekend.

I'm coming back around to that point of view that facebook is more of a problem than a solution. Mostly election-related stuff.

It was just about two years ago now that I completely turned off my facebook for my own mental health in the wake of a very traumatic situation for me and many of those who I care a lot about.

And now here I am, thinking of turning it off again.

Because it's mostly negative energy most of the time.

Because it's more trouble than it's worth.

Because I just don't have time to deal with that.

But at the same time as it's all of those things, I have a lot of friends with whom I don't get to communicate much without it. Friends in other countries, and now friends from college, since we've all moved back to our homeplaces. It's nice to be able to log in and see what they're all up to, but at the same time I feel like it causes me to be less present in those relationships. If I can see what they're doing without actually calling or texting or emailing them (or writing them a letter), then I often do because my communication skills are not the tops.

So, shouldn't I just drop the facebook account and put forth actual effort in the relationships that are important to me, rather than watching my loved ones' lives go by from a distance, through a screen?

I think that would be much better in promoting self-care as well as meaningful relationships.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming with #FoodForThoughtFriday

#FoodForThoughtFriday
#FreetheTitties

Today's topic is the bra, the medieval torture device for breasts, and a tool in centuries of oppression of women.

Now, the bra as we know it today wasn't invented until the early 20th century (Google gives the exact date as November 3, 1914--102 years and 8 days ago today), but binding and constricting the female breast has been around much longer. The reasons for doing so have been varied, but it's overwhelmingly an oppressive measure taken against the female breast (otherwise those who have male breasts would also be wearing bras, right?) and there are now tons of studies that say wearing bras is actually bad for your breast health (these are just five results related to the search "bras are bad" in no particular order).

I'm not here to say the things that have already been said by so many people; I'm here to break down why we still wear bras/consider it taboo not to wear a bra and to offer arguments on why we should #freethetitties.

So, the reasons that we still wear bras:

     1. Bras make breasts "look better." I mean, if you're a heterosexual male, the shape that a bra gives a female breast is pretty nice. Although this is highly contradictory to the second reason we wear bras.

     2. Breasts without bras are "distracting" to men. Which implies that without the bra, a woman's breast will draw a [heterosexual] man's attention more than with. Which kind of implies that they want to see the one without the bra. [of course, all of this hinges on the terrible social construct of "boys will be boys," which implies that "girls should modify their behavior to ensure boys aren't bad," a social construct that is harmful to everyone because it implies that men can't control their animalistic urges and frequently takes young girls out of school to change into clothing that is less distracting to their classmates, but that's a story for another Friday]

     3. Female nipples are offensive! Like, seriously? They look just like male nipples, but are surrounded with more breast tissue. Plus, female nipples produce life-sustaining milk for infants, male nipples don't [usually].

     4. Over time, wearing a bra has gone from something that was invented as a liberation from the super-restrictive corset to something that smushes the female breast into submission against the will of gravity and nature.

And the reasons why we shouldn't are numerous.

     To start with, it really is bad for your breasts. The muscle tissue in breasts can't get stronger if it doesn't have to work. Wearing a bra prevents your breasts muscles from working to get stronger. I mean, there are times when it's reasonable to wear a bra, such as when doing physical activities like running (because the amount of bouncing that can and will occur while exercising is painful), but other than that, let them breathe.

     It's also usually more comfortable to not. Like, 99% of humans who wear bras will tell you that getting home and being able to take it off is the best part of their day, or at least in the top 10 best parts of their day.

     Bras are expensive. Like, it costs $20-$50 to get a decent bra, and that's just if you're in the smaller (but not too small!) sizes. If you require "specialty" sizes, such as a band size smaller than 32 or larger than 40 (VS, I'm looking at you), maybe 42 or 44, or a cup size that is smaller than A (i.e. AA, AAA) or larger than D (VS again), or maybe DD or DDD or H, you have to go to a more expensive store, where they will measure you and fit you with a custom bra that probably costs upwards of $75. I don't know exact costs of these bras, since I fit in the non-specialty bra size category, but I know plenty of people who require "specialty" bras. And you could be using that money for more important things, like food.

     Bras usually don't fit a human the way they're intended. Because most humans don't have perfectly even breasts that are both the same size (I mean, I know there's nearly a full cup-size difference between my left and right which always makes my results come up weird when I get professionally measured) or sometimes breasts are kinda lopsided or crooked-like, most people can't get a bra that actually fits the way they need for it to look AND feel good. And, like, we should embrace the uniqueness of everyone's breasts, not try to fit them all in the mold of what is judged to look good by society.

    Bras are awkward to wash. Like, hypothetically, you're supposed to hand wash them or put them on a delicate cycle. Not doing so can cause them to have a shorter life, meaning you need to buy them more often, which means you're wasting MORE money on them. It's probably a conspiracy by Big Bras to keep you in a never-ending cycle of wasting dozens of dollars on bras.

In short, bras are basically just another form of oppression of women. Fight the patriarchy by not wearing them. Donate them to charity for women who can't afford to spend so much on bras, but still feel societal pressure to wear them even in the face of homelessness.

Or wear them anyway. Like, I can't tell you what to do.

But, most definitely, please do NOT burn them. That's like a weird thing that can put chemicals into the environment.

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

The Electoral College

So, we all know that the electoral college didn't work the way it's supposed to this election. Or the 2000 election.

And of course, that means that there are going to be tons of calls to eliminate it.

But regardless of these calls, it's too late for this election.
Donald Trump is our next president barring the unlikely circumstance of over 3 dozen "faithless electors" or our justice system convicting him of the rape of a minor that he stands trial for starting on December 16th and becoming ineligible for the presidency.

So, today, I'm going to break down some of the pros and cons of the electoral college as it is right now and those of disbanding or drastically changing it.

Updated to add a link to this petition to those electors in red states that aren't bound by the popular votes to change history on December 19th. As unlikely as it is that this will happen, at least this will show the world that it isn't okay to toy with democracy.

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The electoral college as it is:

Pros: Allows for a smaller group of educated individuals to choose the candidate that they feel is best suited to act as the president of the United States in the case that said person does not receive the majority vote.

Cons: Occasionally ends up granting the presidency to the candidate with less of the popular vote; makes people believe that they must choose between one of the two major party candidates even if their views align better with that of a third party candidate; really isn't a democratic system.

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Disbanding the electoral college:

Pros: No more winning the popular vote, but losing the election. Allow those whose views align with third-party candidates to freely express that by voting for those candidates, thus hopefully reducing the disastrous two-party system that has plagued this nation since the late 1700s/early 1800s. Force America to wait until all votes are counted before declaring a winner (because it's now two days after election day and all votes still haven't been counted, which is beyond frustrating and I'm not even in one of the states whose votes haven't been counted).

Cons: Could result in a huge majority of uneducated individuals controlling our nation. 

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Doing a major overhaul of the electoral college:

Pros: Give Americans a chance to update the electoral college for the times. Not put too much power in the hands of the individual. 

Cons: Still having the chance of a majority popular vote not gaining the presidency.

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I, personally, am in favor of doing an overhaul of the electoral college, rather than disbanding it entirely. Call me crazy, but there's a reason that the founding fathers were afraid of direct democracy. If you are in favor of disbanding it, there's a petition you can sign here. It's your right to want to get rid of it, but before you sign, give me a few minutes of your time to try and explain how we can fix it.

First, it doesn't make sense that the entirety of each states' electoral votes goes to one candidate. There are only two states that can split their electoral vote, and they rarely do. Maine split theirs for the first time ever this election, granting 3 to Clinton and 1 to Trump and Nebraska has only split theirs once in history: that was in 2008, when they granted their third vote to Obama. The first thing to do would be to ensure that every state has not only the ability, but the obligation to split their vote according to popular vote. I would propose doing so in the following way:

Each state's popular vote winner would get the two associated with their senate seats. The remaining 1 to 53 (least populous states have 1, most populous/California has 53) would be divided according to congressional districts. The winner of each district would get that district's electoral vote.

For example, let's look at Virginia, my state. This election, our first 2 electoral votes would have gone to Clinton, and the remaining 11 would have been divided 7 to Trump, 4 to Clinton (this is based on the results for each district's chosen Representative assuming districts that selected a GOP candidate would have gone red and those that selected a Dem candidate would have gone blue; I couldn't find the presidential results sorted by district--no third party candidates won any district).

By doing this, voters who prefer a third party candidate would not be told that they're wasting their votes and, over time, we could gradually get away from the two-party model we've been stuck with for so long.

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Second, we need to eliminate the entire concept of having electors be bound by their states' votes. This is a big deterrent for third-party leaning voters. By binding electors, these states prevent the electoral college from doing its job. Because 29 states' electors are bound by the popular vote, these 29 states' electors don't have a chance to express their concern for the nation if they feel the best candidate was not chosen. There's also a problem with referring to those who use the right to select a different candidate than their state's choice "faithless electors." I get that the term comes from a lack of faith in the choice of their electorate, but it's really discouraging to those who are seriously concerned about it. The electors for each district would still be from the winning party and in most cases would choose their party's candidate, but they would not be stigmatized for choosing a different candidate. 

This would ensure that the majority couldn't pick candidates who want to reverse decades of progress without having the electoral college there to check that.

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Third, the electoral college wouldn't wait over a month to actually cast their ballots. The process would need to be streamlined so that there's not a gap between popular vote and electoral vote. There's no longer any need to wait so long for the college; technology has made it so that we usually know within 12 hours of the polls closing what candidate has won each state. The electoral college could meet the Tuesday after the popular election and it would be done.

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Fourth, we as a nation should not accept the predicted results of the election as final. The electors should have a chance to cast their votes before Americans as a whole say "wellp, that's it, this is the next president, like it or not." This puts unnecessary pressure on the electors to go with the vote. Recall that, in the majority of cases, they should go with the vote anyway.

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Fifth, the electoral college's final decision should be subject to review by Congress, regardless of if there is a tie or not. This just provides an extra check in the "checks and balances" equation.

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Sixth, the electoral college magic number should not be 270. This encourages bipartisanship and discourages those who prefer candidates not from the two main parties. The electoral college's results should be looked at in full, with the candidate receiving the most electoral votes gaining the presidency, not whoever gets 270 first.

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I'm not saying that this is the only way it can be fixed; I'm just offering an alternative to what we currently have and to completely disbanding it. If you still want to sign that petition, here's the link again. But it's clear that we can't just keep it as is any longer.

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist