Abortions, Roommates and MannyTails

I know, I know - I didn't post again last night and I am sorry! I had a vicious headache...

I have a few things on my mind today.



The first thing is an article I read about a Yale art student who artificially inseminated herself several times over the course of the schoolyear, while also taking abortifacient drugs throughout the year and videotaping her miscarriages, as part of her senior art project. The project is intended to incite discussion, I suppose, and she claims that she did not engage in these actions for shock value.

Although, I have to say, I am a little shocked.

I don't want to come right out and say that what I think she did was wrong, because I am still trying to wrap my head around it. In a way, I understand the commentary she's putting out there and I appreciate her creativity in inciting discussion about an important topic, BUT...

People already talk about abortion.

It's one of the most controversial topics in America. So is it really necessary to purposefully impregnate yourself several times over, knowing that you will abort each of the fetuses without hesitation for the sake of...art?

I asked Cute Boy for his opinion, being that he is a talented artist himself and LOVES art with actual societal and cultural commentary in it. Although he too felt that he needed to think about it for awhile, his first thought was this:

"The values of our culture are not something to live and die by. This may be controversial now, but later will be understood and accepted as art. A guy in South America tied a dog to a rope and starved it to death for everyone to see at an art show - he was commenting on how many dogs are left to starve on the streets. He brought the streets to the upper class, where the power really is. It's ironic to kill, but I think its important to show the negligence...like its ironic to show concern for unborn life when we don't show concern for those who are already living."

So obviously, her project is already working. It's incited discussion between Cute Boy and me, thousands of miles away from her senior seminar art class, within minutes.

I'm still not so sure about this one though. I can't help but feel that a truly creative artist would be able to invoke commentary and insightful discussion (about a topic that actually needs more discussion) without taking any lives (humans, dogs or otherwise).

What do you think?



So my second pressing thought for the day revolves around my current living situation.

Let me give you a little background...

...Once upon a time there was a college senior named Jenna. She had big plans to graduate college, work for a PR firm in San Francisco and move in with one of her best friends from college and, by mid-2007, had efficiently accomplished all three. It took only a month or two to find that her roommate (and soon-to-be former friend) was increasingly difficult to live with. After all, it takes a lot of patience to live with someone who doesn't have a job (and who's parents pay for everything), who is taking naps when you get home from work and then complains to you about the hard day she's had, and finally who spreads rather ridiculous and wholly false lies about you because you no longer spend all your time at home with her listening to her complain about her difficult nap and shopping-filled day. Needless to say, said roommate (and former friend) moves out within 5 months of moving in (back in with her parents, of course) and Jenna is forced to find a new roommate. She quickly finds Julie, who is wonderful on so many levels - she is kind, clean, funny and bakes lots of cookies of which I am always given the extras - but is also a graduating law student who is moving back to San Diego in June...as in next month. So Jenna needs another roommate yet again...

And here we are.

There's a possibility that my very best friend from Los Angeles will be moving to San Francisco and, if that is the case, she will be forced to live with me in my apartment. I will give her no other choice.

But...there is also a possibility that she will not move up here and my landlord has insisted that I at least put an ad up on Craigslist. So now, I am trying to think of the perfect roommate - a combination of qualities that I must insist on my next housemate having in order for my to comfortably survive alongside of them for the next year or more. So I begin...


Julie Qualities I Need in a Roommate
- nice
- quiet
- respects my privacy
- pays her bills on time (and pays them herself! imagine that!)
- friendly
- likes Cute Boy (and doesn't mind him being over CONSTANTLY)
- clean

Best Friend from Home Qualities I Need (or would like) in a Roommate
- funny
- non-judgmental
- would NEVER spread untruths about me!
- likes Cute Boy
- ambitious
- knows me inside and out
- is my best friend

What am I missing? I need to be very particular this time around!



Finally the last thing on my mind today is a businessman I saw out the window of my office. He was walking down the street in the Financial District with his sharp suit and his briefcase and...a ponytail. And not a regular old ponytail, but a short, stubby little ponytail. Meaning that had he actually had his hair NOT gathered in an elastic band it would be a normal, short length, but for some reason he felt it was necessary to pull his hair back in a ponytail.

I don't know how his business colleagues felt about that, but I lost a little respect for him right there.