Not Now -- On Deadline

Where the hell is my vacation?

2011-11-09T08:31:00.001-05:00

Need to do a better job of managing my off time.

Damn right I knit.

2011-08-19T22:23:00.002-04:00

I have a blog post of my own to write, but let's get something straight: I knit so I don't kill people.

I have two Ivy League degrees, and I cover US diplomacy and military strategy for a certain (sometimes controversial) international television network. That means I get paid for putting tough questions to US policymakers and for writing and presenting policy stories to an international audience. I've traveled around the world. I like my scotch smooth and neat -- my men a little less polished.

Damn right I knit. I need the cleansing palette between thinking about military budget talks and diplomatic maneuvering and political shenanigans. Knitting reminds me that I can create in real life, and not just in my rather excellent brain.

I sew too. I think about the women in Southeast Asia and Haiti and China who make almost nothing to produce the suits I wear on the air -- and I try to right the moral balance by making some of my own clothes. I also give money to organizations that help women create their own businesses across the developing world. That's what this "soft" woman with a tough job does with her time and her money.

As for "have women become soft?" My great-grandmother couldn't go to high school; her father told her all she'd only marry and bear children, making the hard-earned tuition a waste of money. She made sure that her one child -- HER DAUGHTER -- my grandmother -- earned two college degrees. Her daughter -- my mother -- earned a college degree. As an African-American woman with this kind of family history, it is ridiculous for me to think that I've become soft. If anything, I've earned the right to do something once afforded only to middle-class and upper-class white women in this country: to control my mind, my bank account, and my time, without interference from anyone else.

By the way -- you need more than Boston Phoenix bylines if you want to be taken seriously as a journalist. It's a fine paper, but really, why aren't you on the NYTimes or WaPo opinion page? That's where the power is in this country. Just a bit of career advice.

Egypt.

2011-02-11T11:57:00.000-05:00

What a day. Mabrouk Masr.

Quick list of 2010

2010-12-31T09:14:00.000-05:00

Dad died. October 19.

Became staff at AJE. November 27.

Finally started the novel. November 1.

Digging out. All year.

Surgery. September 7.

Sushi in a Yokohoma mall. November 14.

Snowmageddon.

Snowpocalypse.

Improved knitting and gardening skills. Not so much on the photography or videography.

Signs the midlife crisis is imminent: Thinking about taking up electric guitar. Hanging out in the toy section of Target with nary a thought of my nieces or nephew. Wondering if my anti-Botox position is too much protesting.

A renewed acquaintance with the written page, cold lemonade, sunblock and a maillot on the back porch.

Realizing it's time to shed my skin, just when I'm feeling most vulnerable.

See ya, 2010,

Time to take account

2010-12-23T17:50:00.002-05:00

It's been a long hard slog these last four months -- but perhaps there is a good light waiting at the end. Update shortly.

P080910PS-0356

2010-08-25T20:50:00.001-04:00

P080910PS-0356, originally uploaded by The White House.

This photo is freaking hilarious!

P081410PS-0565

2010-08-14T17:06:00.001-04:00

P081410PS-0565, originally uploaded by The White House.

He kicked out the press because he "didn't want to be on magazine covers" -- but he and Miss Sasha are here!

Confronting perfectionist tendencies

2010-07-24T12:11:00.000-04:00

Hi there -- if you've come here from TNC's place, welcome!

On the hottest day of the year so far, I'm blissfully in my house, with the AC on, about to start a new project. The project: finishing all of the knitting projects I've started over the past couple of years.

These are projects I want when they're done. There's a lot of money sunk into these projects. They're all challenging in some form or fashion. However, I've failed over and over to reach the finish line. When my little sister visited in the spring, we agreed the projects indicated a wish to be "busy" -- "Look at the proof on the coffee table! I'm so busy!" Now I look at the table and at its outposts and I think, "Frigging hoarder/packrat."

For the next year, I'll be writing periodically, maybe daily, about all the things that have helped create this monstrosity of a pile. Some entries may be done in OpenOffice and copied here. Photos will show up here and on Ravelry, and maybe FB too. There could be a book if I think I've said something provocative, but I'll leave it up to the editors of the world to give me feedback. The last thing I want to do is make this a meditation on "being a woman and in touch with my most uterine self" crap that's already in the bookstores.

The one rule: Whatever I'm knitting at the moment won't be set aside -- I will see it through its conclusion, buttons and weaving in of ends and sewing up and modeling for you and for me. Wish me luck! (There's a new rug riding on this, and maybe two new bathrooms as well!)

The Long Game And The Breitbart Implosion - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

2010-07-22T13:30:00.000-04:00

The Long Game And The Breitbart Implosion - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

A Final Thought - National - The Atlantic

2010-07-16T18:41:00.000-04:00

A Final Thought - National - The Atlantic

Let me put it this way: if you don't think the Tea Party is serious, then just don't bother voting in November.

Happy Independence Day!

2010-07-04T20:55:00.000-04:00

Checking in

2010-07-02T20:41:00.001-04:00

Some days are just so gorgeous, you hate to see them end.

These Are the Last Days of U.S. Grant - Personal - The Atlantic

2010-06-29T11:33:00.000-04:00

These Are the Last Days of U.S. Grant - Personal - The Atlantic

Getting Shit Done - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

2010-06-17T12:57:00.000-04:00

Getting Shit Done - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

It's all about the long game, people.

Tough day -- and then the rain passed.

2010-06-06T21:38:00.000-04:00

Hadn't been in the bureau in two weeks -- their scheduling, not mine. It's not as if I didn't offer, and it's not as if they didn't need the extra hands.

Day started early, with my first-ever stakeout in ten years of working in DC -- at Fox, where the Israeli ambassador's security guard very nicely turned down our efforts to ask him a question about the Gaza flotilla situation. Should made a firm bet with the photog, because I knew he wasn't going to talk, especially to us. *snort* Didn't sleep well, because I didn't want to miss the alarm, and miss getting to work early so the photog and I could go over to Fox... No, can't tell a story to save my life. Can't believe people pay me to do this...

Anyway. Told desk no dice on the ambassador stakeout. Returned to bureau, where I had to endure a very difficult "Hey, how are you?" chit-chat with people I once really enjoyed working with. Escaped upstairs to read the papers and watch "Face the Nation." No news in either place, so moved on to the Houston and New Orleans papers. Oil spill corroding my soul.

Wandered out to get a coffee, and discovered a NEW GUY REPORTER talking to one of the package producers down the hall. "Hi, I'm xxx, I'll be reporting here for the next month." You don't say. "Yeah, I was in the middle of doing training last week when they sent me to Alaska to do an oil story for three days!" Really now. Skulked back into my "office," which really belongs to three other staffers, but since I'm cool and have a potty mouth and good sources, I get to hang around and leave my notes in their space.

Efforts to think while working on story pitches were constantly interrupted. First the photog. We end up going out to get lunch. Then I get a request to do lives on the latest wannabee terrorists from NYC. OK -- guess the staff correspondent in NYC can't be troubled to cover something in her own area. I figure out that a package can be created, so I create it. Nice surprise for my NE. I finish my lunch and cut the package with a very cool editor. We look at crazy youtube videos of people using iPhones to fly model planes and bad car crashes where no one gets hurt. (You had to be there.) I go back to my lair to get ready for a live shot and maybe to write a pitch.

Then my mentee comes in because she's been having a bad week. Then the guy who hunted me down to work at AJE in the first place comes upstairs to see if I'll give him my side of the story. As tempting as it is to do so, I resisted. I have to consider everyone not on my side, a potential spy. It's a small shop, after all.

Even the studio tech wanted to know whether I was doing okay. "Uh yeah, but I'm wearing a live mike, I'll talk to you later." Then I turn on my concerned and informed face to talk about those wannabee NJ terrorists with London.

I can't get out of the building fast enough, but I have to chat with the adorable makeup chiquita and her man, who brought her jacket against the AC chill. That's okay -- they're normal people. Not enough normal people in TV news.

The front had blown through, the air was dry and fall-like. The sky was bluer than it's been in days, and the clouds a reassuring orange. I opened the sunroof and drove home at 70 mph, the breeze easing my heart a little bit.

And then a blogger whose site I haunt because she puts such pretty fabrics in pretty designs all over it -- sent me a brief note about this puny little space I need to nurture. I was humbled. Thanks, K.

Miranda and teaching the law to the masses

2010-06-03T21:53:00.000-04:00

Thinking out loud here.

If SCOTUS now says that in order to invoke Miranda, you have to say to the police, "I am invoking my right to remain silent and I want a lawyer," is that something we should teach to children as part of their social studies or civics classes? What about the concept that ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it -- do we have an obligation to teach children that too? Couldn't some parents object to that? What do we do then?

Getting it into gear

2010-06-02T16:59:00.000-04:00

Efforts at being productive were going well, at least until someone decided I'd been at my laptop too long.

Note the placement of the feline roadblock, as well as an out-of-season feline toy. My revenge was pulling out the camera.

Then I remembered this finally bothered show up at Beach Jordan:

As my friend Cat would say, "ALOHA!" Check out the detail of that 28-135mm lens. It came with the 50D. All my photog friends are Canon freaks, so I had justification for staying the course with the brand -- of course, they use 5D's... I am not that practiced to own such a camera. Anyway, I've practicing my bracketing in program mode, but only for one focus point. (Guess I have another project this summer!) Still, I'm getting a much better sense of when to open up the exposure and when to stop it down.

Enough procrastinating -- back to work!

P032810PS-0901

2010-03-28T20:35:00.001-04:00

P032810PS-0901, originally uploaded by The White House.

Check out the guys in the foreground. Love it!

The night health care reform passed

2010-03-22T10:30:00.001-04:00

P032110PS-0787, originally uploaded by The White House.

I was so busy watching the Members of the House that I never saw anything about POTUS until he and VPOTUS addressed the nation after the vote.

Treasonous talk, or not? Read and discuss.

2010-03-16T18:52:00.000-04:00

Rosiland Jordan Is this not treasonous talk? Lawyers in the crowd? Anyone?

Rep. King Calls For Velvet Revolution Against The Government

www.huffingtonpost.com

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) urged a smaller-than-expected crowd of Tea Party protesters on Tuesday to launch a Velvet Revolution-style uprising against the federal government, saying the parallels are striking between America's current government and Eastern European communist rule.

5 hours ago · Comment · · Share

Timothy Durham

It was in the Declaration of Independence but did not make it into the Constitution:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are ...See More

5 hours ago ·

Ned Moss

Timothy: I would argue -- as Woodrow Wilson did in his dissertation at Princeton -- that we opt for a UK style, a Parliament, in which the majority (51%) can do what they're elected to do and the minority can only bitch and moan!
Rosiland: 1st Amendment guarantees right of free speech. If anyone in his group commits violence against the govt, then it's TREASON!

4 hours ago ·

Timothy Durham

Ned, I was not attempting to justify this buffoon.. merely guessing where he is sourcing his comments.

4 hours ago ·

Ted Liazos

Wow. What Steve King actually wants to do is turn the argument of the Declaration on its head - elections should have no meaning if he doesn't like the policies of those elected. King George? Not elected. Communist government of Czechoslovakia? Not elected. Obama, Reid and Pelosi? Elected, elected and elected.

3 hours ago ·

Paul Millhouser

This guy makes Palin look sane and thoughtful. Well, not really.

2 hours ago ·

Rosiland Jordan

I think I need to fire up my blog and have us all discuss this over there -- this could be a good discussion! Are ya'll in?

51 minutes ago ·

Timothy Durham

By the time you get that thing gassed up this tempest in a teapot will be over. The bill will be signed and these idiots will be on to the next gov't takeover.

35 minutes ago ·

Rosiland Jordan

@Timmy I have a blog. notnowondeadline.blogspot.com I just don't promote it.

54 seconds ago ·

Great White Shark!

2010-02-13T11:09:00.001-05:00

Shark 0011, originally uploaded by ivantheterrible64.

A snow sculpture by someone living in Fairfax County, VA -- hilarious!

It's snowing.

2010-02-05T11:15:00.000-05:00

Pictures later. Laundry now.

Holy shit.

2010-01-04T16:10:00.000-05:00

While I was in Paris in early December, I went to the Eglise de St Germain des Pres to sit, reflect, and enjoy the Christmas mood. Like most churches, this had more Japanese tourists taking photos of the stained glass windows than worshippers. I was chased out by the sight of a homeless guy a few rows in front of me, picking his nose.

Now there's news that Johnny Hallyday's daughter, the actress Laura Smet, tried to kill herself with alcohol and pills in that same sanctuary today. Dayum.

Looks like the church is in need of an exorcism. Or at least a taste of Buddhist re-centering.

Read this. Discuss.

2010-01-04T13:12:00.002-05:00

ttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/magazine/17Terror-t.html

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T12:35:00.001-05:00

I believe in resolutions -- they're good for progress checks. What I believe in more is follow-through -- so you'll be hearing from me more as 2010 ages, ripens, and finally fades into history.

Bobo's 2010 wish: more fish and belly rubs.

Inspiration

2009-12-19T20:03:00.001-05:00

P120309PS-0605, originally uploaded by The White House.

You can read many things into a photo. That is what I read in this one.

This would have made my head explode...

2009-11-07T09:30:00.001-05:00

P101309PS-0797, originally uploaded by The White House.

Had I been on the WH South Lawn AND seen Los Lobos perform. WOW.

Obama family photo

2009-10-23T09:52:00.001-04:00

P090109-0127, originally uploaded by The Official White House Photostream.

Reminds me that the sibs and I need to get together for an updated portrait!

This is what happens when self-delusion collides with Rashomon-style reality.

2009-09-27T19:34:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking about how social media are forcing us to reexamine the choices we made along the way to becoming adults, and while I haven't written anything on that issue yet, I know that on some level, we're becoming more aware of "our version" of pivotal events in our lives, as well as "everyone else's version." I think it might create a level of anxiety and uncertainty that people fight to avoid as they get older, especially in a culture where personal reinvention is both hard-fought and worshipped, and yet the very act of change is attacked as inauthentic.

I'd forgotten about the non-social media version of that, and last night I found out how painful that really is.

You see, a million years ago, after I'd finally broken up with D, I'd chosen to forgive and forget. Forgive because we're all human -- forget for the sake of my sanity. Move on because there is a good friend beyond all the history. His wedding to E yesterday forced me to remember: because he wanted me there as a witness, because she didn't want me to talk about how we'd been dating when they met -- and as I'd suspected at the time, had started their relationship -- and because her father gleefully talked about how they'd met and were starting to get close AT THE VERY TIME I WAS STRUGGLING TO HOLD ON TO A RELATIONSHIP I KNEW WAS IN TROUBLE.

When M talked about seeing D on TV for the first time, his description was heartfelt: Here's the guy who's stealing my daughter's heart, and isn't he a talented, well-spoken man, blah blah blah. This is a guy who has two big dogs and hails from the west and rides motorcycles and plays guitar in a band and has long hair and climbs mountains and blah blah blah...

I am sure the look on my face was one of straight-up horror. I'm hoping enough people were drinking to not notice. I was sitting behind him -- so maybe that shielded me from the room.

If you think about it, marriage isn't just about how two people start a new chapter in their lives. During M's toast, I realized that it's also about trying to rewrite the past as you join a proper, sensible community of couples who try to meet the standard of no-drama marriage. M's version of how they met -- E's fears I'd say something outrageous and destroy the illusion of their early days together -- D's asking me please to "not go there..." It was collusion. THEIR version of events is the way things now are -- a fairy tale, scrubbed of the messiness that makes up life, predicated on a joint agreement to stay quiet. For the collusion to take hold and become the truth, "the best person" now has to melt into the past for their sake, taking her version of the story with her -- a version where she was the aggrieved party and finally threw in the towel.

The realization kept me in tears all night. Not only have I lost a friend -- I am once again face to face with my inability to find a love of my own, with my knack for selling myself short when I try, with my habit of refusing to see the truth, and with absolutely no power to stop the clock. Paradoxically, I am also face to face with the fear of not just being rejected on an intimate level, but also on a level where I just don't fit in with others' expectations of who THIS woman is supposed to be.

This is what happens when self-delusion collides with Rashomon-style reality.

Now what?

The Rotten Core - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

2009-08-31T20:20:00.001-04:00

The Rotten Core - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Shared via AddThis

2009-07-22T11:55:00.000-04:00

Fashion and the political female....

Why do powerful women in Washington insist upon turning up their collars/lapels? It just looks wrong.

The Importance Of Being Ivy League - Ta-Nehisi Coates

2009-07-08T15:45:00.001-04:00

The Importance Of Being Ivy League - Ta-Nehisi Coates

Shared via AddThis

If ever there was a reason for me to start blogging, this post is it.

Think before you write.

Prince, hip replacements, and faith.

2009-06-10T05:16:00.000-04:00

Just my two cents: is the denial of medical care based on religious grounds really in keeping with G--'s way? Does the potential of what many (okay, ME) would consider a degraded quality of life really outweighed by the sense that you're following G--'s word? If so, how? Isn't that really just selfishly setting yourself up as a "martyr?"

Now, if I may be so selfish: get the operation. Don't deny the fans more years of your concerts.

Yes, it was a beautiful day!

2009-06-10T05:13:00.001-04:00

P052009PS-0405, originally uploaded by The Official White House Photostream.

My birthday, May 20 -- I'd had the foresight to start my two-week staycation the day before, and the weather was fantastic the first week. The president's stretch in this photo is exactly the way I felt that day -- terrific! It's probably the best birthday I've enjoyed in years!

Sticks and Stones...

2009-05-01T23:05:00.000-04:00

So, one of my favorite knitting bloggers got totally flamed today by a "designer" who didn't like her review of his design in the VK Holiday 2008 issue. It's one thing to say, "Hey, I'm sorry you didn't like the design, but I had to make compromises in my vision to get the design published" and classily ignore (is that a word? "classily?" anyway...) any attacks on your intelligence, your looks, your taste, etc.

It's another thing to get in the gutter and get personal. Like they used to say on Ricki Lake, "You don't know me!" You lose all your moral superiority, and the other person comes out looking like the hero. Of course, I'm biased toward the knitting blogger, so there.

Here's what I said in the comments for her post (where she reprinted the guy's classless emails):

Touchy, touchy. I've always wondered about what really goes on in the minds of men who design women's clothes.

More specifically, I've always had what I thought was the irrational belief that there was some misogynistic and control-freak tendencies at work in the minds of said male designers.

At least in Mr. Bennett's case, I don't think my belief is all that irrational.

Tip from someone who's in the public eye thanks to her job: it doesn't matter what they say about you -- what matters is that you're getting attention. No such thing as bad publicity. Clearly he didn't get that memo either.

And can we mention that Mr. Blackwell made a decades-long career out of insulting women's fashion choices -- and by extension their intellect? (See my thought about men designers and the way they view women above...)

And in what has to be the best expression of my state of mind right now: "unterag" -- pronounced in bad German as "oon der rag." :-D

On the Twitter...

2009-04-26T12:02:00.000-04:00

...as your hostess with the mostest, WikiBobo! I'm doing it mainly as a favor to my friend, TheTeditorial, but it turns out some of my relatives are on there as well. Since I'm joined at the digits to the bberry, this should be a slightly more efficient way to fill in the gaps between when we talk --

Although for the next post, I want to ask the question: Does Twitter make conversations a more truthful enterprise, since your in-between status updates fill in the gaps of knowledge between your conversations with other people? Discuss.

A death in the "family..."

2009-04-20T12:34:00.000-04:00

Just saw over on www.masondixonknitting.com that Kay's husband Peter has passed away. I don't know Kay, but I read her and Ann's blog pretty much every day, and I am sad for her loss.

Head on over and leave a condolence note, why doncha? Then, go through your stash and cast on for an afghan for AfA. It's what Kay wants -- and the people of Afghanistan will thank you.

Late winter or early spring?

2009-03-12T11:19:00.001-04:00

With nine days to go, according to the calendar, it's still late winter. We've already had a couple of teaser days of spring-like weather -- the kind that inspire you to get to the gym, to open the windows, to turn off the furnace -- really, days that boost your mood in ways you didn't realize you needed!

The reality check: when www.weather.com says snow is in the forecast overnight -- and means it!

No pity parties here

2009-03-03T22:46:00.000-05:00

I've been feeling out of sorts in recent weeks -- the state of my industry, the state of my life, a nasty bout of bronchitis -- imagine how I'd feel had I actually made some new year's resolutions!

And then this evening, I find out that a distant acquaintance on the West Coast, a lovely girl who co-owns a salon with her sister, has an aggressive form of brain cancer. The kind that can outwit the best oncologists and treatments out there.

WHOA.

If I thought that losing my mom to lung cancer six years ago would permanently eliminate pity parties from my own life, I was wrong -- see the first paragraph -- but now the news about RP has me shaken to the core.

Live your life right now. Quit holding your breath, people. Be good to everyone you meet -- it's a mitzvah.

Welcome!

2008-12-12T13:52:00.000-05:00

How could I be a journalist and not have my own blog that has nothing to do with work? I'm looking to musing and posting and showing off random slices of the joys in life.