It kind of really confuses me when Barbie commercials have little girls dressing them up and brushing their hair Like no Barbie is not about fashion. Barbie is about collecting as many dolls as you can get your grubby 7 year old hands on and dominating the living room with your expansive empire of plastic women. Barbie is about creating intricate social structures and spicy inter-family conflicts between town house residents. Barbie is about formulating complex back stories for tortured Ken dolls with emotional scars. It’s about creating near-sadistic dramatic plot twists that split up marriages and cause that one Barbie you really dislike to be ceremoniously tossed down the stairs in order to be offed by the jealous ex-wife of Ken #4.
Yes, but how do you make it into a marketable commercial that won’t freak parents and caregivers out?
I’ve always had the impression that advertisers don’t really understand how girls play with their toys.
When I played with Barbies I had this thing called “The Dead Pit” which was a purple bratz laundry hamper. So whenever a Barbie got killed off she would go in there. And what I would do was I would carry her to the dead pit while singing the dead pit song. The dead pit song was just saying “The dead pit” over and over again in different tones. Anyway, once I finally reached the pit I would announce “(name) has died.” And drop her in. I would wait a few moments. Then, I would violently shake the hamper while shrieking, pretending to be the tortured souls of dead barbies of the underworld. I thought it was hilarious.
My sister and I had a Barbie graveyard in the garden. We used to bury our “dead” Barbies with much pomp and circumstance. Sometimes they came back as ghost or zombies.
I remember desperately begging my mom to get me a Barbie car so i could make Barbie die in a horrible car crash (aka roll it down the stairs).
For the full breakdown of what’s been going on since November, read here.
January 20, 2023
It’s been over FIFTY days. The strike is still ongoing. Harper has yet to even speak to the union.
Union members are still scraping on their second and third hustles (which most entry-level publishing people have) and donations to the strike fund. The union has set up a hardship fund (here’s the post about it on their official Instagram, for verification) so no more fiddling with checks or Venmo.
If you can donate, please do.
And whether you can or can’t, please do still share.
Reminder that big publishers have seen record profits in the last few years. None of these have trickled down the the editors, marketing, design, legal, and more that are essential to getting a book published.
The strikers are asking for three main things - better pay, a bigger commitment to diversity, and more security for the union. That they’ve been striking for this long and can’t even get that shows widespread problems in the traditional publishing industry.
Please support and boost where you can. Everyone involved in getting you your favorite books deserves a fair wage and better job security.
I’ve got bad news for you…industry is not any better. Last week I had a meeting to talk about the meeting we were going to have to plan the agenda for the actual meeting.
Ugh. This is so true. I was hospitalized, with 45 IVs and a mask blowing air in my face to keep my lungs from fully collapsing and my coworker was texting me about reprints….
Today marks 19 years since a heinous act of hate performed
in the name of a religion that preaches peace. It forever changed this country.
In the wake of those horrible events, some people in the country rose to the occasion
and showed the best American can be. Others showed the worst we could be. Unfortunately,
the worst seems to come out in some people again and again and they use the memory
of that trauma as an excuse. So, on this day of remembrance, I like to remember
not just the tragedy and those that it spawned. Not just the act of terrorism
and those of use who allowed the terrorists to win by sewing hate and distrust amongst
ourselves. I like to remember the story of how a single act of grief and compassion 19
years ago, grew into something lasting and beautiful.
After the events of 9/11, the Reverend of my church (I wasn’t
a member back then, but for simplicity sake I’ll call it my church) reached out
to the local Mosque and asked if they’d be willing to join her congregation for
a memorial service. They were very pleased to do it. The two communities came
together to sing, weep, and pray. Together, they started to heal. Since that
day, our church and the Mosque have maintained close ties. We have women’s and
a men’s book clubs that meet together, women’s and girl’s basketball teams that
play against each other, and once a year each hosts the other for a joint service
in honor of love, hospitality, community, and acceptance.
After the 2016 elections, a Jewish temple in our community
was badly vandalized. Their windows smashed, signs broken, and words and symbols
of hate painted all over. Our church volunteered to help clean up and asked their
friends at the Mosque if they’d be willing to help too. Of course, they said
yes. Members from a Christian church in the area came too. A group of Unitarian
Universalists (including Christians, Jews, Pagans, Humanists, Agnostics, Atheists,
and whatnot; I know we’re a weird religion; just call us interfaith and go with
it) joined together with Muslims, Christians, and Jews to clean up the
aftermath of hate, to comfort and reassure each other. The Rabbi and the Minister
of the Christian church found out about our church and the Mosque’s interfaith
activities and decided they wanted a piece of that action. The Rabbi said the
women of their community had an annual women’s retreat and perhaps the women
from the Mosque and our church would like to join forces for that? The Minister
said an interfaith girls basketball league was a great idea. Could they play
too? The Christian church was mostly immigrants and first gen people. So much
so, that their services are entirely in Spanish. They said hey, if you help
teach some of our folks English, we’ll teach some of your folks Spanish. A year
or so later, the four religious communities decided that they could do a
charity effort together and began a “warm nights” program. During the winter,
they take turns hosting local homeless folks who need shelter and a hot meal.
Two years ago, during service while Rev. Liz was hiving her
sermon, someone walked in with a cellphone is his hand. To everyone’s surprise
he walked straight up to Rev. Liz and interrupted her service to hand her the phone.
She listened quietly for a moment, her face grave, and then said, “Tell me what
you need.” Then after another moment, she nodded and said, “You got it. Hold
tight.” Handing the phone back she stepped back up to the podium. Looking at
her congregation she said, “ICE has camped out in front of the [Insert name of Christian
Church]. They aren’t going into the church, but they’re waiting for service to
end so they can arrest people as they come out. I’m going to end service now
and ask any of you who are willing, to go over there with me. Bring your cell
phones. Let’s make sure ICE knows that God, and the world, is watching them.” Just
about the entire congregation went. Every hippie, Wiccan, Pagan, Ex-Catholic,
and crunchie-granola mom said “not on my watch.” On the way they called their
friends at the Temple and Mosque. They said that Allah and HaShem would be
watching too. They would not stand by while their friends were frightened and
trapped in their own house of worship. The UUs, the Muslims, and Jews descended
on those ICE agents with cell phone cameras, congregants who were lawyers and
social workers, decorated veterans, stern grandmothers, hijabis, wide-eyed
children, trans, gay, straight, non-binary, and every color or type of human you can
imagine.
These were our friends. They were part of our community.
They belonged here.
Inside the church, people were in tears. Terrified. Outside their
was a wall of people around the ICE agents. Not trapping them, but blocking
their view of the doors and standing in between them and the path that most of
the people would need to walk to get to their cars.
I am please to say that no one in that church was even
questioned by ICE that day. They seemed to decide that it wasn’t worth the
scene they’d make. After all, even their most conservative supporters might
take issue with interfering with a church service.
This is what America should be. This is what it looks like
to live up to the ideals we claim are ours. This is the America I want us to build. On the bedrock of grief and pain and hatred that terrorists put down in this country, I want to build a better America with healing and peace and love.
TLDR; After 9/11 a UU church, a Mosque, a Jewish Temple, and a Christian Church of primarily immigrants banded together to support eachother and their community. This is the opposite of what the terrorists wanted to have happen. So today, please don’t let the terrorists win again. Don’t let them make you spiteful and angry. Instead, remember that a tiny gesture of peace can help to build a bond that will change your community. It has in the past. It can again.