Book Club: Snow White and Rose Red

My friend Pam started a Book Club. Our first book was "Snow White and Rose Red" by Patricia Wrede. It's a retelling of the Grimm fairly tale of Snow White set in Elizabethan England. I enjoyed the book and its use of dialogue and the fun tale. Two of our book club members are writers so it's fun having their viewpoints in our discussion!

Our next book is "Entwined" by Heather Dixon.

Produtive Saturday

This morning I made banana bread, fixed my toilet, cleaned my house and took out the garbage. If I had quarters I would've done a couple loads of laundry too. I plan to get some homework done this afternoon and finish the book for Book Club tonight, all so I can play on Monday!

Valentine Concert

For the second time my sister was my Valentine date. Way back in 2008, she came out to visit me in New York to see Matchbox Twenty play at the Garden on Valentine's Day. It was awesome.

This year it was Lady Antebellum. They're pretty much "the biggest band in the world" right now (Adele is the biggest solo act, if you watched the Grammys). Em and I caught them the summer before last when they opened for Timmy. They've become HUGE since then, winning about a billion Grammys for "I Need You Now".

They sang their hits, and nearly every song from their latest album. I was a little disappointed that they only played for an hour and half, when they have 3 albums. I was expecting to go until at least 11:00. Oh well. Still a great show.

Book Signing

Saturday afternoon my friends, Pam and Cat, and I went to a book signing at The King's English for Shannon Hale and her new book, Midnight in Austenland. Books are awesome, authors are awesome, my glasses are awesome, and my friends are awesome.

My Thoughts

I don't really follow politics a lot. I vote because I think it is an important right. If who I voted for didn't win, I'm not sent into a tailspin or spend the next two/four years plotting how to get them out and complaining about every move they make. I made my vote, and if I'm not actively finding a better solution to what I think they've done terribly wrong, then I should just stop my complaining.

I think that all politicians, whether Democrat, Republican or Libertarian, make good and bad decisions in their term. I think that Democrats complain about Republicans no matter what. I think Republicans complain about Democrats no matter what. I think many are worried about getting re-elected. I think blacks voted for Barack Obama and Mormons will vote for Mitt Romney.

I don't like this, but I know it's true. I know we don't live in a world full of peace and rainbows and rose-colored glasses. But I do think we could find ways to work around it. I mean, we are all adults, aren't we? I have a Politics in Planning class Monday nights. Our textbook is a case study of the landmark statewide zoning plan adopted in Oregon in the 1970s. It was a perfect storm of political players who focused on solving the problem rather than worrying about party lines. People sat down and worked out the issues based on the issues and not who belonged to what party. And because of this they were able to pass a statewide measure that was accepted by nearly all.

In my 9th grade History class we studied Washington's Farewell Address. I remember very clearly reading this in our textbook, talking about it in class, and having it as a question on an exam. Washington speaks of the pitfalls of political parties and how they can undermine true works of the government.

That's how I wish things operated now. Maybe that's silly. But I know that I can at least work on me and how I act and respond. Aristotle said, 'It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." We could probably all work on being a little more educated when it comes to politics.

Another Time Waster

I discovered Pinterest this past weekend, and it has consumed me. For those who don't know, it's a place to keep all those great finds on the internet in one easily accessible place. It's fantastic for someone so disorganized as myself. I can "Pin" sites that I find interesting regarding recipes (that I'll probably never make but tell myself I will), crafts (I will most likely never start or finish), and clothes or hairstyles that I find interesting and cute (but will never buy or make my hair do that). Regardless, I love it.

The School Debate

When I entered grad school last year my brother told me that guys were not interested in girls with Masters. Since then we've had many discussions about this topic. He claims that guys, especially guys in Utah, are intimidated by a girl with too much education, and that said girls will languish in single-dom. I steadfastly refused to believe this, claiming that I wouldn't want a guy who was intimidated by my education anyway. And he'd counter saying that I wouldn't find it in Utah.

My friend Summer and I discussed this same topic the other day. She concurred with my brother, saying that level of education is way more important to girls than it is to guys. She argued that it interfered with their natural desire/need to be the provider, and having a girl that could possibly make more than them was emasculating. Once again I tried to object, stating that plenty of guys want girls who are educated and that a Masters degree shouldn't dissuade them from asking me out.

There's a guy I know that has never asked about my school or what I'm doing. He asks about everything else, and when I mention that I'm busy with classes or doing homework, there are never any follow up questions. Yesterday this started to bother me, mainly because I did not want to be proven wrong, especially by my brother.

So I opened up a discussion on Facebook, and there were some great points made, many of them coming from dudes themselves! A lot of them said it depended on the guy, and that a guy would be insecure in himself to not appreciate a girl's educational achievements. One very interesting point made by my friend Jodee (a dude)made this great statement: Intelligence matters, not just the level of education completed. There are more than a few very dull minded people in the world with high level degrees. And my friend Greg made a good point that he doesn't care about a girl's education, but how she treats people, what she knows about events in the world, does she respect Veterans and others who risk their lives. Ya know, her character.

In no way do I think that getting a Masters degree means I am more intelligent than people around me who haven't. I may be more knowledgeable on the subject of planning, but certainly not in other areas. I struggle putting together coherent thoughts and sentences, and I have a hard time synthesizing large amounts of information. For me, getting a Masters degree was more a necessity; I was changing career paths and my Bachelors wouldn't get me anywhere. I could, on the slimmest of chances, get a job in a planning related field, but to move up at all and be considered a real planner I would need a Masters anyway. At that time (and still now) I had no prospect of getting married and knew I would need to support myself.

I currently do not have the option to have kids and be a stay-at-home mom. Even if I were married, I might still not have the option. Because other girls aren't getting their Masters (or already have them) does not mean they are not intelligent. Education and learning is life-long, and does not need to be in a classroom. It comes from reading and discussing, living and discovering, trying and overcoming. I think guys in general are attracted to that.

But on the point of guys being "intimidated" by a girl with a Masters degree, I still believe that any guy I would want to even consider marrying would have to think it was pretty cool. Are some guys intimidated by it, most definitely. Do I think the reason I am not married is because I'm pursuing a Masters, most definitely not. We just haven't found each other yet.