OKnLA

Of course I'm a feminist. Not that that needs explaining, but I absolutely believe in equal treatment and opportunities for both sexes.  But being a feminist doesn't mean I burn bras every Tuesday night. I still adhere to a number of not-so-feminist-friendly traditions. For example, I hate taking the trash out. That's a "man's" job. I take the trash out when I must, but if I can ask Jersey Mike to do it , well that's just 10 times better. Typically, for me, a man's job is any job I don't want to do.  Maybe that's not quite a tradition (more me leaning on societal norms to feed my laziness). But there's one tradition that, growing up, I always thought I'd be fine:  Taking my husband's last name.  My mother kept her maiden name when she married my father. She was born a Shute and felt that shouldn't have to change just because she found a cool guy to spend her life with. Growing up it wasn't confusing for me u...

Today I had a breakdown at work. Like a damn fool.  I had a horrible night, woke up exhausted, and decided to remain unplugged until I got to work. I wanted to take the morning slowly.  I arrived at the office, sat down in my first meeting and heard "I'm just so sad about the news. We're going to write a few things about Prince today, Doriean are you able to do that?"  So I'm sitting there like a dumbass asking "What happened?" Then it hit me. Maybe that wasn't the flu that caused Prince's plane to land suddenly last week. Maybe something was really wrong.  Because he's gone.  So then I'm listening to my assignments, trying to wrap my brain around selecting the best Prince songs (impossible). I'm talking like nothing is happening but tears are streaming. My editor asks if I need a minute and I run to the bathroom and bawl like an infant.  I've been trying to listen to music all day. But nothing compa...

It was hard for me to put this into words. It's hard to explain. If you are an OKnLA reader, you read my last post and you know that I'm exhausted. I'm so tired of trying to tell people who just don't seem to (want to) get it that it's not OK what's happening. You know what I do like? Pudding, specifically the chocolate variety. So I put this thing together in an effort to describe how it feels to hear "White Privilege," how it feels to see Kylie Jenner darken her skin and plump her features, how it feels to hear Iggy Azalea on the radio, how it feels to learn that Mylie Cyrus invented twerking ... Maybe it will make sense to you. Maybe it won't. But it's something I had to do. So here it is. you are a chef.  you love to make things. it's your outlet. it's how you express yourself. one day, you concoct an amazing recipe for chocolate pudding. it's so good. so  very  good.  the kids, they love it! then, health nuts an...