Platform Plugs!

Strange title, but I'm wild about alliteration.

I just wanted to post real quick to make sure anyone who happens upon here is aware of the other ways I can be Internet-stalked. My Twitter account is an obvious one -- the feed is right on this blog! -- but there's also my Tumblr. I link back to here most times that I post, but I also, obviously, reblog stuff I think is neat and post some other original content -- namely my uncomfortably candid musings on my life. So feel free to check me out over there too!

Are Daily Updates Really Worth It?

So far I've commented on this blog every day that I've had it (woo! except it's only been, like, a week). However, on days like today, when I'm exhausted from staying up late reading advice columns -- which is totally what I'm doing now -- and going to (some of) my classes and driving around town and all that jazz... on these kind of days, I really don't have anything terribly interesting to say.

I then have to wonder -- is it better to update my blog every day unless it's kind of impossible, or should I only update when I have "worthwhile" things to write? Hmm. I'd love opinions on that one.

In other news, because I've read so. many. advice. columns. recently, I think I'm basically qualified to be everyone's therapist. So if you happen to feel compelled to ask advice of me, I'd be more than happy to help out.

Ok, I actually totally wish someone would take me up on that. I'm just the right mix of naive and arrogant to think I can fix people's lives.

I'm headed "home" to Montgomery tomorrow after I take a test -- wish me luck on both fronts! I already miss Tuscaloosa, though I really could use this break.

Until next time!

#RollTide #RoadTo15 #InItToWinIt

Holy hashtagged title, Batman!

Don't know if y'all know (just kidding! of course you do) but after a stunning night in which Baylor more or less crushed Kansas State and Stanford took down Oregon in overtime. And all of a sudden, the Crimson Tide had a shot again -- which no one, except for all of Bama Nation, saw coming. Much like last November, the stars have aligned for us; now Coach Saban and the team have to keep the momentum going.

I have faith in my team. So much so that all of a sudden this season I actually watch (and mostly comprehend) football. The loss to Texas A&M hurt me. Last night's change in fortunes, coupled with our own 49-0 win, lifted my spirits.

As a girl who's grown up hearing and not really caring about the UA/AU rivalry, I finally get it. I understand the passion so many people have for the Tide.

It's good to be from Alabama.

Ed Sheeran Gets An A+!

As you may know, Taylor Swift's new album, Red, features a duet with English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran called "Everything Has Changed." Sheeran will be opening for Swift on her Red tour next year; since I really like their duet and I'll be seeing him at the show I'm attending in Atlanta, I figured I'd check him out. And, in an exciting turn of events, in November his album + is available to download for only $5 on Amazon!

Obviously, I bought it. I mean, look at the punny title I get to give this post!

I like Sheeran's music overall; I'm not sure how I'd describe his "sound" because the tracks make for an eclectic mix. He goes from Kanye West style narcissistic pseudo rap on "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" to a heartbreaking ballad relating his friend's story (from a first person perspective) of miscarriage on "Small Bump" to a solid pop song about thinking a girl is the bee's knees on "Grade 8." (Yeah, I just said "bee's knees," but it's cool because that's my favorite song on the album.) He's also rather British with his lyrics -- there's a song about London and references to English educational conventions you may not understand (see: "Grade 8") -- which I think is neat.

Recurring themes on the album are being cold (literally and figuratively!) and getting drunk; I can relate as a cold-natured college student... especially since on "U.N.I." he's apparently writing about the experience of ending a long-distance relationship in which one partner is busy at school ("uni," as it were).

Also, there are completely wonderful lines such as, "They say I'm up and coming like I'm fucking in an elevator" and "I want to be drunk when I wake up." Another personal favorite: "Now I'm in position to be another stalker/And everything I say seems to always sound awkward." Because who hasn't had that feeling, right? I hope everyone has. Otherwise this is awkward indeed. Anyway.

I suggest spending the five bucks and giving Sheeran a try.

My essential tracks: "The A Team," "Drunk," "Grade 8," "You Need Me, I Don't Need You"

Also good but less alcoholic-themed: "U.N.I.," "The City," "Lego House," "Kiss Me"

Really, the whole thing is good. Go get it.

Alexandria's Completely Arbitrary Rating: B+

I realize that grade contradicts the title of the post. But I'm not sure if I've ever heard an album I would actually give an A+ so... #sorrynotsorry #whydoesthathashtagalwaysseemrude #whyamiusinghashtagsinmyblog

Let me know what you think about +!

Wait, What's My Major?

If you don't know me, you may be surprised to learn that my majors are American Studies, Marketing and Management.

You may also be surprised to learn that at some point or another I was planning/working toward majors or minors in French, Philosophy, Economics, Political Science, English, Film, German, and probably at least one other thing.

And actually, I changed my mind again this week after contemplating life for a while. Now I think I'll drop my Marketing major in favor of a minor in Public Relations (which is actually more credits than the former; gotta love adding programs across colleges!).

So, next semester I'll be enrolled in classes in Arts & Sciences, Commerce & Business Administration, and Communications & Information Sciences. This is unfortunate because I will be charged separate fees for each of these colleges, and also because to finish in four years I'll have to take 20-21 hours every semester except maybe if I'm lucky my last one.

Yes, I know, I'm crazy.

Unfortunately, I've had a lot of trouble figuring out what I'm interested enough in to commit to studying. This problem is, at least in part, the result of having no idea what I want to do when I grow up finish school. I wanted to be a lawyer before I started college, then I wavered on the old dream of being a writer, then I considered teaching, and now I'm perhaps interested in nonprofit work. I DON'T KNOW. And while that's scary and all, it's also exciting because I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants through life. Of course, I'd be a lot less anxious if I didn't have to worry about not finishing my degree programs in time.

My theory on undergraduate education is this: Everyone should have the same prerequisites. A year's worth of math, history, science, and literature, with fine arts and economics thrown in for good measure. And then? You should take all the classes you're interested in and that determines your degree. Imagine not going through college stressed out about whether you'll finish a particular degree, you'll know you'll get something for your work -- and you'll only have a degree in what you actually know. Sure, if you want, you can follow a pre-set path to your BS in Finance or BA in English or something. Or maybe you can get a degree in American Culture in a Commercial Context (or whatever the heck I'm studying). It would be a neat surprise and you wouldn't have to take stupid classes that hold up your graduating.

Obviously that is a very rough plan, but I think it's got some merit as a basic idea.

Anyone else feeling perplexed by a crazy curriculum?

How Is This Week Not Over?

Y'all.

I am so ready for it to be Thanksgiving. Not because I like Thanksgiving (I don't eat any of the traditional foods and going home gets boring fast) but because the next few days will be awful. I have work projects, essays, homework, classes, all manner of nasty collegiate problems.

Luckily, there is one thing that always makes me feel better. Hope it does the same for you!

Culture Shock!!!: Twilight Edition

Well. Tonight I saw The Twilight Saga: New Moon for the first time.

I know, I know, I'm horribly behind.

But here's the thing. I read Twilight a few years ago and stopped after that one. I had since seen Twilight, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn: Part I. My general impression was that the storylines were potentially interesting, except for that whole Edward/Bella business. However, now that I've seen New Moon, I'm totally Team Jacob.

I'm sure this is news to no one, but Edward and Bella seem to have a ridiculously unhealthy relationship. He's saying things like, "You're the only reason I'm still living," "When I thought I lost you I wanted to kill myself," "When I thought I lost you again I decided to go kill myself forreal." It's creepy. And Bella, this teenage girl, is all about throwing her life away for a DEAD GUY. I don't think they saw the irony in that whole Romeo and Juliet death scene -- they were two dumb kids who killed themselves because they couldn't be together. To my view, there was no maturity in any of their behaviors, but they felt forced into a  bad situation by their families. It's tragic more for that reason than for the fact that they were together a whole five minutes and it wasn't working out. In Twilight the two main characters are encouraged to act like they can't possibly survive without the other. Awful message for the youth, I'd say.

I mostly prefer Jacob because he's, you know, alive and marginally less of a stalker.

But here's the thing. I would love for fans who disagree with me to explain, logically and articulately, why the Edward/Bella relationship is healthy. I just can't figure it out for myself. Do they come off way more obsessive in the movies than in the books? I'm genuinely curious. After all, I'm the girl who disagreed with the majority opinion that Taylor Swift is pop culture's favorite virgin.

So let me know your thoughts on Twilight's romantic entanglements (not just limited to Edward and Bella). I think we could have a good conversation.



PS It will be a glorious day when I've written enough on here that I don't have to keep falling back on that T-Swift post. But honestly, I'm a little bit proud of it.

So About This Whole Secession Thing...

As we all know, I'm from Alabama. People tend to associate my state with that time we kind of bailed on the country along with our Southern brethren and were thing dragged kicking and screaming back into the Union. It turns out some savvy folks are up to these shenanigans again: Residents of 40 states have started petitions to secede from the United States in the aftermath of President Obama's reelection.

Talk about being a sore loser.

I wasn't planning to comment on this, because I think it's stupid. Then people started a reactionary petition to deport the would-be secessionists.And so the cycle is established.

Now, I'll be perfectly honest. In the sense that sometimes I think about things that are completely unrealistic, I'm not inherently against the idea of secession. But that's mostly because I love the South and it grosses me out that the rest of the country doesn't really believe in having sugar in their iced tea. But then, you know, I consider the fact that I am not living in my fantasy land where Ryan Gosling is desperate to win my love and Entertainment Weekly is just begging me to work for them and Gary Johnson won the election last week. I am, in fact, living in the real world, where Barack Obama, though I did not vote for him, is my president and Mitt Romney, though I did not vote for him, was a legitimate contender for the presidency and I have to deal with the fact that I don't always get what I want. I think we call that phenomenon of not throwing tantrums over things like functional* democracy maturity or something?

While this makes for a nice joke (for those of us who don't take it seriously, at least), talking about it is a waste of time. And I realize I'm therefore wasting time by even bothering to explain that, but oh well. I'm masquerading as a critic of a culture, not a proper member of the Fourth Estate. The bottom line is we have actual important things to talk about (like drone strikes and unemployment and Taylor Swift's subtle sexual liberation movement). Let's have those conversations instead, shall we?



*Yes, we could argue over how functional our democratic republic really is and whether the electoral college is legitimate and all kinds of fun stuff, but seeing as Obama did win both the popular and electoral votes, let's do that some other time, mmkay?

Taylor Swift Does Not Hate Sex Or Feminism.

OMG SHOCKER. I, of all people, will be defending T-Swizzle?

Yeah, I know you all saw this coming.

My friend sent me this article on Thought Catalog (which was pretty funny). Referenced in that article was this one. I understand the writer's thoughts -- Taylor Swift's lyrics can seem a bit juvenile at times and her hesitance to fully transition into a grown-up star catering to a grown-up audience, while perhaps good for business, is a bit off-putting for those of us who started listening to her before we could drive and still listen to her now that we're off in the real world (or college). It wasn't the article itself that irked me so much as the comments.

People like to criticize Taylor Swift for being a sort of anti-feminist (see here and here). And what this tends to come down to is the "virgin-whore dichotomy." That is, "good" women remain "pure" until marriage (or, if forever unmarried then they stay celibate). Meanwhile, "bad" women are those who are whores -- basically defined as being not a virgin. I get that not everyone likes the same kind of music, and I respect that a lot of people don't enjoy listening to Taylor Swift; that's why I'm going to focus on this broader point about criticizing Swift based on her perceived views on sexuality.

First and foremost... Has Taylor Swift ever claimed to be a virgin? I think not. Often cited are the comments she made in response to pregnancy rumors back in 2008. She said that her being pregnant was "the most impossible thing on the planet." Popular interpretation: "I can't be pregnant because I'm a virgin." And maybe that's what she meant. Or, and tell me if I'm getting too crazy here, maybe she meant she wasn't a virgin but simply hadn't been sexually active in a while. I hear it's possible to lose your virginity and not feel the need to fornicate every day for the rest of your life thereafter. Also, that was four years ago anyway. So, as far as I'm concerned, Swift hasn't made any assertions that she's as awesome as she is because she's a virgin.

But wait... she doesn't come right out and say things, does she? She writes her albums like diaries. So why not look there for clues?

I'd love to!

In the handful of "Taylor Swift is bad for women" articles I've read, something that comes up a lot is that in "Fifteen," Swift says "Abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind." Critics interpret everything to mean "virginity" and from there claim that Swift is saying that all a girl has to offer is her hymen.

I disagree. The song is written from two perspectives: The memory of what it was like to be 15, and the view of age 15 when looking back as an adult. Swift pretty clearly seems to be saying, "When you're 15, you think having a boy say he loves you is the most important thing. You think there is nothing more momentous or intimate you can do than to give him your virginity. And when it doesn't work out, you think you've lost everything. But I can tell you that is not true and life is bigger than that." I mean, she sings, "Back then I swore I was going to marry him someday but I've realized some bigger dreams of mine" and "In your life you'll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team." Her whole point is that life is about way more than what you do with a boy in high school. She is saying that women are more than their relationships with men. How the heck is that reducing a woman's worth to the status of her hymen? (Hint: It's not.)

So from there, let's see how Swift continues to implicitly not condemn sexuality. Obviously, I have no more personal knowledge than most commentators on what she actually gets up to in her spare time, but I'll hazard some guesses based on what she writes in her songs.

Her first album, Taylor Swift, came out in 2006, when she was only 16. I'm not surprised there aren't really any solid examples there, though a case could possibly be made for "Cold As You."

Fearless, released when Swift was 18 and re-released with extra tracks a year later, has a couple of suggestive lines. From the original listing, I'll single out "Love Story." Perhaps problematic for its treatment of classic literature (although how virginal could she be if she refers to herself as "a scarlet letter"?), the song does introduce a recurring theme of explicit wanting someone to "take [her] somewhere [they] can be alone." To play cards, I'm sure. Looking at the Platinum edition songs, "Untouchable," for instance, repeatedly mentions "feel[ing] like coming undone" in the subject's presence, as well as saying, "In the middle of the night [...] I want to feel you by my side." There's also "The Other Side of the Door." The end of this song, which I personally really like, seems like a pretty strong implication that she slept with this guy after he "carried [her] from the car up the stairs."

Speak Now, Swift's 2010 effort, has some similar lines. The opening track, "Mine," includes "there's a drawer of my things at your place" and the video features Swift and her love interest moving in together (and, scandal!, they're not even married yet). "Dear John," as is oft discussed, seems to suggest a totally sexual relationship with an older guy who didn't treat her right. In "Last Kiss," Swift refers to "wearing your clothes" (wonder how she got those?) and sings, "I'll watch your life in pictures like I used to watch you sleep/And I'll feel you forget me like I used to feel you breathe." Maybe not the most adult content, but we are talking implications here.

"Sparks Fly" gets its own paragraph for such not-so-subtle gems as: "You stood there in front of me, just close enough to touch/Close enough to hope you couldn't see what I was thinking of," "Get me with those green eyes, baby, as the lights go down/Give me something that will haunt me when you're not around," "You touch me once and it's really something/You find I'm even better than you imagined I would be," and "Lead me up the staircase/Won't you whisper soft and slow?" Yeah. Virgin talk forreal.

And this brings us to Red, released October 22, 2012. This one's opener, "State of Grace," features, "We are alone, just you and me/Up in your room and our slates are clean." If you haven't heard "Treacherous," the whole song is literally about how badly she wants to screw this guy's brains out. SHE'S GOING TO GET HIM ALONE/FOLLOW HIM HOME/WHATEVER IT TAKES. In "I Knew You Were Trouble," she refers to herself as "a notch in [a guy's] belt." "All Too Well" mentions "nights when you made me your own." And that covers just four of the first five tracks.

Where does this leave us? Taylor Swift does not openly speak about sex. Instead, she sings about her life as a 22-year-old woman and it seems to include some sexual activity. What's significant here is that it doesn't seem to be a big deal to her; it's not the central part of her relationships or her identity. As far as she's concerned, sex is part of a relationship, so references to it crop up in relationship songs. And as far as I'm concerned, Swift continues to follow the path she started down in "Fifteen." That is, contrary to what some critics say, she considers sex to be kind of a big deal emotionally, but certainly not the most defining element of a person's life or character. Discretion (/modesty in dress) does not make someone a prude.

Based on her own words in her songs, Taylor Swift does not seem to be some "slut-shaming virgin." She also has no apparent interest in being considered a "feminist." Like most of us, I guess she's somewhere in the middle? For my part, I contend that she is, in fact, sex-positive. So more power to her.

The Prodigal Blogger Returns

Well then.

After a rough week -- no longed-for Libertarian upset in the general election and a heartbreaking Aggie upset in the Bama game, to say the least -- I found myself itching to get back into the world of writing lengthy opinions about things on the Internet.

"Get back into it"? What do I mean by that? See, I've tried this before (see exhibits A and B). But I'm hoping third time's the charm.

This blog is called "How To Suck Less." Now, allow me to say: you do not suck. However, it is a simple fact that as none of us are perfect, we could all stand to be a little bit better. More good = less bad = less suckage. That's, like, the transitive property. Or something. I'm starting this blog with the hopes of providing thoughts on books/movies/music to some extent as well as some commentary on current events, politics, philosophy, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I hope to offer you fine Internet folks new things to think about or at least new ways to think about old things. I think that, whether you agree or disagree with my opinions on things, the exercise of expanding your horizons will help you as well as myself. And maybe through becoming better thinkers, communicators, debaters, listeners, readers, viewers, voters, bloggers, whatever, we can all suck a little bit less and be exponentially more awesome.

So. Let's talk.