There's a good chance my DGF is making this up, but she insists that Friday is some kind of special "cat blogging" day on which bloggers throughout the world are supposed to post pictures of cats. I don't own any cats, and in fact, am quite allergic to some of them. So I am posting a picture of my DGF's cats, Buddy and the GK (which, inventively, stands for "Grey Kitty"). I'm hoping to score points with my DGF, who is trying to build the GK's web presence. Arguably, this could be difficult; the GK has a remarkable lack of facial expression, which rarely translates well to YouTube. But then again, Hello Kitty doesn't even have a mouth, and she seems to have quite a following, so maybe I'm wrong.
0 Comments
Among my fashion affinities (see, e.g., ties, shoes, dress shirts), I have a special fixation on watches. I think they're cool, stylish, increasingly old-fashioned, and a great way to spice up an outfit. There are three types of watches I think every butch should own. I'll talk about those here, and save the fancy, colorful stuff for my next post. THE SILVER GO-TO WATCH If you can only have one watch, I recommend a decent silver one that's versatile and water resistant. (Analog is much classier than digital, BTW.) Here's my personal go-to, which was a gift I received/stole from my friend B: I love this watch because it's plain, simple, classy, and I can wear it with jeans, khakis, nice slacks--whatever. It's also a nice size. I usually go for a women's watch on the large side or a men's watch on the small side. Anything with a face more than 4 cm across looks ginormous on my not-tiny-but-not-large-and-manly wrist. This watch is women's; Fossil's men's watches are SO BIG that they practically dwarf my torso. I don't know what this particular watch cost (for me, free!), but I'm guessing around $80. Your go-to watch doesn't have to cost that much, though. I took the photo to the right at my local Goodwill last week. The watch was priced at only $11.99! Somehow, I resisted buying it, but it wasn't easy. The brand is Quiksilver (I have a major weakness for the faux-surf look), and it wouldn't work in a very dressy context, though it would probably be fine for most workplaces. The face is about 3.5-4 cm across and it's water resistant. A BLACK WATCH. A BROWN WATCH. WHAT COULD BE SIMPLER? Continuing the theme of versatility--never a bad thing--your wardrobe should ideally contain a black watch and a brown watch. The black watch goes with black stuff (e.g., the days you're wearing a black belt); your brown watch goes with brown stuff. If you're wearing, say, jeans, a plain white shirt, and blue shoes, then either one matches. I bought the watch on the left a couple months ago, and I LOVE it. (I actually ordered this one first, which I hated and returned.) It's a perfect butch-friendly size (masculine-of-center but not gargantuan), has a simple but interesting design, and the slight purple accents are fabulous. I get tons of compliments on it. It still appears to be on sale at Amazon ($76, down from $120). Other black watches I like include this one by Diesel and this one by Nixon. Citizen makes some nice ones, too--very simple and classic. Here's a watch I think is stupid and gimmicky, although I like Wachismo for its unusual inventory. BTW: your Timex Ironman--though awesome--may not be used to fill your "black watch" requirement. Oh--and you know those huge men's "sports" watches with bells, whistles, multiple time zones, etc? No. My current brown watch is a Nixon Graduate. It's more casual than my black watch, but nice enough to wear with khakis to work (though nothing dressier). The band is made of canvas, which breathes better than leather. I especially like the two-holed buckle design. The Graduate also comes in black stainless steel, brown leather with an orange face, and other colors. I also kind of like this brown watch by D&G, this one by Diesel, and this one by Skagen. Stay tuned for my next post, in which I'll talk about some butch-a-riffic ways to expand your watch wardrobe beyond these three basic standbys. I just saw this on a Zazzle site and thought it looked cool. It's a great way to support your butch sisters and brothers, too! GLBT Shirts actually has a bunch of other stuff on Zazzle that's worth checking out. Some of it is REMARKABLY specific. Celebrate asexual vegan leather polyamory! I love my gay bear intersex dad and my stud-genderqueer female-identified cismale mom! Masculine-identified asexual dominatrix pride with handcuffs and vanilla ice cream 4-ev-R! What would YOUR incredibly specific gay pride T-shirt or bumper sticker say? Best entry wins a prize. All right, I knew Rachel Maddow has been going on location. But this picture?! Seriously. If there was a poster-sized version of this,* it would be up in my office.** And Rachel, if you're reading this and decide you're into other butches (or, hell, you want to experiment for a couple of hours), give me a call. I'm sure my girlfriend will understand. (Besides, you're on the list!)*** * If you know where I can get one, please email me immediately. ** And by "in my office," I mean "on my bedroom ceiling." *** Doesn't every couple have one of these? A list of celebrities that you'd be allowed to sleep with and it wouldn't be considered cheating? Since March, I've been moonlighting as an adjunct community college English professor. (You'll hear more about this in the next installment of Butch 360.) Today I was grading "argument" papers in which students take a side on the topic of their choosing and write persuasively (one hopes) about it. One of my students chose, "Should Gay Couples Be Allowed to Adopt Children?"
Aside from being hideously written and citing literally no sources, the essay was full of inflammatory statements. Highlights include: "If a kid had gay parents, normal people would try to stay away from him," and, "A kid raised by gay parents would grow up with a twisted view of sexual minorities." As a married, straight-presenting woman teaching college English 6-7 years ago, I sometimes received anti-gay essays. But I'm puzzled that a kid would hand this essay in to an obviously gay teacher (especially since he had a choice of literally 125 topics). A few possible explanations spring to mind:
|
|