Tinder Takes a Swipe at “Dating Apocalypse” Characterization

My blog post for the Ministers of Design Blog

Tinder, the dating app, took umbrage at a recent Vanity Fair article that pointed a finger squarely at the app for precipitating a “dating apocalypse” and replacing romance with hook-ups and…well, insipidness.

The piece by Nancy Jo Sales posits that Tinder has created a culture of one night stands, hook-ups, and a general commodification-cum-free-for-all in the world of relationships.

Not exactly controversial news there, however, more noteworthy is Tinder’s Tweetstorm response to the article–one more reminiscent of a jilted lover than of a brand with Tinder’s global reach. Case in point: “Little known fact: sex was invented in 2012 when Tinder was launched.” Neither funny nor particularly much of  a zinger. Or even more pathetically: “Next time reach out to us first @nancyjosales… that’s what journalists typically do.” Umm, actually, no, Tinder–journalists interview users of the app, not the company…typically. As she aptly pointed out, “@Tinder not clear: are you suggesting journalists need your okay to write about you?”
Even worse: “It’s about meeting new people for all kinds of reasons. Travel, dating, relationships, friends and a shit ton of marriages.” We get it, Tinder, you are so hip, you can drop the s word in an official Tweet, but the “come at me, bro” is hardly business speak.
So, in the battle of Vanity Fair vs. Tinder, I would argue that Tinger’s pathetic swipe at the magazine fell shortly. If they were a romantic interest, no one would have swiped right on them. Seriously.

Sensing their own Tweetstorm was about to create a storm of a different kind, they offered this spineless apology: “While reading the recent Vanity Fair article about today’s dating culture, we were saddened to see that the article didn’t touch upon the positive experiences that the majority of our users encounter daily. Our intention was to highlight the many statistics and amazing stories that are sometimes left unpublished, and, in doing so, we overreacted.”

Moral of the story: get better social media directors, Tinder.

Guest Fashion Blog Post for Goodwill Fashionista

My guest blog post for the Goodwill Fashionista Blog

If the very phrase “floral prints” evokes images of Pamela Des Barres’ I’m With The Band (or maybe that’s just me), it’s time to reconsider your flower child-flower print conflation! Floral prints can be…well, incredibly boring, but I think that is mostly because budding fashionistas have failed to let their creativity blossom when it comes to them (*groan* I will stop with the flower puns. Soon.).

My theory is that floral prints on baggy, waist-less, loose flowing dresses are generally a recipe for “I look pregnant, but I am really not. I am just a flower child, not *with* child.” The solution, I find, is that to mix fabric media when it comes to florals and to make the dresses fit!

All of the below dresses were procured at my local Goodwill. Brands include XXI, Aerie, Forever 21, and Banana Republic.

floral dress selfie
IMG_1952

 

This skirt is a brand called..wait for it…Hot Gal, of course. Perfect name, for a fabulous skirt! Notice how having more geometric patterns really moves them from Lane Bryant Land to chique, mod, and edgy. Ideal for posing in front of motorcycles with 🙂

black lace top from Goodwill

The black lace top part of this rose top takes it from snooze fest to Stevie Nicks La Reina territory!

In conclusion, if you are going with floral prints, try to find more interesting (and tight) fits and mix different fabric media. Now put “Summer Breeze” on and get a shoppin’.

Florals are a staple in any fashionista’s closet! Do you have any floral dresses or items in general  that you cannot live without?

VICE’s New Channel for Women Aims to be the New Face of Feminism

My post for the Ministers of Design Blog

VICE, the magazine and online platform that has long be THE platform for all things subversive and hip (and arguably, wryly hipsterish), is launching a new channel Broadly, described as a “women’s interest platform that will feature original, reported stories on pretty much everything from a female perspective with online videos and articles.” By women; for women.

Tracie Egan Morrissey, a veteran editor at Jezebel, brought the idea of a site telling stories from a woman’s perspective to Vice cofounders Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi last year. “I pitched them this idea,” she says, “and they hired me on the spot.”

At launch, Broadly has “Ovary Action,” a show about the war on women’s reproductive rights; “Style & Error,” a show about women’s fashion, like the iconic power suit; and an interview series called “Broadly Meets,” featuring prominent women like Rose McGowan and Virginie Despentes.

To avoid the terrible trolling that usually besets anything even remotely related to women on the web, Broadly will have no comments section: “When women are speaking online, it’s such a lightning rod for every angle—other feminists are telling you you’re not doing feminism properly, MRAs are coming in and calling you a fat whore,” Morrissey explains.

Vice tends to skew to a rather masculine audience, even if a lot of the readers are female too, but with swagger-ific coverage of things like the Atlanta Twins, porn stars, and Action Brosnon, it’s not exactly Gloria Steinem’s oeuvre either.

“Young women—millennial women—are really smart, are really well educated, and they want this kind of news,” Morrissey adds. “It’s fun to be distracted on Twitter with bullshit here and there, but covering abortion rights and the things happening to women right now is really, really, really needed.”

So how does Broadly intend to deal with the dreaded “feminazi” label or even more the point, the commodification of feminism as “girl power.”  “I think if you’re a woman, and you’re not a feminist, then you’re an idiot,” Morrissey says.

So, here’s to Broadly–the broad news sources for us broads. With its grrl power, rather than “girl power,” ethos, Vice’s “better half” looks to be off to a riotous start. Follow Broadly on Twitter at @Broadly.

Girls With Gluten–Chew On This Grain of Thought

My post for the Ministers of Design Blog

Sales of products with a gluten-free label have doubled in the past four years. Market research firm Nielsen estimated that sales of products with a gluten-free label have doubled in the past four years, rising from $11.5 billion to more than $23 billion. Marketing efforts have certainly played a role–Chobani Greek yogurt and Green Giant vegetables, for instance, added “gluten free” labels onto products that never contained gluten.

Survey data gathered by Packaged Facts in July and August of 2014 showed that more than a third of consumers said a gluten-free/wheat-free label claim is an important factor when they are shopping. A quarter of the survey respondents also said they had purchased or consumed food products labeled as gluten-free in the three months prior to the survey.

Packaged Facts estimates the market for gluten-free foods will exceed $2 billion in 2019.

Yet, less than 1 percent of the population has celiac disease. Approximately 6 percent are gluten intolerant, yet almost 30 percent of American adults are trying to avoid gluten. With Gwyneth Paltrow and Zooey Deschanel extolling the virtues of a grain-free lifestyle, it is no surprise the public is eating it up as the key to better health. It’s generally not. Consider that a Glutino Original New York Style Bagel has 26 percent more calories, 250 percent more fat, 43 percent more sodium, 50 percent less fiber and double the sugar of a Thomas’ Plain Bagel.

And then there’s the cost. The Glutino bagel costs 74 percent more than the Thomas’ bagel. Nabisco’s Gluten-Free Rice Thins cost 84 percent more per cracker than Nabisco’s Multigrain Wheat Thins. As one researcher put it, “The[se] foods can be significantly more expensive and are very trendy to eat, but we discovered a negligible difference when looking at their overall nutrition.”

So, will this gluten-free obsession ever crumble!? Girlswithgluten.com are working against the (gluten-free) grain to separate the wheat from the chaff. Their Instagram account is replete with girls gloriously indulging in all things doughy and delicious. Then there are others who tag themselves with the #hotgirlseatingpizza. About time somebody subvert America’s latest diet obsession and revel in utter gluten glory! Their clever t-shirt slogan “Free Gluten” should be able to bring this group some well-deserved bread.

Blog Post for Yoga District’s Blog

NotForgotten

“Nothing in this shelter makes more sense, makes me understand my purpose more, than to kill bugs on a homeless man’s flesh, to dress him well in donated, cast-off clothes, to see him the next day laughing besides a burning barrel.” Nick Flynn in Another Bullshit Night in Suck City
If home is where the heart is, what happens when you don’t have a home? Well…you are not the heart-less one; if we don’t offer our hearts to you, we are. Having a home is so central to one’s existence–in a practical sense but even more so in an emotional sense. Root-less, place-less…and love-less…recognition-less. 
It’s almost as though having no address condemns you to oblivion; dooms you to live in the shadows, unable to be located. Lost… The homeless are ubiquitous, yet utterly invisible to us, wraith-like as they present themselves to us out of the peripheries of life we choose to pretend doesn’t exist. “That’s someone else’s lot; not mine.”
The vent that his father sleeps on in the winter is no less a prison because it has no walls: “The blower is a room of heat with no walls. My father stands in this room, an invisible man in an invisible room in an invisible city.” He has “plenty of places to go, but no place to be.”
Nick Flynn’s metaphor of standing in one place, if you are lost, so you may be found is especially poignant when he adds, “but they never tell you what to do if both of you are lost, and you both end up in the same place, waiting.” He continues, “I see no end to being lost. It isn’t a station you reach but just the general state of going down.”
SOME seeks to help people, at least temporarily, even if for one night, be visible…be seen…be humanized…and be welcomed. This is why I am teaching a benefit class for them. When I was little, I read “The Little Match Girl” by Hans Christian Andersen and it always stayed with me. A man in Dupont Circle sometimes holds a up a sign,”Please help. You could be in my shoes one day.” He is right.
My dearly-beloved friend Jeffrey Prosser (and the DJ for Yoga District’s NYE class in 2013) recently left us, far too soon. He always spared some change…and some heart. I want to honor his memory and help SOME continue their work so no one stays lost…or forgotten.