Jake: The Pussy Bachelor

I've been watching the Bachelor since I was in 10th grade. This could be a significant factor in my current single status, but that is a different post. I didn't see every season--but I've probably watched about half. And I think something really awesome has happened: they've picked a decently intelligent, sensitive, and decidedly feminine guy to be the bachelor.

To understand the significance of this, it's important to look back at the progression of bachelors. When the Bachelor started, one requirement was that the bachelor be rich and/or famous. They've had a NFL football player, Andrew Firestone of the Firestone tire fortune (HUGE lol), Charlie O'Connell (Jerry's older brother), and the infamous Dr. Stork. But as time went on, the Bachelor became a little more...normal. The emphasis was taken off of their careers and muscles and onto their cuddly personalities. There was Andy Baldwin, the naval officer, followed by Brad Womack, a restaurant owner. And then how could we forget Jason--a lovable real estate agent? Slowly and surely, the bachelors have become less the rich, stacked and famous and more like the average Joe. Now, we have Jake, an airplane pilot (everyone knows they don't get paid like they used to...) who was made famous on the Bachelorette because he was so...Nice. After being booted by Jillian, he whined, tears in his eyes, that "Nice guys finish last". In fact, he was probably the most cuddly, and almost downright pitiful contestants they've ever had on the show. And then he became THE BACHELOR!

A lot of people get up in arms about the amount of "reality" that is in the bachelor. I think it's interesting just to accept that ABC is constructing the show out of thin air. This way, it could be taken as a somewhat accurate reflection of what people expect the 'ideal' relationship to be, or what the 'ideal' man should be. Afterall, ABC does all of it's reality tweaking for our benefit, right? They certainly, make every effort to pick bachelors that fulfill the their viewer's fantasies about what makes an appealing man.

So, in those terms, I think this girly version of the Bachelor that we have in Jake is really interesting. He's smarter than bachelors of the past--and from last night's episodes seems serious about not wanting to play games: he booted two girls, one for witholding her kisses as bait, the other for baiting him with tears and drama to get him to pay attention to her. Jake is no non-sense in choosing his mate, fitting into the stereotype of the role women play in the dating market. And he is significantly more afraid, or at least willing to show his fear, than bachelors of the past: it took him twenty minutes to bungee jump, his hands shaking and clutching his date as strong as she was clutching him. All of this adds up to the girliest ideal man in Bachelor history--I love him!

May I Root Against the Saints?

Jason Gay of the WSJ answers some important questions as the 3rd round of the NFL playoffs kicks off this weekend. Most important to me, of course, is May I Root Against the Saints?

His answer: May I root against the New Orleans Saints?

No, you may not. Rooting against the Saints is like rooting against Elin Nordegren. They're the Sentimental Team of the Century; if Dick Enberg were calling the NFC championship game, he'd need a trailer truck of Kleenex. Even if you forget everything that New Orleans endured during Hurricane Katrina—and how could you?—they're the Saints, the former Aints, one of the most hard-luck franchises in the history of hard luck. Not long ago, newborns came into the world in New Orleans hospitals with tiny grocery bags on their heads.

If the Saints win this weekend, we expect the Louisiana Superdome to levitate off the ground, stop at Parkway Bakery & Tavern for a roast beef po'boy and fly straight to Miami for the Super Bowl...

I couldn't agree more. By some strange and glorious miracle, or rather, Rodger Kamenetz's penchant for wanting to BE THERE when something incredibly amazing is happening, (this actually runs in the family, Anya calls it "having a bad case of the fomo's (fear of missing out)) I'm going to the Vikings-Saints game this weekend. I fully acknowledge that there are those in the world that are bigger Saints fans than me, and will do everything in my power to represent them wholeheartedly when I take my seat in the dome! Ahh I'm already getting stomach aches with the excitement!!

Links of the Week

This week, in blogger world I found...a study that shows serious emotional disturbances in children post Katrina...shocker, but at least they are calling attention to it...Interesting equality legislation at work in Switzerland: the law forced the man to pay a percentage of his wealth as a fine...idealism at work! Weird, isn't it?...
Daily show had an amazing piece about nostalgia, really brilliant and also hilarious...For those still wondering if paper books are becoming obsolete..well they are!..First ever gay sex scene on daytime television; we have come so far...Interesting, if a bit long, talk by Rebecca Goldstein about her book "36 Arguments for the Existence of God"...andddd maybe the funniest set of videos I've ever seen about fatness.

Haiti Relief

Every time a huge natural disaster has hit the planet since Katrina, I've done my best to ignore it. I can't even name them, because I didn't pay enough attention. I know there was a Tsunami, but I can't, in all honesty, tell you exactly what countries were effected without looking it up. It was just too overwhelming and painful for me to follow the news about the families torn apart, building collapsed, the phones that keep ringing with no answer, the pictures of children lost in the destruction. One would think that someone from New Orleans who experienced Katrina would have learned not to turn away, but I haven't. I was too wrapped up in my own experiences of disaster to try to do something about the next one.

I know how ridiculous it is to say that it's too painful for me to watch all the pain that these other people are going through. But it's a choice I make all the time, choosing to protect my own blissful ignorance over realizing the actual state of the world.

I know this post should end with something like, well, now I have changed, and I know I will pay close attention and do my best to do whatever I can whenever there is a catastrophic disaster anywhere in the world---and you should too! But I know that's not true. What I do know is, this modern world makes it dramatically easier to do something, just a little something, for other people. The US state department reported: "For those interesting in helping immediately, simply text "HAITI" to "90999" and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill."

I think that's amazing. It's so easy and convenient! I know it's not enough, that I'm not doing all I possibly could, but luckily, helping those in need isn't an all or nothing game. Sometimes, it's okay to be selfish, to read the comics over the news and spend your money getting your nails done. But at other times, when disaster strikes, it can be best just do a little part. Because if there is one thing I did learn from Katrina, it's that there's nothing as comforting as knowing there are people that don't even know you that care, even a little bit, about you.

So go ahead, send a text message! Or click here to Like a Whisper to get a low down on all the other charities you could donate to.

To A Mayfly, We're a Mountain

Powers of Ten is one of my all time favorite videos. Issues of scale have been interesting to me for a while now. The scale that all human life is on, both in terms of size and time, is so hilariously particular and random. This idea was really brought to light for me when I watched those time release videos from planet earth. Our assumptions about what makes something alive vs. inanimate is so clearly tied to the amount of time we spend on earth. If human life was as long as a mountain's life span, we would have a sense of the enormous amount of movement, growth and change a mountain makes. Then, I think, it would be harder for us to judge so clearly that a mountain was inanimate. And think of what a mayfly, lifespan of about 30 minutes, thinks of us, as we are sitting by the pond, taking an hour long nap in the sun. We're nothing but a mountain to him. Because our size and the amount of time we experience is so essential to us, it's easy to over look how much our scale effects the way we create certainties about the world outside of us.

Terry Eagleton on Atheism & Islamophobia

A while ago when I wrote about atheism vs. theism, I left the question of why these atheists have had such a resurgence of late open. In this video, Terry Eagleton gives a rather interesting answer: 9/11. It's definitely the case with Dawkins, Hitchens and Dennett you could replace the word "religion" with "radical Islam" in all of their books and they would make substantially more sense. I've liked to think that the resurgence of this atheist movement has something to do with science's recognition of its internal subjectivity vs. objectivity crisis, but I have to admit Eagleton's idea makes a lot more sense. What do yall think?

How Not to Write about Africa

Sociological Images, one of my favorite blogs, posted this video. They also posted an awesome TED talk by Chimamanda Adichie called "The Danger of the Single Story". Both point at the dangers of foreigners telling the stories of of people they do not know. I harbored a dream, and still do at times, of going to a country in Africa and really making a difference by telling their story the "right" way. It's a classic fantasy, and one that Yale cultivates almost religiously. In school, I was always feeling inadequate that I hadn't traveled to a third-world country and done even a modicum of volunteer work. I would often assuage these feelings by telling myself that most of the people that do volunteer are as patronizing as the video below makes them out to be. So I really felt quite vindicated when I watched this video. Thank god I never went over there and tried to help anyone, I thought. There was no need for me over there.

I know this vindication is messed up. The point of the video isn't to tell me, foreigners keep out. The real reason I never made it over there is because I'm scared and lazy. Going to Africa would mean I have to face all my ugly fantasies and illusions about what the continent is actually about. This video isn't trying to say, please leave Africa alone, but rather, requesting something a lot more difficult---approach the continent with an open mind and a willingness to embrace and understand its complexity.