Elaine Benes. Nineties feminist icon. Terrible dancer. Urban sombrero-wearer. Sponge-worthy decider and a no bullshit-giver-or-taker. In one Seinfeld episode, Elaine gets asked by her friends, Beth and Arnie, to be a character reference in their adoption case. She lets it slip with the agency officer that once when they were all at a movie, Arnie…
Essay
Unlearn
Reporter Alex Bozarjian, a journalist with the NBC News affiliate out of Savannah, Georgia, was broadcasting live from an annual holiday charity race when a runner named Tommy Callaway slapped her on the behind as he jogged past. A quick poll of long-distance runners reveals that this is completely acceptable, totally normal behavior when you’re…
Brave on Paper
We’re all brave somewhere. I’m brave on paper. A woman friend of mine recently confronted a man on an airplane. This seems equal parts courageous and unadvisable. You’re already sardined into the equivalent of a flying Dairy Whip canister with nothing between one another but flimsy pieces of plastic and a bag containing six off-brand…
Fourth Chair
Even though I didn’t know how to play any type of jazz instrument, when I was a junior in high school I decided I was going to join jazz band. Ours was a fairly typical suburban high school arts program: understaffed, under appreciated, underfunded. The light board for our school’s auditorium was run by a…
Sheer Perfection
I’m developing a Mary Berry app. Mary Berry is the charming, British, chic grandmotherly type of person who is a master baker and former co-host of the wildly popular Great British Baking Show. If Mary Poppins had a mother, it would be Mary Berry. The Great British Baking Show is a reality-based show where amateur…