Girls' Clothing

I know what you're thinking: "Blair, it's Saint Patrick's Day. Why are you sober enough to write a blog post? Are you sick?" Thank you for your concern, and my friends are coming over later. I am drinking the rest of the Guinness that went with my corned beef, so we're okay.

Getting ready for people to come over is exactly what inspired me to write this today. I'm wearing a children's shirt from Target because they're cheap and I can fit in them. When I was walking down to take the trash out, and I saw my shirt in the mirror (because obviously I live in a building that has floor to ceiling mirrors at the entrance).

Not pictured: the cute shamrock on the side

This is pretty see through for a children's shirt. I'm a grown ass woman who happens to like her clothing a bit see through, so it's not an issue for me. Do I care if the people in my house can see my bra while I'm doing car bombs? No, I do not.

But then I thought about being 12 or 13. It's already an insanely awkward time in your life. I think at that point I had just gotten training bras (honestly, I've kinda blocked that whole chunk of my life out - thank you, vodka). You're not trying to draw attention to yourself because kids are jagoffs. I can imagine seeing this shirt at Target, thinking it's cute, and not really looking at in strong light before I get to school.

I don't have too much personal experience with this, but I think a girl would get in trouble at a lot of schools for having her bra showing. Somehow it would be her fault she didn't think to layer. I don't even know who I'm more mad at sometimes - the schools who sexualize this stuff or the companies who make all the clothing too thin to wear without another layer. I'm gonna go with both.

I've ranted about clothing a bunch of times before, but for some reason this really got to me. This didn't come the juniors section. This is straight up from the girl's section. Why are we starting this bullshit women's clothing thing so early? We can't let girls wear cute shirts and have fun before we stick them with the bullshit that is women's clothing?

I know it's a cheap shirt from Target, but the boy's cheap shirts from Target aren't see through.

Apparently the issues with women's clothing start as soon as you can get out of infant clothes.

National Walkout Day is hope for the future

National Walkout Day is amazing.

I literally can't see anything about it on social media without tearing up. I'm tearing up now, and I haven't even said anything about it yet.

Young people, most of whom can't even vote yet, are showing that they will stand up to what is wrong. They see a system that is fundamentally flawed and have to do something about it. They are standing together to do what is right.

What's also amazing is the way others are reacting to these walkouts.

While internet jagoffs will always say stupid shit about how everyone should keep their mouths shut and shriek about the Second Amendment, the majority of reactions are incredible.

Colleges are putting out statements saying they won't won't penalize students who participate in National Walkout Day (or other peaceful protests). Principals and teachers are working with their students to talk about violence in schools and gun control. Mayors of major cities are tweeting that America is with them.

It's a whole different world.

America let schoolchildren be slaughtered at Sandy Hook, and we didn't do anything. The survivors were too young to speak for themselves. The Parkland Students can, and they are.

When was the last time we heard survivors on this level? We are in an age of fast social media and even faster replies. There has never been this kind of platform before. There has never been a time when survivors can respond in real time to deniers and liars.

As soon as guns rights nuts (very different from responsible gun owners who pay close attention to safety) started tweeting and posting and going on TV talking about shit they know nothing about, these students fought back. I can't imagine being under the kind of scrutiny they are - how people must be going after them and their families. But they keep going. They're putting themselves back in the narrative.

I honestly don't know if I could have done what they are doing at their age. I don't know if I could stand that kind of scrutiny and attacks now. The young people leading and participating in this are an inspiration.

When those people are able to register to vote, they aren't going to let the bastards get away with this anymore. They are going to remember what people have said. The names they've called them. The denial and lies. And I can't wait to see it.

Why I Dress The Way I Do

At my book club on Sunday, I ended up telling a story about when I was in middle school. I had this pair of pants that I absolutely loved. They were from Limited Too, and they were black velvet with blue, pink, and green embroidered flowers. The bottoms were slightly bell bottom. I loved those pants. The last time I wore them was during Spirit Week. The girl whose locker was next to mine (whose name I remember but I'm a fucking lady so I won't mention it) looked at them and said "I thought tacky clothing day was tomorrow!" And our friends laughed.  I was so incredibly embarrassed. Like being in middle isn't hard enough my friends are making fun of my clothes?!

I never wore those pants again.

I loved those pants.

I really let what people thought about my clothes affect me for a while.

I'm not sure exactly when I went off the rails with my clothing. It was a slow descent into the madness I call a wardrobe.

I think it probably started when we would go to the Waterfront to go shopping, and we would all try on the most random things we could find at Express. We would go in looking for jeans and t-shirts and try on jumpsuits. You try on enough weird stuff, and you eventually find something you like!

During my funemployment, a bunch of us went out all you can drink mimosa drunk (shout out to the Yard). American Apparel was closing, so there was a ton of stuff on clearance. Approximately all the mimosas in, I decided that I needed three crop tops (red, blue, and black). They were closing, so no returns! I also got some deep v bodysuits because mimosas.

I didn't have to dress like a "real" adult while I was funemployed. Caleb was on trips, I was going to visit Jon in NYC, and being left to my own devices turns out to involve not a lot of shirt and a whole lot of lipstick.

We had a casual week at work a few weeks ago. (Casual is different than jeans today because you can basically wear whatever. During the summer, I wear shorts. It's amazing.) On the Wednesday of that week, I wore children's pink leggings with rainbows on them and my silver Docs (on Wednesday, we wear pink). I got home, looked in the mirror, and was like "I literally went to an office like this." But - why not?

Ever since my dad died, I realized that there really isn't time to care about stupid shit. Life can change in a moment, and I want to do all I can to do the most I can. I like flashy stuff. I think animal print and metallic are neutrals. I might own more crop tops than t-shirts. I shop in the children's section of Target sometimes. It's what I want to do, and I'm going to keep dressing how I want as long as I can.

I really loved those pants.