I don’t smoke cigarettes.  I have a pretty addictive personality, and I know that the moment I started smoking regularly, that would be it, for life.  So, I try to avoid them.

And I was SHOCKED today as I stopped by my local deli to pick up some flowers (my new motto for the fall: fresh flowers are a MUST) to see that a pack of cigarettes (I didn’t note which brand, but I think it was Virginia Slims) costs $9.75/pack in New York City.  What?!?!

It’s interesting, because the tobacco industry is one of the few arenas where the brands are marketed to women and men in an equally aggressive (and equally predatory) manner!  Women smoking is sexy, men smoking is sexy, and we’re all going to die of cancer.

Anyway, when did cigarettes become that expensive?  Is it the tax?  The bad economy?  Even though, to the grave, I will associate cigarettes with my godmother and summers on Long Island and Dave Matthews concerts and my beloved Carrie Bradshaw and a lot of other things I love, thank God I don’t smoke cigarettes.  It’s not that I’m one of those condescending non-smokers–it’s that I’d be too good of a smoker, too dedicated, to be able to stop smoking if I ever started.

Just for fun (and, well, for self-promotion), I thought I would publish my book tour announcement here.  I just posted it to the women’s studies listerv, which feels pretty major to me.  So excited!  I already bought a new Betsey Johnson suitcase for my travels in the spring (it’s metallic gold, so now I won’t ever confuse my luggage for someone else’s), which I hope doesn’t jinx my hopes of a busy book tour!

Announcing 20-Year-Old Author Liz Funk’s Spring and Fall 2009 Book Tour

Liz Funk, a 20-year-old freelance writer, college student, and forthcoming author, will be doing a high school and college book tour in the spring and fall of 2009 to discuss her first book, Supergirls Speak Out, a startling look at the limiting female ideal and unprecedented pressure on young women to be perfect in Generation Y.

Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls, is being published by Simon and Schuster’s Touchstone imprint on March 3, 2008.  The book is a first-hand look at the lives of today’s “Supergirls”—young women who attempt to be simultaneously smart, involved, accomplished, desirable, people-pleasing, and charming—and make it all look easy.  Unfortunately, attempting perfection in such a way presents a complete impossibility for young women… and these stressed-out Supergirls are secretly starting to pay the price, in the form of burnout, addiction, eating disorders, or worse…  

But luckily, there is hope.  When young women realize their “intrinsic worth,” they will unlock the key to living an empowered, pleasurable life!  Because Liz Funk writes and speaks in a style that is accessible to students, adults, and academics alike, a lecture by Liz Funk would be the perfect addition to any student activities line-up!

Liz has written for USA Today, Newsday, the Christian Science Monitor, Girls’ Life, CosmoGIRL!, Tango, Mediabistro, Women’s eNews, and the New Humanist (UK), among many other publications.  She writes a blog about young women’s issues for the Albany, NY newspaper the Times Union.  She is a senior fellow of Young People For-People for the American Way Foundation, and she has served on the National Organization for Women Young Feminist Task Force.  Liz Funk is regularly interviewed by the media and has been recently quoted by the AP wire, the Washington Post, Page Six Magazine, and CosmoGIRL!. She has been a speaker at SUNY-Buffalo, Pace University, and Syracuse University’s School Press Institute; she has given keynotes and spoken on panels at countless non-profit events, such as the Hampshire College Civil Liberties and Public Policy Conference, the Albany-Troy YWCA Take Back the Night March and conferences for the National Organization for Women, NOW-New York State, the NYS College Democrats, and Young People For-People for the American Way Foundation.  She is a senior at Pace University, studying English and women’s studies. She was born in 1988 and lives in Manhattan.

To inquire about availability/rates or book a lecture, feel free to e-mail the author directly at liz.funk@gmail.com.  Visit the author’s new web-page at www.lizfunk.com.

Carrie Bradshaw was in love with the Brooklyn Bridge, and I have a similar love affair with the New York Public Library.  I think it is possibly the most fantastic space in Manhattan.  I have no idea why the noisy Starbucks in the city are so crowded with kids with laptops and textbooks when where is the 42nd St Research Center Library (technically, it’s called the “Humanities and Social Science Research Library”), with oak and mahogany tables and free wireless in various reading rooms and studies.

The Rose Reading Room, however, is my most productive work space in Manhattan; it’s the biggest room in the library and it looks straight out of a palace.  It has carved ceilings and rows and rows of books and encylopedias, and it’s absolutely gorgeous.  Although there is no wireless for laptops in that room, I think it has fantastic creative energy, especially for me personally, because Betty Friedan wrote the Feminine Mystique in the Rose Reading Room, and just I love-Love-LOVE her.  

I have a deep emotional connection to the library, too.  When I made the terrible mistake last year of transferring to SUNY Stony Brook for a semester, I would stay with my friends in the city for the weekends, hanging out with them by night and working on my book in the library by day.  It’s such a comforting place for me, to go and sit in silence and write.

It sounds like a no-brainer, but I know so many New Yorkers who have never been inside the 42nd Street library!  I would definitely recommend checking it out, if for no other reason, to say Hi to the stone lions outside, to see the beautiful paintings on the walls, and to check out the architecture.  Plus, countless movies and TV shows have been filmed in the library, most notably, Seinfeld and the Sex and the City movie.

Photo from NYPL.org

Call me crazy, but I have a theory.  Here me out:

I love feminine fashion.   My closet is comprised almost entirely of 1950’s-style high-waisted flowing skirts, turtleneck dresses and blouses, and swirling gauchos.  I own, maybe three pairs of jeans that I wear occasionally and I despise tee shirts.  And I have had an extremely difficult time this season finding clothes!  At the major women’s retailers that I especially like–Gap, Express, New York and Company–all of the clothes in stock seem to be shapeless smocks and dresses, and baggy shirts and sweaters; there is also a plethora of loose, rather masculine trousers on the racks.  And as usual, it isn’t hard at all to find belt-length skirts and super-sheer shirts: fashions that I don’t think look good on even the skinniest women, because they weren’t designed with women’s bodies in mind!

At the same time, it has been a bad season for women. The media scrutiny that Hillary Clinton has endured in her campaign—whether it’s Rush Limbaugh formally questioning whether America is ready for an “ugly woman president” or more casual water cooler snark about Senator Clinton’s (admittedly awful) Super Tuesday banana pantsuit—showed that even the most powerful women aren’t immune from having their bodies publicly scrutinized.  In March, Eliot Spitzer showed us what a woman’s worth really is: $4,300 an hour, to be exact.  While to some that sounds steep, what the former governor’s scandalous exploits (and the low-brow media circus that ensued, revealing his prostitute’s participation in Girls Gone Wild videos) relayed to the populace is that women’s bodies are a product for public consumption.  McCain picked a sexy librarian as his running mate, who has also endured a great deal of sexism from the media. Sarah Palin, however, isn’t exactly someone who values femininity: despite her rapid reproducing (an inherent statement of femininity), she doesn’t seem to be a huge fan of women’s liberation (something that I personally think is inherent to femininity!  Women need to know their power to be so enchanting, I think).

So, are the unflattering, rather masculine fashions for women this season a reflection of the sexism and misogyny in media, society, and politics?  When we value women’s bodies, we value women, and I don’t think the slouchy sweaters and sack dresses on sale at the Gap do anything to laud the beauty of the female form. I think we are seeing a trend very similar to what happened in the 80’s: there was a huge backlash against feminism and women’s rights (especially with President Reagan in office), and as such, the ideal physique for women became an extremely thin look, that helped Twiggy and a wild fitness craze define the decade.  

Personally, I really believe that the masculine and unflattering fashions for women this season is a reflection of the fact that our society really doesn’t value the feminine right now… so I think I’ll keep wearing last season’s clothes until we have clothes on the racks that more thoroughly flatter women, and I’ll keep my fingers crossed for similar improvements for women in society and politics, too.

My friends often make fun of me because basically, of twenty year old college students, I have the worst taste in music ever.  Sure–I like a lot of normal music like Dave Matthews, Coldplay, Michael Buble, Chrisette Michele, musical soundtracks, etc. etc.  But I also LOVE music aimed towards girls half my age.  Yes, it’s totally juvenile, but whatever, it’s way better than the misogynistic rap and rock on the airwaves geared towards people my age.  For those who haven’t tuned into Radio Disney… ever… here’s a run-down of the best kids’ songs of the day:

The Jonas Brothers:

(One weird element of this music video, though, is the theme of the Jonas Brothers playing heroes rescuing girls.  I’m defining NOT a fan of sending that subliminal gender role messaging to young girls.  Meh)

Miley Cyrus:

High School Musical:

(For the record, I can’t stand Zac Efron and how similar male celebrities are shifting standards of masculinity, but hey–HSM is just so darn catchy!)

And then there is my personal favorite, Ashley Tisdale:

Every time my friends catch me listening to this stuff, they’re like, “How are you a 20 year old author and you like this terrible music?”  But my friend Neelofer thinks my childish taste in music is endearing, and to be honest, my ridiculous music really gets me in the zone to write.

Psst!  Funny secret: I wrote most of my book while listening to Ashley Tisdale!

I drove home to Albany the weekend, and when I was sharing my plans with some friends, they laughed and said, “Ooohh… God help everyone on the road!”

I’ll be honest, I’m not the most focused driver ever: I like to listen to music (and sing!) when I drive, I occasionally get lost driving, and I’ll send the occasional text message while behind the wheel.

(Speaking of which, I just heard about an ABC News study that found that texting while driving impairs drivers equivalent to having consumed 3 to 4 drinks before driving… yikes!).

But I’m also one of the better young drivers I know–I drive in Manhattan and back and forth from Long Island and Albany with relative ease, I’ve never gotten a speeding ticket, and I’ve never been in an accident.  Our society assumes that women are bad drivers… but maybe there’s a different story behind it than the simple “bad woman driver” stereotype.

The female ideal in Generation Y expects young women to simultaneously be overachieving and capable… but also kind of flighty and silly.  I wonder whether girls feel that they can compensate for being class president by pretending to drive poorly.  I remember an interview I did for Supergirls Speak Out with a student at Southern Methodist University, and she was telling me that the most popular girls on campus–the incredibly smart, talented, pretty sorority sisters–often almost hit people with their cars!  Girls do get a lot of attention for being “bad drivers.”  I remember in high school that whenever a girl would get into a car accident or tap another car in the parking lot (which was frequently), she would be the talk of the school for the day. 

There’s that funny scene in the movie Clueless with Cher behind the wheel during her road test shrieking at the pedestrians and stop signs that “came out of nowhere,” and I wonder if it’s that mentality–that girls driving badly is funny and cute–that this trend still persists today (after all, Clueless was a 1995 movie).

But I don’t think girls are actually worse drivers than boys–statistically, boys get in more accidents, which is why they pay so much more for car insurance.  (There is a hilarious YouTube video on this note– although not appropriate for work).  But I think in teen culture, this idea that girls can’t drive well has a major ripple effect;  does the concept that girls can be book smart and be class president, but also get positive reinforcement for yelling, “That stop sign came out of nowhere!” mean that we as a society aren’t ready to see women with actual responsibilities and critical faculties?

What do you think?  Are girls better drivers than boys?  Is girls driving poorly cute?

My mom sent me a link to this really fascinating, fun, and DEAD-ON color preference-based career test.  This online test only takes a couple minutes of selecting and ranking your favorite and least favorite colors, and then the program suggests what careers and fields one might enjoy.  I say that the test is “DEAD-ON” because the first category of jobs that it selected for me was the “CREATIVE” field (with job suggestions such as architect, artist, English teacher, writer, and AUTHOR); my second place career category was a persuader.  I have no idea how it knew this about me from my penchant for turquoise and my distaste in bright orange!

The test is actually very fun (although I think in any context–short of the doctor’s office–most people thoroughly enjoy answering questions about themselves), and I’d be interested to see if others get results that intrigue them… or perhaps surprise them!

Definitely check it out!

I had the most amazing summer.  I spent a lot of time by myself–while laying by the pool, walking my dog, and just sitting at my dining room table, I spent a lot of time just thinking.  And I got a really good sense of why having fun in life matters and why it’s so important to pursue one’s uniqueness and have an unusual life, which is something that I’ve really struggled with in this past, given my Supergirl roots.

If it gives you an idea of how I used to be, when I was 18, my motto for moving to New York and making the most out of the city was this: “Live the most interesting life possible; then you can talk about it at cocktail parties.”

Today, my motto is this: “It was a musical thing, and there was supposed to be singing and dancing with the music was being played.”

The latter is a quote from the speaker Alan Watts, who has a beautiful speech called “Music and Life” where he talks about how we spend so much time working and not enough time absorbing life.  (The cartoon version is ironically animated by the same guys who do South Park.  Looks familiar, right?)

The last section of the speech, to me, is so magical and powerful:

“Then when you wake up one day about forty years old and you say, ‘My God, I’ve arrived! I’m there!’ And you don’t feel very different from what you’ve always felt. And there’s a slight letdown because you feel there’s a hoax. It was a hoax! A dreadful hoax! They made you miss everything. 

“We thought life by analogy was a journey, was a pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end and the thing was to get to that end, success or whatever it is or maybe heaven, after you’re dead. But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing, and you were supposed to sing or dance while the music was being played.”

Do other bloggers ever sit down in front of WordPress, write five posts, and deem them all inferior and just save them in the drafts?  Meh!

While I have a bit of writers block, I wanted to give a shout-out to my web-designers at Tridea Design.  They did a just beautiful job with my web-site–and made mobile and iPhone versions, so you can read my web-site and blog on the go!  Thanks, Tridea!

I just moved in to a new apartment, so I don’t have a TV right now.  It hasn’t been an issue yet (I usually watch my TV on Hulu.com, anyway), except that tonight I couldn’t watch the season premiere of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, arguably the funniest show on TV, is also one of the most underrated shows on TV.  I have no idea why more people don’t watch it–everyone who I have introduced to it agrees that it is the funniest.  show.  ever.

IASIP (look, I can abbreviate!) follows the hysterical lives of Mac, Dee, Charlie, and Dennis, four friends in their late twenties who co-own a dive bar in Philadelphia, abuse drugs and alcohol, and are pathologically mean.  But it’s SO FUNNY.  The show has absolutely no deference to political correctness, and I have to admit, I kind of like it (it’s weirdly refreshing to see cable TV that unabashedly discusses abortion, homelessness, drug addiction, and prostitution in a completely mocking kind of way).  Plus, Danny DeVito plays Dee and Dennis’s dad and he is completely hilarious.  

For example, here is one of the funniest clips ever from It’s Always Sunny…

Oh, and there is this:

And this:

It could be the sickest show on television (short of those crazy crime shows, but that’s an entirely different blog post). But don’t take my word for it–watch it’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Thursdays at 10pm at FX, and you’ll see for yourself why this is the most underrated show on television since Arrested Development.