After reading an article in The New York Times regarding the inequality of gender roles in the work place, I got to thinking. After having some corporate (and not so corporate…hellloo retail?!) jobs, I can see where Ms. Seligson (the author of the NYT article) comes from when she airs her frustration about the fact that women have progressed so much in the college and educational world, but when we get to the workforce, it seems like we take a few steps backwards.

From my personal experience, here’s how it goes: men are respected off the bat, women (especially young, attractive ones), need to earn it after due course at a company. Men also aren’t afraid to go after what they want; the article states that when men want a raise, they simply ask for it, but with women, we lack the courage and words to get what we want. Why is this?

I have had both male and female bosses and I will say this: women are threatened by other women. Many women, rather than lending a hand to a female colleague, go behind her back and undermine not only her authority, but her professional aptitude and capability. I had a female boss who once told me I only get dressed up for work because I feel like I need to prove something to everyone. Puh-lease woman. I dress nice because I dress nice — in and out of work (Fast forward to me quitting on the spot and telling said boss how unprofessional she was…talk about wanting to knock me down instead of help me rise!  Surprise, surprise, the woman is no longer with that company).

Girl against girl is the nature of the game and, while I feel like I am one of those individuals who is set apart from the social norm, I’m sure I fall victim to some of these behaviors.  But my biggest question is: WHY?! Read More »

The infamous Modern Love column in The New York Times is looking to the college demographic to find out what love and relationships are like in this age bracket. They’re sponsoring a contest with an end result of being published in the paper, as well as $1,000!

I’m sure that many of you have stories to tell in response to the question that the NY Times is posing, “What is love now, in this age of 24/7 communication, blurred gender roles and new attitudes about sex and dating?” There’s no one better to address this complex and ever-changing question than someone in our generation.

How can you enter? Read More »

Why on earth anyone watches beauty pageants other than to tune in and pray that the contestants fall on their asses is beyond me.

But to actually be in a beauty pageant? Nooo, but thank you.

The NYTimes reports that these contests are much more superficial than you think, and that’s not saying a whole lot. It turns out that many of these girls are duped into thinking they’re gonna win a ton of money and scholarships of some sort, but they never reap the educational or financial benefits.

Ashley Wood, a pissed-off ex Miss USA who never got the money she actually won, said,

“You are talking about an organization that is promoting itself as the largest scholarship provider for women in the world….When contestants try to collect their funds, they encounter one obstacle after another.”

These problems have something to do with all of the local and state pageants that are scattered around the country being tied under the national pageants, and apparently, local pageant winners hardly ever collect - the states could take these local pageants to court, but they have limited control over them in the first place, and to even do that would cost more than what these girls are actually owed.

One girl was even told after winning a pageant that instead of the scholarship she was promised, she could just take home some gowns!! Are you kidding me? Read More »

Prepare to have your heart broken: “As she put him into his cage for the night last Thursday, Dr. Pepperberg said, Alex looked at her and said: “You be good, see you tomorrow. I love you.” He was found dead in his cage the next morning…” (New York Times)

Does every art teacher have to be a hippie? I mean, c’mon! That’s like saying all female gym teachers are lesbians… (Chicago Tribune)

What if universities called your house every time you missed class? What if they called your entire school? For some reason I don’t think my mom would have done what these moms did. (tampabays10.com)

$160 = a 5-year supply of Ben and Jerry’s. You just have to find a criminal. Wasn’t this a Nancy Drew book? (local6.com)

Just in case you’re like, the one person who doesn’t check PerezHilton everyday and haven’t seen his own ads on his own site, his show is on tonight. So, you might as well watch so you know what the hell he’s going to be talking about all day tomorrow. (VH1.com)

Have you ever heard of aSmallWorld? Um, probably not, unless you own your own island in Fiji and drive an Aston Martin.

Ever since the launch of our dear old Facebook, there have been many similar social networking sites popping up, and this recent one that I have learned about is probably the most pretentious of them all.

Apparently, aSmallWorld.net, is a very exclusive, members only networking site for ridiculousslllyy rich people. According to the New York Times, it was “founded four years ago, and promoted as a Facebook for the social elite…it has grown from about 500 members to about 150,000 registered users.”

Sound like something you are interested in? Well, don’t even think about attempting to join, it’s an invitation only membership.

“The site functions much like an inscrutable co-op board: its members, who pay no fee, induct newcomers on the basis of education, profession and most important, their network of personal contacts.” Now do you understand where the UGH factor comes in to play?

And, don’t worry, there is one more truly disgusting part of this whole shenanigan:

Users are mostly young– 32 on average. What freaking business are these 32 year olds and younger in where they are able to comment on the website’s forums with inquiries such as this: “If anyone is looking for a private island, I now have one available for purchase in Fiji.” Seriously. That is a direct quote from one of the members. Read More »

Perez.

He’s done a lot for us over the years. Taking down annoying starlets one vajayjay flash at a time, dragging certain stars out of the closet, giving us up-to-the-minute Lindsay Lohan rehab news, and forcing a bit of humor out of that self-important land called Hollywood.

After learning about his site a year ago, I find myself checking it almost daily, needing my fix of A, B, and C-list celebrities like a smoker needs that after dinner cig.

I can’t help it, Perez and his mysterious “sources” have me hooked.

Starting out from a nobody and becoming a giant somebody isn’t easy, and Perez (a.k.a Mario Armando Lavandeira) has certainly climbed his way from unknown to a celebrity in his own right. That being said, I can’t help but notice the irony of a guy who makes a living bashing the overexposed saturating the media himself.

He’s everywhere now. In magazines, in major newspapers, all over the talk-show circuit, even featured in a hideous-looking new show on MTV called Celebrity Rap Superstars. The man who used to be just like us—a regular person gawking at the famous people—is now more like the celebrities he draws penises on.

Far be it from me to begrudge anyone newfound fame, but you have to wonder what Perez would say about himself on his website. Read More »

I can’t help but wonder if there’s actually any point to writing a review for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I mean, it’s the seventh Harry Potter book. If you’ve read the first six Harry Potter books, I think it’s a safe bet that you’re probably going to read the seventh one, no matter what anyone says about it.

And if you have not read the first six books, there is no way you could possibly understand anything that happens in the last one. Not to mention, nobody really wants to know anything about a Harry Potter book ahead of time, anyway.

That didn’t stop The New York Times’ leading book critic Michiko Kakutani from posting a rather revealing review two days before the July 21 release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Photographs of every single page were available on file-sharing websites as early as July 16, and I noticed plenty of mean-spirited, intentional spoilers sprinkled throughout Facebook like landmines, but I would have expected more from the Times.

Read More »

Attending college in the Northeast after growing up in a small Midwestern town nestled in the cornfields provided many “culture shocks” to say the least. One of the most memorable was the prevalence of cocaine usage among students. I was surprised to find out that cocaine was the popular drug of choice for many girls my age. Whether it was for the weight loss affects or just the appeal of staying up all night to party, I still could not grasp that people were really into this drug that seemed so hardcore to me. Aw, my little naive freshman self. How cute.

We all know about the supposed celeb cokeheads like Lindsay Lohan. I mean, a picture says a thousand words, right? But, I would venture to say that cocaine really has become a staple among college nightlife scenes. The New York Times investigates cocaine’s popularity as well and suggests that it is now much more socially accepted.

“There seems to be less of a stigma about cocaine,” said Dr. Herbert Kleber, director of the division of substance abuse at the New York State Psychiatric Institute in Manhattan…“People don’t feel nearly as much the need to hide it,” he said. “They feel that they can use it in a more open fashion.” Read More »