What can you do with a B.A. in English? What is my life going to be?
Four years of college, and plenty of knowledge
Have earned me this useless degree
I can’t pay the bills yet, ’cause I have no skills yet
The world is a big scary place,
But somehow I can’t shake the feeling I might make
A difference to the human race…

–Princeton, Avenue Q

Like so many wide-eyed college students, I decided that the ‘practical’ degree was not for me. I had no intentions of going to med school, which is to the benefit of the general public, and I certainly wasn’t about to take any more math than absolutely necessary. No engineering for me, Mom and Dad, even if you do get set up with interviews through the university. I was majoring in English.

I often lament this rebellion when I look at my checking account. Unfortunately, my other rebellious idea was to move to New York, so being young and broke has taken on an entirely new meaning altogether. Read More »

The girls over at Jezebel have a well documented hatred of Lucky Magazine.

Among the accusations are that the magazine’s editors could really use a thesaurus (the words ‘elegant‘, ‘gorgeous‘ and ‘sophisticated‘ appear 8, 9 and 12 times respectively in January’s issue), that they insist on adding -y to the end of pretty much any word (retro-y really just means the same thing as retro, ladies…), and my own personal favorite, the abuse of the ‘_____ just screams _______ construction, i.e. “This little sun dress just screams French Riviera in June!”

Does it? Does it actually scream? I don’t want a screaming sun dress.

I think Jezebel is totally on-target here. The magazine is poorly written and shamelessly devoted to convincing women with average incomes to spend their hard-earned cash on overpriced items they don’t actually need. I t’s the embodiment of our consumer-driven culture–no love advice or human interest stories here, just pages and pages of things. Shiny pretty things with big big price tags.

So why do I love it so much? Read More »