Who's That Girl?

I had read a few weeks back about stores implementing facial recognition technology so when a celebrity pops in, they could take note.  I had mixed feelings since, while I agree that to a certain extent celebrities are accepting a certain lack of privacy, I never thought that included their ability to buy lipstick in peace.  But, in light of recent Oprah sized events, I could see why stores might wish to do this.  Of course, ideally stores would simply treat all their customers with respect, celebrity or no.  NPR's Code Switch team made use of #myoprahmoment and the stories people shared were heartbreaking. 
I have been in high end stores as a teen where they assumed I had no money to buy their things (and, okay, they were right, I was usually with my sister who had high end tastes before she had such a budget) but the things is, I didn't buy anything that day, but I also didn't buy anything later when I had that money.  Now maybe I wouldn't have anyway, but the overwhelming theme of many of the #myoprahmoment stories was that they not only didn't get what they had hoped to purchase that day, they didn't shop at that store later, either ever or for decades.  And, in a perfect example of how many times people will relate a bad customer experience, they were naming names. 
I don't wish to suggest that these are only old stories, and bad retail isn't always about perceived race or socioeconomic status.  The Code Switch story about the Oprah incident has some of the tweets mentioned.  And we can pretend this only happened because it was Switzerland, but I think it's more likely that Swiss folk were just less likely to think it was Oprah, just some other well dressed black woman. 
Retail is often a thankless job. And I don't know how many people may have asked that salesperson to take down that bag only to gape at the price.  But in the end, that was still her job, to show customers the merchandise they wished to see. 

Dear Project Runway - Week the Insane

Dear Project Runway Producers,
One of my biggest pet peeves is the storytelling device where you start with something heated or emotional or what have you, then cut it off and back up 36 hours.  I hate it when TV shows do it (even the ones that had that as it's standard framing device, I often fast forwarded to the real start).  I hate it when books do it.  I'm not saying it's never been done well (please see "Out of Sight") but it is done badly very, very often and this was no exception.  There was nothing here that happened that wasn't just as interesting if you had followed your normal chronological* format. 
Dear Miranda,
I imagine that sound you heard was a giant "Ha!" from an eliminated designer when the judges said, well, you made us another pencil skirt.  So maybe work on that.  Also, I get that gender bending is a big inspiration for you, but when you are presenting a pencil skirt with a jacket and crop top, it's not a piece of background that makes sense. 
Dear Helen,
Oh, I had hopes for you.  But if you are unable to proceed with designing after receiving criticism, what ever made you think this was the show for you? 
Dear Jeremy,
Your family tree is not necessarily my business, but um, color me intrigued.  As it stands, you have my sympathies, because while from a design perspective it was not the best choice to go vintage, I can't imagine being away from your family when you and they get unexpected news like that. 
Dear People Who's Names I Still Can't Remember,
Some of you I'm already planning to forget because what little I remember of you is not good.  Others I have hopes. 


*Look, we all know chronological is a bit of a myth even in competitive reality. 

Three Interesting Things

1. I find swans elegant looking, and I could see how you might think, I want one.  However, I have seen what swans who feel threatened do (by seen, we understand that I mean, on TV, I try to leave swans I find in the wild alone) so I have to find the idea of attempting to stuff one in a duffel bag an interesting choice.  Hopefully the swans are fine.
2. Did you know that elephants can play instruments?  In fact, some of them are in an orchestra. 
3. And to finish out the animal theme, here is a story of a woman who has turned her home into an animal shelter, where she has, among other animals, a few hundred cats. 

Dear Project Runway - Week 3

Dear Project Runway Contestants,
The team challenges I think are the hardest to prepare for.  And now, you guys have probably been there about a week or so, so the weird schedule, the constant together time, the realization that you aren't going to see your own bed and your own loved ones through anything other than a computer screen for three more weeks, is really setting in. 
And from your couch at home, you can see that people just need to take a step back and be reasonable. 
But.  One of you did that thing that of course meant the powers that be were going to intervene, you mentioned that you would hate to work with this one contestant.  And...guess what happened.  Color me shocked.
So, Miranda and Timothy, the bigger issue was that Timothy thought you were great friends and so hearing you trash his process behind his back was shocking and he had to have this realization in front of everyone (to say nothing of the cameras) and so, it was hard.  And yes, after you had some sleep you realized that you had handled things wrong (giving you the benefit of the doubt here that that's what you realized and not that you realized you might get the mean designer edit) and apologized.  And then both of you had problems with that.  The thing with apologies is they don't have to fix everything right away.  You spent the time figuring out how to address the problem and Timothy spent the time realizing there was a personal problem, so it's not surprising that he wasn't quite ready for acceptance.  But Timothy, actions speak louder than words is not only a cliched response to a genuine sounding apology, it's not a stance a guy who took the unicorn (not a euphemism) and stormed out of the workroom. 
And, you have absolutely no leg to stand on, when you're the one who told the judges that she was trashing you.  You could have said that there were issues (they usually seem to magically know when there are, so no point in trying to hide that) but you chose to air it all out.  I have heard it pointed at that by the time you get to the judging, usually, only one of them is going home, so there's little value in maintaining team unity.  And sure, that's one approach. I would argue that as a person who expects to work with some of these people on the stage or in the judges chairs, or, heck, even with the viewers at home, attempting to demonstrate some professionalism might be the way to go. And look, you certainly didn't say anything that didn't happen, so there's that.  But expecting an answer that's not, well, working together is part of the challenge, is silly. 
And Sandro.  Sandro, Sandro, Sandro.  I know, Sue still isn't quite speedy with a sewing machine.  But man, she was a fan of yours until this challenge and then you treated her like crap the whole time.  You both refused to help and then told her she was doing it wrong.  Finally, recognizing that at this point surviving the challenge was her best hope, she said, fine, you do it your way, tell me what you want to do.  What you didn't realize was she was not doing this because she recognized your superior talent, she was doing this because you were being a jerk, and she figured finishing was better than not finishing in time.  So, as you made the statement to the camera that when a woman agrees to just listen and do what a man says, it is beautiful, I started to ponder if possibly you were just being specific about this situation and not recognizing the broader implications, but I got over that in about three seconds.  I feel certain the internet has alerted you to the issue.  And if the upcoming previews are any indication, you have other things to worry about.
Oh, and Timothy - you're wrong about unicorns.  I'm just saying. 

Three Interesting Things

1. I found this transcription about the arts in schools interesting in part due to it's mention of a creativity test.  I applied to a few private schools in as an incoming third and seventh grader, and recall that quite a few of them had me do exercises in creativity in addition to the standardized testing. 
2. Apparently female cane toads, have a way of discouraging unwanted mates. 
3. My chapter mate, Allison Leotta has some tips for staying safe out there.