The War on the War on Christmas

This latest addition to the War on Christmas is brought to you by the heathens... literally.

One of my more conservative pagan friends was posting a supposed quote by Ben Stein.  At first, I found myself enjoying the quote, mostly agreeing with it, and finding Ben Stein to have a nice, moderate approach that I would expect from him.  Then things got weird...

I couldn't understand why Ben Stein, an intellectual and a very Jewish man, was going on a Christian Conservative rant.  Yeah, that got my suspicions raised, but luckily this was a lot easier to debunk than the last post.  Snopes popped up almost immediately with this beautiful gem:

Snopes: Confessions for the Holidays

Everyone can now sleep well knowing that Ben Stein hasn't turned into a Christian Conservative politico hellbent on bringing back God to our schools and corporal punishment to our homes.

Also, THERE IS NO WAR ON CHRISTMAS.

war on christmas

 It's that time of year again.  When the conservatives post "War on Christmas" tripe all over your Facebook newsfeed.

This year's article started as a Fox News opinion piece:  http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/12/05/school-bans-christmas-trees-colors-red-green/

Supposedly a school in the Frisco school district was having a holiday party that banned 'Merry Christmas', Christmas trees, and the colors red and green.  It's pretty much the holy grail of "War on Christmas" stories.  Think of the children!

It seemed a little too good to be true, so I tried to find other news sources that were covering the story.  But every single news article I found could trace its source for information back to that very same Fox News article:

http://inagist.com/all/408817627578896384/
http://www.stormfront.org/forum/t1009590/
http://conservativehideout.com/2013/12/07/nichols-elementary-school-frisco-texas-bans-christmas-trees-even-colors-red-green/

There was also a suspicious trend with all these news sources that were covering the story... hmm.

So aside from conservative blogs, religious blogs, or racist blogs, there really wasn't any well known, legitimate news source covering the story.

And then, in a funny twist of fate, I stumbled upon a story from 2005 in which Bill O'Reilly falsely reported a similar story.  I was just about to give up my search and write this off as some stupid misunderstanding or hoax, but without proof, when this article single-handedly became my impetus to resume my search.  Surely if I could find this gem, I could dig up more.

And that's when I found the Frisco Independent School District's official response to Fox News' accusations:

http://www.friscoisd.org/news/2013/12/05/holidays-in-schools


Enjoy the read, guys.  And tl;dr?  THERE IS NO WAR ON CHRISTMAS

OotD: We Were Born to Die

This was the summer of Lana Del Rey.

http://lookbook.nu/look/3116001-Forever-21-Black-Ruffle-Collared-Shirt-Vanity

My boyfriend was still living in another state and the weather was cold, but Megan and I were already gearing up for a ridiculous summer.  We had just finished raiding the mall before returning to her apartment in what passes for a big city around here.  Later that year I would be interning as a fashion photographer for my friend's start-up jewelry/accessories company, with the Born to Die album more often than not blasting from my car stereo as I commuted to an actual big city for the photo-shoots.  It was the seminal album of that year.

I'm not sure why I had my camera on me that night.  Had this supposedly impromptu photo-shoot been our plan all along?  Perhaps.  I remember coffee and choco-wine and battling Jason with my sparkly $1 wand from Target.  In between the shenanigans we managed to take some photos for Lookbook.  This was probably one of the more sane coordinates of the night.

Forever 21: black ruffled collar shirt, black sun hat
Vanity: purple feather earrings
Rue 21: polka dot heart shaped sunglasses

OotD: Carry Me, Ohio

Carry Me, Ohio

I think this is a really good outfit to start with since it represents something significant in my life.  This was taken outside of my boyfriend's old apartments, before he moved 6 hours away just to be with me.  I loved going down to visit and exploring the city.  There was also something special about having such limited time together.  It made us have to really focus on each other, even more so than other new couples.  But I wouldn't trade it for where we're at now.  Nothing beats having him here with me every day and being able to share experiences with him rather than just telling him about them over the phone.  To me, this picture represents our journey from two silly kids on the computer to something deeper.  A reminder to cherish the past, but also 'look at how far we've come.'

In this picture I'm wearing a cowl neck sweater from Forever 21 with ripped leggings and a fake leather jacket (also Forever 21) to give it an edge and make it more "me."  The grey boots are from JCPenney's and are probably my most complimented footwear next to my spikey boots.  Sadly, wearing them to work is really taking a toll on them.  I'm not sure how much longer they'll last.  The earrings, though a bit hard to see, are little clear hearts with strips of colorful foil paper inside.  They make me think of art class.

Frustrated and word-less

I keep logging on here and staring at the blank page of a potential new blog.  I work on blogs in my head while I'm at work or on the road, but by the time I get to a computer screen I have completely lost the thought... or the nuances of the thought.  It's becoming increasingly frustrating.

And it's not like these thoughts are gone forever.  Putting myself back in the setting I was in when I had that thought can often revive it.  But there doesn't seem to be a way of hanging onto them.  If only I could blog at work... or have someone take notes for me while I'm driving/in the shower/etc.

Semi-related to this, I've been thinking a lot lately about doing an Outfit-of-the-Day kind of thing.  Except not quit literally because there would be repeats, boring work clothes, and pajama days.  But I'd at least like to have this blog synced up with my lookbook.  I feel like there's often a lot of good shots I can include or stories I want to tell about certain outfits or pieces.  Does anyone else do OotD posts that could share some ideas on formatting and execution?

In other news, I posted an article about transgender celebrities speaking out about transgender representation in media... and now "hotamateurshemales" is following my tumblr.  Thanks, internet.  Way to miss the point there.

eyes

Phosphenes and Hypnagogic Imagery

I found this article really interesting since I always wondered what the heck to call this stuff.  Most of the time when I close my eyes, I just get a pretty basic dark swirl with speckles of light (depending on the actual light sources in the room)... but sometimes I actually get some pretty intricate patterns.  It's fascinating what your brain does.

Reading about this made me wondering if there's a name for another eye phenomenon I experience.  Sometimes when I'm sitting down and staring at, for example, a blemish on my leg or something else tiny, I'll be so focused on it that I won't even notice how clear and large it is.  My vision is completely filled up by this formerly small expanse, as if my nose is almost touching it.  Then I'll look away for some reason and when I look back at the spot, it's back to being tiny and far away, with a much broader area in my peripheral.  So what's it called when your eyes perform this telescopic feat?  I've always been curious (and would certainly like to know if there's a way to control it).

October in pictures

Halloween this year was both super fun and kind of disappointing.  I feel like we just didn't get to do as much as last year... and the boyfriend's new work schedule made it impossible to take him to any Saturday night events, which left me pretty bummed.  Oh, and did I mention getting sick just in time for the holiday?  Yeah, there was that too.

birthday girl

What little we did do was really fun though.  And I think my last minute costume turned out pretty spectacular (thanks to the super awesome birthday present from le boyfriend).

http://lookbook.nu/ritualcoffee

Neovictorian Vampire Hunter and King Mob

kill all the vampires!

We also attended the wedding of one of my best friends from high school.  It's about damn time!  (I'm really happy for her! :3)

le boyfriend and I

3V forever. (that's the bride in the middle)

Probably one of my favorite events of the month was our trip to Conneaut's Ghost Lake, which is a series of haunted houses set up in the old theme park.  Last year had been really disappointing because the hotel (supposedly legit haunted) and the lake shore were all blocked off.  I think there had been a fire or something.  This year everything was back up and running (aside from one attraction) so it was once again spectacular.  I'm pretty sure our group was more obnoxious fun than any of the plethora of teenagers huddled in line with us.  And that was even before we stopped at the hotel bar halfway through.  Look, it was frickin' cold out!  And the bar was very warm...

It was seriously cold though.  Probably the coldest night so far this autumn.  I kept molesting le boyfriend for warmth.  Dave ended up buying a $5 women's winter set for himself and we kept trying to stick the hat on things because it was so ridiculous looking.  Jason had specifically worn one of his devilish Black Craft Cult shirts and insisted on exposing it whenever there was black light... while simultaneously dancing.  And then we saw the most epic collection of posters at the dart game in the midway.  It is best described by this song:

The guy at the booth was really cool though.  I took home the wolf poster.