Thinking Chaos, Thinking Fences

18 February 2003

What a girl-positive site! This looks like a great site designed to encourage confidence and self-esteem in pre-teen girls. Until you scroll to the bottom of the home page and see that it's sponsored by the Cattleman's Beef Board. It just gets surreal from there. My favourite part is the 'Keepin' It Real' poll, which asks 'What type of beef do you most like to eat with your friends?' Predictably, the heavy favourites are steaks and tacos. There's a special level of hell for marketing professionals who trick children into becoming  market research subjects. They'll spend eternity eating lentils and sewing Birkenstocks from their own thigh flesh. 11:17:15 PM    comment []

First Lady Supports the Arts Apparently First Lady Laura Bush was going to hold a White House poetry symposium but cancelled it when she realized most of the attending poets (including several poet laureates) were planning on speaking out against invading Iraq. The First Lady said that she "did not believe poetry should be used for political purposes." Well that's fantastic. There goes seven thousand years of political and social commentary in the poetic form. While I know she doesn't wield any actual power, she wields enormous influence. I wonder, does her husband feel the same way? The poets, meanwhile, have established a Web site: www.poetsagainstthewar.org. 11:10:56 PM    comment []