Saturday, October 25, 2014

An open letter to Christmas decorations in October

Dear Santa, Rudolph, Mrs. Claus, the Grinch and Max, Angel choir, tree skits, twinkle lights, and all other Christmas decorations,

I wasn't expecting to see you yet so you'll have to excuse my shock and awkwardness upon encountering you at Target earlier today. I was looking for a fall wreath and well, you startled me. I was expecting pretty fall colors and leaves and instead I was assaulted by red and green and silver. It's funny, you were right next to a creepy clown mask. Normally, the clown would bother me but I was more concerned with your presence in the seasonal section.

Do me a favor. Find a calendar and go to October 2014. Take a close look at today. Can you tell me what today is?

IT'S OCTOBER 25TH!!!!!

I'm sorry about the shouting but it's October 25th. That means that's it 6 days until Halloween, 32 days until Thanksgiving, and 60 days until Christmas. Sixty days!!! By my calculations you should not be out in stores yet. Or on people's houses. Or up at the mall. It's not your turn.

I don't want you to think that I'm not a fan. Christmas is a wonderful time of year to be with family and celebrate all the magic of the season. I love holiday baking, especially cookies since when baking cookies I spend the day with my family. We laugh at things that aren't probably all that funny and have found a way to turn a snowman cookie into John Belushi. We have skills. I'm trying to be better about enjoying decorating the tree and my parents' house; they have a lot of decorations so I find it overwhelming. Last year I even made my own tree out of books and twinkle lights and it was wonderful. So I'm not opposed to decorations or the holiday spirit.

But it's not your turn! My two favorite holidays of the year come before you and I feel like you are stealing their thunder. Halloween and Thanksgiving deserve their time in the spotlight. I think it's time that we discuss what happens when you creep your way in before it's time.

The holidays are an event-filled, stressful time of year for many people, myself included. There are so many expectations: Thanksgiving dinner has to be Martha Stewart picture perfect despite the fact that most attendees have been day drinking and may not even make it to dinner; every relative you haven't seen recently will ask you why you're still single or why you don't have babies and make you feel as if you have failed at a significant part of life; your shopping list gets longer every year but you have no idea what to get anyone and they certainly don't want to give you any ideas; baking gets out of control because you just have to make one more batch of snowballs for your mother's sister's cousin's neighbor. I think the feeling can best be summarized by the wonderful Anne Bancroft in the film Home for the Holidays:

"I'm giving thanks that we don't have to go through this for another year. Except we do, because those bastards went and put Christmas right in the middle, just to punish us."

You see, Christmas decorations, when you show up sixty full days early you make it worse. We don't have time to enjoy the two best holidays of the year, Halloween and Thanksgiving, because we're already worrying about all the things we have to get done and are already "behind" on because it's October 25th and I haven't made my card list (or maybe made my cards), bought a fake tree off the tv (saw an ad this week), or decided which overpriced electronic device I will buy for my dad this year that he will promptly not use despite telling me that he wanted it. It's too much pressure!

Let's just forget about the stress of the holidays for a moment and think about the joys of fall. I haven't had time to fully settle into pumpkin spice flavored things or to bring out all my sweaters yet (since it's still in the 70s on occasion). I haven't seen the beauty of leaves changing colors and making the world seem like a postcard. I've only made pumpkin cookies with brown sugar icing one time. ONE TIME! That's just not enough. Honey crisp apples have only recently appeared at the grocery. And apple cider is only now warming our souls. Don't even get me started on the number of scary movies I haven't watched yet. And A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is still weeks away.

Can't we all just enjoy the beauty and majesty of fall? Can't we just have one experience at a time?

I know it's not really your fault, Christmas decorations. I'm sure you'd rather spend October and November gearing up for the big show that is December. Or maybe you'd rather reflect on all the meanings that you as a season have for people. That could mean any number of things from religious celebrations and festivities to celebrating the solstice or even the secular side of the season. Whichever path you want to explore, I know you'd rather do it at the appropriate time. Not in October. Not in November.

I want to feel like Jack Skellington when he goes through the tree door and finds himself in Christmastown for the first time. I want to wonder "What is this?" when I see a snowflake or a candy cane and look on in wonder when people gather for carols and to decorate their trees. It's impossible to feel that way when you show up months early and make my Type A personality start spinning with the fear that I am somehow behind on things that I never knew I needed to deal with in the first place. I don't think it's too much to ask to celebrate the holidays during the corresponding month. This is how the world is supposed to work.



Thanks for listening. Maybe we can work together to solve this problem so future generations can bask in the wonder of the season while still enjoying all that October and November have to offer. Maybe we can figure out a way for everyone to get the equal time they deserve.

Love and candy corns,
Erin

Jack in Christmastown

Next week: It's National Novel Writing Month (well it will be next Saturday)! I'll preview this year's novel and what to expect on the Island while I write a 50K word novel in one month.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

DC Days: Rockin' the Suburbs, Part Two (Subtitle: I didn't want to stab anyone*)

Yesterday I posted about my plan to take the magical Silver Line Metro from Clarendon to Tysons Corner. I wanted to experience the good times ahead and the life-changing nature of this new Metro line. That is, after all, what Metro promised. Metro's ad campaign for the new line has implied that the extension of public transportation into this area would somehow liberate people from their boring suburban lives and they would all have more fun, dance down a Metro platform, and meet the person of their dreams (for the single people). You can go to the city! You can live the life you've always wanted to when you opted to sell out for the 'burbs! Metro hates everyone.

It's an incredibly effective campaign (go marketing team!) and one that I'm sure that they'll continue to use as more stations are completed and open. I have been obsessing over this ad campaign since I saw it over the summer. My obsessions stems from this oddly implied idea that the only way we can be fulfilled is by urban living. I grew up in the suburbs and have spent most of my adult life in either urban areas or areas that I would describe as suburban/urban hybrids. I feel like I can live my life the way I want to in any of the areas and so the Metro campaign felt very personal. Like Metro was somehow judging me. I may take things too personally.

Anyway, I asked my friend Anita to join me on an adventure not to the city but to the very place that Metro told us to leave. We traveled to Tysons Corner and we had a blast. We didn't have to drive or find parking so we were relaxed and calm upon arriving at the mall. Later, Anita would observe that we could deal with the massive crowds because we didn't have to deal with the normally annoying commute and parking. I think she has a point.

The Metro ride from Clarendon took about 15 minutes (we had to wait 10 minutes for a train). The only thing that we knew about arriving at Tysons Corner was that we would have to walk through a skyway of sorts to the Plaza. The walk was relatively short (our only complaint is that it's not enclosed - bad on a rainy day like today) and the Plaza looks exactly like you imagine an outdoor plaza area at a high end shopping center would look like.

Except for the birds.

Not real birds but inexplicable metal birds. There were crows, a hawk, pigeons, and cardinals. A friend mentioned them on Facebook when I was discussing this trip but I wasn't really prepared for them. We don't understand the birds. One grouping of a crow and a cardinal and it looked like the crow was going to attack. Anita also thinks it looks like the hawk is looking for a mouse or something similar. They also seem to be staring off into the distance in a way that makes you sad that they're not real. I can't decide if the birds are there to deter other birds or to support the outdoor experience.


 We didn't stay long on the Plaza since it was raining. The rain also impacted our brunch plans; the place we wanted to go was actually across the street from Tysons but not worth the walk so we opted for Panera instead. We also plotted out our day, declaring that Tysons Corner Center would be our oyster. Highlight of the Panera experience: seeing my first ever person using Google Glass. He looked exactly as you imagine a guy a shopping mall would look like with Google Glass. I'm not sure I get that particular technology but to each his own.

The only actual scheduled activity we had today was free facials at Aveda. Since we had to skip brunch we had time to wander around the lower level of the mall. We did a pass through L.L. Bean where we tried on a variety of hats and discussed the pros and cons of buying a camouflage jacket. This confirmed for me that I'm still very conflicted about hats and whether or not I should wear them. 


Our trip through L.L. Bean didn't kill enough time before our facials so we ended up visiting the American Girl store. Neither of us had ever been to one before but we both read the original books when we were younger. This is not our American Girl. Most of what you can buy in the American Girl store are things you didn't know an American Girl doll needed - egg chairs, horses, pets (a corgi, a cat), and all of the clothes you can dream. There's even an option to buy glasses and orthodontia. I guess that's designed to help make the awkward phases of growing up a little easier. Samantha's ice cream parlor costs $300 and the dress so you can match your doll is $58 (the doll version is $36). Crazy. We saw lots of little girls and their parents with very large American Girl bags (and very awkward bell bottom, ruffled pants) all day long. There's even a cafe just in case you need a snack.

Facials were next on the schedule. This particular Aveda is a salon or spa (like I'm used to) so our facials were basically being done in public. The woman who took care of us was lovely (this is her weekend gig; she teaches in Fairfax County). She and I discussed germ-y children and how sick we both got our first year teaching. My face still feels nice and soft and Aveda-y. My goal of leaving smelling like calmness and balance was achieved.

What Anita and I came to realize as we continued to wander around the mall was that we didn't really feel the need to have a plan to enjoy our day. It was exactly like high school; we just went to the mall to hang out, gossip, and eat bad for us mall food. Instead of our parents dropping us off and agreeing on a designated pick up spot later in the evening, Metro brought us. No stressful parking, no crazy drive (we saw the traffic on 66 in both directions on a Saturday). It was the ease of those high school mall hang outs with the awesomeness of having a job and being able to buy things if we were so inclined. It didn't really matter. We also enjoyed free samples (thanks William Sonoma and Teavana). We got things we needed (a journal for NaNoWriMo for me; John Waters's book Carsick for Anita) and things we probably didn't need (maple pecan waffle mix and these boots that I've been stalking on Project Runway).

 
So what did we learn? Are good times really ahead? As we enjoyed dinner at Gordon Biersch (ending our day like my dad or brother would), Anita and I discussed John Waters, Divine, and our suburban upbringing. What we decided was that we miss the suburbs of our childhood and that the contrived nature of places like Tysons Corner and its Plaza with inexplicable birds is why Metro's ad campaign is successful. Everyone wants to be cool and feel like they belong somewhere. Sometimes you look up at the high rises and Metro stations of your urban existence and yearn for the quiet of your suburban childhood. And sometimes you don't want to see another shopping center or fast food restaurant. It's all about balance and realizing that sometimes you just need a girls' day at the mall.




















*How Anita described our trip. She felt it was a success because this is how she felt at the end of the day.

Friday, October 10, 2014

DC Days: Rockin' the Suburbs Edition, Part One

Before we begin:


Now that you have thoroughly rocked, we can begin. Today's post comes to you from the magical suburban land of Tysons Corner. For those of you who don't live in the greater Northern Virginia area, Tysons Corner is a vast expanse of shopping, office buildings, chain restaurants, hotels, and sadness. It takes approximately 4 hours to drive there from most locations in NOVA and then an additional 3 hours to find parking once you arrive. By the time you do both of these things you no longer want to shop or go to the movies or each at one of the wonderful restaurants. You just want to go home, curl into a ball, and have someone bring you a drink.

All that changed this past July when Metro (our public transportation system here in the DMV) opened its newest line, the Silver Line. The Silver Line runs from Reston, Virginia, through Arlington, into downtown DC, and ends at Largo Town Center in Maryland. Eventually, the line will extend beyond Reston. I'm sure that will happen sometime before my 80th birthday.

My favorite part of the launch of the Silver Line is not the additional trains that I have available to me on my museum commute or that one day the reality of Metro-ing to Dulles Airport would be realized. I don't really use Metro all that often so these benefits were not really for me. No, my favorite part was that Metro told me that my life would change because of the Silver Line. Good times are ahead for us all.


This is just one of the ads that were up around town, on Metro cars, and in stations. So in addition to not making me want to jab a pencil in my eye when driving to and parking at Tysons Corner, the Silver Line will improve my love life and remind me of the sheer joy of accessible public transportation. I assume a Metro sponsored dating website will be launching sometime soon.


What's interesting (at least to me) is that these ads (and this one - my favorite) is that they imply that living in the suburbs is this horrible thing that can only be remedied by access to the city. Now you can go to brunch! And date! And have adventures! All because of the Silver Line! I grew up in the suburbs (as did most of my friends) and I turned out okay. I live in a weird urban/suburban hybrid city now. I don't feel like I have to go to DC to enjoy myself. But that is what Metro would like me to believe.

Here's the thing: you can do all of these things without the Silver Line. There are other ways to enjoy the city and to get there. So I'm going to do the exact opposite of what Metro would like me to do. Instead of traveling to the city, I'm going to take the Silver Line to Tysons Corner and enjoy all that the suburbs have to offer. I want to have brunch, get a facial, shop, and have some sort of mall snack at the food court. I want to enjoy the promise of a suburban lifestyle. I want to prove that this article is silly and rude. I want to rock the suburbs.

Tomorrow my friend Anita and I will take the Silver Line from Clarendon to Tysons Corner. We will enjoy all that the suburban experience can offer us and we won't have to drive or park a car. It will be magical and life-changing. Just like Metro promised.

Maybe we'll even dance our way from the Metro station to the shopping center.


Saturday, October 4, 2014

Welcome to Star's Hollow, Population Awesome

Sometimes the world works in the most perfect way. You miss all of the traffic and hit all of the green lights. Dunkin' Donuts doesn't take away the butter pecan flavored iced coffee that you love. No one annoys you the entire day. Netflix finally grants you access to a magical television show, Gilmore Girls. 

I hope, dear Island readers, that those of you who have Netflix have dived into the wonderful world of Stars Hallow. I watched the show when it originally aired and own all seven seasons on DVD. I have re-watched the show in its entirety (since watching it on television) at least four times. If you haven't added it to your queue or started watching it already, I implore you to do so right after you finish reading this post. You won't be disappointed with the experience.

The release of the show on Netflix has unleashed a flurry of articles and Buzzfeed quizzes and posts about the show. The show aired in 2000 on the WB and ended seven years later on the CW. It chronicles the adventures of the dynamic mother-daughter duo of Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel) Gilmore. The Gilmore girls live in the quirky town of Stars Hollow, CT and are surrounded by a cast of amazingly funny and interesting characters. Lorelai was a teen mom who left her affluent family after giving birth to Rory and found a life for herself. Over the course of seven seasons, we follow Lorelai and Rory through their many loves, private high schools, getting into an Ivy League college, opening an inn, and so many town festivals. The fast-paced dialogue and pop culture references are worth the time. Amy Sherman-Palladino, the series creator, injects the right amount of weird and normal to the world of Gilmore Girls.

One of the things that I most enjoy about the world of Stars Hollow (and Chilton, Yale, etc.) is the secondary characters. These are the people that truly bring the show to life. The best shows are the ones in which the world of the show seems real (even if it's a bit quirky). Stars Hollow and the other locations of the show only make sense if you add in all the secondary and tertiary characters. I thought that for my first Gilmore Girls Island post, I'd talk about my favorite side characters. They may not appear in every episode or even make it to the end of the series but they are important in our little corner of the world. Grab some takeout from Al's Pancake World or some dessert sushi and let's talk Gilmore Girls.

1. The Trifecta - Miss Patty, Babette, and Taylor.
You can't have Stars Hollow without these three. Miss Patty and Babette know everything about everyone in town and are some of the sassiest women you will ever meet. Babette is the neighbor that I hope I have if I ever buy a house. I'd trust her to collect my mail and call the embassies in the countries I was visiting if I didn't return from my European vacation on the day she thought I was returning. Did I mention that Babette is portrayed by Sally Struthers? That voice! No Stars Hollow festival (and there are lots of them) would be the same without the choreography skills of Miss Patty. Her stories are the greatest and I want her one woman show to be a real thing that I can go see. Now. What's even more wonderful is that they provide balance to Taylor, the town selectman.Taylor truly cares about Stars Hollow but he's also crazy. His brand of particularness is overwhelming but is also what keeps Stars Hollow going. His scenes with Kirk (who we'll discuss shortly) are some of my favorites on the show. I want to attend a town meeting, volunteer to be a pilgrim at the food drive, and invest in some sweaters with elbow patches so Taylor will be happy.


2. The Love Interest No One Understands - Jason Stiles
I have to confess that part of my love for Jason Stiles comes from the fact that I have the biggest crush on Chris Eigeman. I first saw him in Whit Stillman's 1990 debut Metropolitan and was immediately hooked. I will watch anything that he's in and I was sad that his role on Bunheads was so limited. He is every preppy boy that I've crushed on in my life (which is so not my type but I can't help it). Popped collars make me rageful but deal with popped collar/uncomfortable suit Jason Stiles.

Jason "Digger" Stiles appears in season four which is one of my favorite seasons to watch when I'm in a state of transition or uncertainty. He and Lorelai grew up together and he becomes business partners with Mr. Gilmore. He and Lorelai also start a secret relationship (a frequent Lorelai relationship tactic). Jason is not the great love of Lorelai's life but he's an important part of Lorelai's life as she's working on opening the Dragonfly Inn and she's not quite ready to be with Luke (she's almost there). Jason is unexpected, weird, has a lot neuroses, and is not the kind of guy she should be with and that is exactly why she should be with him. He helps her reflect on the parts of her past that she needs to move forward with her life. Also, he basically calls Emily Gilmore obsolete (he actually says it about cocktail parties but same difference). I was glad to see Jason go but I'm super glad he was there.

3.The Nemesis (but not really) - Paris Geller
Let's be honest, I could write an entire post on Paris. She is the quintessential mean super smart girl when we meet her on Rory's first day at Chilton. These first days would set the stage for a long friendship that has a lot of ups and downs over seven seasons (just like a real friendship). Paris needs Rory and Rory needs Paris. They might not want to admit it but it's the truth. The Yale years are my favorite of her episodes. She has an affair with a professor, becomes editor/dictator of the newspaper, and provides her own brand of Paris tough love to Rory when she needs it. Paris is another extreme character but is at the same time, incredibly relatable. I remember feeling bad for Paris...a lot. Her family life was not ideal (despite the privilege) and she's the kind of person that's had her life mapped out since she could write her name. She has a hard time being flexible and I totally feel for her on that one. One of my favorite non-Yale episodes featuring Paris was the one in season three when she and Rory are both giving speeches at the Chilton bicentennial and right before, Paris finds out that she didn't get into Harvard. And she's crushed. This particular episode showed us that Paris was indeed human and had feelings. I tear up every time I re-watch this one.

Like Lorelai, we all come to love Paris in the end.

4. Why You Hide Music in the Floorboards - Mrs. Kim
"Boys don't like funny girls." And so begins my adoration of Mrs. Kim (Emily Kuroda), Lane's mom and Lorelai's complete parenting opposite. In the hands of less skilled writers and a less skilled actor, Mrs. Kim could have become a terrible stereotype of a Korean parent. Mrs. Kim is traditional and wants Lane to marry a nice Korean boy who happens to be a doctor and who Mrs. Kim picks for her BUT Mrs. Kim is also incredibly honest and forgiving. She's a realist and a perfect counter to Lorelai. Every time Lorelai tries to explain about teenagers, Mrs. Kim just gives her a look and the conversation ends. Mrs. Kim understands teenagers and young women, but she also believes in rules and respect. When Lane finally does break away, you can see the influence of her mother in her despite her desire to rebel. My favorite Mrs. Kim moment of all time is when she takes over as manager of Hep Alien and books them on a tour...that takes them to Seventh Day Adventist church groups and college campuses. I'd book Mrs. Kim to be my band's manager any day.

5. The Everyman - Kirk Gleason
If you've seen Guardians of the Galaxy than you know Sean Gunn, the actor who portrayed Kirk. He played Raglin, one of Yondu's gang. More importantly, he was the actor who performed the motion capture for Rocket. I had a hard time not imagining Kirk in any scene featuring Rocket. I couldn't help it.

Kirk appears in 137 episodes of Gilmore Girls. There are 154 total episodes - that's a lot of time on the show. Kirk has probably that many jobs during the series. Everyone should have a Kirk in their life; he's odd and endearing and funny. He truly cares about the people in his life (like that time that he installed a security system for Lorelai because she was now by herself and he followed her home in a golf cart to make sure she got there safely); he just has to show it in his very Kirk way. I wish we had gotten to meet his mother (whom he lives with). That probably would have explained a lot more. His scenes with Luke are an excellent study in contrasts and one of my favorite Kirk moments is when he opened a diner in the square called Duke's. Was I the only one who cheered when he finally got a girlfriend? Kirk is the sidekick of the entire town and without him Stars Hollow would not be the place it is.

I could go on for days about all of these characters and the many that I left out (I didn't get to talk about Sebastian Bach or Max or Francie, one of two characters on the show that I actually hate). Maybe one day we'll finally get to see a Gilmore Girls movie (I would wait in line at the midnight show). Or maybe Kirk will get his own show. Or maybe I'll figure out how to organize the first ever con devoted entirely to the show. Until then, I'll just plan on re-watching the series again and again.

Who's your favorite Gilmore Girls side character?

More Gilmore Girls coming soon to the Island! This fall/winter I'll be re-watching the series and writing about it. We'll talk Dean v. Jess v. Logan; why Sookie is the greatest character of all; and we'll breakdown all the junk food that Lorelai and Rory eat without ever having to go to the gym.

Photos:
Miss Patty & Babette
Taylor
Jason Stiles
Paris 
Mrs. Kim 
Kirk