Friday's Fabulous Fat Chick: Ann Wilson

Sultry brown eyes. A powerful voice. And, of course, makeup provided by MAC. (According to her official site.)

No, I'm not talking about another drag queen, even though I love them so. I'm talking about Ann Wilson, the voluptuous half of the sister-act faces of Heart.


With a career spanning over 20 years, Wilson lent her voice to classics like Barracuda and Magic Man.


Unfortunately, I can't give you all of the sordid details of her life. I'm not a music person, but I can say I grew up listening to her music; her last CD was released in 2004. She's been a star longer than I've been alive, which must count for something.

I do have a complaint for her promotions team, though.

Stop hiding her voluptuousness behind her sister! Stop cutting off pictures of her to pretend she's not fat. She is. She's also one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen.

Have some respect.

The workplace is a'changin'...

Would you let the woman to the left watch your children or hire her to work in your company? Or, would her piercings be a barrier to her entering the professional world, a reason not to hire her?

I just finished an article in the St. Pete Times about a young woman who was "fired" for a small, almost unnoticeable nose piercing.

She was told by her supervisor that it wasn't in her best interest to get a facial piercing. When she was told to take it out, she told her supervisor she would take it out and give her tw0-weeks notice a few days later. That night she had a change of heart and was upset when the tax collector's office she worked for wouldn't take her back.

Should this story be in the paper? Of course. Piercings are becoming common enough among young people to warrant a rethinking of corporate dress codes. As more professionals enter the workplace with piercings and tattoos, more workers are going to clash with their companies' policies. It's almost inevitable.

However, I don't think this particular case is a good topic for a news story. The fact that the woman in question was specifically told it wasn't in her best interest to get the piercing turns this away from the realm of public interest to a personal problem she had with her company. They were within their rights to fire her.

However, this story would make a great opinion column. Here's how I'd do it:

1. I would start out with Lauren's story and how one piercing introduced consequences into her life she'd never imagined.

2. I would continue with statistics on the rise of piercings in the U.S. and the impact it's having on the workforce.

3. I would try to showcase one or two professional businesses with more open dress codes that allow piercings and other body mods.

4. I would finish with ways the corporate world has changed over the past decade and try to finish up with advice from an image consultant or something similar as well as include a sidebar with tips on surviving in the business world.

I've never been accused of being the most mainstream person out there; however, I like to feel my resume speaks for itself. Most of my professors have fielded the "Wendy, don't worry about your hair color or what you look like, just write," talk with me. I think the topic of alternative styles is going to be pretty popular in the next few years.

And, just as an added bit of information, the woman in the picture up top is my friend Virginia. She gets paid to watch three little girls as a professional nanny.

Where do we go from here?

So, I started this blog as a class project. Then, I realized how powerful a blog, if it is used correctly, can be. Now, I have to deal with questions. Questions like, should this blog remain strictly a feminist blog? Should I open it up to include more general news items and things that strike my fancy? Should I narrow my focus to writing about the process of reporting and the future of the newspaper industry?

Almost against my better judgment, I think I will open this up to become an opinion column. It's going to be my take on the world around me, with some reporting thrown in. I'm going to be talking about race. About feminism. About religion. The truth is, I think the country I love more than any other, the U.S., is slipping down a slope I'd rather not see it go down.

So, what do you think? Is broadening my horizons a good idea? Or, will my blog suffer because of it?

Yay, or Boo!

In the interest of making money, I'm going to be joining a site that allows me to write about products and.... Make money off of it!!!!!!! I need monies!

So, some of my posts from now on might have "sponsored by" badges attached to them. However, I will not be writing about products I'm not familiar with, and I will not be supporting products I don't like. You will never see me gushing about the Rose Petal Cottage!!!!! (Unless the pod-people get me. Then, who knows what will happen.) So, let's see ho this goes. If it doesn't work for me, I won't stick with it.

Speaking of capitalistic opportunities, I'm having a super-serious-goth-superstar auction, because once again, I'm drowning in stuff I don't wear/use/need.

Where do I stand.... on abortion?

Here's the nitty gritty, down-and-dirty, no-holds-bar stance I hold on abortion and related issues.

Do I believe every woman should have access to "safe" abortions?
YES.

Do I believe every woman should have access to birth control?
YES.

Do I believe every woman should have access to morning access pills?
YES.

Do I believe every pharmacy technician to have the right to deny customers their birth control prescriptions over the technician's own code of morals?
NO.

And, with the religious fervor and attacks over the Planned Parenthood Health Center in Aurora, Illinois, I am for the center's right to be open, to provide health care for women who need it, and to provide abortions to women who want them.

The best article I've read on the issue is from the Chicago Tribune.

Giving thanks, every day

Why the odd silence over the holidays?

1. I was at my mother's house for the end of the week and most of the weekend.

2. I could have done the horribly cliched "Yay, this is what I'm thankful for Thansgiving post," but that's my style. Since I'm almost late on everything (see my lack of Fabulous Fat Chick posts on Fridays) I've decided to post what I'm thankful for today.

I try to be thankful for what I have every day. I don't really see the purpose of setting out to be extra thankful on a specific day. However, as an anthropology minor, I do see the good getting together and feasting with family units can bring forth. Holidays usually create one of the following reactions from the people I know: extreme happiness, suicidal depression, or indifference. I lean towards indifference in some instances, extreme happiness in others, depending on the holiday. (Yay, Halloween!!!!!)

Before I start rambling on too much, here are the top 10 things I'm thankful for every day:

1. My mother is here for another holiday. Two years ago, she managed to almost die, because when she feels sick, she holes up in her house, hides the severity of her illness from everyone, and lies in bed without eating or drinking.

2. For now, birth control is legal in the U.S. However, groups around the country are trying to promote legislation that would consider fertilized eggs to be independent entities with their own human rights. So, every contraceptive that keeps fertilized eggs from implanting in the uterus and many fertilization procedures that fertilize a number of eggs and only implant a few would be illegal (varying from state to state, at least at first).

3. I live in a country where, if I'm raped and go to the police, I won't be punished for being a victim.

4. I have access to a university library, where I just checked out The Rape of Nanking, Fire Wife, and Alias the Cat! I plan to review at least some of these titles soon.

5. I never have the money to get caught up in the whole Black Friday affair. Those people scare me.

6. There are so many LARP groups in my area, I could almost go to a game a day if I wanted to.

7. Zombie invasions. I might post pictures of last night, if I get the chance.

8. Over at "The Poisoned Apple", I just read that Joss Whedon is going to make a new series called The Dollhouse. I almost cried. I just wonder if the strike is going to throw a wrench into the works.

9. Two beautiful cats, who hate each other.





Okay, it's just the calico. She hates Sirius Black.

10. My muse, who I've named Troxie, and looks like a little gnome. (Think of the goblins in Labyrinth. He has kept me in some pretty good scenes from my last novel endeavor. I'm still behind, though.

So, what is this digital content worth?

The writers from The Daily Show make their case for the writers' strike: