mean mary janes

m.jays du jour

2007-11-01T09:40:00.001-04:00

ok, they're lug-soled, they're plaid and they have the color orange within that plaid. i don't really know what more a girl could want.

in threes

2007-10-31T12:50:00.000-04:00

must death always arrive as a trio? what - is it not brave enough to take one person at a time? some days it just feels like you put your head in your hands, look down, and hope you get passed over. i believe it's that random. i really do.

so let's see: an old poetry professor out in arizona, a good friend's wife's grandfather, and a close friend's sister hanging in the balance - could be yes, could be no -- after a nasty fall down some stairs.

all morning i searched to find just the right poem to post or to send to friends, for comfort or whatever -- i mean, hey -- who else to turn to when grief strikes, when tragedy strikes, etc., than a poet? but nothing i read felt really right or truly comforting. and then death seems so personal anyway, so i skipped it. i was sure i could find one.

mary janes of the day

2007-10-29T11:59:00.000-04:00

from a Prada prototype auction i missed out on in uh, july of this year, some mj's for Halloween:

mary janes of the day

2006-12-28T15:22:00.000-05:00

luck be a lady

cry me a stanza

2006-12-28T10:05:00.000-05:00

It's not news that few "best books of the year" lists include poetry choices. The ones that do play it oh-so-safe by including a name or two the masses have heard of and maybe a Collected Works of somebody. Not that these books are uniformly poor choices for good poetry; it's just that the reviews show a real lack of effort to find anything else, and a subsequent obvious disinterest. Poetry is as ever the barely tolerated, ugly stepchild who nonetheless must be given its yearly allowance. "Here's a few bucks, kid. Don't spend it all in one place."

Now, if one is ginormously bored at one's Beige Corporate Superbox, one can certainly put in the internet time and find some passionate people trying to right said wrong. Bob and Marge at about.com certainly fall into this category. I'm only sorry that about.com either hasn't seen fit or can't afford to hire a decent UI designer, since most of what B. and M. have to say (which is a lot) is interrupted by large ads for Wrinkle Removers and HD TV. (Actually I think the site has the exact same interface it had in 1998. I'm glad they're still surviving, but um, man, still. so. ugly.)

Oh right, back to the list. Ok, i don't always agree with bob and marge, but they sure do know their stuff, and they sure are passionate about the craft. here's their overview of the year in poetry - a great read. so really, thank you to them.

mary jane pic of the day

2006-12-26T15:42:00.000-05:00

for the lazy toddler:

three bees

2006-12-26T15:18:00.000-05:00

despite my stupidly clever image, three bees usually means Bored Beyond Belief. who makes people work the week between christmas and new year's? it has to cost more to keep this giant beige superbox open than we'll ever make in sales. who's around? no one's around. and i'll tell you something else, no one's shopping in our retail stores, either.

so far, i've played a few hours of web boggle, checked out recipes for peppermint candy, and thought too much about the imbalance of giving, a topic currently on my mind. thanks to The Man, though, for paying me to do these things. i couldn't have tolerated another christmasless day in my house. even the cats were shooing me away.

the return of mean mary janes

2006-08-23T09:59:00.000-04:00

yes, m2j is back. not that you were ever worried. i know i personally was never worried. i knew that m2j had gotten disheartened with the whole blogging thing in general, but that eventually she would have to have a forum in which to discuss very, very broken workplaces, shifts in mood and geography, really bad song lyrics found on local college radion stations, excellent words of the day, and brand new mary jane styles and their owners. so let's welcome her back. she is dressed mostly in black today, but her mood is not as dark as her scowl would indicate. onward.

decidedly green non-mary janes

2005-12-29T09:08:00.000-05:00

yes, these boots are green and no, they are not maryjanes, by definition they are not mary janes. but they do have the beloved soles of lug. and they are inimitably excellent. and they are mine. the obsession with the color orange gives way to a green period, the obsession with mary janes gives way to a boot fancy - all this as the year comes to an end, as our heroine turns 40 and looks forward to now really not caring what anyone thinks, to being finally at the helm of her life, to .... yeah, whatever. i'm just hoping for a year without an ass of a guy (i almost wrote 'goy' and that would apply, too), a year where whatshername the muse of poetry holds me in high enough regard to finish a second book. in the meantime, GREEN BOOTS. Green.

love in the time of the serial dater

2005-09-14T10:25:00.000-04:00

you think you're smart. you are, in fact, smart. maybe smarter than the average late 30's, mary-jane-wearing, dyed-red-haired girl. your master's degree is admirable. your humor and wit inimitable. your asshole-guy radar has won awards. but you are no match for The Serial Dater...

do you know this guy? i am just finding out more and more about TSD's, and much of it makes sense in my seemingly endless battle to understand and get over a particular not-so-recent online dating event. did i say 'event'? i meant 'debaucle.' 'misfortune.' anyway, here's what i'm learning about this evil, sad species:

Serial Daters:

are oh-so-charming in their imitation of someone who really wants to be in a committed relationship, but actually have no intention of being that someone.
are most likely dating (or at the very least corresponding with) a handful of other prospects while dating you, you know, "to keep options open."
are addicted to the beginnings of relationships, the moony, romantic, will-she-sleep-with-me? part, and get bored or move on when reality hits (by reality i mean, like, when the girl exhibits enthusiasm, beats him at cards, or breathes wrong).
figure their fear of real commitment will go away when "the right one" comes along and breaks the spell, though they find something wrong with every girl they've ever dated.
still blame dad for leaving or mom for clinging or someone else, anyone else, for their failures.
are never really up-front about their feelings.
tell the same anecdotes to each girl, sometimes forgetting who knows which one, and very often repeating them.
are always convinced there's someone better out there.

So, ok. if you're not sure whether the guy really likes YOU, or if he just seems to enjoy dating in general, chances are he has SD written all over him. If he gives you a gift that seems really for him, and the wrapping paper seems suspiciously used, chances are he has SD and maybe the word 'ass' written all over him. Or if you call him in a blizzard when your U-Haul battery has died and the truck has to be back within the hour, and if he lives just a mile away but can't come help because he has to meet a "friend" in 5 minutes, chances are he has even more than SD and 'ass' written all over him. but i'm at work, and don't feel like writing those out....

between all TSD's and my friend's husband who blew her off after 10 years and two kids, in order to sleep with one of his students... well, well, ... yeah.

i'm actually not that mean

2005-09-13T14:18:00.000-04:00

i do have a mean mary jane addiction, and by that i mean THE SHOES, ok? not the illegal substance. and there's certainly no love for Jane's Addiction here. mary janes in this context mean the shoes, only the shoes, preferably not the super-girly kind, preferably the more rugged, lug-soled kind. that is where the meanness ends. today, anyway. today, anyway, i come to you from boston - quite possibly the coldest place on earth, and as you might know, i am not talking weather (though it does have its share of windchill factors and stuff). i hate boston. i love boston. i am always divided on boston, and that's why i keep coming back here from faraway places. i am determined to be happy here. i am determined to leave. i am so contradictory it'll start annoying you as much as it annoys me, if that's possible. but you've made it this far.