Crafted Obamania

There's a post on Etsy today about Obama-related crafts, and my favorite is the Thinking of Barack, I mean, You card. The list also includes a soap that is made to resemble the president-elect, so that you can...really get your hands on him? Rub Obama all over your body? The same seller also has a candle that is an Obama + Buddha hybrid......"Available scented with Nag Champa or Unscented."

Barack-o-lanterns

The key words for tonight's activities: pumpkins (Safeway prole-kins vs Whole Foods bourge-kins), knives, and festive booze. I'm going to try to make this pumpkin, the stencil for which was made by a duo who, coincidentally, designed a shirt I own. The shirt has narwhals on it.

There's also going to be some Tyra in there, and hopefully a youknowwhat for the Phillies!

Cover Models

My housemate Katie's copy of New York magazine just arrived. I don't really like to blog about politics, because, well, there is a ton of that already and I'm in Washington, but the magazine's cover this issue is pretty riiidicuyoolus. Holy spider vein-free old Republican manlegs. McCain and Obama -- just some bros at the beach, bra. Why, they look like they're gonna get up and throw a Frisbee around and toss back some Miller Lites!

Nice disclaimer: "Not really Obama's abs. Not really Obama either. And not McCain for that matter. But you knew that."

At least they put McCain in a tacky shirt. And he totally would be that guy who wears sneaker at the beach.

Obama's sweetie

So Obama toured a textile factory in Allentown, Pa., which is essentially my hometown. (My postal address is Emmaus, but that's only because the post office for my actual neighborhood is literally one very tiny room. I digress about rural Pennsylvania.) Anyway, surprise, he charmed all the ladies working there. Apparently he called someone "sweetie," which to some rings condescending.

As someone who still recounts how two years ago Patrick Ewing, Jr. called me "sweetheart," I think it all depends on the person and the context. In that instance, PEJ was giving me a hand with a book in the library. If I were, say, a secretary on the set of Mad Men, and my boss called me sweetie, it would only hammer in how much I was treated like a piece meat. When I was 10 or 11 and my grandma called me a "little girl," I hated that. Stuff like "little lady" bugs me, but I kind of like it when a significant other calls me "babe." And Obama always at least seems respectful, to me.

Honestly, I think it's mostly when nonfamous strangers call me "hun" or the likes that I really stop to analyze it. It generally doesn't offend me, but it robs terms of endearment of their meaning. Cuz 9 times out of 10, I'm not your honey.