Hey Kingston city council candidates - How old are you?
For the past two days in my paper, The Kingston Whig-Standard, municipal election candidates have filled the editorial pages with answers to serious and silly questions such as what is your first priority on council and if someone were to play you in a movie, whom would you pick?
One question – How old are you? – seems to have stumped four candidates.
• Brian Evoy
• Vicki Schmolka
• Anna Robertson
• Leonore Foster
Now, I don't know what's going on with you Mr. Brian Evoy, but I can only guess that Vicki Schmolka, Anna Robertson and Leonore Foster haven't given their numbers either because:
a) These educated and accomplished women don't know how old they are;
b) They're embarrassed about their age.
What's wrong with you ladies? You've raised families, spent years working on council and on various committees to better Kingston and you've completed post-secondary education.
You're willing to out your husband and partner's names but you're not willing to say how old you are? You're willing to say your favourite CDs are Fallen by Evanescence, workout music and Brahms Violin Concerto but you're not willing to say how old you are? You're willing to say Emma Thompson, Meryl Streep and Kingston actor Nicole Rea (my note: Most lovely woman in the world) would play you in movies, but you're not willing to say how old you are?
This, my female friends, is ridiculous.
The other day, I was having dinner with a bunch of girlfriends. One admitted that she was about to turn 30. I asked her if she was freaking out: Nope, she said. While she nibbled on naan bread and chowed down on her onion bhaji, she said life is a blessing, there's so much to do in a short time and as she gets older, life just gets more delicious because there are so many different things to sample and savour.
Then, she realized that, oops, she turned 30 last year. This year, she's turning 31.
Turning 30, it seems, was such an event, it was a non-event.
I can only assume that Vicki, Anna and Leonore don't want to put down your ages because you're what society would call "older."
But isn't that great? That you could sit next to Sara Meers or Kindra Breau at the horseshoe? Both of these candidates are in their 20s. Wouldn't it be great for the women, for the people of Kingston, to have younger and older female voices representing Kingstonians? Wow, what a crazy idea. Diversity. Far out, man.
You also, as city council candidates, should believe in openness and truth. If I can't trust you to tell me your age, why should I trust you on much more important issues like your main concerns: The Third Crossing of the Cataraqui River, taxes and affordable housing?
You, women who refuse to acknowledge your age, are part of the reason why society is obsessed with youth, beauty and too-taut skin. I think us younger women want to be able to age gracefully but say "God damn it, I'm freakin' 54 years old and I look fabulous!"
Our obsession with youth has become the talk of the world (again) lately thanks to Dove's new commercial that features a pretty girl becoming a supermodel with the help of makeup, bigger hair, and mucho Photoshopping. It should illustrate to all young girls that the models and celebrities we see in magazines are not human beings. They are computer-beautiful.
Three women recently stuck it to me - see comments under the post titled Don't Cha Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me - because I had the audacity to say that us women should fight for our bodies and our beauty and we owed it to our children and husbands/partners/girlfriends/wives to look hot.
Forget sticking it to me. Readers should stick it to you, Anna, Leonore, Vicki – and you too Brian.
As Mark Montano says every day on 10 Years Younger (1 and 1:30 p.m. on TLC, channel 16 in Kingston - hey, I have to do something while breastfeeding), Vicki, Leonore and Anna: Just how old are you?
Go on, give your ages under the comments section here and right your wrong.
Sara Meers is 26.
Lisa Osanic is 39.
Kindra Breau is 25.
Dorothy Hector is turning 45.
Joyce Macleod-Kane is 47.
I, Sarah Crosbie, am 29.
Yes, that means I'll be 30 next year.
One question – How old are you? – seems to have stumped four candidates.
• Brian Evoy
• Vicki Schmolka
• Anna Robertson
• Leonore Foster
Now, I don't know what's going on with you Mr. Brian Evoy, but I can only guess that Vicki Schmolka, Anna Robertson and Leonore Foster haven't given their numbers either because:
a) These educated and accomplished women don't know how old they are;
b) They're embarrassed about their age.
What's wrong with you ladies? You've raised families, spent years working on council and on various committees to better Kingston and you've completed post-secondary education.
You're willing to out your husband and partner's names but you're not willing to say how old you are? You're willing to say your favourite CDs are Fallen by Evanescence, workout music and Brahms Violin Concerto but you're not willing to say how old you are? You're willing to say Emma Thompson, Meryl Streep and Kingston actor Nicole Rea (my note: Most lovely woman in the world) would play you in movies, but you're not willing to say how old you are?
This, my female friends, is ridiculous.
The other day, I was having dinner with a bunch of girlfriends. One admitted that she was about to turn 30. I asked her if she was freaking out: Nope, she said. While she nibbled on naan bread and chowed down on her onion bhaji, she said life is a blessing, there's so much to do in a short time and as she gets older, life just gets more delicious because there are so many different things to sample and savour.
Then, she realized that, oops, she turned 30 last year. This year, she's turning 31.
Turning 30, it seems, was such an event, it was a non-event.
I can only assume that Vicki, Anna and Leonore don't want to put down your ages because you're what society would call "older."
But isn't that great? That you could sit next to Sara Meers or Kindra Breau at the horseshoe? Both of these candidates are in their 20s. Wouldn't it be great for the women, for the people of Kingston, to have younger and older female voices representing Kingstonians? Wow, what a crazy idea. Diversity. Far out, man.
You also, as city council candidates, should believe in openness and truth. If I can't trust you to tell me your age, why should I trust you on much more important issues like your main concerns: The Third Crossing of the Cataraqui River, taxes and affordable housing?
You, women who refuse to acknowledge your age, are part of the reason why society is obsessed with youth, beauty and too-taut skin. I think us younger women want to be able to age gracefully but say "God damn it, I'm freakin' 54 years old and I look fabulous!"
Our obsession with youth has become the talk of the world (again) lately thanks to Dove's new commercial that features a pretty girl becoming a supermodel with the help of makeup, bigger hair, and mucho Photoshopping. It should illustrate to all young girls that the models and celebrities we see in magazines are not human beings. They are computer-beautiful.
Three women recently stuck it to me - see comments under the post titled Don't Cha Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me - because I had the audacity to say that us women should fight for our bodies and our beauty and we owed it to our children and husbands/partners/girlfriends/wives to look hot.
Forget sticking it to me. Readers should stick it to you, Anna, Leonore, Vicki – and you too Brian.
As Mark Montano says every day on 10 Years Younger (1 and 1:30 p.m. on TLC, channel 16 in Kingston - hey, I have to do something while breastfeeding), Vicki, Leonore and Anna: Just how old are you?
Go on, give your ages under the comments section here and right your wrong.
Sara Meers is 26.
Lisa Osanic is 39.
Kindra Breau is 25.
Dorothy Hector is turning 45.
Joyce Macleod-Kane is 47.
I, Sarah Crosbie, am 29.
Yes, that means I'll be 30 next year.
2 Comments:
"Three women recently stuck it to me - see comments under the post titled Don't Cha Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me - because I had the audacity to say that us women should fight for our bodies and our beauty and we owed it to our children and husbands/partners/girlfriends/wives to look hot."
Hmmm...this wasn't exactly what I was commenting about. I was more upset about your comment that "Maybe people would have fewer affairs if their partners looked better" (I'm paraphrasing, of course). I have no problem with you wanting to stay beautiful for the BF - more power to you. I just think that it was unfair of you to be so flippant about extra-marital affairs. If someone turns on their marriage just because their partner has "let herself go," were they really worth being married to in the first place?
Don't get me wrong...I like reading your blog and enjoy your quirky take on the world. I just thought that particular comment was pretty harsh.
Hey Anonymous,
So this is what I said: "Don't you think fewer people would have affairs if their lovers didn't let themselves go?
I do. Maybe that stings, but it's a cruel, cruel world, people."
I totally agree with you that if someone dumps your butt just because you've neglected to re-perm your hair for too long, that person is a shallow jerk.
I just had a conversation with the BF about your comment ...
Your right, that what I said was probably a little too simplistic. If it was a university essay, a prof would probably say my argument wasn't fully developed so let me expand: I don't think we wake up one day and decided to become grungy, unattractive track-pant wearing people. However, I do believe every day we make little decisions that get us to a certain point. We eat that extra Twinkie. We indulge in two extra beers. We decide to spend all of our money on new baseboards for our house and new couches for our livingrooms and new big-screen TVs for our dens, but we won't spend an extra $50 on brand-name jeans that make our butts look great.
One day, we wake up and, lo and behold, all of our decisions have led us to a certain life and a certain look.
It's so hard not to be lazy, isn't it?
Aren't looks connected to everything? If you've let yourself go, you're probably suffering in many other ways: You're probably not up to par in the bedroom; you've probably not confident in yourself; you're probably not as outgoing and flirty as you once were.
Whether it's fair or not, what we look like affects so many other parts of us.
But I do think once we're secure in our relationships we just don't try so hard any more.
Two other things:
1) I know, like millions of other people, that being overweight is not because Ben and Jerry's is irresistible. There's always an underlying issue to being overweight. I've been overweight many times in my life for different reasons - because I've been apathetic, lonely, lost, uneducated about food, insecure. However, it is up to us as adults to tackle (maybe not fully conquer) but tackle these issues so we are healthier for ourselves, our others, our children, our family. Please don't think I'm some skinny girl. I know what it's like to be a pound or two from only being able to fit into clothes from the big girl stores.
2) I don't think I'm flippant about affairs. I think I'm surly in a fun way; If I sound flippant it's because I'm well-versed in affairs and once you survive cheating, you get to be a little sassy about the whole thing.
I do think this: It's easier to fight for yourself and your relationship (body, mind and soul) than scrape yourself off the floor, pump life into your soul again and patch the wound in your back from where you've been stabbed.
Here's my Dr. Phil moment for the day: Relationships are like automobiles. A little maintenance work goes a long way.
Thanks for the comment ... I'm very sick right now and so thinking about what you said has given me something to do today other than staring at my snotty Kleenex.
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