http://www.idkfa.com/v3 idkfa: syndicated http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4778 I'm adding "Vapid Half-People" to my list of possible band names. kaiden@idkfa.com (kaiden) Mercy General Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:12:38 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4778 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4777 Very good and valid points about Cat's Eye. Probably got included on my list because I was thinking "lots of realistic and strong" female characters. Strongly written (not vapid half people like Twilight) doesn't always mean good person or good role model. lizinthelibrary@idkfa.com (lizinthelibrary) Mercy General Wed, 28 Nov 2012 19:52:12 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4777 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4775 So far as Cat's Eye goes, it has real characters, but she just seems like a pretty horrible person in the end. And I don't mean her treatment of her "friend" - because that can still be viewed as the teenage responses to ongoing relational issues between the two of them. I mean her relationship with her husband and her children - even her adult life kind of sucks and she's still not that great of an individual. This doesn't make it an awful book, in fact it makes it a really interesting character study and fascinating to discuss, but I don't know that it's a good one if you're trying to go for strong female role models and self-sufficiency. Aldis@idkfa.com (Aldis) Mercy General Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:08:15 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4775 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4774 For Christmas get her Mists of Avalon by Bradley. It is a feminist retelling of the Arthurian legend and while it has its own issues, it is still a better female role model than Twilight. Other recommendations: Anything Margaret Atwood (especially Cat's Eye or Handmaiden's Tale), Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquival, A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris (such a good strong female characters book that I keep forgetting it is written by a man). I thrived on teenage angst, that's an unavoidable stage. Most of us survive it, the unlucky do not (Romeo and Juliet as you recall were teenagers). And yes that codependency/first love/first crazy crush are part of that. Going through it gives you emotional maturity (hopefully as an adult). However, throughout my teenage years my parents and librarians fed me a steady stream of books like those mentioned above (all of which I read as a teenager and re-read at least once as an adult) that when I was ready to shuck off teenage angst gave me a solid psychological footing to be an independent woman. lizinthelibrary@idkfa.com (lizinthelibrary) Mercy General Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:35:34 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4774 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4771 Ah. Well, that's a bit more difficult. About all I have are gtfothinspo.tumblr.com which is a good pro-feminist body-positive site. I guess the rest of it I just kind of pick up through osmosis and the people I spend time with. I guess just if you see anything that strikes you as particularly powerful, send it her way. Maybe if you're talking with her mention some really fierce characters you know - Zoe's always a good one - and how they represent different facets of femininity? Aldis@idkfa.com (Aldis) Mercy General Tue, 27 Nov 2012 17:37:43 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4771 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4770 To quote Galaxy Quest: "It doesn't take a great actor to recognize a bad one." I can recognize the vapid Internet comments, but I really don't have that much to offer in terms of a solid, philosophical, well-cited basis for why such things are objectionable. All I have is the fierce, independent woman inside me, and a slew of Joss Whedon female character tropes. kaiden@idkfa.com (kaiden) Mercy General Tue, 27 Nov 2012 12:56:26 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4770 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4769 My advice would be to send her links to feminist/self-assured posts/articles/websites, saying that you think she'd like them. Things you think are interesting insights into empowerment of the individual - she may not read all of them, but phrasing it that way will at least get her to look at them at first. Give it as advice and she's likely not to think twice on it, or to write it off. akreader@idkfa.com (akreader) Mercy General Tue, 27 Nov 2012 12:16:47 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4769 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4668 Yeah, I know. It's just that I had hoped, as an adult, I had earned my hard-fought right to purvey unsolicited wisdom. Now I realize that her frontal cortex won't be matured until she's in her mid-twenties, so anything I have to say is for naught. It's hard for a guy to stay relevant. kaiden@idkfa.com (kaiden) Mercy General Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:23:19 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4668 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4667 The few random posts I've resuscitated haven't been kind. kaiden@idkfa.com (kaiden) Mercy General Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:18:56 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4667 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4665 It's no good Josh, just leave it be. Teenage girls are not to be trifled with, even when you think it might be for the benefit of everyone else around them. Don't try to understand, don't try to help... just leave it be and either mock the potential train wreck to come, or rejoice in their development into a real and not vapid person later. Besides, bitches who say shit like that are probably friend-zoning the shit out of that same guy or and even better one. I'm glad sometimes I don't have daughters. MrFood@idkfa.com (MrFood) Mercy General Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:48:40 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4665 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4664 I was gonna say, maybe we should just peruse through idkfa v2 to get some perspective on her tweets. Right? kitacek@idkfa.com (kitacek) Mercy General Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:46:51 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4664 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4663 There was a time during idkfa v3's development that the database models were similar enough that I could have had a "historical" mode, where logged-in users could choose to view new v3 posts with old v2 posts. Good thing those data models diverged, I guess. :) I'd like to claim that our teenage years were somehow less insipid, but they were probably no less so. I mean... damn, we listened to Trapt, man. Trapt. kaiden@idkfa.com (kaiden) Mercy General Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:32:06 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4663 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4661 We were all teenagers once upon a time. And no, that doesn't mean you should resurrect old idkfa. Don't want to see the throws of of youthful angsty irrationality again, thank you muchly ;) Scrotor@idkfa.com (Scrotor) Mercy General Mon, 01 Oct 2012 03:26:33 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4661 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4660 Yeah, hours later, slightly less incensed. Still, though. I just don't get it. kaiden@idkfa.com (kaiden) Mercy General Mon, 01 Oct 2012 02:00:39 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4660 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4659 I'd say follow the prime directive on this one, buddy. Scrotor@idkfa.com (Scrotor) Mercy General Mon, 01 Oct 2012 01:50:31 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4659 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4658 I need another reality/perspective check. I tend to be the "relative who gets blocked on Facebook because he corrects/mocks family members' spelling and/or grammar," so in this situation my reputation sort of precedes me. However, a younger, female, teenage relative has been at home sick this week, during which her Twitter feed has consisted solely of re-tweets like the following: [17:37:26] RT @ItsAGirIThing: The worst way to miss someone, is to have them sitting right next to you & you know you can never have them. [14:08:32] RT @WeThinkForGirls: Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile. [14:08:44] RT @CauseWereGirls: I don't care what they say or what they think, I'm in love with you and that is all that matters to me. [14:09:33] RT @ReIatable: That one best friend that turned into a stranger. [14:10:16] RT @LovePhrase: Whatever you dream of doing one day, don't give up on that dream because you never know where it can take you. ♥ [14:11:07] RT @LovePhrase: There’s always that one special person that no matter what they’ve done to you, you still just can’t let them go. If one goes far enough back in my own feed, or my prior forum activity, or really anything I've ever said on the Internet, you'll likely find examples of intense emotionalism akin to the above. However, my concern here is the undercurrent of thoughtless, insulting anti-feminist schlock that seems to outpour from these accounts (as well as passed along by my cousin). I am perhaps not as well informed with the plight of the privileged, upper-middle class white teenage girl, but I can't decide if my cousin is doing this ironically/humorously, or if she truly buys in to this dependency fetishism. She provides no commentary to indicate either way, and my only other information to go off of is she is a die-hard fan kaiden@idkfa.com (kaiden) Mercy General Sun, 30 Sep 2012 20:40:47 -0800 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=4658&msg_id=4658