obligatory Barbie 50th birthday posting!

From Barbie's 50th birthday

Oh, where to start. Monday, March 9 was the official 50th anniversary of the creation of the Barbie doll. This snuck up on me, so I didn't have time to unearth my actual Barbie collection, which is massive and consists of many vintage dolls (mostly bought back when you used to be able to go to a Barbie collectibles show or two a year in Chicagoland), collectible and vintage reproduction dolls (some bought at Cut Rate Toys, who are on my links list), and untold amounts of dolls, clothes, and accessories for actual kids to play with (hours and hours in toy and discount stores).

From Barbie's 50th birthday

Neshachan on Flickr posted a lot of new shots from her impressive Barbie collection for the birthday; here's one of a Mod-era Barbie (my favorite Barbie era). I didn't do that, but I at least could observe some media coverage and take weird shots of the TV screen.

From Barbie's 50th birthday

The top photo, from a CBS evening news piece, was when the screen changed, showing the original striped-swimsuit Barbie and her latest incarnation; then some NBC shots of the original Barbie (or a reproduction?).

From Barbie's 50th birthday

Talking about Barbie's influence, I guess; that's Andy Warhol's portrait of Superstar Barbie in back.

From Barbie's 50th birthday

So I had a few requests...or hopes...for the news and entertainment media when discussing Barbie:

1. Must you use the song "Barbie Girl" for your reports? You have to admit it's a tad grating. It's funny, though, that that band got sued by Mattel but won in the end, having their song apparently the go-to soundtrack for any piece about Barbie from now until the end of time...

2. I haven't heard this in a while and it's impossible to quantify, but I could swear, so many pop culture references to Barbie mention "Malibu Barbie." This was a doll only around for a few years in the 1970s, yet the name lived on for decades (I don't mind the doll on The Simpsons being "Malibu Stacy"). My theory was always that all the comedy writers for years were kids in the 1970s and that was their frame of reference. I actually don't know if anyone knows what the hell I'm talking about here, or is a fraction as pedantic as I am...

From Barbie's 50th birthday

3. The discussions of Barbie's influence are always "Barbie's body shape is so unnatural!" versus "Barbie's had all these careers!" Well, actually, I can't quibble with that, they're both true and you just can't expect much more in a two-minute TV news piece...

From Barbie's 50th birthday

4. Re: the Talking Barbie controversy of years ago (that inspired the amazing Lisa Lionheart/Malibu Stacy episode of The Simpsons): the doll didn't say "Math is hard," it said "Math class is tough." I don't think that's a terrible thing to say, but I'd say it was ill-advised to have a doll say it when there are still real issues with women's advancement in math and science. Make your point about Barbie and stereotypes of women, sure, just get the quote right!

From Barbie's 50th birthday

5. And...I had faint hopes that by the time Barbie turned 50, we'd no longer have the thing of talking about Barbie as if she's an actual woman turning 50, and saying how good she looks, or speculating on hot flashes (yeah, that was you, Kathie Lee), or whatever...yeah, no luck with that. Maybe if Barbie lasts to 100 that'll go away...

From Barbie's 50th birthday

The above shots were all from The Today Show on NBC; I caught some of the ABC and CBS evening news pieces Monday too. ABC showed the infamous German Lilli doll that inspired Barbie...

From Barbie's 50th birthday

That's Barbie's creator, the late Ruth Handler (she started Mattel with her husband Elliott). There's a new biography I want to read, Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her. Jeopardy had a Barbie category on Monday's show and the hardest, $1000 answer was Ruth Handler...no one knew it, sadly.

From Barbie's 50th birthday

Obviously I LIKE Barbie and can admire Handler as a pioneering woman in business and all, but...one of these pieces said that she created Barbie, and the early TV commercials reflected it, to help "tomboyish" girls learn to be feminine and get along with guys or whatever...and I almost cried at that point. Really, can't it just be a fun toy with nice outfits? No, I know it never can be...

From Barbie's 50th birthday

(I always check the Barbie aisle when I'm in a store that has one; this is the Toys R Us in Riverside, IL) Barbie has never actually gotten married; she just dresses up for it with different outfits every year. I know there was some "breakup" with Ken a few years back, but I thought they got back together. But I noticed the "groom" doll here didn't seem to have a name at all...

From Barbie's 50th birthday

I'm not attempting much of an analysis of Barbie; that's what the books I list below are for. Barbie, for me, was always kind of on a level with the ground-breaking Sex and the Single Girl--freeing (middle/upper-class white) women from certain 1950s roles and establishing others. I suppose today's version is evangelical religion versus "raunch" or "hookup" culture, both rather limiting, but I'll leave that to the blogs I've blogrolled to critique...

From Barbie's 50th birthday

That's Day-to-Night Barbie, which I never owned, but Day-to-Night Ken was my first male doll. These magazine covers, and the "Barbie Drama" stories enacted with dolls, ads for appalling 1980s clothes, and more are in my new Flickr set of Barbie magazine scans. This is the earliest issue I ever owned...

From Barbie's 50th birthday

This Seal Press anthology was put out in later editions under the name Body Outlaws, so I'm glad I got the first edition with the title Mattel forced them to change...

From Barbie's 50th birthday

See, Barbie's had all kinds of exciting jobs, even astronaut...even if this outfit does have a bit of a B-movie feel to it, perhaps...

Now a little recommended reading: So much of my Barbie obsession was piqued by M.G. Lord's Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll, a book I loved so much I have the original hardcover with color illustrations, and bought the 10th-anniversary paperback with extra material, and if there are future editions I'll buy those...

If you can read cultural studies (which I enjoy in small doses), Barbie's Queer Accessories is full of fascinating ideas.

Ten years ago, a number of women writers were anthologized in The Barbie Chronicles: A Living Doll Turns Forty; it's pretty good. For a fiction and poetry anthology, there's Mondo Barbie, from the early 1990s, where I first read A.M. Homes and David Trinidad, among others.

It included poems from Denise Duhamel's excellent book about Barbie, Kinky. Her poem "It's My Body" somehow inspired me to take and post a near-nekkid shot of myself for the first time (no, I'm not linking; it can be found, I'm not that many places on the Internet, I mean, it's not on Goodreads), which probably got a lot of views because of searches for words in the poem and the book title. I just got inspired to post something "authentic"...it's also been a strange week where I might regret things I've put on the Internet. Or might not... By odd coincidence, maybe, I wrote most of the text here while blond hair dye is on my head; it's basically searing my skin off at this point so I'd better go...

Election day photodiary

Election Day, I more than made up for my lack of campaign/Barack Obama-related photos taken this year. I originally posted this without captions, but now I've added them. All images were captured on Nov. 4 (or early Nov. 5), and are in chronological order. You'll note I wasn't actually in the celebratory rally in Grant Park.

part one: vote
No lines at my polling place (an apartment building) very close by. In fact, the whole process took 20 minutes, including walking and taking photos outside. Voting itself only took 10 of those minutes, and of those, most was taken up by: sitting on a couch to fill out the ballot and realizing I was probably supposed to use the booth-like thing; realizing I knew next-to-nothing about all but the top few contests on the ballot; wondering if I should vote Green on those to support the theoretical idea of a major third party; being amused that a candidate (not who I voted for) for the Water Reclamation District was named "Clearwater"; leaving everything about judges blank and feeling bad about it; wondering if I made an error on one part and panicking I'd have to fill out another ballot. It went through the machine fine, I got my receipt, and left.

There were a few free goodies to be had with a ballot slip, but the only one I got was a Starbucks coffee, grabbed at the Damen/North store before catching the Milwaukee bus downtown. It occurred to me I could do that over and over again, getting free coffee at different locations, but only had the one. I was wired enough later anyway...

part two: Kenwood/Hyde Park

I picked up a fancy sandwich in Kenwood at a place that turns out be right by Eric (of "reallyboring" fame), so I dropped by for a little bit, finally seeing the apartment that's been in so many of his Flickr 365 Days shots. He was on his way to an election night party and we walked there, noticing the extra security and street closures near the Obama house.

I stopped by the Hyde Park Borders--not much of an Obama display--and the Walgreens, drawn in by the sign. Yes, there was lots of Obama merchandise.

His books, next to a pet foot care item. (Same display a few days later.)

Many styles of sweatshirts and t-shirts. (Some of these, and many new designs, there several days later. Costing at least $5 more.)

Stickers and buttons and a stray Valentine's-like balloon. (These were all gone later in the week, but there were plenty of new commemorative magazines.)

I hadn't seen this style of hat elsewhere, so I bought one. Total with tax, $6.12. (Later in the week, bought another, for $10 + tax.)

part three: in the Loop, pre-rally

So I headed from Hyde Park to the Loop on a very crowded (I got a seat!) #6 bus. People were very excited, and even cheered when it was announced Pennsylvania went to Obama. I got out in the South Loop and peeked at TVs showing news (of course I'd been listening to it, mostly NPR, all day).

Outside the Hilton, Michigan Ave.

The crowds were pouring in for the rally at Grant Park. I didn't have a ticket, nor had I tried to get one, nor was I trying to get in, or even to cross to the other side of the street. I just wanted to observe the excitement...

Walking further north...

Leaving, walking into the Loop, observing streets shut down. I wanted to go home for a bit to watch news, record stuff, and upload the photos I had already.

part four: the news (at home)

So when the news finally broke, I was half paying attention--looking online, watching TV, listening to NPR all at once. The actual moment seemed underwhelming. I'm sure it would have been more exciting if I hadn't been alone...but I did get a call from a friend before long.

I checked a blog first...then realized I should go to all the major news sites immediately and get screenshots of the news.








part five: post-rally

I took the same bus back downtown, but by the time I got back the rally was basically over. But again, still an interesting scene for photos. Much celebrating...




I always like an "aftermath" shot. (I liked the angle, and the "real power," here.)

I wondered where the powerful smell of onions was coming from. Turned out it was the median strip filled with decorative chive plants, a bit crushed by now.

Finding a restroom in the Loop after midnight isn't the easiest thing, but I knew Metra stations would work. I decided to go into the Van Buren station--I've passed through it on trains before, but never actually been in the station. I actually had to go through (minimal) security to get in--making sure I didn't have any glass bottles of booze or whatever.

Plenty of merchandise from official and unofficial vendors was available. I found a giant "HOPE" poster slightly crumpled in a box and took it (buying one would have only been $5).

The hot-off-the-presses Tribunes were available outside the L station, 2 for $1 (the Trib is normally 75 cents). I wanted one to commemorate the moment and get this shot, and thought friends outside of town might like some, but didn't want to carry much stuff, so I only bought one, biggest mistake ever when I wound up spending hours and hours the next day fruitlessly searching for papers in a far-flung corner of the city (well, I did find one copy of the Tribune, and Polish and Spanish papers). I can't believe I only bought one. Oh well. A different version of this became my "most interesting" photo on Flickr, my first to get more than 20 favorites, and comments from people around the world congratulating America. I wish I'd done more that day to actually be social, it would have been nice to be in Grant Park for the big moments, but I'm happy with what I did.

More demolition and (suspected) crime

New City (N. Halsted) Y demolition
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

[UPDATE: Apparently this is my 50th post on this blog, although it's hard to count the stuff from 2+ years ago as the same blog. Oh, and I forgot to mention the Jacob Riis school is totally gone, so that's three piles of rubble I saw this week.) The demo photos from Tues. (see below) weren't that great anyway; I had a much better shoot when I went by the Y Wed. afternoon; here's one that shows the colors of the remaining building and leaves too. I saw the gym get totally smashed in the few minutes I stood there; I swear, within 30 seconds of walking up they started destroying the section of wall that said "LOVE." What's that supposed to mean? I went through an hour or two of work last night to get these photos on Flickr, just in case anyone else out there liked this building enough to want some shots before it's gone. Oh, and it didn't seem possible to get any, you know, closer shots of this, but I looked.

Afterwards I went to the MCA for the last of their 40 Free Days (in honor of the museum's 40th anniversary), also the last day to get a $65 membership for $40. I signed up (mine expired last year), and got a commemorative book and another of those totebags that look nice but fall apart when you try to carry anything in them. Since I can come back for "free" anytime, I mostly skipped the art but did look at their always amazing gift shop, to see someone just put out the most glorious book imaginable, Transit Maps of the World.

The MySpace trouble fixed itself after a day. I'm watching too much TV as always, at least during the day, but I had the good sense yesterday morning to mute the Today Show Drew Peterson interview (if only I'd done the same during the segment on "cougars"). I guess this Missing Attractive Young White Woman case went national quite quickly (the last Chicago-area one, Lisa Stebic [still missing], took longer), but it does involve 1) a police officer husband 2) the possibility of TWO murders 3) a name (Stacy Peterson) that rhymes with another famous victim (Laci Petersen, of course). His comments were well-covered in the news I've watched since. Wow, I did not know an effect of PMS is wanting to divorce your much-older, abusive husband (who's already had one wife die suspiciously), but according to him (he's only a suspect and hasn't been charged with anything, I have to point out), it is. Not helping your case, pal... Okay, I've far exceeded my photo-to-rambling ratio for right now.