This outfit was inspired by Tanya of What a Nerd Would Wear and her participation in the 30x30. Layering a shirt under a dress in the summer? Genius.
I was going to wear leggings with this, but I figured with the covered arms, I could probably get away with the shorter skirt. I think this outfit with some grey tights and black boots will kill it in the fall. I am also wearing a short slip for added modesty.
Thanks for all your supportive words about this month's challenge, and my CTS symptoms. So far, so good. I will be away from the computer all this coming weekend (wedding and in-law stuff) so I will get much needed rest. But this darn behemoth of an article needs to Get Off My Desk soon, as I will be working on my self-evaluation for reappointment soon.
Two vaguely related things:
1) My school will be selling Alta Gracia sweatshirts in the fall. I don't need new sweatshirts, but maybe my family members do. I will definitely be supporting this. They are $34.98 for a navy blue hoodie. Reasonably priced and ethical production? Yes, please.
2) Germain Greer wrote a review of Nicolas Kristof and Shirley WuDunn's Half the Sky (HTS). I've skim read the Kristoff/WuDunn book in bookstores (and I skim his columns) enough to get a feel for its schtick- which is "look at the suffering of these third world women." Germaine Greer's review is right on, because I do believe what HTS does is good in its intention, but it doesn't go far enough. No one like sex trafficking, gender based violence, or death during childbirth, but calls for more charity should go hand in hand with calls for critical evaluations of the role that the First World plays in perpetuating these atrocities- namely global inequality and poverty.* According to Greer, the authors don't do this, but rather paint the US as some kind of magic solution for everything, even though sexual violence, domestic violence, sex trafficking, and poverty for women are important problems here too. But Ms. Greer said it better than me, so I highly recommend you check out her review. (Also, Karl Pilkington once baked bread with Germain Greer, which you can watch here).
Dress/tunic: AA
Skirt: Rodarte for Target
Shoes: BC Footwear
Scarf: via eBay
*What came to mind for me was the 1997 East Asian Financial crisis. The US and bunch of other countries with investors that wanted to engage in more foreign investment pushed a bunch of countries in Asia to adopt more open rules on the flow of money in the early 1990s. When Thailand suffered its speculative bubble and then a currency crisis, the U.S. refused to bail it out, wanting to "teach them a lesson." When the IMF finally gave them a rescue loan, there were many strict conditions on how Thailand could spend its money, including limits on education, state employees, and banking rules. Poverty increased and the growing middle class rapidly shrank, and within 1 year of the IMF reforms, prostitution and sex trafficking increased throughout the region. In famous for its sex work industry, often involving young girls. However, in 1999, Madeleine Albright criticized the Thai government for allowing for so much child prostitution, drugs, and AIDS problems to continue (see Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine, p. 344-345). I am not trying to say the Thai government is blameless in this situation, but if we are trying to learn about the situation of Third World women, I think that this should start by learning the role that U.S. and EU foreign policy plays in limiting and creating the parameters for economic opportunities in so many countries.
Thanks for reading and I'd appreciate your thoughts about this.
