I was thinking he needed a brazilian.

A thought on defining race and ethnicity. Fay's question was the second time it came up on the board, recently - Hil's about secular Jews was the first.

So I want to put it in context. Race and ethnicity are really artificial creations. They exist because because people believe in them. A race or an ethnic group exist for one (or both) of two reasons. The people who belong to the group consider the group as real and themselves as belonging it to it. Or other people define the group as real and certain people as defining it, and those others are in position where that belief makes it stick. For example think of race, tied to certain ethnic subgroups. Only, I would say a sub-part of the European continent that consists of most of Scandinavia along consists of an equally distinctive genetic subgroup as the race we call Black. Yet we don't have a Scandinavian race. (I guess we do have a Scandinavian ethnicity. Or do we?)Why? Because power relations and self-definition did not define ever lead to Scandinavians being treated as a race, or considering themselves one. Ethnicity is even more fuzzy, because you don't even need to pretend to tie it to genetics. (Religious ethnicities are prime examples, because whether a religion is also an ethnicity depends on historical accidents and really rbitrary self-definitions.) The fact that these are social creations does not make them unreal. The effects the creation of races and ethnicities are very real indeed. But the point is that the classification schemes and definitions are after the fact rationalizations. Race and ethnicity starts by someone saying "those people over there are a member of X", or a group of people saying "we are the X people", or most often both. Definitions and criterion for membership in X come later, and are often inconsistent, and usually subject to change.

I love the way buffistas think!

There are two locks on the front door. One of them there is no key to, so we keep it unlocked. It was locked somehow, but the front door key and the back door key are the same, so I have no idea why he didn't go in the back way, or call his grandmother (who lives across the street), or go hang out somewhere until his mother got home an hour later. Whose fucking first instinct is it to kick in the fucking door? t /rant

It sounds like a poker strategy.

Well, at least you'll have a pair. Do we count nipples separately? Two pair.

I was thinking he needed a brazilian.

That was my initial thought, but then I figured, nah, too easy. If it's a bikini, preferably one with those stupid stencils, it's slower. Needs more precision. And needle-nosed tweezers to get it jusssssst right.

Me? Malicious and vindictive? Why would you think that?

IOshallowfashionN:

Wannnnnnnnnnnnnt

Never mind I have no where to wear it right now.

Never mind it's REALLY freakin' expensive.

Is purdy.

Kicked in the door...and there's a BACK DOOR he could have unlocked?!? That's just ridiculous. I'd seriously start to wonder if he was mental, or on drugs or alcohol.

I hear you on the dress, Barb--I went shopping for a party the other day and didn't buy a dress, but tried on this great one that fit gorgeous, but was the wrong color (silver does nothing for me). And the next day I was like "Hmm, I wonder..." and saw that it comes in *green* (so pretty!) and I could order it (though of course, then it's not on clearance). I almost did. But...do I reallllly need it? When would I wear it?? $130? I stopped myself. Because I can't figure out when the hell the next time I'd need to wear a green satin knee length dress is.

::just had a mini-droolgasm imagining meara in green satin::

Is it...dark green, meara? How's it cut?

I like the decoration on that dress, Barb, but I don't like the cut. You can do better.

sj, I think we need to come up with an IQ test for your neighbors. Most of our neighbors, frankly. If we could only invert the dumb and annoying ratio with the thoughtful and smart, it'd be great.

Medical, "Concrete Step Forward"~ma to ita.

It's this dress, and I haven't seen the green in person, but it seems to be a bright green...