I hated wearing ties. I was always afraid of getting my tie caught in something or getting it wet at the bubbler or getting food on it....

Although a tie-clip helped a lot.

eta: When I was younger, I used to envy women for the great variety of clothes they could wear.

Man, it's enforced by *everybody.* That's the deal.

Yeah. I'm far more aware of the performative nature of femininity than I was when I was younger, and for me that makes me more comfortable doing it, rather than less.

I find myself in a really weird place, where I really have a problem with enforced gender performativity, but then we have a lot of trans* friends. And, frankly, trans* folks, particularly MtF, enforce the SHIT out of gender performativity. I don't know any MtF trans women who don't wear dresses, stockings, heels, makeup, jewelry -- the whole 9 yards.

And I get why they wear what they wear. But the enforced gender performativity slams right up against my feminism. And that's really hard for me, because I try really hard to not be a shitty trans* ally, but objecting to the enforced gender performativity feels awfully transphobic to me.

I can't work that one out in my head, yet.

I do, too, but that's mostly the cat.

Ayup. My coworkers think I never dress down. My neighbors probably think I never dress up.

Performance review today. It went well. All that busting my ass during all the fucking emergencies we had this winter was really appreciated. As was my patience and persistence with some of the teams I had to work with. Now if only the economy didn't mean that raises will be slight.

Ayup. My coworkers think I never dress down. My neighbors probably think I never dress up.

Heh. My neighbors have seen me in my at-home uniform of bloomers and concert shirts, but still express surprise when they see me like that at the mailbox.

Is anyone coming to JPL's Open House this weekend? We have neat stuff and rovers and it's free! Oh and I will be volunteering and telling people where the bathroom is and that climate change is not a hoax, I think. If they ask. Mostly they just want to know where the bathroom is.

Allyson, have you seen this? Do Climate Skeptics Change Their Minds?

Until a few months ago, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more classic climate skeptic than D.R. Tucker. A conservative author and radio talk show host, he didn't buy the notion that greenhouse-gas emissions were causing temperatures to rise. He was pretty sure global warming was a hoax perpetrated by Al Gore and a cadre of liberal, grant-hungry scientists. Then Tucker did what partisan pundits and climate skeptics rarely do: He changed his mind.

"I was defeated by facts," Tucker announced on FrumForum, the popular conservative blog. In an April 18 post, "Confessions of a Climate Convert," Tucker told readers how he came to question the ideologies of the climate debate, examine the science, and conclude that global warming was, in fact, very real. Tucker's post sent a giddy ripple through green circles and stoked the ire of his libertarian colleagues.

Apparently this sort of "conversion" is rare.

Please tell me you'll send them somewhere interesting if they still believe climate change is a hoax AND want to know where the bathroom is. Preferably where they'll experience a climate change in their pants.

I don't know any MtF trans women who don't wear dresses, stockings, heels, makeup, jewelry -- the whole 9 yards.

Yes. And what's funny is a lot of them would look more feminine in less stereotypically girly outfits. I totally get why it happens, but...

In unrelated news, there's a karaoke contest for Pride over many weeks (the final winner is on a float, and more importantly gets $1000 and two airline tix). This week I'm going to perform, it's "country week" (every week has a theme). But I can't decide what to sing--there are various songs I know I'd be good at, but I want something that would get the audience into it too.

Oh, I meant to say: I found Salon and TT because my college friend started working there after graduation. I don't recall if she started as an intern, or just entry-level writer. By the time she left, she was in an upper level position, though I don't recall what. She took me to a Salon event in DC that, had we not both been getting very sick, we would have ended the night in Arianna Huffington's livingroom, getting rather drunk with a bunch of big names in political commentary. That would have been surreal.

She moved back to be near her parents after they had a bad health scare, worked as an editor for a bit, got into reporting on media and community in the local press, went back to grad school at Duke, and shortly is starting as a research associate in there center for media and democracy.

And she was such a flake, a beloved flake, and drama queen in college. Now she's a mom to her own son and two teenage stepdaughters. And no flakiness evident.

Yeah, I was a complete flake in my twenties. And now I hope I am not!