14 September 2013

Mindy Gets It

Hey! Remember me? I'm the mad girl with the mad life who writes this mad blog. My world has been SO MAD these past few months--so much so that blogging has taken a back seat to things like, oh, I don't know...working, traveling, socializing when possible, sleeping, and reading. In that order.

My reading list of late has been made up of books with all female heroines, written by female authors. Girl power! Woooo! Sister before misters!

HAH. I kid. I'm no feminist. I typically read books about war and chronic diseases, so this is a new chapter for me (pun fully intended).

Most recent read for my book club...which is all girls...I get it now...

Mindy Kaling is up there with Amy and Tina on the list of women I want to adopt my children if my husband and I are ever in a fatal car crash. She's edgy, outspoken, and blunt (any wonder why I love her?). She can command an audience with her wit and and honest humor. Best of all--she has values! And morals! AND she's famous. Seems downright contradictory.

In her book, Mindy talks a lot about her traditional views of relationships and home and family and love. While ranting about the "depressing, zeitgeist-y magazine articles about relationships" like 'how women don't need men anymore' or 'monogamy is dated and we should all be swingers,' she says this:

"This wretched little magazine article has helped convince more open-minded liberal arts graduates that the nuclear family doesn't exist without some hideous twist, like the dad is allowed to go to an S&M dungeon once a week or something. It makes me cry because it means that fewer and fewer people are believing it's cool to want what I want, which is to be married and have kids and love each other in a monogamous, long-lasting relationship."

I think it's saying you want these things that's uncool. Most people secretly do want them. But openly admitting that you have any sort of traditional life ambition (what? your number one life goal isn't to start a non-profit in Ethiopia? or be Hillary Clinton's speech writer after dedicating the whole of your 20s to putting her in office? or work for some ultra-hip start-up in NYC where you wear sound-cancelling headphones and drink coconut water?) is viewed as, well, lame in this "progressive" world we live in. I detest the word progressive. It's obvious to me the human race is reverting steadily back to neanderthalism (godless, hairy, Paleo-dieting bush men: I'm talking to you. I'm also talking to you, Miley Cyrus.). 

Anyway. go Mindy. Read her book.