When I was a child, I was afraid of tests of the Emergency Broadcasting System. They were so shocking. One minute, I’d be enjoying Morgan Freeman’s performance as Vincent the Vegetable Vampire on The Electric Company. The next minute, my innocent eardrums would be assaulted by the ominous whine of the Attention Signal. Before remote…
politics
VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE
Have you voted yet today? I was at my polling location at the 6 a.m. opening time after — literally — no sleep at all. Zero minutes of sleep! Done! #ivoted #vote #electionday2016 #noprotestvotesplease #nastywomenvote #nastywomengetshitdone A photo posted by Wendy Brandes (@wendybrandes) on Nov 8, 2016 at 3:55am PST I was standing in the…
Catcalls and Consent
One good thing came out of this year’s horrible presidential campaign: Women are speaking openly about how we are treated in the workplace and public spaces. It’s not that we never did before, of course. The @everydaysexism account on Twitter was started in March 2012. You can read thousands of personal stories there (though they…
Throwback Thursday: Who’s Got the Button?
In 2014, Marie Kondo wrote the book on decluttering. Literally. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing was a #1 New York Times bestseller. Fans are devoted to Kondo’s “KonMari” method for organizing their homes. You will not find Kondo’s book perched in my extensive bookshelves. If you look…
Jewelry From Suffragette City
Wham bam thank you Becky Stone of Diamonds in the Library for this myth-busting post about suffragette jewelry. It turns out that the oft-told story that suffragette-related jewelry in green, white, and violet stood for “Give Women the Vote” is just a story. Becky writes: “At least one of the most popular suffragette groups –…
Jewels of the Month: VOTE NASTY
The final presidential debate this week inspired me to put together a special stud-earring set, which I shared on Instagram. Do you follow me on Instagram? You should because that’s where I share spur-of-the-moment things like this — new designs, new combinations, and special sales. CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM. I only had…
Get Smart About Manufacturing, Take Two
In 2010, I explained that it’s much more expensive to manufacture goods in the U.S. compared to manufacturing overseas, which results in U.S.-made goods being more expensive for consumers. CLICK HERE TO READ THE 2010 POST. I wrote that post to explain why my limited-edition jewelry designs — 99% of which are made in New…
RuPaul Rules
I’ve been a fan of RuPaul — Nicki Minaj’s real inspiration — since “Supermodel” in 1993. I mean, a song that shouts out my beloved Linda Evangelista? After that, when RuPaul told me, “You better work,” I got to work, dammit. I was happy that after eight seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race, RuPaul won his…
Madeleine Albright’s New Hillary Brooch?
I’ve always meant to write about Madeleine Albright’s Read My Pins book. Albright — the first woman to serve as U.S. Secretary of State (from 1997 to 2001) — is known for cleverly matching her large collection of brooches to important occasions. The book explains that it all started in 1994, after Albright, then the…
History Is Made
I wasn’t sure I would see this in my lifetime. As a child in the 1970s, living in a part of New Jersey that somehow remained untouched by women’s lib, I couldn’t even imagine a woman becoming a nominee for president. Sure, one could TRY, but there was no way it was really going to…