Saturday Link Roundup

Wedding-y

East Side Bride has always has done Groom Style better than anyone else.

This video proves two things. One, that it’s generally dubious to wear a fancy suit near a body of water. And two, nature obviously thinks that your proposals should be even grander.

Because you guys are the coolest, APW-er Sasha put together a Spotify List of all of your first dance songs, compiled from this open thread. That’s dedication, y’all.

Let’s face it. The big news of the week (particularly if you’re religious, as I am, or Catholic, as other APW staffers are) is the new Pope. So on that note, did you know Catholics can get their weddings blessed by the Pope in a mass ceremony in St. Peters Square? And everyone wears their wedding attire. While I do have disagreements with the church on the definition of marriage, this is still awesome.

Also awesome? The story about the two guys whose Jet Blue flight attendant signed up to be their New York State witness will restore your faith in humanity. Plus, she brought cupcakes.

For those of you doing your own wedding flowers (respect!), long time APW sponsor Blooms By The Box just launched a DIY Flowers 101 project. Helpful.

Reclaiming Wife

Reader Jen sent us this link as a follow up to the kids/no kids conversation. NPR: Is having kids a rational decision?

Amy Christensen, from Thursday’s post on risk and learning to ride a motorcycle, has a great article on her blog in response to a video that went viral this week about a guy pushing his girlfriend off a cliff (literally) and about why taking risks needs to be a choice you make on your own terms.

This reader submitted link, Marriage Is For Losers is written by a therapist, and it’s as smart as it is emotional. He talks about letting our marriage be a radical rebellion to the way the world tells us to live. “Maybe we need to be formed in such a way that winning loses its glamour, that we can sacrifice the competition in favor of people.” Read it, then do some thinking (I’m going to be pondering it for awhile).

General Interest

This post, I’m Tired Of Having To Be A Feminist, nails the way I’ve been feeling about the Marissa Mayer / Sheryl Sandberg news cycle. “Women are still being treated as a discrete group, a special interest lobby and an unpopular one at that.” I’d like to live in a world where we can agree or disagree with Marissa Mayer’s decisions as a CEO (or decide we don’t know near enough about the situation, and it actually might not be our business), not as a woman. The fact that we’re not there yet makes me tired.

A Jessica Valenti link a week seems to be the standard around here, eh? She Who Dies With The Most Likes Wins is a few months old (hey, I was having a baby), but it’s a must read. This bit is solid gold, “I had to choose between being likable or being successful, I’d choose the latter every time. Yes, the more successful you are—or the stronger, the more opinionated—the less you will be generally liked. All of a sudden people will think you’re too “braggy,” too loud, too something. But the trade off is undoubtedly worth it. Power and authenticity are worth it. And in a world where women are told to be anxious about everything—that we can’t “have it all” but will forever be searching for it—saying that ambition and success are actually pretty great can be a radical message.” For women, success is a life liability (particularly among other women, oddly). And we’ve got to stop this nonsense, for all our sakes.

A debate popped up a few weeks ago on APW about body image and dress forms, and for me, the real issue was much broader: we live in a culture where super small bodies are treated as the norm. The issue is so prevalent, that it can be hard for people with the best intentions to work around it. So this article on ‘realistic’ mannequins at an H&M in Sweden is awesome. Also, if you ask me, those mannequins look hotter than the normal terrifying variety.

This NPR story about a father who hacked Donkey Kong for his daughter so she could play Pauline and rescue Mario, made feminist Meg cheer. It also made parent Meg (it still sounds like a lie when I call myself a parent) cry. Listen to it in full, it’s a good one.

And speaking of NPR, I found this New York Times article about how NPR wants younger listeners, aka, “People that Tweet,” really interesting. I think every blogger I know is an NPR listener, as are most APW readers. So what gives? Are we not vocal enough about it? I’m not sure, but I’d like NPR to invite me to their next “Weekend in Washington” to blog about it. I mean, RIGHT?

And closing out the week with awesome, you guys helped Liz raise 211% of her goal of money for children’s cancer research. She’s also now bald! Updates on that to come…

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