Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s lifestyle November 5, 2008
Posted by Onely in Everyday Happenings, Food for Thought.Tags: living alone, neighbors, single
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The other day I walked from my townhouse to my car and saw people of all ages swarming over the grassy knoll in front of our street, giggling and shouting and walking and standing. I recognized a neighbor from the other end of our row of houses, who I only knew from waving distance. She approached me, a petite woman holding the hand of a little toddling girl. (more…)
Degree in Coupling, anyone? November 3, 2008
Posted by Onely in As If!, book review, Food for Thought, Reviews.Tags: Ellen Byerrum, Jim Lehrer, Mary Kay Ricks, PhD, Stephen Goodwin, Susan Fraser King
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On Saturday, I attended a luncheon at the Fairfax Country Club (there is no way to not make that sound snooty–but if I say the event raised money for scholarships, does that help?) where Susan Fraser King, Ellen Byerrum, Mary Kay Ricks, Stephen Goodwin and Jim Lehrer talked about their recent books and about writing in general. All the authors were entertaining speakers and I left lusting after each of their books.
However, the hostess in her intro made an interesting unOnely remark: (more…)
The Onely Oath October 29, 2008
Posted by Onely in As If!, Food for Thought.Tags: Nick Bakay, oath, pimples, single versus married, zits
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I was reminded of our post about couple zit-popping by this segment of Nick Bakay‘s amusing married-versus-single post:
SINGLE: No one will ever know you spent the weekend watching a “mannix” marathon.
MARRIED: Someone to pop those hard-to-reach back zits.
Once Onely, always Onely? October 21, 2008
Posted by Onely in Food for Thought, We like. . ..Tags: bella depaulo, lifetime membership, single
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Once Onely, always Onely? If Lisa or I start dating someone seriously to the point that they become our “significant other”, do we forfeit our Onely status? I say no. Even if I get married, I will still be Onely. It’s sort of like once you pay your dues, you get a lifetime membership. And that’s a good thing. Social Psychologist Bella DePaulo pithily validates my point:
Americans now spend more years unmarried than married. But even if we spent only a sliver of our lives single, we should be able to use that sliver to pick any door or puncture any myth. . .
Corollary question: (more…)
Iranian Onelers October 20, 2008
Posted by Onely in Food for Thought, We like. . ..Tags: choices, dominant culture, Iran, single women
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I have a friend who is currently working on her Ph.D. in International Relations at Cambridge (in the UK). She has conducted extensive interviews over the last six months with Iranian women who were married during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88) and whose husbands were killed (they are called martyrs). She is one of only a few doing the kind of research that works to highlight individual voices, and my friend is most interested in highlighting the lived experiences of these women because scholarship tends to pretend they don’t exist (they focus on the martyrs instead) or merely glosses over these women and assumes that the way the Iranian government portrays/represents these women is accurate.
Onely with Dependents? October 8, 2008
Posted by Onely in blog reviews, Food for Thought, Reviews, We like. . ..Tags: a beautiful dream, nut sucking, single father, single mother, single with dependents, solomother
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Lisa and I write about some prosaic everyday happenings that make us appreciate the being single–such as our post Onely and Nut-Sucking. (Ok, so it’s my post. Lisa would not be caught dead sucking the salt off cashews and putting them back in the tin, even by herself.)
But what if we were Onely with Kids? We would probably not want our kids to misinterpret our nut-sucking and come away thinking that at a party, they can lick the salt off the pretzels and put them back in the Chex mix. (more…)
Onely Freakout October 3, 2008
Posted by Onely in Food for Thought, Great Onely Activities.Tags: college composition, freakout, i love being single, teaching, worst student ever
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As I have mentioned a time or two before, I am a graduate student and a college professor. Right now, I teach Introduction to College Writing. And in my class this semester, I have won the luck of the draw, so to speak, and drawn the most frustrating student I have ever had to teach. (more…)
Polyamorous Marriage and the Oneler October 2, 2008
Posted by Onely in Food for Thought, Reviews.Tags: polyamory, polyandry, polygamy
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In response to our post about Michael Turner’s The Trouble With Normal, Anita mentioned polyamorous relationships. This got us thinking–as proponents of people’s right not to get married, we also support people’s rights to be in non-heteronormative relationships such as same-sex. Does this mean we are also obligated, in theory, to support polyamorous relationships? (more…)
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