Canadian Bacon Barbie

I’m going to officially declare piping a fashion trend, based on my two recent acquisitions and online investigations.

Exhibit A: Puma bag, acquired at Lady Footlocker in New Orleans

Isn’t it cute? It’s the perfect size and shape for toting a laptop, or for an airplane carry-on.

Exhibit B: Orange Tommy Hilfinger trench coat, acquired from Overstock.com

I’m excited to wear this on my upcoming trip to rainy Vancouver… although I’m not sure if it will stand up to a downpour on its own.

Here are some other items I’ve come across (but refrained from purchasing!) online, in case you want to partake of the trend:

Shorts, Lulus.com

Shoes, Michael Kohrs, Nordstrom.com

Sunglasses, Lulus.com

Some disorganized thoughts:

Hotels

The hotel situation seemed interesting to say the least. I didn’t stay at the conference hotel (big mistake) and instead went for the Comfort Inn and Suites, where my roomate and I encountered the following:

• Men’s underwear in our bathroom. No men were staying with us.
• A broken vanity light, probably resulting in overdone/excess make up to compensate.
• Keys that stopped working after 1-2 uses
• Surly hotel staff who didn’t seem to care about any of the above

However, we did get a free breakfast that included Quaker oatmeal, which was a welcome addition for my gluten-free self.

Jodie found a “quaint” little hotel in the French Quarter… so quaint that she had to check out of it the last night and stay at La Quinta by the airport.

Both C. and J&S stayed at the Doubletree Hotel, where they encountered:

• Free warm cookies upon arrival and upon request
• Critters (in C’s room)… but at least they gave him free drink coupons

I know where I’m staying next time.

Shopping

There was a Saks Fifth Avenue right by the conference hotel. KRGP and I spent a good amount of time there trying on designer clothes and then deciding they weren’t perfect enough to merit the major cash outlay. I almost bought this trench coat but decided it wasn’t practical to get a white coat that I’d be afraid to wear for fear of soilage. Instead we both bought a bunch of MAC cosmetics which we knew we’d put to good use.

We also went to a Nine West Outlet where I got white ballet flats and a white purse. I also got an awesome Puma bag that I will use to schlep my laptop to the coffee shop every day instead of my old brown leather one.

We also went to a yarn store where we each bought 4 skeins of unmarked kettle dyed, merino yarn. Katie bought hers first, on a solo trip. She showed it to me at the hotel and we both marveled at how much it resembled Malabrigo., So went back to get some more and told the salesperson we both couldn’t get over how much it resembled Malabrigo. “It is Malabrigo.” Right. So for some reason they took off the labels so no one would know what the dye lot or brand was, and then they sold it for $2-4 more than usual. I almost put mine back, but the lady started talkinga bout how the shop was locally owned by a woman who had been there since 1852 and rebuilt after the hurricane etc. etc., so I eventually succumbed. Oh well. You can never have too much Malabrigo, even if it is overpriced.

Food

Eh. I’m no foodie. I ate wherever and generally found that there was lots of gumbo available and nothing else of too much interest for the non wheat eater. I did have an excellent meal at Brennan’s with Jack and a bunch of Penn Staters after my panel. Most of us ordered fish, which was delicious and buttery, and I had bananas foster for dessert. Yummy. I wonder if someone has come up with gluten-free beignets. I should’ve investigated this beforehand but usually I’m lucky if I get a flight and a hotel room within a week of the conference.

The Actual Conference

I was a bit of a slacker this time. I did hear Cheryl Glenn’s excellent speech at the plenary, and went to Jess, Jenn F, and Rosalyn’s panel on historiography. I heard a so-so panel on the rhetoric of science. I went to my own panel. That was about it. I feel a bit guilty for this but somehow my time was occupied with social engagements and a meeting or two. I felt like I was missing everything, including several parties, a meeting (*oops*), and a good chat with some close friends from grad school. I don’t know how to remedy this.

I didn’t even have time to look at the book exhibits much, although I am eternally grateful to the good looking guy at the Inside Higher Ed booth, where they had free chocolates. I love the free chocolates. And the magnetic poetry they handed out was cool.

Lessons learned:

1. It pays to pay more for a nicer hotel.

i. If you find men’s underwear in your hotel bathroom, and you are not staying with any men, leave immediately.

2. Someone needs to make gluten free beignets. Maybe me. These could also morph into g-f portselkje for good Mennonite New Year’s day fare.

3. Add an extra day to future trips if you want to shop/socialize and also actually attend the conference.

I’m working on an article… or chapter… or something about the body of the woman worker during World War II. I’ve been looking at books and pamphlets and newspaper stories about a) women’s physical capabilities (as described by those seeking to constitute them as suitable for war work) and b) women’s uniforms/clothing for war work. Part of getting women into the war effort, it seems, was giving them stylish uniforms to wear for such duties as driving a bus or acting as an Army Emergency Relief person. For example, the female bus driver got to wear the above ensemble, designed by couturier Helen Cookman. This entailed, according to a New York Times description, both a “slim, fly-front, flared skirt” and “matching knee-length shorts.” You can’t really tell from the picture, but I guess this means it was a skort. Kind of a fashion faux pas, if you ask me, but maybe it was functional for driving a bus.

The Army Emergency Relief uniform sounds a lot nicer: “a fawn-colored skirt topped by a cocoa-colored tailored jacket with double-breasted slanting pockets,” along with “a crepe blouse in beige with a Peter Pan collar.” Of course, this descriptive language masks the fact that you’d actually be clothed entirely in brown. Trust me, the effect is not that attractive, which you would know if, like me, your family was famous for a group portrait of all five children wearing identical bowl haircuts and brown outfits, on a brown backdrop. I’ll post it if I get the chance to scan it in.

At any rate, reading these descriptions kind of makes me wish more people got to wear snappy skirt suited uniforms these days. Aside from flight attendants, it seems to me that most of the uniforms people wear today have been designed from a kind of unisex perspective. Think of the postal worker, for instance. Or the UPS driver. Every once in a while you’ll hear about some fashion designer creating a line of uniforms for hospital workers or something. (Or for postal workers, which they did on Project Runway.) But these never get adopted. And the uniform has mostly become a marker of the service profession, so that many of us never get to wear one. Unless you count the ballet uniform I had to wear for exams (which in the early days was a pastel little dress, with white ankle socks, and later turned into a scratchy nylon v-neck leotard provided by my teacher) or the faux sailor-suit I wore for Canadian Girls In Training (yes, it’s a real group), I’ve never had the honour of wearing one. I wouldn’t mind if we had some kind of professor uniform to wear on occasion. Not the academic regalia, though, because that is a) horrifyingly fugorific and b) not very figure flattering. I’m thinking more of some kind of skirt suit, maybe in tweed, with a cool badge to indicate your area of expertise. Skort optional.