My friend just sent me this link, and it had me cracking up. I hadn’t thought about Cosmopolitan magazine in a LONG time, and I had forgotten how downright ludicrous (or should I say lewd-icrous? har de har har) their sex tips are. And that makes up like half of every issue of the magazine!!!
I remember being about fourteen years old and picking up a Cosmo at my older cousin’s house. It was full of sex tips (something along the lines of “100 Tricks to Make Your Man Melt!”). I was a virgin, and not only did I not know a damn thing about what men really like, but I didn’t even realize that (SURPRISE!) men are individuals, and therefore not all men like the same thing. (From the looks of it, the writers at Cosmo haven’t figured this out yet.)
OK, I just have to stop here and admit how worldly I feel when I actually put that in writing. It’s not like I don’t have friends in other parts of the world–I still talk to a guy I met when I did a summer abroad in grad school who is now a doctor in India, and a British girl I met waaaayyy back when I visited Spain who now lives in Italy, just to name a couple. It’s just so rare that I get to name-drop them for worldliness cred, hahahah. I love the internet for a LOT of reasons, but I think one of the biggest ones is the fact that it makes it so easy to keep in touch with–or even meet and befriend–people who live tens of thousands of miles away, and to see what life is like where they are.
Which brings me to the point of this post…sort of.
So anyway, as I was saying, my friend Lydia (an escort in London) and I were talking about some of the differences between the escort (or professional companion or provider or whatever term you prefer) biz here in the U. S. and over there in the U. K. I won’t bore you with all the details, especially since you likely have a pretty good idea, if you know anything about the U. K. And if you don’t, an observant reader can probably figure it out by looking through her her website.
…Which is what I did. And then I started to read her escort blog. And since I’m kind of new at this whole blogging thing, I decided to use one of her blog posts as inspiration for mine.
I’m going to write a real blog entry soon, but just for the heck of it, I made a Goodreads profile and rated some of the books I’ve read (and marked several that I want to read). If you’re interested, you can add me if you have an account.
So, I’m a pretty lucky girl. My job provides me with opportunities to meet some really interesting, surprising people. Well, maybe they’re not inherently surprising (they’re probably a better judge of that than I am), but I’m continually surprised by them. There’s nothing like meeting up with someone for the first time–you know, when you’re not quite sure what to expect, even though you may have been corresponding through email for a few days or even weeks beforehand–and, over the course of your first real face-to-face interaction with them, realizing that you have so much more in common than you anticipated. It’s quite an exhilerating feeling, and one I enjoy a whole lot more than I expected to.
Allow me to provide an example:
Today I met up with a gentleman, a new friend with whom I’ve never met before. He had just gotten off the plane when I arrived for our appointment. I was a bit flustered because it was rush hour and I got stuck behind a horse-drawn (well, mule-drawn, actually) carriage tour in the quarter, and it was 90 degrees out. I walked in and he was warm and welcoming, and he offered me a drink. I sat down and we began to chat. At first, it was just normal stuff–what he does for work, where he’s from, where I’m from, what to do in New Orleans, that kind of stuff. But within a few minutes we somehow ended up on the topic of books and literature. I won’t divulge the details of our discussion here (though I will say that it did involve F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edgar Allan Poe, Stephen King, John Grisham, and others). But the point is, even though we live very different lifestyles, we were able to touch on a common passion (books, stories, reading), and we were able to reveal a bit of ourselves by sharing with each other the ways in which we fit that passion into our own lives, what we gain from it, and how it has shaped us. I found that aspect of our conversation really inspiring. And that was quite a turn on ;)
I love this video by Scarlet Alliance SO MUCH, and it cracks me up every time I watch it.
(By the way: the term “Sex Worker” refers to any individual working in the sex industry whose job is to provide an erotic experience for the client. The word is used for escorts, professional companions, travel companions, massage parlor workers, porn actors and actresses, strippers, lap dancers, peep-show performers, and even phone sex operators. I am an escort and a professional companion; therefore, I am a sex worker.)
WWAV fought to change the law (Crime Against Nature) that required sex workers to register as sex offenders, effectively preventing them from securing housing, straight jobs, social services, etc. Apparently, someone had a problem with that.
I had yesterday off from work, and after meeting with a very nice gentleman in the morning, I went grocery shopping. When I got home, I put the groceries away and decided to do a little housework. Well, the problem is that I hate housework, and I’m easily distractible. So, while i was changing into “house-cleaning” clothes, I decided to put the stockings-and-garter combo to good use and take a few pictures.
Do you realize how difficult it is to take pictures of yourself in lingerie? Well, let me tell you: it’s HARD. I wasn’t about to take my phone camera into the bathroom and snap pics in the mirror (I haven no idea how I’d scrunch myself up so that my reflection fit in the medicine cabinet mirror over the sink, lol), so I propped my camera up, pointed it at the bed, and set the timer.
It didn’t last long. Because, like I said before, I’m distractible, and I ended up getting sidetracked when my best friend called to chat.r. I had it set to take about ten pictures in succession each time, but it did so very quickly, so basically I had to push the button, then run back over and hop onto the bed, try to do a couple of poses QUICKLY, and then get up and do it all over again. Continue reading “Adventures in Self-Portraiture…or Leg-Portraiture…”
Look what came in the mail today!!! It’s my new Bellocq book!
E. J. Bellocq : Storyville Portraits
I’ve wanted to get my hands on this book (and that girl’s stockings!) for so long. I remember the first time I saw these images. I was taking a Sophomore level Louisiana History course in college–a course for which I had to memorize the names and locations of all 64 parishes in the state (oh, how I cursed that professor the night before THAT test…). Imagine my surprise when I walked into class one Monday morning, and instead of being met with another lecture on Huey P. Long or Earl K. Long or one of the other many Longs involved in Louisiana politics, I was treated to century-old photos featuring scantily clad ladies. Was I dreaming? Had I overslept through my alarm again? Nope. My lovely professor (I wasn’t cursing his name that day!) had prepared a lesson on Storyville, New Orleans’s own red light district, and the first in the United States. See–I knew my hometown had more to be proud of than our music, parties, and food!
I remember being so impressed with those photos back then. I didn’t even realize that there was a book of Bellocq’s portraits until later. I’d see the images here and there, on local-access TV shows or in advertisements for bars in the French Quarter. And I more or less forgot about them.
Enter the internet.
One day a couple years ago, I randomly thought about those pictures when I saw a pair of stockings with thick stripes. I bought the stockings immediately, even though they weren’t nearly as cool as the ones this girl is wearing in the photo. When I got home, I fired up the laptop and used the research skills I learned in graduate school to find that photo online (I am quite the Google ninja.). And when I found it, and I finally had Bellocq’s name, I hopped on over to Amazon to look for the book and…realized that it was out of print, and the only copies listed were going for well over $200. Wow. Not an expense I could justify, seeing as I was a graduate student studying the arts, and student life (especially grad student life) isn’t exactly conducive to a life of luxury.
Alas! A couple weeks ago, I randomly thought of checking up on the price of Bellocq’s book again. I found it for a pretty good starting price on Ebay, and set the alarm on my phone to alert me when the auction was closing. Those last few minutes were brutal–I was fighting it out with someone who, like me, really, really, REALLY wanted those pictures depicting legalized prostitution in New Orleans circa 1912, hahah. But in the end, I got the book for an amazing price. I still can’t get over it!
In the days of anticipation between the auction’s end and the book’s arrival, I read a lot of what others had to say about it. More often than not, I found their assessments patronizing. There’s one in particular that I’d like to share from a reviewer on Amazon, who “continue(s) to be intrigued by the sad faces, and what those expressions said about the tragic life that the ‘soiled doves’ lived in those days.” Continue reading “E. J. Bellocq’s Storyville Portraits – Prostitutes in 1912 New Orleans”
Wow, I actually made a website!! OK so it’s nothing fancy, but I’m learning as I go, and I’m actually messing with code and stuff. I am ridiculously confused!
