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lol!

New York Magazine: Minority Report: A defense of Tom Cruise in his time of troubles.

I'm Guest Blogging!
At ThoughtMechanics.com, the article is about the lack of male teachers in lower education and how women are more willing to settle for lower wages. To read the full post and to comment, go to: Show Them the Money !

The expression, "It's a man's world," can not be said for the teaching field, now that the number of male teachers is at a 40-year low.

National Education Association (NEA) research shows just 21 percent of the nations 3 million teachers are men.

NEA and MenTeach.org, write that the discrepancy stopping men from entering the profession is lower wages, poor insurance, societal pressure for men to be good providers, low social status, skepticism from the public, fear of being sued and acceptance from friends and family. (read more)

PS: I have a date coming up with the guy I met on the subway late Saturday. I know, I know, sounds sketch, lol.

Why do guys love Dave Matthews?
I've only met one guy my age who does not like him. I'm not saying women are not fans of his too, in fact a lot of my college girl friends were. They had posters in their room and all. I somehow managed to avoid seeing Dave every year when he played a mile down the road from Wheaton College in Mass. Even when my friends had an extra ticket, I still opted not to go. I just was not interested. I like music you can dance to, you can blame my Studio 54 going mother for that ;)

Last summer, I was meeting up with a guy that I was briefly seeing. I was my first time up at his neck of the woods, so I didn't know if we would be going to a restaurant for dinner, movies or yada yada yada. So opting for casual glam, I wore shorts that showed off my tanned long legs and paired them with tiny heels. To my silent horror, a friend surprised him with tickets two tickets to a Dave Matthews concert. I said they could go together and we could meet up another time, but that didn't work. I tried keeping an open mind tho. When I told him that I probably only knew two of his songs, we spent the ride to the Hartford Civic Center listening to Dave's albums.

The four-hour concert was spent with me teetering on heels in the drizzling weather out on the lawn, looking really really out of place, and him drumming on my shoulders (I had a bruise the next day). My dinner consisted of cheesy fries that I paid for, I also "loaned" him cash for a steak sandwich. Luckily I like greasy junk food. The music was not bad the first hour, but then I got really bored. I didn't even know any of the songs that the crowd kept cheering for.

During the never ending instrument solos, I tried to inhale the smoke that was being puffed nearby, hoping that would at least cheer me up. He caught me though, and asked why I was taking such deep breaths, lol. The conversation was minimal, actually there wasn't any since I was shushed whenever I tried to comment. So I stared blankly at the stage and endured the mean looks the women around me kept shooting me. They knew I didn't belong, lol.

I had called my friend who is a fan of his from the bathroom, the reception was not great but I heard, "Tara? At a Dave Matthews' Concert?" then lots of static laughter. Obviously she was no help.
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RIP Anne Bancroft (news story) I loved her performance in Malice and Great Expectations

Where he stands
Pope Benedict XVI on US Politics:
"A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation of evil, and so unworthy to present himself for holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate's permissive stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia." Memorandum to Cardinal Theodore E McCarrick, 2004.

hmm I guess I'm a Catholic guilty of cooperation of evil and have been receiving Holy Communion against the Pope's wishes. At least there will be a lot of women that I'll know in hell then.

Sweet Charity
Yesterday, I went to see the musical "Sweet Charity" at the Al Hershfeild theater with my friend Farrah, who is visiting from New Orleans and Karen (this is her third time seeing it).

Despite the delays and problems surrounding this production, I have been really excited to see it since I heard "Sweet Charity" was coming to Broadway. I always liked the original Neil Simon film with Shirley McLaine. This time in the role of Charity is the talented Christina Applegate, who was adorable and did a great job playing the naive and hopeful dance hall hostess looking for love in the 60s. She was even nominated for Tony for her performance, although she did not win.

Songs include "Hey, Big Spender," "Rhythm of Life" and "If My Friend's Could See Me Now!"

The set was very colorful and had lots of nightlife lights and 1960s flair, but the wonderful choreographed dancing took center stage.

For me, the two hours really flew by and not once did I look at my watch. Instead, I was actually shocked when it was the final scene already.

PS: We saw Julia Stiles outside with this reddish haired guy, they looked like they were just friends tho. She was seated in the Orchestra rows too, so we saw her again during intermission. She was late getting back to her seat, so more people noticed her because of that. She was shorter than I expected, but looked very pretty with wavy shoulder length blonde hair.

PPS: Afterwards went to The Lobby for the first time and met up with 3 friends for sort of a mini high school reunion. One of them, Carolyn, I hadn't seen in four years. The place was fun and packed, we danced to Hip Hop and had a few drinks. I was tipsy going home on the subway and talked to a guy on the platform--one of the only times I wasn't eager to see the train come.