Explore pop-culture, current events, hot-button topics and all things relationship-related with Pittsburgh native, editor and co-founder of twodaymag, Natalie Bencivenga.
I don't have much else to say other than this video made me tear up a little. If a ten year old from Arkansas has the balls to stand up for marriage equality, why the hell are the rest of us so afraid?
...When Giving Out a Fake Number Bites You in the Ass
So, I was on http://www.shmittenkitten.com looking for some blog inspiration since Charlie Sheen hasn’t attacked anyone lately. Hey, it’s Monday, give me a break! And, while many of the blogs were amusing me, one reminded me of a story that I heard this weekend from a girlfriend who shall remain anonymous! (You know who you are!)
Are you in search of Mr. or Mrs. Right and have 200,000 yen? (That’s $2,217). Then, I have a school for you!
Dozens of Japanese are in Tokyo are turning to Infini School to help them land a mate. The school offers lots of different classes for singles looking to mingle, or those who are finding it difficult to meet their match.
...Lawmakers put the brakes on first-cousin wedlock!
I know the question you are thinking. “Isn’t this already illegal?” But, no, for we live in a complex country with many types of people. Some forward thinking...some married to their first cousins, apparently.
According to the Associated Press, a Maryland state legislator believes it is time to pull the plug on first-cousin marriages and stop engaging in what he calls “genetic roulette” with their offspring. The bill would, of course, make exceptions for lovers over 65 and for those who are infertile.
Most little girls in the 3rd grade are learning how to add and subtract fractions, not adding and subtracting husbands. Nujood is a little girl from Yemen, a place where child brides and pedophilia, as well as terrorism and extreme religious dogma prevail.
Nujood’s dark journey started when she was the ripe old age of 10. Her family sat her down and informed her that she would be marrying a delivery man who was in his 30s. In her new autobiography recently published in the United States: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307589675 , Nujood writes: “In our country, it’s the men who give the orders, and the women who follow them. I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced.”
This is huge! The nation’s capital has pushed legislation through allowing any consenting couple to become legally married! Washington is now the 6th place in the nation where any couple is allowed to be married, following Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Iowa.
Couples in DC have been waiting for hours in line today to apply for marriage licenses on this historic day. When the first couple signed in at the city’s marriage bureau at the Moultrie courthouse, cheering and applauding thunderously broke out from the excited and relieved crowd.
As of now, 100-plus couples are at the bureau, and over 50 have filed for their license. Since there is a mandatory waiting period of three (business) days, these couples will be married on Tuesday. A city councilman was handing out cupcakes who had sponsored the law. How festive! One couple told http://www.msnbc.com that they felt as if it was Christmas morning. A dream come true, in fact!
More Charlie Sheen Gossip!
As if Charlie doesn’t have enough problems! After getting into trouble over the holidays, it seemed as if things were finally starting to simmer down for the Two and A Half Men star. Unfortunately, things have just gotten more chaotic. On top of his estranged wife, Brooke, holed up in their LA home undergoing rehabilitative drug therapy while he is also in rehab at another facility, we have just discovered that the California Department of Children and Families has visited the Sheen home, as well as Sheen facing domestic charges stemming from that ill-fated day in Colorado on Christmas. The chaos doesn’t stop there.
Have been thinking a lot on the subject of marriage in our society lately. We have hit a crossroads in this institution. We (as a society) won’t allow gay people to get married, but we treat marriage amongst heteros as something you “give a try” but can easily get out of with the swish of a pen.
How did we get to this place that disenfranchises so many people over something that we clearly don’t care very much about, ourselves? How many people do you know that are divorced? How many people do you know that have been married more than once? Twice? Hell, even three times? Why is it that some people in our society are trying so hard to get into a club that we have clearly deemed irrelevant, and yet we still don’t allow them in? Does this strike anyone else as bizarre? Are we missing something?
Dear Tiger:
Why did you even bother apologizing? It was awkward, insincere, and bizarre. It was bizarre that you apologized to a room full of random people…who WERE those 34 people in the room? The room, itself, was hideous. Those cheap blue curtains looked like they belonged in a bad hotel. The only person I recognized in that sea of uncomfortable-ness was your pissed off mother in the front row with her arms crossed, a look of disgust on her face….do you blame her?
...Like a Woman with Nail Glue?
Picture this ultimate male fantasy. First, your secret lover takes you to a hotel. Then, she teases you by blindfolding you and tying you to a chair for some sexy time...what happens next?
The woman begins to berate you (which, albeit, some guys may find erotic...) and starts to slap you in the face. But, this isn't foreplay.
Well, it has finally come to this. Terri Carlson, the lovely lady pictured to the left, 45 year old divorced mom who lives in California, has put herself out there in a very interesting way. She suffers from a very rare condition called C4 Complement Deficiency in which the body's immune system attacks itself, thinking it has an infection. She doesn't have health insurance, and her COBRA insurance is going to run out at the end of this year. So, what is a girl to do? She has launched a website, http://www.willmarryforhealthinsurance.com/ , and is asking for someone to marry her so that she can get proper medical treatment. Here is a little of what she had to say:
Finally Elizabeth Edwards took matters into her own hands recently and kicked the once-upon-a-time democratic presidential candidate to the curb! And, I say, "What took you so long, Liz?"
Can you imagine the situation this woman has been in for the past several years? Battling terminal cancer, raising two small children, turning a blind eye to her husband's indiscretions, trying to keep up her public image to help his political career...what a whirlwind it must have been for her! And then, all the rumors! Edwards ducking into a hotel bathroom trying to escape the lights of the paparazzi as they attempt to take pictures of him leaving his mistress, rumors of him paying his mistress thousands of dollars a month to keep her mouth shut about their sordid affair, vicious fights between him and his wife, denying his own love child to save face in the public...the list goes on and on.
Johnny Depp really disappointed me today. And, believe me, I heart Johnny Depp. In fact, I think most women and (and men) adore him. Not only is he extremely easy on the eyes and one of the greatest actors of our generation, but he has that European, laid-back, old-school romantic sensibililty about him. Which is why you can imagine how crushed I was when I heard the statements he made about Roman Polanski today. (In case you are unaware, Roman Polanski is a celebrated film director who drugged a young girl and then raped her at Jack Nicholson's house in California back in the 70's. He fled to Europe and has been hiding there ever since. He is now awaiting trial after years of eluding American police.) Here is what Johnny had to say:
"Why now? Obviously there is something going on somewhere. Somebody has made a deal with someone. Maybe there was a little money involved, but why now?"
Did anyone see Denise Richards on Oprah the other day? I have to admit, I was very excited to see what I thought was going to be a melodrama play on television. Instead, I saw before me a stressed out, sad looking woman who seems sick and tired of the not-so-fun-anymore drama, sick and tired of having to defend her life, sick and tired of the name, Charlie Sheen.
Oprah didn't waste any time, as my favorite tv guru never does, and got right down to the questions we all were thinking, considering the situation that he finds himself in with his current wife, Brooke. "Did Charlie ever abuse you?"
We thought we knew how this was going to play out. She was going to leave. How could she not? Not only did he have a mistress, but he had a revolving door of women at his disposal. No one questioned Elin for wanting out. He didn't just cheat (that would have been bad enough, but maybe forgivable)...he HUMILIATED her. He paraded these women around acting like he would never get caught, never experience consequences, and subsequently, he gets smashed in the face with a golf club. That, my friends, is poetic justice!