You circumnavigate, girl!

Watson on her awesome pink yaht, aptly named "The Pink Lady."
Source: thepunch.com


Jessica Watson left from her home country of Australia today on a quest - to become the youngest person to sail solo and unassisted around the globe. She seems to be the first female teen to attempt the feat, and whether completed with assistance or not, would beat Zac Sunderland at being the youngest person to make the trip. Sunderland and Briton Mike Perham, both 17, completed the trip this summer during seperate months "assisted," meaning they had to get outside help fixing their boats during their attempts.

"The first leg of Watson's journey will take her past northern New Zealand, then Fiji and Samoa. In a trip expected to last about eight months, she plans to pass around the southern tips of Africa and South America," according to the Associated Press.

Let the criticisms fly.

Andrew Cape, navigator of PUMA Ocean Racing, second place winner of the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race, stated in a letter he wrote to Watson, "I do not want to shatter your dreams but to undertake such a voyage requires more experience than you currently have. Obviously you have to start somewhere to gain experience but to head straight into the Southern Ocean on your own is foolish."

Cape also said that he thinks Watson has a 33 percent chance of having a successful voyage, 33 percent chance of damage to her boat or crew, and 33 percent chance of losing her boat or crew.

Karen Brooks of The Punch writes that Jessica's attempt is merely a grab at the 15 minutes of fame; a foolish decision that doesn't need to be made in order for her to enter adulthood.

"If she breaks the record, will we then approve 15, 14 and 13 year olds making the journey for the same reasons? To fulfill their dreams? To make history?" Brooks says.

In fact, 13 year-old Laura Dekker's dreams of attempting the same trip have been suspended, thanks to a Dutch court. On the topic, NPR's Frank James writes, "We can predict there'd be a 12-year old next and after that maybe a 10-year old. There could even be a seven year old eventually, like Jessica Dubroff, the girl who wanted to be the youngest to fly across the country and wound up dying in a plane crash with her father and flight instructor.

Megan's two cents:

As long as there's no pageant-mom reason for Jessica's attempt, I say live it up, girl. Live your dreams.

Despite all the controversy,

Jessica, the Awesome Amigas salute you!!

Resource:

A tour of the Pink Lady with Jess

Mancession and fatties on the runway

Mancession - as annoying as a Staycation

To go along with Andrea's post on The Superior Wife Syndrome, the current recession crisis has created a new word combination, or wombo - "mancession."

In an article by Kim Peterson on MSN's MoneyBlog, she describes how more men have lost their jobs in this recession than women. This is due to most of the layoffs being in the manufacturing and construction fields, while women work in more secure fields, such as healthcare and education. However, women may get the short end of the stick, in that they make less money, are more likely to work less hours or are working part-time positions without benefits.

Case in point, me. I work two part-time retail jobs without benefits. I also relocated to southern California and am living with Lisa for free in order to make more money. The Central Valley is not the place to be if you are looking for a full-time job in fields outside of healthcare, education or tomato truck driver.


Fatties on the runway at London Fashion Week

According to an article in UK's The Telegraph, "Mark Fast’s decision to use larger models at London Fashion Week provoked a row between his management team and caused one stylist to walk out" on September 21st.

Photo by Jane Mingay, The Telegraph

Here's what happened:

Designer Mark Fast decided to use three plus-size models - a size 12, size 14, and size 12/14, whatever that means - on the runway to challenge the idea that only skinny women could wear his dresses.

This decision led to a "team change" (p.c. way to say they fired a team member/had someone quit) in order to make the dream happen.

"We wanted women to know they don’t have to be a size zero to wear a Mark Fast dress," Amanda May, Fast's managing director, said. "Curvier women can look even better in one.”

Fast found one of his models, Hayley Morley, at All Walks Beyond the Catwalk, a runway show which features models ages 18 to 65, from sizes 8 to 16.

Megan's Two Cents:

Kudos to Fast! But sadly, my first thought after seeing the photo of the model in grey was, "She's fat!" And I'm a fat girl saying this. Isn't that awful? I think it's because the dress shows off the worst parts of a plus-size woman - our underarm jobbies, or "wiggly bits," as a British lady would say.

Now, my second thought - when will the runway world show a size 20 (which I am)? Or, heaven forbid, 22?

This is the closest we've got so far:

(warning: partially-nude women at this link)

Lane Bryant Models Start a Body Image Revolution

These Bodies are Beautiful at Every Size - Glamour Magazine