Just One Month

So, I know I said in my last piece that I’d be dedicating more time to My Orange Chair – but clearly that didn’t happen. I’ve been in the hardcore ‘job-hunting’ and enjoying this ‘mini-vacation’ mode. Also, I was feeling a little burned out and over exposed on the blog. There was a lot I wanted to share, or even just write, that I felt I couldn’t for various reasons.

But that’s all about to end (I hope) because I’m starting a new job on Monday! I am very VERY excited about this new opportunity – it aligns beautifully with my interests and it’s close by (that’s right. no more commute. I knew it would happen one day). Aren’t those the two things I said I wanted in my last post? Oh yes, yes they are. What’s more is that I think there’s a lot of opportunity for upward mobility where I’m headed and that’s a huge issue for many young workers – we want to feel like there are ways for us to grow.

I learned a lot in this last job search process because it was so drastically different from the last time. I had very serious networks at work for me this time around and I really made the most of every informational interview. Also, this turnover happened in one month instead of five (or what seemed like a bagillion at the time).  Because I had so many new resources, I knew I could keep that momentum going, finding a new position quickly. Another key difference this time around was that I focused on quality of my applications versus quantity. There wasn’t as much urgency so I really only applied to jobs that I really felt would be a good fit and weren’t far far away.

So I hope I can find my blog-footing again and keep on keeping on with My Orange Chair but for now I’m just going to enjoy my last few days of freedom before getting back into the workforce. Yay new opportunity!

Twitter – It’s Not For Noobs

I was reluctant at first to use twitter.

When I first started writing My Orange Chair, Suzanne Grossman of Love Your Job Now told Big Sister to tell me to start a twitter account so she could tweet about a post of mine (while mentioning me). I thought, ‘hey, this could be cool, twitter, why not?’.

Suzanne’s tweets were great, and they brought me a little bit of readership so … that was good.

And then I left it at that. I wasn’t totally sure about how to optimize twitter usage so I would say a little blurb about each blog piece, essentially turning it into a RSS feed which, according to Twenties Hacker, is a no-no.

Yes, I knew it was bad, but maintaining a twitter account, and doing it properly seemed so hard (this is scary for me to admit because I’m afraid that’s how future older me will respond to future newer technologies)

But it’s not! Twitter, like any other social media tool, is really about having a conversation and directing internet traffic. Hashtags and RTs aren’t so scary if you just give them a try.

In fact, the first time I think I really used twitter appropriately was in January when I wrote about one of idealist’s blog posts, mentioned it on twitter, and had a little conversation with them. That day brought me more readership than My Orange Chair had ever seen. Yay readers!

And since then, twitter has consistently brought higher levels of readership (though maybe that’s in part to a larger base). So even if you’re a little scared of twitter, or you don’t know how it could work for you don’t worry – you don’t have to constantly update your life, where you are, and how you’re feeling – just have a little conversation with your followers and the tiwtterverse without letting the tool become RSS feed number 2.

Images of V-Day

Feministing did a round-up of Romantic Industrial Complex (RIC) infographics for spending on Valentine’s Day.

In a very meta way, the Romantic-Industrial Complex is putting a lot of time, money and energy into cutesey infographics demonstrating how much time, money and energy we put into cutesy commercial and materialistic expressions of Valentine’s Day. I should do an infographic on it, but I don’t have the time, money or energy to do so. So, I’ll just show you them.

Here are some of my favorites:

I actually genuinely like this first one because it gives you a little history of different love practices (not making love practices) in different parts of the world. At least this one isn’t trying to sell me something – or sell the men-folk something.

Now – what DO men buy? And which men buy it? I think what this really says is, which countries spend the most on advertising and focus on RIC guilt?

What!? 86% of men buy noncommittal pieces?? The HORROR! At least they’re buying jewelry – and as you know, the goal of giving jewelry is always jewelry face.

This next gem shows you how you can best ‘cash-in on the day of love’. You definitely need to target the men-folk because they’ll spend the most $$.

This year V-day was a great excuse to drink champagne and bake a cake on a Tuesday! So here’s my infographic:

*Champagne with a splash of Chambord + Vanilla Bean Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce and Mango Sorbet*

Survey Time

Now that I have done this really fun move over to wordpress, I’m looking to spruce up my content. My Orange Chair has never had a huge readership so I have mostly written about whatever I want. And that won’t entirely change, but I would love some feedback to help give the chair a direction. So please help me by clicking on the link below and filling out this super short survey!

Help Make My Orange Chair Even Awesomer!

My Orange Chair is Moving

My Orange Chair is moving to WordPress! It’s my 2012 gift to myself to try something new and maybe even  become MyOrangeChair.com (No promises though…you all know how cheap I am)

It all started about a month ago when I was on the phone at work with our IT support. The guy had to remote onto my computer and I had google chrome which of course featured all of the pages I visit most often; blogger dashboard was one of them. The IT guy didn’t say much but I heard a *mumble mumble* ‘I don’t understand why people use blogger’ *mumble mumble*.

I took the bait and we had a brief conversation about the pros and cons of each. My interest was piqued so I did a bit of playing around with wordpress and lo and behold, I like it better.

So, if you have My Orange Chair bookmarked please update it to: https://myorangechair.wordpress.com/

And if you’re following by email, kindly give your address again over here: https://myorangechair.wordpress.com/

And then go over here and read any posts you missed: https://myorangechair.wordpress.com/

Happy 2012 Everyone!!

Let’s Play a Game

And the name of the game is, Multicultural or Racist? (developed by my sister).

I’ll start you off easy and for each Santa you see, think to yourself, is this multicultural, racist, or neither?

*Thanks to Ikea for these gems!

World Aids Day

Did you know? (from the Kaiser Family Foundation)

• There are approximately 34 million people currently living with HIV and
nearly 30 million people have died of AIDS-related causes since the
beginning of the epidemic.

•  While cases have been reported in all regions of the world, almost all
those living with HIV (97%) reside in low- and middle-income countries,
particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

•  HIV primarily affects those in their most productive years; about half of
new infections are among those under age 25.

•  HIV not only affects the health of individuals, it impacts households,
communities, and the development and economic growth of nations.
Many of the countries hardest hit by HIV also suffer from other infectious
diseases, food insecurity, and other serious problems.

•  Despite these challenges, new global efforts have been mounted to
address the epidemic, particularly in the last decade, and there are signs
that the epidemic may be changing course.  The number of people newly
infected with HIV and the number of AIDS-related deaths have declined,
contributing to the stabilization of the epidemic.  In addition, the number
of people with HIV receiving treatment in resource poor countries has
increased more than 20-fold since 2001, reaching 6.6 million in 2010.

The ladies over at Feministing have this to say:

Socioeconomic factors play a huge role in who is exposed to HIV/AIDS and who has negative health risks. While no cure exists, treatment can make it possible to live with the disease. Yet the drugs are expensive and inaccessible to many people. Only 28% of Americans infected with HIV are being treated effectively, according to the CDC. The numbers are much worse in parts of the world where more people have less access to health care – 76% of deaths due to AIDS were in sub-Saharan Africa in 2007.

The good news is we’re seeing progress in research into stopping the disease. Exciting new research shows proper treatment for HIV is 96% effective in reducing transmission. Yet we are seeing funding cuts both to research and treatment and prevention programs worldwide. Cuts that put millions of peoples lives at risk.

Funding is a major issue in the US, too. African Americans and trans folks havehigher rates of infection, with factors like income obviously playing a huge role. But there’s never enough money, so the pie gets divided up along identity lines. You may notice the focus of increasingly less visible HIV/AIDS campaigns shifting between different groups, usually African American boys and men or women and girls, depending on who the latest statistics say is most at risk. Which really serves as a distraction from the fact that there’s not enough funding being directed towards this issue to actually end the pandemic and make sure everyone living with the disease receives the treatment they need.

UNAIDS has suggestions for ways to take action on World AIDS Day. It’s also important for us to continue acting by pressuring government and international agencies to take serious, large scale action to end this pandemic.

Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it inspires people to appreciate food and family. Mike and I aren’t traditionalists when it comes to either of these things. We love to experiment with food and don’t feel tied down to traditional meals for the holidays (even though we are cooking a turkey this year). This will be our first married Thanksgiving and our first time preparing the whole meal on our own, in our new place.

Our parents and siblings can’t join us (or we chose not to travel and sit in traffic to join them) so we’ll have some different kinds of family with us this year; my basically-brother Brady (also known as the best bridesmaid EVER!!) and some new friends of ours (our first couple-friends in fact…very exciting!).

I really appreciate how people seem so giving during this time of year – willing to freely invite friends and acquaintances to join them for a meal. I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday.

Perspectives on OWS

While I did catch up on a lot of T.V. upon my return state side, I did also read a little bit of news. One of the first things I encountered was a video entitled Hot Chicks Occupy Wall Street….If you haven’t seen it, you can find it here. I have read a lot of what people have to say about the video, what it means, and whether or not it’s offensive.

Jill on Feministe sums up my point of view nicely:

Steven Greenstreet is the dude behind the Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street tumblr and video. That video has gotten a lot of attention — a lot of women and some dudes have been like “well this is fucked up,” and then some other dudes have been like “I don’t see what the big deal is, boys will be boys and what’s wrong with wanting to meet attractive women at a protest?”

And like I said in my initial post, the deflecting from legitimate concerns, and the fact that the OWS “public” includes a lot of men who think it’s ok to treat women at a protest like we’re there for their visual fulfillment, troubles me. No one is saying, “Don’t find women attractive.” I actually like hot chicks too! No one is saying “Don’t meet hot people at a protest.” People meet people in all kinds of social settings, and that’s great. I met a past boyfriend at a liberal blog conference. Meet away, I say. No one is objecting to dating or hooking up or meeting women or meeting men. No one is objecting to the fact that straight men are attracted to some women (fun fact: straight women are also attracted to some men! So really, no one is pissed about attraction, I promise). What people are pissed about is what Rebecca Traister says:

The larger, simpler argument, outside of consent or permission, is: This video is sexist. It’s an example of women participating in public life — political, professional, social — and having their participation reduced to sexual objectification. That’s what happened here, nothing more, nothing less.

The notion that dressing in a certain way is an invitation (and presumably that dressing in another way is not) is flawed. There is no way for women to dress (dresses, shorts, jeans, overalls) that is not considered an invitation by someone. When you add in the ways in which women are expected to dress in order to be taken seriously, or liked, or listened to or paid attention to, and then add to that assumptions that the choices that they make equal invitations to be ogled, it leaves women no sartorial freedom.

Emphasis mine. If you’re at an event and you strike up conversation with someone cute? Wonderful. But creating a blog and a video dedicated to showing women at a protest with the sole purpose of reminding dudes that women at the protest are hot? That does reduce women to objects of male attention. It’s another reminder, for women, that how seriously we’re taken and how valuable we are depends on how sexually attractive we’re deemed. That it’s ok to use us as bait because hey, it’ll attract more dudes to the protest!

Frankly, the kinds of dudes who would come to the OWS protests because they heard there are hot chicks there? Are not the kinds of dudes I want to be protesting with. I would hope they’re not the kinds of dudes that most progressives would want to be protesting with — but judging by the lefty-dude reaction to Steven Greenstreet (hi Matt Zoller Seitz, looking at you!), that’s not the case. It’s disappointing. It’s pretty shitty to know that some progressive men are a-ok with female protestors being portrayed as boner-bait, because boys will be boys and it’s all in good fun. It’s also worth noting here that actual sexual assaults have happened at OWS.

That’s all I have to say about that (or let other people say it for me) because other things have been going on with the movement and I don’t want to get stuck in just one conversation. So I wanted to share this piece too about the Top 10 Media Myths about Occupy Wall Street. I appreciate the images, the commentary, and the anecdotes that make the movement a little more personal. 

I Like to Ruin Holidays

When I showed Mike this article entitled, Child Slaves Made Your Halloween Candy. Stop Buying It. his response was that I seem to like to ruin all of the holidays. I know he was jesting, given the laugh and the, “I’m kiddddding” that followed but I’m glad that I have the capacity to make people think about their celebrations and the effects they can have. 


A few posts ago I talked about my distaste for the costumes our culture promotes for women to wear on All Hallow’s Eve. Now I have another issue to raise – 



Every October, American kids like mine are treated to a wide array of chocolates—Snickers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Butterfingers—because hundreds of thousands of children in West Africa are enslaved harvesting cocoa beans. These children are performing this work for the benefit of most of the mainstream chocolate providers in the United States. A report from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast and other African countries estimated there were 284,000 children working on cocoa farms in hazardous conditions. Many of them have been taken from their families and sold as servants. U.S. chocolate manufacturers have claimed they are not responsible for the conditions on cocoa plantations, since they don’t own them. This group includes Hershey, Mars, Nestle, and the U.S. division of Cadbury. Collectively, they are responsible for pretty much every snack-size candy bar available in stores this Halloween.


The connection between major candy bar manufacturers and child slavery is one of the world’s best-kept secrets. I consider myself proactive about educating myself about social justice issues, and yet I only found out last year by way of a documentary produced by the BBC.  I was shocked to learn that the International Labor Rights Fund has sued the U.S. government for failing to enforce laws prohibiting the import of products made with child labor. And I was even more surprised to hear that the chocolate industry has blown by numerous deadlines set by Congress to begin regulating itself. A few major chocolate companies have mounted some smoke-and-mirror campaigns over the past year, either offering obscure fair-trade chocolate bars in addition to their slave-made materials or making a big show of donating to charities that support farmers. This does not change the fact that they refuse to be accountable for human rights abuses of children in their supply chains.  


What concerns me even more is that we, as consumers, are not demanding that this be stopped. Some continue to buy chocolate even after learning about these human rights abuses. I’ve heard excuses from people in my own life, and they echo the rationalizations I’ve made myself in the past: “We can’t afford fair-trade.” “We’re addicted to chocolate.” “We can’t change everything.” Secretly, we just don’t relate because these are kids in a far-off country instead of our own. It’s ok as long as we don’t have to see it happening right in front of us. We’ll take the candy bar.
 by KRISTEN HOWERTON


….. Here you can read about where to buy ethical candy that doesn’t suck.