Drinking from the Garden Hose

I ’ve had a few days to simmer on the Benedictine College graduation commencement speech delivered by Kansas City Chief’s kicker, Harrison Butker. Vocation is a word he used 13 times throughout what my corner of the internet is referring to as a tirade of Puritanical bigotry. My mind has been stuck on this section, where he speaks to women, on womanhood: “For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives. I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are sitting here now about to cross this stage and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this wor

"Do you have a shopping problem?" a coworker asked recently at a meeting, to which I responded "I don't have a shopping problem, I have a shopping interest." This question was provoked by my Balenciaga jeans, which I did purchase from Net-A-Porter about 4 years ago, hopeful that I would get the $700 price tags worth of wear out of them... and definitely I have. Also, I married into a Basque family which Balenciaga was founded by a Basque man, Cristóbal Balenciaga, so I appreciate the cultural connection when I buy from this brand.  I've loved dressing up since before I could walk. My costume closet was overflowing with princess gowns and dance costumes, my mom would even hand sew me and my American Girl Dolls matching outfits in the 90s *super cool*. But why does loving fashion and expressing yourself through what you wear become associated with a "shopping problem?" The problem with shopping is if you do it to constantly acquire material things th