DC1

[ellenkushner]

What a lovely day yesterday turned out to be after all! Got in late the night before from DC, where I had the pleasure of reading for the divine Colleen Cahill's Library of Congress lunchtime series - and got to meet some lovely LJ-ers, as well! Kelly Harmon did a great blogpost about this, with photos, so I turn this part of the adventure over to her. (I will just say that I am the one in the group photo with the supercilious smirk, whatelseisnew? And that Alec is nauseous with envy over Thomas Jefferson's library. And that everyone should go see the Library of Congress Map Room. And that Sue Lange is a Performance Artist to die for, and she should listen to me and do Podcasts from Uncategorized [which is still on sale for 99¢ for another week from Smashwords]. And who knew Catherine Asaro was also a rock star?)

I do love to travel. I love getting off a train and realizing that everything is different, here. But who knew that buying lipstick in Georgetown would be such a culturally divergent experience? In NYC, the salesperson (more often a cute guy who has something to do with theatre or the fashion industry) peers at you keenly, and tries to find soemthing to complement your skin tone, murmuring, "Oh, this is lovely on you." In DC, when I held up some Iced Mocha for the young woman's inspection, she said, "Oh, that's nice. It's very conservative." - Do you think it would be good on me? I prompted. "Oh, yes," she said; "lots of people like that one. It's very popular."

Harumph.

And then -- oh, my, will you look at the time? Gotta run - with quick thanks to lareinenoire for great coffee & company in DC!

Comments

[elissa-carey.livejournal.com]

Well, evidently the woman selling you lipstick was more interested in selling that lipstick than in selling you a lipstick; it would seem she's the brand of salesperson who wants to sell you what's popular rather than what's good for you/what you prefer. The two thoughts are completely different, and the fact she didn't seem to see it that way meant you had to make your own judgment call. Ugh.

[jmward14.livejournal.com]

The cultural difference is that the sales staffs in Georgetown are all students trying to sell something--anything!--but they have no training or expertise in what they're selling. It's funny, for a town with such a large broadcast presence, we have very little in the way of technical support for on-air talent, which translates into very little professional understanding of make-up, fashion, etc. Which probably explains some of our more persistent fashion disasters.
Great meeting you, regardless. Hope you'll come back and visit us again, sometime. DC defines weird in so many ways.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I thought. She was perfectly pleasant, but it was clearly my job to pick out the color! NYC is clearly an anomaly in so many ways - full of ambitious, gifted people in so many fields - as an older friend who moved here from New Zealand (via Cleveland) remarked years ago, "Everyone in NYC wants to be the Best - the best actor, the best mugger....!"

It was great to meet you, too. I had a wonderful time in DC, and look forward to returning soon.