HEY FELLAS, WHAT'S YOUR DAMAGE?

Dear various Croatian men,
PLEASE STOP IRKING ME
(I hope this isn't some kind of unfortunate cultural trait.)
Love, Lily


Dear Morino,
Have I ever once called you back? You've been calling me now for over a month, and I have never reciprocated.  Do we really have anything to talk about on the phone? Your German isn't that good, and neither is mine. Do we know each other at all? Do we really have anything to say to each other? Yes, I should never have given you my phone number to begin with.  Yes, you get points for being persistent, but I've had enough.  Please cease and desist.

Love, Lily



Dear Milly,
You seem like a nice guy, really you do.  You were helpful n' all on the first day showing me around. So why are you constantly trying to get a rise out of me? Yes I know I'm a girl in an all male workshop, and no doubt you and your co-workers are feeling shaken up and want to shake me up, my existence there no doubt in your mind makes me a deviant or some kind of a threat. You behave in a misogynistic way all the time and I'm growing tired of it (after all of 4 days) but my verbal skills in German aren't really good enough to articulate precisely enough what I mean.  Can you stop teasing me about every little thing? Yes, to respond truthfully to your question I am a model (for art.) But what does that have to do with my right to wear a hat when its raining outside? And, no, I don't want to be a good housewife. I don't want to be anyone's wife.  You say that you're a good husband.  Do you think that your wife would take pleasure in seeing you tapping me on the ass with a piece of museum glass while I'm trying to put together a wood frame for the first time?

When I asked you not to do that, to leave my body alone, you told me that wasn't my body, it was an ass.  Umm... how revealing of you being a big fucking misogynist, objectifying a part of my body, as if it wasn't a part of me, as if I wasn't connected to it at all.  Then you asked if all American girls are as "gefährlich" as I am.  Now, just what did you mean by that? The usual meaning is "dangerous." Is that what you meant? Or did you mean one of the plethora of other definitions of the word? Such as: risky, unsafe, awkward, or harmful?  In any case, I should have shot back: "I dunno, are all Croatian men so disrespectful of the bodily autonomy of women and their consent to being touched, particularly while engaged in a task requiring concentration?" or "Do all Croatian men always try to thwart the way of young women in their new workplaces?" or "Ask Stevie, he's from Texas." or "Yes." or "How would you respond if I tapped you on the ass with a piece of museum glass while you were engaged in a task requiring your attention at work?" or "How would you respond if I touched any part of your body with or without museum glass?" or "Yes, they all don't like getting hit with glass." I could go on like this all day, but I have someone else to write to.  I hope I can sleep on this and not have a problem with you at work tomorrow.  You seem like a nice guy afterall, and I wouldn't want tension in the workplace.

Love, Lily



Dear Eban,
I appreciate all of your help with showing me how to sand a frame (despite how condescending you were about it, as if I'd never sanded anything in my life before, but maybe that's just your sense of humor) but why, me being an apprentice and all, would you ever tell me that I can't cut frames because "that's not women's work?"
WTF?

Love, Lily

On an unrelated-ly pleasant note, Jill is playing the piano right now and it is SO lovely!