Alex Harlig

Today was the official dedication of Yahentimitsi (“a place to go to eat” in the Piscataway dialect of the Algonquian language), the first building on the University of Maryland campus named to acknowledge the first stewards of the land upon which it is built. As the name suggests, it is a dining hall! But it’s also where University Honors, the program I teach in, is housed. As part of the dedication, the dining hall prepared dishes from indigenous foodways, pictured here, including three sisters salad (corn, beans, squash) and hominy in more ways I think I’ve had cumulatively before!

We dropped off our absentee ballots at our early voting site today! (They sent an ‘I Voted Absentee’ sticker with our ballots and envelopes, how cool is that?!!) If you’re in NYC and haven’t voted yet, the actual Election Day is this Tuesday, the 22! Absentee ballots can be dropped off at any poll site or postmarked by Tuesday. Check @nycvotes for more info! This is the city’s first year with ranked choice voting. Zach and I literally spent 10-12 hours a piece researching and ranking the candidates—you’ve probably heard about the mayor even if you’re not here, but it’s also Borough President, City Council, Comptroller, District Attorney! Every possible race is on the ballot for the first time in 20 years! Unfortunately I’m not optimistic about who’s likely to win for mayor, we’re likely to end up with a moderate and not a progressive, but hopefully there will be some changes coming at various points in the city government with all the new people. It was definitely an interesting election to have be our last! (That we know of) [image description: Zach and Alex, a white man and a white woman, in front of a ‘vote here’ sign, wearing hats and masks. Alex has a voting sticker] #IVoted #VotingSelfie

My first #TheVintageFashionChallenge post on the grid! (I have been participating since last week in Stories with some housefits though!) the theme for today was ‘florals’ so here’s this eShakti dress that I think I pretty stinking 30s-y! I went to the doctor today so there’s shoes and everything 😆. (My socks are in part a nod to yesterday’s theme ‘stripes and dots’ which I missed!) #VintageStyleNotVintageValues [Image description: Alex, a white woman with brown hair and glasses, in a navy, red, and light purple floral print dress. It has a boatneck, flutter sleeves, and a bottom ruffle. Detail pictures show red lipstick with a matching strawberry, and the back of Swiss dot hosiery, which has a bow]

Grey and rainy trek today across the concrete dirty city but there were signs of spring anyway, a good metaphor and reminder. [image description: close up of pink cherry blossom bunch in a tree with rest of tree in background]

Very excited to see something I’ve been working on since the summer see the public light! I am the co-convener with Dr. Harmony Bench of a two weekend symposium on how dance media has/has not changed given the pressures and innovations of the pandemic! Full schedule, bios, and registration (it’s free! You just have to sign up to receive a zoom link, usable for all events) at u.osu.edu/ThisIsWhereWeDanceNow (link in bio). There is a great mix of international scholars, artists, and teachers (many ppl are all the above!) and it should be a very accessible and hopefully chill atmosphere for non-experts to attend, if you’re interested! We tried very hard to make events attend-able across time zones, but don’t worry, recordings and transcripts will be available! Special shoutouts to @tiny_office_dances for being the photographer and model and my sis @cucina_regina for graphic design! The first slide here shows an overview of the whole symposium, followed by each individual event: starting this weekend, on Friday at 8pm EST, I’m moderating a roundtable on TikTok and other short-form platforms (I think it’s going to be really good!!!). On Saturday at 12pm EST there’s another round table on the future of screendance, and the first of three paper panels, including talks on Zoom pedagogy, the domestic stage, and dance works that have come out over the last year. The second weekend features two more paper panels (Friday 19, 8pm & Sat 20 at 2pm) and a roundtable on curating screendance festivals and audiences all online, at 2pm Saturday. #WhereWeDanceNow

Zach just “went to” his office holiday party on Zoom and as I was eavesdropping from the other room/helping him find scavenger hunt items, I realized I never shared my outfit from LAST year’s party, which I was quite pleased with. One of the reasons I didn’t share it/why there’s a gap on my grid between Dec 13 and Mar 1 is that on the 14th I got a pretty major concussion, and stayed mostly offline for months. It’s super weird to realize I just passed the one year anniversary of that. I had already had a pretty bad concussion in 2013, and then since December I’m pretty sure I re-upped 1-3 more times. I’m mostly asymptomatic now, with the exception of really long days with computer multitasking—navigating between windows/concepts still really gets me. I don’t love flashing lights. I also think my word recall is slightly diminished, though mostly back to ‘normal.’ I get worried about how I’ll do on my Zoom interviews cause they can be straining, and as I’m on the academic job market I’m literally interviewing for how smart I am... Anyway. Here’s my femme dandyish holiday party look—these collar clips are one of my absolute favorite accessories bc they help *bridge* pun intended that tomboy-femme-dandy aesthetic where I generally feel most comfortable these days. [image description: split image full body on left, bust on right. Alex, a white woman with brown hair in a topknot and glasses, wears a green tartan flannel button-up, and a black pleather A-line skirt. Close-up pic shows gold bar earrings and gold collar clips connected by chain]

#WhatIWoreToVote! I like to get my red white and blue in there, plus this year some New York-specific political gear, my ‘Let NYC Dance’ T-shirt, from the (successful!) campaign to end the dance ban a couple years ago. I got a number of compliments on my jacket and the earrings and embroidered pin I made, from some of the rad women poll workers 😊😊😊made me pleased with my choices and I hope I brightened their days a little! Makers tagged! (Ps I also wore my ‘Queer as in Fuck You’ pin but under my blazer, I didn’t want to get confronted about the language just in case!) [image description: split image of Alex, a white lady with brown hair and glasses. left: full outfit: navy pinstripe blazer, white T-Shirt with black writing, blue jeans, and a red fanny pack. Right: close up to show red tassel earrings and lapel pins including ‘I voted early’ sticker, an enamel and an embroidered version of the same subway map inspired ‘I voted’ sticker, and pins with Black Lives matter, Warren, and ‘Eve Was Framed’ on them.] #IVoted #IOhioVoting even in NYC #NYCVotes #ThisGhostTownVotes

We voted today! At Madison Square Garden, no less! Lots of people there but felt safe and friendly. The whole thing only took 40 min (from finally finding the back of the line! In Ohio I heard they consulted w people from Cedar Park, a big amusement park there, about line management—I realized while we were waiting that the equivalent line management experts here in NYC would be Trader Joe’s 😆.) [image description: a selfie of Alex and Zach, a white woman and white guy, in front of a Madison Square Garden sign, with white masks and ‘I voted early!’ stickers] #IVoted #IOhioVoting even in NYC #NYCVotes #ThisGhostTownVotes

As mentioned yesterday, this week I’m “at” a Fan Studies conference. In our ‘introduce yourself’ channel on Discord (I feel so internet legit now) we all said our fandoms/things we’re into right now. In addition to Imperfect Foods, GBBO, and Lovett or Leave It (talk to me about any/all!!!), I mentioned @life_on_mars96 , a joyful vintage dresser whose worldview and sartorial badassery has significantly ameliorated my pandemic life. So for today’s conference outfit, I did a little ‘closet cosplay’ as it’s sometimes called, and did my best to replicate one of her amazing country sportif looks! Missing her signature red lip, alas. Not vintage, but the sweater vest and kerchief are over 20 yrs old (boys GAP ftw) and the shirt is a handmedown from my dad that must be about 30 years old. Oh! The brooch is vintage. Literally no one but Z saw me today because of the format, but now you are! I very rarely put shoes on inside but felt compelled, so I got to love my double monks from Clarks today. [image description: two images of Alex, a white woman with brown topknot and glasses. Left: full outfit of white button up, cream argyle sweater vest, camel trousers, and luggage shoes. Right: closeup shot highlighting aqua neckerchief and brown faux gem brooch]

Presented today ‘at’ a conference—so many weird/good/bad things about the experience (the organizers are doing an incredible job) but one thing is the difference in conference dressing! Especially shoes, ha. While I used to exclusively wear pencil skirts and dresses, Tomboy Femme/Femme Dandy has been my conference dressing mode in recent years. I actually wore both these items at the conference last year though not the same day. #remix?! Apropos for this conference (Fan Studies). In that vein I’m wearing two fannish pins, Beyoncé which was a gift from @sonnetdg and @seeajay , and a “La Cry” pin in the shape of a Pamplemouse LaCroix can by All Bad Days. (...not that I’m a fan of my depression but...pop culture reference + membership in a subgroup of my friends who call ourselves the Fizzy Water Bitches for our seltzer love.) [image description: split image, on left: full body shot of Alex, a white woman with brown hair and glasses, in a white button up tucked into leopard print pants wearing gold birkenstock sandals. On right: close up showing pins and light makeup]

Since we can’t go out this year, and I have been truly remiss in my Grid posting (only 10 pics since last anniversary?!): here’s my anniversary outfit from last year’s dinner! And a sweaty subway selfie of me and Zach. We pretty much only take pictures together if we are dressed up so honestly that might be one of the last ones?! The silver dress I’m wearing my mom made for me to wear to my PhD graduation a month prior (my regalia was red and light grey) from the same pattern as my wedding dress! And these gold shoes and gold purse are what I wore to the wedding—the purse I got from a vintage store for my junior prom! The pastel paisley shawl was a gift from my grandma, who I don’t call enough.

On Wednesdays We Wear Pink, and go to therapy, and try to be brave, and learn about colorizing the shadows in photos! (Make it pink!) so far all sitting against this wall on my bed. I’ve been desperate for something lush and pink (inspired by that organza pink Villanelle dress and 40s maribou trimmed dressing gowns) and I think the space and calm that kind of volume requires/is indexed to in my mind. I keep having this image from a Astaire-Rogers movie of her lounging glamorously in a massive hotel room, though I don’t know if it’s real! Desperately need to clean the apartment to try to create more feeling of space in our tiny space. So that brings us here. This dress is actually a little more towards fuschia/magenta than the lighting picked up. My mom made this for me during a spring break trip home during grad school 2016, then I wore it to a wedding the second half of the break (I usually split my breaks between her and Zach, who I was long distance w for 6 yrs). I’ve also worn it to one other wedding and to Heatwave prom, which is bittersweet bc it’s when I hurt my knee which is now a forever problem. The bodice is the same that she used for my wedding dress and my graduation dress, though those have slim skirts and this is a full circle! It’s a satin backed poly dupioni which I can’t recommend enough in terms of washability/heft/prettiness combination! I think it’s a Simplicity pattern. [image description: white woman with brown hair and glasses wearing a sleeveless cocktail dress, lounging with one knee up; blue sheets in foreground and a pink light on the side] #WhatIWoretoTherapy #WorkFromHomeFashion