Letters: Not buying clothes, DJ names for Tess
TEXT OF STORY
Tess Vigeland: Time to turn the mic around and hear a little bit about what you’ve had to say about our program, and here to help me check out our mailbag this week is our senior producer, Deborah Clark. Hey Deb.
Deborah Clark:Hello.
VIGELAND: So what do we have this week?
CLARK: Well, some love, but also some not so much.
VIGELAND: I’d like to start with the love, please.
CLARK: What, in hopes that we run out of time and don’t get to the other…
VIGELAND: Exactly, you know me well.
CLARK: Fair enough. So a number of listeners wrote in about the interview you did about the Great American Apparel Diet.
VIGELAND: Yeah, this was Sally Bjornsen talking about going an entire year without buying any new clothes.
CLARK: Yeah, and not surprisingly, a bunch of women wrote in, many of whom found the idea “thought provoking.” Like Susan Blood from Charlotte, Vt.
Susan Blood: So about five years ago, I made a bet with my husband — if I lost the bet I would stop buying clothes for a year. And I lost the bet. What happened was that I just found I wasn’t spending the emotional energy looking at clothes, thinking of what to wear. And it was just fine.
VIGELAND: Good for her. Let me guess: Did any men write in?
CLARK: Well, yes, as a matter of fact. In particular, Mark Gluckman from Phoenix, Ariz., who said that it was the stupidest segment.
VIGELAND: Oh nice. I thought we were holding that bad stuff.
CLARK: But I thought this was really funny. He said essentially that men could go five years without buying clothes and think nothing of it. And it reminded me of when I first mentioned this idea at our editorial meeting that happened to have only men present at it, and I pitched it as a year without buying clothes. There was dead silence, no reaction at all, and then one male colleague said, “Oh, you mean like a normal year.”
VIGELAND: Yeah, well having borne witness to the sartorial choices around that table, I can’t say I’m surprised. Moving on, anything else?
CLARK: Some folks wrote in about a story that we did about investing. Reporter Stacy Vanek Smith did a story about how all this volatility in the market was making [[link: type: ext text: some younger investors change their portfolio allocations]; they had less in stocks now than financial advisors generally recommend.
So 39-year-old Mike Eastman of Minneapolis said he’s one of them.
Mike Eastman: Right now, my risk tolerance just isn’t at the point where I can be in the stock market. There’s too much uncertainty, and I would rather give up the potential gains over the next three to five years than face potentially larger losses.
VIGELAND: And you know, that’s certainly understandable but hopefully he’s setting aside money somewhere else, so he can eventually retire. All right, what else?
CLARK: Finally, Tess, a couple weeks ago you remember your conversation with David Lazarus, you talked to a young guy who was [[link: type: ext text: trying to figure out how to pay for his burgeoning DJ business].
VIGELAND: Ah, yes. I remember it well.
David Lazarus: Do you have a DJ name?
DJ Sven: Yes. DJ Sven.
Lazarus: DJ Sven. Tess, do you have a DJ name?
Vigeland: Um.
Lazarus: Snoop Tessy-Tess?
VIGELAND: Yeah, maybe not. So later I suggested DJ Jazzy Tess.
CLARK: Well, Robbie Clark of Atlanta, Ga., did not like that one.
Robbie Clark: I think it should be obvious to anyone that her DJ name should be DJ Tesserect. It is easy to rhyme and also suggests a certain level of erudition while setting a mental hook for action.
VIGELAND: Well, so much for erudition. I don’t get it.
CLARK: Yeah, I have to be honest, I don’t either. It’s not that easy to rhyme with, and I had to look up what it meant.
VIGELAND: And?
CLARK: Well, I still don’t really know. It’s described as being the four-dimensional analog of the cube?
VIGELAND: Oh OK, now I get it.
CLARK: Right, exactly.
VIGELAND: Well some of our friends on Facebook had a couple of other suggestions. You want to hear them?
CLARK: Yeah.
VIGELAND: Scott Pakadadis suggested DJ Te$$ Money. With the S’s being dollar signs, kind of like that one. And Darling Mahigan had several — not sure if they were for her or for me — but there’s DJ Pretty Penny, DJ Miss Money and DJ Needaloan, among others. I have one for you, Deb.
CLARK: Uh oh.
VIGELAND: DJ Senior Producer, Yo.
CLARK: Uh, yeah.
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