I am loving this New York Times style piece that meticulously dissects Michelle Obama's dress sense. It compares her to attitude to Barbara Bush (!) and her style to what an updated, assertive Jackie Kennedy might wear. They even get Andre-Leon Talley to weigh in:

“Everyone knows that people respond to the way you look when you run for office,” André Leon Talley, an editor-at-large for Vogue, which featured Mrs. Obama as an “It” girl in its April issue, said last week in an interview. “A black Camelot moment is the right moment for the Obamas,” he added. “And so the faux pearls, the A-line dresses, the Jackie flip are obviously all part of how her image strategy has evolved.”

And in regards to those big pearl necklaces:

If the gumball pearls were a retro wink at traditional decorum, they still read as anything but wifely jewels. “Those are not little ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ pearls,” Ms. Taylor [the beauty director and cover editor of Essence] said. “Those are large pearls. Those are pearls you have to deal with.”

"Pearls you have to deal with"! The NYT goes on to wonder if such pearls will be the a sticking point in the Obama campaign. Yes. Which is almost as ridiculous as this.

An interesting notice came across the wires today, revealing the political strategizing by LGBT-rights policy movers-and-shakers in the same-sex marriage battle.

Virtually all major national LGBT legal organizations and groups such as the HRC and NGLTF have issued a joint "warning": Out-of-state couples who come to California this summer to wed should not use their weddings as challenges to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages across state lines. More:

"Pushing the federal government before we have a critical mass of states recognizing same-sex relationships or suing in states where the courts aren’t ready is likely to get us bad rulings. Bad rulings will make it much more difficult for us to win marriage, and will certainly make it take much longer." the groups said.

"If you’re ready and it’s right for you, get married in California. If you do, claim the name and act like what you are married. But don’t go suing right away. Most lawsuits will likely set us all back," the statement said.

[via 365gay.com]

Ah, so this is why paying attention in high-school civics class was important! State lines, federal courts, Supreme Court, etc. Damn that hottie baseball player Robert something-or-other who had gorgeous arms and sat two rows in front...

To give a little perspetive, the Williams Institute, a think tank on LGBT law and policy at UCLA, recently released a study that predicted that almost $700 million will be pumped into California's economy from this decision over the next three years, and that more than half of the estimated 120,000 couples married in this time frame will come from out-of-state.

That is, of course, if the Nov 4. ballot initiative to outlaw same-sex marriage doesn't pass.

I've been wanting to post this tidbit for a while, but with all the election fury, it's been on the back burner. But's it's so significant, I couldn't pass it up: The University of Wisconsin at Madison, one of the largest and most prestigious research universities in this country, is about to appoint an out lesbian, Biddy Martin, to be its chancellor.

How cool is that? More:

Martin, the No. 2 official at Cornell since 2000, is a professor of women's studies and German studies and author of the 1995 book "Femininity Played Straight: The Significance of Being Lesbian."

About eight to 10 openly gay people have become college presidents and chancellors but mostly at small colleges, said Candace Gingrich of the Human Rights Campaign.

"None the size of UW-Madison," she said in a phone interview.

[via CBS News]

Not only is the fact that a major American university will be headed by a lesbian pretty darn groovy—the fact that a professor of women's studies is getting a chancellor post is a really bold move. Go UW!

I noticed in the CBS story above, however, that they do not mention that an out lesbian has been appointed chancellor of a major research university in the past: Denice Denton, former head of the University of California at Santa Cruz (enrollment is about 15,000; while certainly not as big or influential as UW-Madison, it's a formidable school).

Her story ended tragically, however, when she apparently committed suicide by jumping off the roof of a high-rise residential building in San Francisco in 2006. It is speculated that she was depressed from controversy swirling around her appointing her partner to a well-paying post at UCSC and using school funds on inappropriate home renovations.

No doubt it's a stressful job. But something tells me good ol' Biddy is up to the challenge!