Great news! We received this nice email today from my very special sister:

To be clear, I am taking my position as Trustee very seriously, just like a real job within a business.  With that in mind, I keep track of every minute, mile and expense regarding the Trust and will reimburse accordingly.  I will be charging $50/hr and break down my time in tenths.  

 

With all that said, I encourage you to contact me or my attorney with very specific, straight forward questions and/or concerns so as not to waste anybody’s time and consequently, money from the Trust.

Isn’t that nice? We get to pay her just for asking a question about our share of the trust! What would Jesus do?

My friend Heidi is an artist who makes jewelry and lives in New Orleans. (She wrote about the BP oil catastrophe, here.) When she heard about my leaky roof and similar worries, she made this necklace specifically to help out. It is up for auction at her website here.

My first thought upon seeing it was:   SHIT! I WANT THAT! Her photos show this piece in spectacular detail.

Heidi is the best! If you know someone who would love this necklace, please send them the link.

I am working on a special Sister Wolf Memento Thing to send to all who have contributed to the SW Relief Fund. xoxo   I am trying to develop other ideas like T-shirts and I welcome all fund-raising ideas from everybody. Thanks & blessings.

What an honor to receive the gift of fan art. At least that’s what I’m calling this beautiful picture from Tanya, a sweet and talented follower of Godammit.com.   This is actually how I see myself a lot of the time. I love it, Tanya!

Pretty soon, I’m going to go into fund-raising mode. I may use Kickstarter or I may just beg. I am drowning in debt and the roof is leaking in the kitchen. I can’t get a job because I can’t get a job. Mr. Sister Wolf is working long hours but the hole gets deeper.

Any ideas for money-raising projects, please share them!

Any small donations, click on the Virgin Mary thing on the right.

Blessings either way, xo

Aren’t you sick of hearing about which fashion bloggers are influential? Have you ever been influenced by a blogger to do anything besides vow not to make an ass of yourself?

Okay, that was a little harsh. Many fashion bloggers are stylish and level-headed. But I can’t imagine being influenced by any of them to buy the stuff they like or anything else. I can think of only two instances of being moved enough to spend money to follow a style blogger’s lead: Once I bought a nail polish that Faux Fuchsia wrote about, and once I was compelled to wear leather shorts after seeing them on Queen Michelle. (She graciously saved me from myself by sending me a pair.) This is a total of two actions (and only one purchase.)

And yet, someone believes that fashion bloggers are the way to market products. Coach believes this, and even Barneys believes this. But at least Barney’s is on record as feeling that Jane Aldridge speaks to the Barneys customer, and not a general audience.

Here’s Jane herself on the subject:

“I think the media industry is changing and bloggers are leading the change. The term ‘blogger’ doesn’t do it justice – so many of the top bloggers are trusted experts that have developed loyal fan followings.” “Fashion bloggers are a unique combination of publisher and talent. This is part of the next evolution of advertising – a more integrated approach. It’s important for both bloggers and advertisers to stay true to their brands.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t regard any blogger as a “trusted expert.” And I don’t like “integrated advertising.” I like to know when an ad is an ad. When I watch movies on TV, I still like to yell out “Product placement!” when I see the Mac laptop or the Nike running shoes.

Looking at a panel of Tavi, Brianboy, Diane Pernet, etc etc, I can’t even imagine letting them dictate what I’ll buy or wear. I look at style blogs for the pictures, and sometimes for the inadvertent comedy. I am more inspired by Elle or Vogue, because I enjoy the fantasy evoked by a gorgeous model. If I want to see average looking people wearing trendy clothes, I can go to the mall.

Here’s Jane again:

“I think our blogs are freshly personal. There are a lot of blogs out there that cover fashion, but for us it’s totally homegrown content. We’re not going to blog about Chloe Sevigny’s Opening Ceremony collection.”

What does she mean by “content?” When did content become photos of yourself? I would rather someone cover the Opening Ceremony collection, because at least that constitutes information.

I am hearing about fashion bloggers making lucrative deals with companies like J. C. Penney and Urban Outfitters, but I wonder if the investments will pay off. How many readers are so impressionable?

But wait. A new comment appeared on my post about Gala Darling. A long, heartfelt and eloquent comment that I will quote only in part…

Dear Gala,

You caught me at a very impressionable age and quickly became my idol. You told me that young girls like myself could make a living from blogging, could live a carefree life of shopping for shoes, sparkles and photoshoots and more so that that was how my life should be spent. If it wasn’t what I wanted, than I just didn’t love myself enough. If I loved myself like you loved yourself than my life too would be consumed with shopping sprees and soapbox speeches for animal cruelty whilst wearing fur.

You already know how it ends. Gala Darling betrayed the girl’s trust because Gala Darling is a brand, not a person. And her fans were consumers, not friends.

Bloggers who align themselves with products become products themselves.

Me, I have nothing to sell, but I’d still like some money. I’d like to influence my readers to see or think or feel as I do, or to want to entertain me. Anything else seems monumentally presumptuous, or like Tavi’s infamous hair-bow, absurd.

Any thoughts on this?

Hello,

I am responding to your ad for a fashion, celebrity & lifestyle writer. I have been writing freelance for a tabloid magazine, and I write every day on my blog at http://godammit.com.

I would love to learn more about this job and look forward to hearing from you.

Best,
Sister Wolf
~

You seem very talented:) I like your work.

Me and a group of social media addicts launched a web site called smaknews.com, please signup to it and tell me what you think, tell me if you see your self working there.

Then send me your rate and goals.

Looking forward working with you:)

Michael Abehsera
CEO www.SmakNews.com
~

Hey Michael,

Sure, I could come up with 50,000 posts a day for your blog….but I really am interesting in earning some money from writing, since I have my own blog.

What are you paying your writers? I need to have a weekly sum, at least 50 bucks, or I can’t put my time into it. Know what I’m saying?

Thanks for reply!

Best,
Sister Wolf
~

50 bucks a week or per article? if its per week how many articles?

Michael Abehsera
~

Well, I am a bit confused about what you’re looking for!   So many of the posts at you blog are just taken from other blogs…

Are you looking for original content? If yes, I could write a couple of posts for 50 bucks.

Could we talk on the phone about this? Just so I can get a clearer idea of what you are looking for.
~

have you heard of the term social news site?
Any ways if you look at our site thats what we are like digg, reddit etc you post news from other sources, but we also have our own content.
So I am looking for original content.
Any ways for now we have enough writers starting I will keep you info for future reference, thanks.

Michael Abehsera
~

Okay, thanks. BTW, “anyways” is not a word.

Sincerely,
Sister Wolf

I saw this picture today and it triggered my addiction.

I vaguely recalled seeing these shoes online somewhere and being crushed that they were sold out in my size. But now I had to go look for them again. And this time I found a pair.

There were 290 Euros, which didn’t seem too bad. I put them in a cart and started filling in my details. I was wondering in the back of my mind how I would pay for them, but I told the back of my mind, Big deal, I’ll use the credit card I was planning to stop using.

The total came to $425, after shipping and some crazy tax.   Now I was really struggling. Fuck! That’s a lot of money! I started looking for the shoes again, hoping to find a better price.

The shoes were like a dazzling promise of perfect eternal happiness. If only I had them, I would be the coolest person ever. All those buckles would be a hassle, but once on my feet, the shoes would make me an indestructible goddess and paragon of stylish allure. In fact, they are very similar to some shoes I already own and have worn ONE TIME.

By the grace of god (i.e., a sense of guilt) I was able to resist buying the shoes until chatting with my sponsor, who typed these words:

i will kill you! those are like your acne sandals– DON’T REPEAT BUY!!

What a relief. I didn’t buy more shoes. I have no illusions that this won’t happen again, though. Shoes are a fucking illness that make no sense. If I changed the word “shoes” to dope, I think this would be a story told in AA or NA a million times every day.

Shoes are an empty promise. And this makes me either mad or sad; I’m too much of an addict to distinguish one from the other.