Ok, this might sound like absolute heresy on a New York-based blog, but um, did these girls explain why they absolutely HAD to go to New York, where rent is a bajillion dollars-a-month? Was Chicago just not expensive enough for them?
Like these girls, I'm from a state like Ohio, and yes, I did leave home after high school, but generally speaking I had a purpose for going wherever I went--college admission, then a job offer, another job, then grad school admission. I'm not saying this to brag--I'm making less than these girls--but I live in a mid-size city where I can live quite comfortably on what I make. And whenever I moved cities I had a vague idea of what I'd be doing there before I arrived, so I was never completely unmoored. High school classmates of mine have ended up in New York, but they got there *after* getting job offers.
I'm not saying "let them get jobs" as a person would say "let them eat cake"--I realize it's hard to get work right now--but it seems to me that with that in mind, they would have done well to stay put until they had some real prospects, or move to a cheaper city if they really wanted to chance it. Moving to NYC with Mary Tyler Moore dreams in 2009 just sounds insane. Did I say Mary Tyler Moore? Sorry, I meant Sex and the City. It's just a tv show, girls!
One of the biggest websites in the world, the NYTimes, mentions that they are "thinking about" starting a blog, including what it will be called, and, on the day that the story runs, the blog does not seem to exist.
Not only that, but these journalism alum couldn't be bothered to even research that. Twintown.com is a guitar website and twintown.blogspot.com is also taken. Twintown.wordpress.com is taken by a squatter who probably wouldn't mind selling the address. All that took about 30 seconds of typing on my lunch break that these up-and-comers evidently are unable or unwilling to do.
Talk about wasted free publicity. This was a god-damned article on the internet. Why didn't they have a site up and running for the article to link to, thereby driving traffic?
(And yes, I know the answer is that they are lazy, unable to come up with a coherent life plan and/or otherwise unintelligent)
So if you're working and paying the bills, how are you "unemployed"?
Sorry, I couldn't read the whole NYT article. I couldn't get past the blonde-bombshell-twin fantasy photos. I doubt if the NY would care if these women looked like Tom Friedman (mustache included).
General note for all under-30s: your life is going to suck, you'll never get paid what you're "worth", and your whole 20s will fly by like a bad sitcom flashback scene. Only when you hit your 40s will you finally realize that your college degree did not include any real-world experience and that the first person to have risked giving you a job was a saint. Until then, enjoy the ride and suck up life experiences like a sponge.
It's unfortunate that the NY Times decided to run an article about these young ladies that completely omitted a good portion of their story regarding their journey to mediocrity, cluelessness and unemployment. The writer of this article FAILED to mention that these young ladies were in fact interns for a semester at Sports Illustrated back in 2005 and while there, fell very short of the high standards that are usually set by Time Inc interns and employees. To say that they were irreverent is an understatement. They showed up for their first day on the job dressed exactly alike, ranting and giggling about nonsense, and finishing each others sentences whenever spoken to. They made it clear from the beginning that they were used to doing everything together as twins and that they were not very comfortable leaving each other's sides when given assignments. Their work ethic was mostly lackadaisical and poor, to the point where they were removed from their original job duties in the reporters group after a month because of their poor interviewing skills, negligent fact checking and penchant for allowing numerous errors to run in the magazine in stories that they were involved in. They were finally reassigned to SI's sports library where they were relegated to filing and card cataloging. In the 11 years that I have worked as a writer/reporter for SI, never has an intern been taken off of their job as a reporter. In the two months that I spent working with these young ladies at SI it became quite obvious that not only were they not cut out to be journalists but they were also still very immature and childlike when it came to taking on adult responsibilities and performing on the big stage. I mostly chalked it up to the fact that they were never separated and constantly lived in this world of "twinsdom." Still, to read this article both saddens and infuriates me because it implies that we should feel sorry for these ladies because they can't catch as break, which is hogwash because most people who intern at SI usually use the opportunity as a stepping stone for a career in journalism. It suggests that they are going through your typical NY unemployment experience in which a person is passionate and so hungry for employment that they stomp the pavement say and night looking for a job and spends their free time honing their skills in hopes that they will be discovered. That clearly is not the case here. Instead we have two young ladies who still feel like the city owes them something, that the hand outs and opportunities should be frivolous and come at no expense simply because they are twins who came here from a small town. I say, Boo and Hiss time two.
i graduated in may,and i'm having trouble finding a job. (although, i'm lucky enough to have two internships right now) i find this article really bothersome because a lot of people will just think that recent college grads are all idiots with a false sense of reality, who don't want to work hard.
this is not the case. many of my friends, as well as me, are stressed out with job searching. it's really disheartening to go on so many interviews, just to get rejected. it's not like we're asking for cushy jobs, i just want an entry level job. however, the economy is so bad, people that have worked for like 5 years are settling for entry level jobs that would've normally gone to college grads.
it sucks for everyone, and it makes me mad that these girls are being seen as poster children for recent college grads. go to hell, nyt.
Why would they need an accountant to do their taxes? What kind of deductions could they possibly be taking, especially since they don't seem to be working for themselves, have no children, own no houses, etc. Are accountants the new accessory?
The little video of the two girls on the Times' front page is just awful. You can see them fry sliced white bread on a stove (for breakfast!), and play softball in short-shorts. They unfortunately do not have cutesy, little girl voices, as someone assumed in an earlier comment. The video makes the story even more pathetic, and the photograph accompanying the article defintiely captured their good side.
Either I'm old and don't get the lingo or the article is just badly written. There are like five spots where the story lost me. I don't understand how the girl lost her job. Because she went to cancun? Because she played the music too loud? Because she played the music in Cancun too loud? Seriously. I don't get that paragraph at all.
Also, the lipstick microphone concept is a real head-scratcher for me. The point is to have a way to tell the whole bar a guy you're with is being a jerk? Honey, that's what throwing-martinis-in-faces is for. I guess you're too old to have learned this from Dynasty.
Also, I believe there is a typo in the description of the roommate that works at the Blue Donkey. I don't think he wants to be a public artist. There's an extra letter in there.
@GooberSaysHey: Glad I'm not the only one that noticed this. I didn't understand the Cancun story and I'm pretty sure that tiny microphones already exist and that there are also more expedient ways to demonstrate to a crowd of people that someone is a douche.
It also seemed like there were some questions that needed to be asked that weren't addressed at all: do these girls realize that the jobs that they're trying to get pay less than a $43,000/year bartending gig? Or that if they want to write, they should be spending more of their copious free time writing for free instead of busking for business cards in the subway? Or that spending $39k in student loans to transfer to RUTGERS for a j-school education was a giant waste of money and not at all well-planned? Wouldn't THESE types of questions have made for a more interesting article than the one that we all just read? Why is the person that a) thought these girls were a good story idea and b) thought that this was the most relevant story she could get out of them still writing for the NYT?
Okay, so they're blond twins from Ohio looking for fame and fortune in the big city. And golly jeepers, they haven't found it yet. I'm supposed to feel...bad? How the fuck is this a story? Who gives a crap about two talentless girls who haven't paid any dues? Seriously ladies, what makes you two so special? You work at a bar and can make buckeyes? Neat-o! Is there anything else on the talent menu? Something tells me not very much.
But good luck getting a TV show! If that fails, might I suggest the U.S. Army? I'm pretty sure they're hiring.
i understand the hostility toward this non-story that somehow got published in the times(it was a pretty dumb article), and the misleading title of the article--$40000/yr out of college is pretty ideal. (and bartending gigs in ny aren't exactly easy to come by), but i don't get the hostility toward the sisters in the article in this post, particularly in the comments. the article doesn't mention there qualifications (or lack thereof), so we can't make any assessment about whether they are in fact unhireable without resorting to cliches about blondes or blondes w/ big boobs. the article approaches the sisters as a twin-group rather than individuals, so it's not really even fair to be mad at them about that. the worst is being hostile and dismissive towards them because of how they look. @"Only way they are going to make money in the publishing world is if they are hot enough to be in Playboy": is this a line out of Mad Men or something?
@shailiethakkar000001002: I don't doubt that the girls are perfectly nice girls. But this city is surprisingly helpful when you want to work hard and put your nose to the grindstone. A very charmed complaint is being given too much space and time, and little self-reflection is had by the girls. At no point is there a "What are we doing wrong?" moment. As if that might be implied. Their qualification is a degree, an education, a decent upbringing the article makes very evident. The blood, sweat, and tears are missing. And we're villains for being indignant? I don't want to say "most," but many, many people - especially on an individual basis, outside of mob rule - don't enjoy watching the failures of other people. But they won't suffer their baseless sob stories, either. They don't have the compassion to spare.
But you're right. Calling them out for their looks is pointlessly cruel.
@shailiethakkar000001002: It is somewhat curious to read about their laundry list of jobs/pursuits. While the article suggests that they want some sort of journalism-related jobs, that's not what comes across. They really come across as wanting a reality show about being Midwestern Twins in the City.
The "maybe we should have a blog" thing is just the first layer of WTF. There's absolutely no suggestion in the article that they're using their weird little experiences as writing/pitching fodder. The freelancers I know who write features would have gone home and written a funny, witty article about being part of a human installation at a museum. Did the Ohioans? And if they did, then why the hell didn't they think "oooh, NYT feature, must throw together a site immediately to host writing samples!" Because as of now, the article ends with the article. There is no deeper layer.
Maybe I'm a jaded, cynical wretch, but these girls are looking for something much closer to the reality TV/media personality/famous-for-being-famous side of things. Not particularly practical, even if they have somehow finagled free publicity via that reporter, and not particularly illuminating about being down and out during this recession.
10/12/09
10/12/09
Are you listening world?!?!?
10/12/09
I love how only girls can get away with shit like that.
O-H?
10/12/09
Like these girls, I'm from a state like Ohio, and yes, I did leave home after high school, but generally speaking I had a purpose for going wherever I went--college admission, then a job offer, another job, then grad school admission. I'm not saying this to brag--I'm making less than these girls--but I live in a mid-size city where I can live quite comfortably on what I make. And whenever I moved cities I had a vague idea of what I'd be doing there before I arrived, so I was never completely unmoored. High school classmates of mine have ended up in New York, but they got there *after* getting job offers.
I'm not saying "let them get jobs" as a person would say "let them eat cake"--I realize it's hard to get work right now--but it seems to me that with that in mind, they would have done well to stay put until they had some real prospects, or move to a cheaper city if they really wanted to chance it. Moving to NYC with Mary Tyler Moore dreams in 2009 just sounds insane. Did I say Mary Tyler Moore? Sorry, I meant Sex and the City. It's just a tv show, girls!
10/12/09
One of the biggest websites in the world, the NYTimes, mentions that they are "thinking about" starting a blog, including what it will be called, and, on the day that the story runs, the blog does not seem to exist.
Not only that, but these journalism alum couldn't be bothered to even research that. Twintown.com is a guitar website and twintown.blogspot.com is also taken. Twintown.wordpress.com is taken by a squatter who probably wouldn't mind selling the address. All that took about 30 seconds of typing on my lunch break that these up-and-comers evidently are unable or unwilling to do.
Talk about wasted free publicity. This was a god-damned article on the internet. Why didn't they have a site up and running for the article to link to, thereby driving traffic?
(And yes, I know the answer is that they are lazy, unable to come up with a coherent life plan and/or otherwise unintelligent)
Talk about your wasted opportunity.
10/12/09
Sorry, I couldn't read the whole NYT article. I couldn't get past the blonde-bombshell-twin fantasy photos. I doubt if the NY would care if these women looked like Tom Friedman (mustache included).
General note for all under-30s: your life is going to suck, you'll never get paid what you're "worth", and your whole 20s will fly by like a bad sitcom flashback scene. Only when you hit your 40s will you finally realize that your college degree did not include any real-world experience and that the first person to have risked giving you a job was a saint. Until then, enjoy the ride and suck up life experiences like a sponge.
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
this is not the case. many of my friends, as well as me, are stressed out with job searching. it's really disheartening to go on so many interviews, just to get rejected. it's not like we're asking for cushy jobs, i just want an entry level job. however, the economy is so bad, people that have worked for like 5 years are settling for entry level jobs that would've normally gone to college grads.
it sucks for everyone, and it makes me mad that these girls are being seen as poster children for recent college grads. go to hell, nyt.
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
Also, the lipstick microphone concept is a real head-scratcher for me. The point is to have a way to tell the whole bar a guy you're with is being a jerk? Honey, that's what throwing-martinis-in-faces is for. I guess you're too old to have learned this from Dynasty.
Also, I believe there is a typo in the description of the roommate that works at the Blue Donkey. I don't think he wants to be a public artist. There's an extra letter in there.
10/12/09
It also seemed like there were some questions that needed to be asked that weren't addressed at all: do these girls realize that the jobs that they're trying to get pay less than a $43,000/year bartending gig? Or that if they want to write, they should be spending more of their copious free time writing for free instead of busking for business cards in the subway? Or that spending $39k in student loans to transfer to RUTGERS for a j-school education was a giant waste of money and not at all well-planned? Wouldn't THESE types of questions have made for a more interesting article than the one that we all just read? Why is the person that a) thought these girls were a good story idea and b) thought that this was the most relevant story she could get out of them still writing for the NYT?
10/12/09
10/11/09
But good luck getting a TV show! If that fails, might I suggest the U.S. Army? I'm pretty sure they're hiring.
10/11/09
10/12/09
But you're right. Calling them out for their looks is pointlessly cruel.
10/12/09
The "maybe we should have a blog" thing is just the first layer of WTF. There's absolutely no suggestion in the article that they're using their weird little experiences as writing/pitching fodder. The freelancers I know who write features would have gone home and written a funny, witty article about being part of a human installation at a museum. Did the Ohioans? And if they did, then why the hell didn't they think "oooh, NYT feature, must throw together a site immediately to host writing samples!" Because as of now, the article ends with the article. There is no deeper layer.
Maybe I'm a jaded, cynical wretch, but these girls are looking for something much closer to the reality TV/media personality/famous-for-being-famous side of things. Not particularly practical, even if they have somehow finagled free publicity via that reporter, and not particularly illuminating about being down and out during this recession.