emoji gewgaw

Oh, hello again. I guess you haven't heard much from me in a while. I think I maybe hate the internet now? But it's more than that. Like, motherhood, you guys. Lately, I'm so busy playing Wendy, Moppet, Blue, or Elly to Felix's Bob, Tom Kitten, Steve, or Pocoyo that it's like I've lost my own point of view. These recent turns as supporting actor, along with my much-earlier-than-most-people's morning work schedule and the disorienting June humidity have together destroyed what remained of my attention span. Which may also explain why I've been increasingly dependent on Emojis as a means of digital expression of late. But I suppose I'm just another product of my own shamefully distracted generation. The People are demanding more and better emojis, and the sundry handful of wingding adaptations recently proffered by the Unicode Consortium apparently isn't enough to sate them; there's a surprising amount of energy being spent campaigning for symbols of hotdogs, cupcakes, and tacos to be added to the collection--even a Petition to Add More Diversity to the Emoji Keyboard, which I find somewhat more credible, as I myself bemoaned a lack of jewish symbols during my stint working with the hasidic community last winter. Pretty serious, I know. Not that I possess the wherewithal to campaign for such things--afterall, we do have letters when pictograms fail us. Still, I find the Emoji library a charming source of aesthetic inspiration. And I'm not the only one! See, for example, last December's Emoji Art & Design Show; my favorite halloween costume from last year; or Alison Chemla's emoji-inspired jewelry line Alison Lou, whose soon-to-be-released 2015 "Coney Island" resort collection perfectly captures the summery, teenaged vibe inherent to the world of emoji, imho

When texting, I prefer the cat-faced emoticons, so for me these circular smileys are more evocative of the silly tee-shirts I wore in middle school in the mid nineties. Similarly, the beach ball charm reminds me of a key chain I had as a girl (only this time, in a good way). My fav is the "ok" gold charm necklace, but at $475 it's still one of the more affordable items in the collection, which has all but sold out already. Who has this kind of disposable income these days?! Teens?!?!?!