Jennifer Lee Johnson

Guest Post: How Many Hours a Day Can You Be Productive?

I have a new guest post up over at the Women on Business blog:

I once had a boss who would walk around the office at 5:05 to see who was sitting at their desk and who had already left for the day.  He said that if you were able to leave at 5 every day, you didn’t care about your job.

So, we all sat around for an extra hour a day twiddling our thumbs so as not to arouse his suspicion.  Sure, some days we had plenty of work to carry us to 6 or later.  But, other days… not so much.

It was always especially tough for me. If there’s one thing I do really well, its manage my time.  I’m the type who would rather work through lunch than stay late and I often manage my day down to the minute to make sure I get everything done on time – and done well.

So, sitting around every night just for appearances made me angry.  Shouldn’t your work be evaluated based on… well.. your work?  Not how many hours you punch on a time card?

Read the full post...

Review: Red Lights

Another belated post about my review of Red Lights: The Lives of Sex Workers in Postsocialist China over at the Feminist Review:

It’s easy to disregard sex workers, to relegate them to the margins of society and pretend that they don’t exist in the perfect little world that is uncomfortable with the idea that there are members of our population who have sex for money. Often considered an untouchable part of society (no matter what culture we’re talking about), sex workers are often overlooked in anthropological or sociological studies with many researchers content to look at the more accepted members of society rather than delve into the seedy underbelly of urban life. Luckily, the sex workers of Dalian, a bustling metropolis in Northern China, had their voices heard by Tiantian Zheng who writes a beautiful study of the realities facing these women.

Read the full review...

Last Secret Review

A belated post about my review of The Last Secret over at the Feminist Review. 

Secrets and lies. Can you ever really escape your past? Or do the mistakes you make when you’re young haunt you forever?

Those are the questions haunting Nora Hammond, the protagonist of The Last Secret. Nora is the stereotypical rich, suburban socialite, the woman who has everything; basically, she's the prototypical victim for a literary thriller. Nora's picture-perfect life begins to crack into pieces when she learns that her husband has been having an affair for years with one of her closest friends. As Nora struggles to hold the pieces of her life together—attempting to save her marriage and protect her children from the pain of a broken family—she is confronted head on by a visitor from her past, one who holds a deadly secret that threatens to tear Nora's life apart.

Read the whole review.

Bleakonomics

Check out my article in the April/May issue of Bust Magazine, "Bleakonomics."  It offers lots of great tips for surviving the current financial crisis -- everything from how to find extra money in your budget to what to do if you get laid off.

It's no secret the economy isn't exactly booming right now.  Banks are in a world of hurt, folks are losing their jobs left and right, and the stock market is going crazy.  There's no doubt about it: we're in a recession.  But how does this craptacular economy affect someone who's less likely to invest a spare $50 than drop it on a night of drinking and Sunday brunch -- or who doesn't have a spare anything to begin with?  What is a recession anyway, and more important, what does it mean to you?

Reflections on International Women's Days Past

I contributed this piece over at the Population Action International blog about the history of International Women's Day (March 8th).

"One seething trembling sea of women." These were the words Russian revolutionary and feminist Aleksandra Kollontai used to describe the one of the first International Women's Day celebrations in 1911. The first events were organized by German socialist Klara Zetkin to call attention to the plight of the female worker. As the year wore on, a whole series of marches and strikes were organized as news of these demonstrations spread across Europe like wildfire.

Read the whole blog entry: Reflections on International Women's Days Past

Recession 2.0

Last week, I contributed an essay on how this new recession (which U.S. News and World Reports is apparently calling "Recession 2.0") is affecting me over at the U.S. News and World Reports' Alpha Consumer blog.

Recession 2.0 hit me hard and fast, long before news of foreclosures and bailouts started headlining the nightly news.

My husband runs his own consulting firm and I'm a writer for a nonprofit. We've never been rich, but we were comfortable, able to enjoy some of the finer things that money brings young professionals who don't have kids or a mortgage. Nice wine, fancy dinners out on the town, the occasional massage . . . things you don't really need, but are very easy to get used to.

Then, one evening last June, I walked into our apartment to find my husband pacing the living room. I knew something was up and I knew it wasn't good.

Read the whole essay.

Trazzled: Snippets of Trips to France, Bulgaria and Mexico

I've been playing around with a new website called Trazzler, where you chronicle snapshots of your travels.  Pretty interesting concept and a lot of fun for a procrastinating writer.

Here's what I've posted so far.  The pics are mine, except the Bulgaria one.  I really wish my camera hadn't died on that trip!

Sunbathing on the Pebbled Beaches in Nice, France

Bargaining for Lace with the Lace Ladies in Sofia, Bulgaria

Praising the Gods at the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico

Review: Food Network Magazine

I've got a new Magazine Whore column up over at Bookslut.  This month's victim?  The premiere issue of Food Network Magazine.

You may be surprised to discover that this is Food Network Magazine's first issue. After all, the Food/Wine section of the newsstand has been plastered with the faces of Food Network “stars” like Paula Deen and Rachael Ray seemingly forever. It's almost as if someone in Food Network upper management walked past the newsstand one day, picked up a copy of Rachael Ray’s magazine, smacked their hand to their forehead and exclaimed, "Dammit! Why didn’t we think of this?” A few marketing meetings later, here we are.

Read the whole review.

Review: Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters

My review of Courtney E. Martin's amazing non-fiction book, Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: How the Quest for Perfection Is Harming Young Women, is up over at Feminist Review. 

Who doesn’t want to be perfect? We’re bombarded by images of perfection every day. Mothers are expected to work full-time, do more than their fair share of housework, volunteer for PTA fundraisers, and dazzle everyone at the local bake sale with their homemade peanut butter cookies. Our celebrities aren’t just actresses or singers anymore; now they do both, while simultaneously designing their own clothing line and serving as goodwill ambassadors to third world countries. Young girls are encouraged to get straight A’s, serve as student council president, play on the tennis team, and get perfect SAT scores. And every one of us is supposed to achieve these feats effortlessly, moving gracefully through life in stiletto heels and a perfect size six dress. According to Courtney E. Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: How the Quest for Perfection is Harming Young Women, these expectations—whether they are from young girls' parents, from the media, or self-inflicted—have created a breeding ground for eating disorders among young women in America.

This book really made me think.  I highly recommend it for anyone who has struggled with disordered eating or who has struggled with the idea that they have to be perfect.

Election Cheat Sheet #5: Environment

The last of my election cheat sheets is now online at 2Sensemag.com. 

Check it out: Election Cheat Sheet: Environment

Now that you're prepared, don't forget to vote on Tuesday!