Well this one shouldn’t come as a shocker. We, you, your Jewish mothers, your Bubby and your boyfriend all know we love Meredith Fineman and her phenomenal vodka soda infused tales of dating, JAPdom, sushi and jeggings on her site, Fifty First JDates. You know it well, after all, Meredith’s only been sharing dating sagas and advice on this site for the past year or so. Admitted nepotism aside, we thought we’d induct our dear Meredith into this year’s Big Jewcy and turn the tables on one of our favorite writers with an interview. I caught up with Meredith to chat about how it all started and to exchange childhood tales of like JAPpyhood.
Let’s talk about life before the blog. While Meredith may not have been dating a bunch o’ Jews back then, she preferred to get in touch with her Judaism through clothes, getting her nails done and other token acts of JAPpyhood I too engaged in as a young Jewess In Training. “I was the token JAPpy girl in school; but in a very P.C., hyper-intellectual high school. I didn’t even know what a true JAP was until I went to Penn… because until then, I had never seen a boy in Seven jeans.” Post-college, after working for a year in Buenos Aires, Meredith returned to Washington DC, where she not only regained her token JAP status, but also developed a need to expand her social and professional base. “I moved back to D.C. after a year and felt like I’d never really been a young professional there. I wanted to meet new people, and I had always gotten along with guys better than I did with girls. I love meeting new people – I can talk to a wall and I thought, ‘well, if I end up liking a guy, great.” While she had dated a bit in college, her lack of long term relationships past sealed the deal. “I joined the site and within a week I thought ‘this is epically hilarious and it would be tragic if I didn’t write about it.’” And write about it she did – hilariously, snarkily and self-deprecatingly (in the best of ways.)
You’d think that a collection of hilariously written dating tales would be enough of a reason for us to adore Ms. Fineman unconditionally. But, even better than her killer social commentary is that this young writer has a rare little something most don’t – a conscience. Not only did Meredith get consent from each and every man she wrote about on her site, but she made sure to only date in earnest, never dating men solely for the sale of content and never invading their private moments with commentary if ever the dates became more serious than light. “The site is always lighthearted, not deeply personal. I never write about sex, I am not interested in writing about the third date. I think I only made it to nineteen first dates before I met someone off the site, who was number five on FFJD. It was such a 21st century dilemma – I want to be a writer of social commentary, should I keep going out with these people? I was very conflicted for a while, but I decided to get into a relationship with him and have people submit their stories to me for my site. Now my stories are nowhere near as funny as the ones I had people submit to me.”
Her formula seems to have worked, not only because I dream of the day she’ll print my many tales of first dates over sushi with I-bankers who like to talk about themselves, but because Jewesses across the nation are now giving her the respect she deserves. With a father renowned for his excellence in political journalism, it was as yummy as a Jewish deli rainbow cookie when a FFJD reader, not having a clue who he was, approached him at a party to exclaim “Ahhh! Your daughter writes Fifty First JDates?!” – delicious.
Despite the fact that her own father unfollowed her on Twitter due to her dirty humor, we’re tuning in online and on Jewcy to figure out what of the few results stems from the age old equation JAP + Jew Financier + sushi + vodka = ? – the fact that Meredith has all the answers certainly merited her a spot on this year’s Big Jewcy.
A serious lover of fashion, I put on my big girl, Fashion Editor panties to ask Meredith one last question. To close out our chat, I figured I’d give her a non-FDA approved dosage of her own medicine.
CG of Jewcy: Jeggings… go!
MF of FFJD: They really confuse boys…where is the zipper?! It’s hard when the shirt is not long enough in the back, and there are no pockets. But, if they give an illusion that you’re wearing jeans when you’re not, that’s great. I mean, I ate late night for four years and so I did not wear constricted-waisted pants for four years. With jeggings, if you want to have a big snack – you can! Jeans are not comfortable, you can’t really eat in them. That part right above the button? It digs into you, its not ok. When I was younger, I was heavier and I used to sew elastic into my pants. I fucking invented jeggings and did not patent them – I could be a bagillianaire right now!”
Meredith Fineman – social commentator, funny woman, professional dater, inventor of jeggings, Big Jewcy member.
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