Seduction. The mere mention of the word undoubtedly conjures up images of temptation, allure, smoldering images of want and desire, ultimately merging into a climactic burning of carnal yearning. Seduction: Stepping out of the bedroom and onto the catwalks. One of sexuality’s favorite nine-letter words struts her stuff across the thumbprint of designers and implores you to try and resist her.
The role of sexuality in mainstream fashion has reached a climax. A night of television channel surfing illustrates this trend in motion. From Carrie Bradshaw on ‘Sex and the City’ to Bette Porter on ‘The L Word,’ we as consumers are smitten with the intensity, power struggle, and dare we admit it, revealing fashions our female protagonists subliminally beckon to us week after week. Who amongst us hasn’t pined for a pair of Manolo Blahnik’s after watching Sarah Jessica Parker pine for Mr. Big, an aptly applied sexual innuendo of a name. Fashion is no stranger to sexuality. For over 250 years, in fact, the intertwining of these two mediums has proven itself successful time and again.
VESTITURE magazine excerpt*
Fall, 2010
Writing Excerpts
CAROL BRYANT
Social Media & Public Relations/Writer/Blogger/Editor
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"My heart beats dog." Carol Bryant
"Anatomy of a Grieving Dog Mom"
"Haughty Couture/Naughty Couture: The Intersexting of Fashion and Sexuality"
There’s a hole in my heart where whole used to be. Those were the first words that came to mind when I sat down today to write this piece about grief, the power it spews into one’s life whether we want it or not. The great Emily Dickinson wrote so many passages about death, yet one resonates over and over, “Forever is composed of nows.” It certainly is. Are you loving someone today? Missing someone today? Wanting something today? Right now, you hold the forever that is the feeling. Right now.
And today, now, my forever is grief.
It’s an odd thing grief. We fear it, dismiss it, try and avoid it, occasionally have brushes with it, and most often times without warning, it invites itself into our lives. No welcome mat but it comes nonetheless. Good ole Emily said it best, “Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me.” So when Lucy Maloney asked if she could have the honor of immortalizing my Brandy Noel in replica form with one of her miniatures, I hesitated.
Fidose of Reality excerpt*
August, 2011
"Same Time Next Year"
Alice waited for this day her entire life. She played it over and over in her mind, waiting for mister tall, dark, and handsome to walk into the door of her heart. Who'd ever marry a waitress from a small town, she'd questioningly doubt herself 364 days a year. Now he was late for his own wedding.
"Someone call for a postman from a small town?" Carl beamed as he bolted through the church doors that cold December night, jostling his postal cap while wiping freshly fallen snow from his raven locks.
Alice ran so fast into his arms, her backdraft extinguished the dim light from the candle nubs.
Writer's Weekly
Winter, 2009
Same Time Next Year
By
Carol Bryant
CSI move over: Sherlock Bones is in town and he’s here to deliver “paw and order.” The scales of justice swing in Fido’s favor with canines working in tandem with humans, unearthing what only a dog’s nose knows. From arson investigators and evidence finders to cadaver dogs and bomb detectors, dogs have earned their rightful place as law enforcement ambassadors.
Fire
Every year billions of dollars in property and hundreds of human lives are lost because of arson-related fires. What arsonists probably do not consider are accelerant detection canines, otherwise known as arson dogs. There are 81 active arson dog teams in the United States and Canada who are trained to sniff out minute traces of accelerants like gasoline or lighter fluid.
FIDO Friendly excerpt*
October, 2011
"Sherlock Bones meets Paw and Order"
As one pack of dogs and their handlers boarded a plane bound for a country convulsed by destruction, another sought assistance fleeing the devastation of a once-pristine Japanese landscape.
Hundreds of thousands of Japanese residents experienced the country’s largest recorded earthquake on March 11, 2011. Mother Nature’s collision course continued as the earthquake spawned tsunamis up to 33 feet crashing six miles inland. The proclivity of survivors grew dim, as totals of those expected lost in the tragic fury rose to insurmountable numbers. This is when a team of six dogs and their handlers boarded a plane for Ofunatio City on the northeast coast of Japan. On March 14, task forces began their daybreak mission.
Four of the six dogs deployed were rescues turned rescuers. Recruiting rescue dogs for the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF) is one of the tenets of which founder Wilma Melville is most proud. “Our teams were in Japan for five days. Thousands of people who had loved ones missing were assured no one was left behind. That in and of itself is our success,” Melville reported.
FIDO Friendly excerpt*
June, 2011
"Rock Star Rescue: Sidewalk Angels Minus the Concrete Wings"
A man and his wife walk into a no-kill animal sanctuary to adopt a dog. They meet a timid and injured dog, believed unlikely to ever trust people again. The couple departs with one of the most abused animals in the history of the sanctuary and teaches him to be “lonely no more.” That dog is Tyler and that couple is rock star Rob Thomas, who along with his wife, Marisol, gives fearlessly to the animals of Pets Alive no-kill sanctuary.
Familiar to fans as front man for the successful rock group, Matchbox Twenty, and his skyrocketing solo career, Thomas recently rocked out for Rovers at the annual Pets Alive Fur Ball event held this summer in Mount Kisco, New York. “Rob and Marisol are true partners in every venture of Pets Alive,” Kerry Clair, President of the Board reported.
Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary is situated on 80 acres at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains about 90 minutes from New York City. Far from the city’s urban hustle are animals rescued from other shelters and euthanasia lists both locally and internationally. During a recent summer rescue, 20 puppies and dogs from Dead Dog Beach in Puerto Rico were transported to Pets Alive. Rob and Marisol adopted Ollie, one of the dogs from the Puerto Rico rescue.
FIDO Friendly Excerpt*
October, 2011
"Fido Forges Into Destruction and Out of Devastation: Japanese Earthquake"
