By Sharon Hori
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Prime-time television never ignited such romanticism in young
viewers.
With one hour of “ER,” a new generation of inspired
doctors is born. One dose of “Ally McBeal” enlightens a
courtroom’s worth of wannabe neurotic lawyers. And hanging
out with a weekly half-hour of “Friends” reminds us
that, well, we need good friends.
You’d think that the post-college life was made for
TV.
But don’t get too attached to the lights, camera and
action, suggests author Julia Bourland in her women’s
self-help book, “The Go-Girl Guide: Surviving Your 20s With
Savvy, Soul and Style.” When you give your admiration to
stars that twinkle only when they’re airbrushed, you
can’t expect camera tricks to pull you through the tough
20s.
You can, however, trust 29-year-old Bourland’s hindsight
as a veteran of “the most bizarre and thrilling 10 years of
your life.” Binding together the two cents of nearly 100
female twentysomethings and a ripe collection of authors and
experts, “The Go-Girl Guide” is the modern-day Cliffs
notes that constitute a crash course in dating, careers,
friendships and sex.
“Unlike the more predictable decades ahead, the 20s are
racked with stressful changes: leaving college and all our college
friends, starting life in a new city, trying to find an apartment
that we can actually afford and that doesn’t have mice or
roaches or sketchy next-door neighbors, moving back in with our
parents (God forbid), falling in love (God, please) and taking all
those life-altering risks that will forever change the course of
our future,” Bourland writes.
“With so much change underfoot, even the most
well-adjusted among us can become slightly crazed, which is
partially why the whole notion of soul-searching during this time
is a bad idea any way you look at it.”
Bourland pep-talks a generation of women into shaping the lives
they’ve always wanted and maintaining the confidence they
need to have. With rules like, “Know Who You Are Not,”
and “Find an Idolette to Guide You Through the Mental
Muck,” you’d believe our fearless leader is the hybrid
of an Americanized Confucius and an everyday Phoebe Buffay.
Bourland’s advice is fitting and realistic. Instead of
mimicking the elegance and style of Hollywood-acclaimed stars like
Gwyneth Paltrow, find tangible role models who can provide guidance
in establishing a career, a family and most of all, an
identity.
“Developing relationships with women in their 30s whose
lives we’d like to duplicate gives us a real-world
perspective of what we might create for ourselves in one short
decade,” Bourland writes. “Moreover, these
relationships can provide us much-needed direction on how to work
through some of the setbacks we’re bound to
encounter.”
For women who struggle in the confidence department, some
setbacks may require more than a little consolation. Bourland
provides the padding for harsh rejections, from how to deal with
bad breakups to how to nab a winning job after losing one to a
better candidate (and apparently she knows, as she frequently
mentions that after 50 rejections for newspaper reporting positions
she later snagged a job as a magazine editor).
Concerning careers, she’ll teach you to mingle with the
office crowd, during and after work. She’ll point out the
green lights and red flags of dating, and whether signs point to
moving in or breaking up. And regarding the parental units,
Bourland translates how life at home may change once you leave the
nest.
As a little refresher course in sex education, Bourland also
takes time to explain the myths behind orgasms, birth control and
one-night stands.
She’ll tell you how to present your resumé and
when’s the best time to hold a garage sale. She’ll help
you plan your monthly budget so you can pay your rent and afford a
vacation.
In short, Bourland’s words of wisdom are practically
perfect in every way.
Surviving the post-adolescence, pre-thirtysomething decade
boasts a challenge, but Bourland remains honest with herself and
true to her readers. She’ll share her accomplishments ““
from running her first marathon to completing this first book
““ as well as shed a little insight on what to expect in the
next 10 years, including marriage and children.
She’s full of spark and spunk. With girl-power emanating
from her pores, it’s no wonder she’s a self-confessed
Spice Girl admirer. And after 340 pages, she’ll have you
convinced “”mdash; maybe not that you’ll be living in a trendy
New York apartment with your best friends, but hey,
anything’s possible.