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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
marcusmom
Published Letters: 24 Editor's Choice: 3
Heather Havrilesky has raised some interesting arguments in her article on the new "Survivor," but I believe she misunderstands the outrage many of us feel about CBS' cheap publicity stunt. The reason this resonates so strongly with me is that I object to the single-race characterization of the teams. Everyone is "only" white or "only" black. In real life, many of us have a racial mix somewhere in our backgrounds. As an American of Italian descent married to a Chinese American, and, more importantly, as the mother of a multi-racial child, I find all this talk of "tribes" to be unbearably offensive. What kind of message does this send to my child?
Geez, I hope your friends aren't actually as annoying as they sound...my "lamprey" turned 2 yesterday, and I can honestly say we've loved ALMOST every minute with her. Somehow you never hear the stories about the babies who sleep through the night at 8 weeks and never look back. It DOES happen sometimes. And even the toddler tantrums can be dealt with. It's true what the parenting books say -- if you ignore it, it stops.
There will certainly be times when you want to stab yourself -- or someone else, but just keep reminding yourself that this too shall pass. The good moments are so surpassingly fulfilling that they really do make up for the sleep deprivation and poop explosions and public tantrums.
Being the mom of a 2-year-old, I am quite familiar with the Wiggles. I guess for a non-parent, it might be hard to get the joke here, but if you watch as many Wiggles DVDs as we do around our house, it seems to me it should be obvious. It's funny because these guys are as "white-bread" (no pun intended) as they come, and their act is wildly popular with the 2- to 5-year-old set. Believe it or not, Greg's departure is a pretty big deal. He sings most of the vocals and writes a lot of the songs. Even though people are saying the kids won't notice the change to the new guy, I suspect many of them will.
For what it's worth, I thought the Wiggles/hip-hop parody idea was hilarious. I don't see any racial slur implied here. Kaufman's a very talented writer -- I read all his stuff, even the sports pieces, and I don't give a rat's ass about sports.
We recently witnessed the wholesale destruction of a heavily black region of the United States. The largest disaster in U.S. history--American citizens (many of them black) literally starving to death on live T.V. while the rest of the country watched. A little over a year after Katrina, how many Americans who were unaffected by the disaster even still think about it? How much of the damage in the Gulf region has been repaired?
Consider that for a minute, then ask yourself whether a black man could win the presidency in 2008.
It's interesting how many of the responses to this letter are openly hostile. Now, it's possible the letter writer is a bit, well, "full of herself" -- I don't know. But it's also possible that she's right in her self-assessment and she's simply being honest. If a woman is smart, attractive, accomplished, and unafraid to speak her mind, men think she's a bitch. Doesn't matter what color she is.
I suspect this woman's problem is as much that she is intelligent, as that she's black and evidently many black men don't want to date black women. A woman who is smart and funny can look like a model and still drive men away, because so many men are so insecure.
One piece of advice for the letter writer: I'm white and I met my husband, who's Asian, through a somewhat high-end (OK, expensive) dating service. Be open to dating services and definitely be open to other races. You never know.
Well, this and many other reasons. I simply can't stomach the Democratic leadership's idea that anything that makes any fucking sense -- like the concept that just maybe, our society has an interest in at the very least limiting people's access to weapons of mass destruction (assault rifles) -- can't be discussed because it's too "controversial." As in, threatening to the right-wing maniacs who control our government and our discourse.
"It's all about you." That's the whole point of this essay. "Look at me, the old guy with the trophy wife! I don't want these annoying kids taking attention away from ME!!"
Please, Salon -- spare us. These whiny pieces by people with nothing to whine about are getting really tedious.
It's not. So what is it doing here?
VERY lame.
My daughter will be 3 years old in a few weeks, and she's never yet had an item of denim clothing (either jeans or skirts) that fits right in the waist. They are ALWAYS too small. (Meanwhile other cotton pants fit her just fine in her normal size.) The idea that they're simply cutting 2T and 3T jeans to the same proportion as adult womens' clothing is horrifying.
One possible solution: buy toddler boys' jeans instead. They're cut more for a kid's body and nobody knows the difference anyway.
I think, if anything, we've become MORE misogynistic over time. Whatever else may be wrong with Britney Spears, any rational person can see she's not really fat. At 25, she's not really old. But that's what our daughters are being led to believe. She's, what, a size 8? MAYBE a 10? And she's a hog. Age 25, and ready for the nursing home.
And yet some people actually believe that Hillary Clinton has a chance in hell of being elected president. It ain't going to happen -- not in my lifetime anyway.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
