Tree of Knowledge dropped a little goodie from heaven, two lists of alternative princess books that I thought many of you with daughters (or little gift recipents, anyway, in Eszter’s case) might also be happy to know about.
First, an anti-princess reading list (you have to look for it on the sidebar, it doesn’t pop up) that includes many ideas that some of you have mentioned along the way as well as several new finds. Super.
Second, a best princess list. Eureka! Tree, where have you been all my life?
Thanks to The Curvature for cluing me into National Organization of Women’s Love Your Body Day! In honor of this you can choose to be:
A.) Pissed off (by watching a very good slideshow from NOW that follows in the Jean Kilborne tradition.) All the beauty image nonsense that we gripe about illustrated beautifully.
or
B.) Happy/Accepting/Celebratory (”This Little Bod of Mine, I’m Gonna Let it Shine…”). Think about all the marvelous things your body does for you. I give mine such a hard time, seriously taking it for granted (sorry body). If you prefer option B, I recommend the Shape of a Mother blog, that bluemilk introduced to me, kudos Shape of a Mother for showing us what real bodies actually look like. If you are a self-helping kind of gal, you might like to also take the I Love My Body Pledge. And without a doubt, no matter who you are, watch the Mika video for Big Girl.
(btw — BOTH A and B highly recommended. Send all that trash talk outward)
Today I took Thing 1 and Thing 2 to a women’s soccer game on campus, with friends (hi SA!) and it wasn’t exactly the perfect outing - it was extremely hot, there was no shade, we had a long walk each way, and because we had to get back for swimming, we were tight on time. Non-optimal. Significant whining ensued and we didn’t see very much of the game, but you know what, I’m still glad we went, because it reminded me about what an antidote women’s collegiate sports are for so many of the things that fry me. Read the complete Post.
Dove’s newest viral video “film,” Onslaught is making the rounds. In case you haven’t seen it, it’s certainly well worth the 1 minute and 15 second time investment. Check it out here.
But, poor Onslaught is getting shredded by the feminist blogosphere, and yesterday even some of my very, very faves like Jill over at Feministe and Two Knives… had at it — both making extremely good Read the complete Post.
Well, I watched WordGirl with Thing 1, dh, and a good friend this morning. The 30-somethings in the room enjoyed the embedded adult humor (e.g., when resident bad guy, “the butcher” –who rather hilariously hurls meat products at victims– is debilitated in a vegetarian restaurant after being pelted with tofu.) Thing 1 laughed a lot and was excited for the screening. This is the only tv show she’s seen other than Sesame Street (well, Read the complete Post.
Hey, hey, hey. Tomorrow PBS is launching WordGirl, which is almost my dream come true.
WordGirl is a hip, clever cartoon about an alien (in human form) supergirl from the planet “Lexicon” who fights enemies with her vocabulary and monkey sidekick (targeted toward kids from 4-9, but some Read the complete Post.
Three months ago when dh mentioned for a second or third time that he thought we should enroll Thing 1 in gymnastics to help build her confidence (she’s the poster child for risk-aversion), I lost it. Read the complete Post.
We’re still in vacationing at the lake house — ahhh. Today dh, dd, and I went out in kayaks for a paddle – a loon landed near us, we saw lilypads, fish jumping, it was great. Sunny, peaceful…I was so happy even the waterbugs seemed cute. And I’m no nature-queen, believe me. Thing 1 has been having a ball — miss formerly-petrified-at-swimming Read the complete Post.