Disney Does it Again

It’s that time of year again where tons of kids will dot the streets with Spiderman, Batman, and this year’s Iron Man. Included in the lot will be the typical Cinderella, Snow White, and right now – the hot new costume/character is Tinkerbell. The hype for the Fairy phenomenon is enormous and just goes to show what a conglomerate like Disney can do with a little extra cash. They’ve taken a character from a novel created more than 50 years ago and saturated the market with her image making it popular among today’s little girls whose great-grandparents knew the character almost a century ago from reading a book! How fly is that! How powerful is the media?!
Alas this year, I found myself scouring the aisles for Cinderella – my daughter’s costume of choice this Halloween. As a mother of African descent I’m doing my damnedest to instill a certain level of appreciation for who she is as a young lady of color but it’s difficult when the pop images in the media are overwhelming and don’t look like her. I did find an African-American picture version of Cinderella from Jump at the Sun books: http://www.hyperionbooksforchildren.com/jump/jumpatthesun_books.asp, and bought it to read to her before renting Disney’s version from the library. And even though she loves the book and Cinderella’s dress is a gorgeous pink (my daughter’s favorite color), it’s just not popular enough for her to want to be this particular Cinderella. She was very specific when she pointed out she wanted the blue dress. So then I found Rodgers and Hammerstein’s version starring Brandy and Whitney Houston. Here, Brandy wore the familiar pale blue dress which was perfect! But as I searched the stores I noticed all the “Cinderella” dresses had the Disney icon’s face pinned, dotted, or adorning some part of the dress which is unacceptable in my home. So I took to my other favorite place to shop when I don’t see what I want in the stores…EBAY! I put in a search for Cinderella dresses or gowns and came across a little girl’s pale blue, poofy dress worn as a child’s Cinderella ballet costume. It contained all the basic elements I needed to create the perfect one-of-a-kind Cinderella dress for my daughter without the Disney symbol strategically planted all over it. I plan to take the dress, go to a local fabric shop and buy an inexpensive array of embellishments to sprinkle and twinkle onto my daughter’s costume. There, now I’ve spent half the money and hers will be unlike anyone else’s! Fabulous, take that Disney!…now if I can just get my hands on a pair of “glass slippers”…sigh, the hunt continues.

Protect OUR Children_Act 1738

I was called yesterday to turn to the OPRAH show and watch what was one of the most appalling shows I'd ever seen. I will add the link as I cannot speak on it too much, the subject matter greatly disturbs me and it is difficult to write or speak about. However I URGE you, please do not turn away...

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20080911_tows_predators

The statistics surrounding Child Abuse in the form of Pornography, Molestation, and Rape in this country is inhumane and ridiculously ALARMING. People, or shall I say individuals (because I can not classify this type of entity as a human being) are using the internet to trade child pornography like baseball cards and that is just the tip of the iceberg. The picture Oprah stands before enclosed here shows how just ONE image can spread throughout the United States in 24 hours! These images are REAL and the age range begins with infants! Please help me, help yourselves, and more importantly help our children. No child should suffer this. There is something you can do right now and time is of the essence.

To assist our law enforcement agencies in increasing the necessary funding to bring these horrible individuals and their acts to an end. Write to your senator at www.senate.gov and URGE them to vote YES to ACT 1738. This is a bi-partisan legislation that has absolutely nothing to do with either party. I've already done it and I've added the link as a favorite to make sure I write everyday, everytime I think about it until September 26th. I will then follow up to see what has been done and will now frequent this site to write my Senators more often. It's so simple and takes a minute of your time. Oprah's even got a template letter waiting for you and only needs your name at the end. Please do this for our children.

For once in my life, watching this show and learning these statistics makes me finally understand the person who might feel that this world is just too evil to bring a child into. May no one have mercy on these individuals when they are caught, they deserve something far worse than death and with this, I have no problem passing judgement.

Peace!

The REAL in Reality - TV!

Okay, I admit. I watch Reality TV. One of my favorites is Big Brother 10, http://www.cbs.com/primetime/big_brother/. The half-million dollar candidates this year are:

Jerry - 73 years old retired marine, and he's in the final three! Damn, how did that happen? Usually it's the old who gets the boot first on these things so that the youngins can be left to make out and have their "show-mance"...by they way, he's the same age as McCain, except his teeth aren't as yellow...

Libra - the sister who left her 4 month-old newborn twins and 4-year old daughter for a summer sequestered in the Big Brother house. People gave her so much flack on blogs it's unreal! Me, Millennium Mommy - I have mixed emotions:

1) It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to be on TV. The camera comes on and you're in a trance, and it's all about the lights, camera, action! Not to mention, we're talking $500,000 dollars on the line. And her husband and mom are a great help and supporting her dreams all the way.

2) But leave my babies? My newborn twins at 4 months? I don't think so.

Life is too short - and once you make the decision to be a mommy, nothing but nothing else matters your life must PAUSE, period. Unless it's life or death, why would a mom choose to leave her babies at such a vulnerable age? I guess I really don't have mixed emotions at all, I couldn't and wouldn't do it...but I'm not judging...maybe she just had a huge bout of postpartum depression?? Back to the candidates for a half million bucks...

Ollie - Howdy Doody brother - literally, a preacher's son from Iowa who had a "showmance" with the blond-haired April. He was so smitten, he slept on his game in the beginning and got played like a sucka in the end. I was SO embarrassed for him!

Then there's the Hooter's girl, the Portuguese real estate woman with crazy attitude, a couple of frat boys and then the gay rodeoman (uuuuh - yeah I said it). Renny - the wild hairdresser in her 50's from New Orleans who wears glitter on her eyelids! Another millennium mommy if I ever saw one. There were a few others but who cares - do you?

That's why I love these shows. I know most of them are tired and scripted, but when the camera is on you 24/7, there's no way you can be "on" all the time. And that's when it happens, the moment when the character slips out of the performance and gives you the real. It happens all the time and it's those moments that make it all worth while. REAL LIFE DRAMA - someone else's - just enough to let you slip away from your own for a moment. It's addicting.

The one thing I don't like about these shows is that the network and producers have the final call. They cut and paste everything together to create their own show! It's really the miracle of editing that we're watching and not necessarily the crazy antics of real folks gone wild. Keep that in mind when you're watching these things.

I don't want to bore you with details about a show that you may or may not even watch. The point of the matter is, when you want to get away from the thoughts in your mind, we all know the most mindless thing to do is to watch TV. The millennium has taken the boob tube to a whole new level giving us Reality TV and way too much of it. But it's my thing, a world away from my own Reality. Hey it beats rubbing those stupid stress balls or hitting the bottle (although that can be fun too).

Peace - millennium mommy

Election '08

I'm following the election, but not really...it's too nerve-wracking. I'm a liberal really, a FREE spirit, but I'm voting for OBAMA all the way. Honestly I'm nervous, is it going to happen? Is this the year we really make history? I don't even want to put the negativity out there, but God help me I'm so nervous. I don't even want to speak on it. As the time grows nearer, perhaps I'll reach out to it more. Right now, I just want to sit back, imagine and enjoy the beauty of it all. The Hope that change gon' come.
Peace
OK, I'm just going to say this and that's it - someone said the Republican Convention looked like a KKK rally. I laughed, but when I turned to CBS...hmmm. There were bowling pins everywhere (red necks). OK that was mean - I shall not judge a man/woman for their outward appearance. By the way, I was mad when my husband mentioned how it looked like they were partying at the Democratic convention, and how republicans were going to say, "see what's gonna happen when we let him up in there?", but then my face turned red when I saw a man literally jamming to the music afterwards. Somebody told him to put his hands in the air and wave 'em like he just don't care. Who does the cameraman work for? Get that camera off him!!
However - it must have been the same cameraman who filmed at least 3 people being escorted off the premises at the Republican convention for protesting - HAH!
As a mother and a woman - I find it difficult to understand why any woman, much less Palin would be on that side?
Is it me or is it extremely hypocritical for the conservative party to spout such liberal views on Palin's pending grandmother-hood? Her daughter is 17 and they all seem to think, "well she's a mom and she's going through struggles that all American mothers go through. She's real! God bless America!" Are they serious? And then on the other extreme, there's a candidate who's got so much that he doesn't know how many homes he owns?! Is he keeping it real? Does he believe he understands what the typical American family is going through right now? The newspaper shows him looking at the flat screen in his kitchen while standing in front of a few bottles of water on his kitchen sink that the maid probably sat there for him. I'm disgusted.
OK, now I've too much, for now.
Peace

The A Team

A lifelong member of the A Club, I was recently informed by the New York Post that women like myself are now officially "in". Thanks to actress Kira Knightly who recently refused to have her breasts enhanced in publicity photos for her new movie, "the Duchess". Other members of this now in demand club are Cameron Diaz, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kate Hudson to name a few. These ladies continue to maintain their sexy lady status without the assistance of implants.
A friend of mine - Singer/Songwriter, Cherokee wrote a hot song called "Skinny Girls" in which she proudly claims to be a member of the club with words like: itty bitty - titty committee...I don't care 'cause my face is so pretty.
The NY Post's writer asked a few of the men about town how they feel about the size issue in women's breasts and interestly enough the majority of the men asked said that it wasn't necessarily the size of a woman's cups, but the whole package that mattered. One also added that the one thing that disappointed him was the illusion of a bigger package with the padding that comes with most bras. Why do these companies assume that we all secretly want bigger boobies instead of thinking maybe we just want to make those that we have look pretty and keep them up? Which brings me to a major concern of my own - where are the pretty bras for us on the A Team? And I don't mean the padded monsters that alter reality so much that the unsuspecting viewer is shocked and thus let down. I mean the pretty bras that one might find at Victoria's Secret, but in a modest size with out the extra bells and whistles. I'm talking about the one that simply says, it's perfectly fine to be a size A. Well, it seems there are a few places out there who cater to the smaller bust girls...lulalu.com and figleaves.com. I intend to follow up and see what type of merchandise is out there for the A Team and beyond. I always knew they'd come around, but thanks Kira for bringing SEXY back. PEACE.

BIRTHDAY GIRL

2008 marked the year I turned 35. This year it fell on a Saturday – which almost never happens and I wanted it to be memorable. I felt I had a lot to celebrate and be grateful for. I don’t know what it is, but I feel really good these days. I’ve had 3 pregnancies and 2 children. I have girlfriends who within the past 2 years have lost their babies, one at 15 months; another at childbirth. My youngest turned 1 two days before my birthday and we celebrated his milestone before I headed out with girlfriends to celebrate my own. He’s happy, he’s healthy and by the grace he's HERE. Life is so fragile and so very, very precious, how can you not celebrate every breath when so many have so little? Therefore, I planned an evening to remember, and with the help of the Creator and some very good friends and family, it was a blast. Mind you - we did very little. Dinner and drinks at a lounge downtown, a cab ride to Lotus, crashing at the Hilton in midtown and then brunch the following morning. Nothing in comparison to the events that took place during a night on the town 10-15 years earlier, nevertheless for a mother of two now living in the suburbs, it was fabulous. I even had the nerve to get hit on!

What I did not miss about living it up was not being able to remember that final hour - the babbling; stumbling into bed head first; one shoe on and one shoe off; cotton mouth; tangled morning hair; bleeding eye makeup; and worst of all, the head swim! Just thinking about it I get sick. Thank goodness I didn’t lose my birthday gift – a watch from my husband – I didn’t get a chance to tighten up the links before taking it on the town.
Anyway, I've said all this to say I think it’s important that we all take those moments to enjoy being young now and again – without going overboard, I might add. Dressing up, feeling good about yourself and just having a plain old good time.

The Movie, “Sex in the City” came out that same weekend and I thought we’d have a kind of Sex in the City themed weekend. I wanted to see the movie to start things off right, but it didn’t work out. We made plans the following day that also fell through at the last minute and some of us were a little apprehensive about what we were going to do. Although, when you just go where the world takes you, most of the time it turns into a nice surprise. Let that be a lesson to all you planners, all you list makers, and scheduling freaks. Carpe Diem! And get on board the ride of a lifetime, let go and let the universe take you where it wants it you to go. You might be a little dizzy afterwards, but at least you’ll come home smiling. And in the millennium, sometimes that's all you need to make it all better - for now. PEACE.

The Thing Called LOVE

I was recently asked by a co-worker if I have a favorite among my two children. My co-worker happens to be blessed with a beautiful 14-year old daughter whom her world revolves around. “No,” I replied, “they are completely different and I love them the same”. She nods her head as if in understanding, but there was something in her eyes that made me believe she was still uncertain. We’ve had conversations in the past where she wondered if it was possible that a mother could love her children equally. It’s an uncomfortable subject, but I can understand why she may be confused. A mother of one child may feel they have so much love for that child that she couldn’t comprehend the thought of “splitting up and sharing” that love with another. They’re simply afraid that there may not be enough love to go around…
My feelings on the subject is that if one thinks about LOVE in terms of measurement (how much, how little, how often) then one may fear this type of circumstance when considering having more than one child; which is why love must not be thought of in terms of measurement. Our world would have you believe that LOVE, like clean air, water, land or oil is the type of resource in danger of running out. That is man’s view of LOVE, and like everything else, he selfishly attempts to hoard it for fear he will lose it. We must take it upon ourselves to remember that man cannot define what he did not create, nor does he have any control over it. This is so for the thing called LOVE. Once you understand this, it is then you will develop a different idea of LOVE. Some cultures believe that the Creator is LOVE manifested, all things in nature are created from this LOVE and it is this same LOVE that keeps everything and everyone going and living. How then can we attempt to box up something so awesome, so eternal and plop it into our dictionary between the words louver and low?
Let us then humor ourselves, take Webster’s out of the equation and rethink everything we know about this entity called LOVE. Maybe take it a step further and cease to use it to describe our feelings or emotions. So now if someone were to ask if I have a favorite child, I think about my daughter’s laugh; my son’s smile; my daughter’s kisses; my son’s bear hugs and I enjoy the overwhelming feelings of emotion that brings tears to my eyes. Each one of them has a special something that I treasure, something unique that brings value to my world. So if there are many ways to enjoy and value life then there must be an infinite number of ways to cherish and be cherished. Infinite, abundant and more than enough to go around. PEACE.