I'm having the time of my life driving the Gucci Fiat around town, but it's time to write about it and the fleet manager didn't leave me a window sticker (as they usually do). So I gave them a call and asked for a window sticker. "You want a monrony?" He asked.
"Um… I want a window sticker."
"That car isn't available for sale there is no price. I can send you a monrony from from another 500C."
"Is that a window sticker? "
"*sigh* yes."
"Okay, yes, scan and send that please."
FYI I totally know what a monrony is, but I find auto speak almost as annoying as tech speak.
This week our neighbor died. We used to live exactly across the street from him but now we live around the corner. He was one of the first people to know our children and I had the privilege of watching his children turn into adults.
He daughter was our babysitter, and his son was the produce manager at my local market, his wife teaches at the kids’ school and it brings me joy to see her each day. During the last eleven years I looked forward to bumping into my neighbor, we would have nice chats about our families. I always left him feeling a little lighter, happier.
He died unexpectedly, there was no illness or injury that I know of. His widow has asked for privacy and I want to respect that.
I bought an African Violet and a condolence card. I left both of these things on her front doorstep, but only after keeping them in my house for almost two days.
For two days the African Violet sat by my front door and the card was next to it. The card was empty, now that I think about it I may have forgotten to remove the price tag from the plant. I thought about what to write. “With love from,” didn’t seem like enough but too much seemed like too much in an totally inexplicable way.
I decided to write a note to the three of them and tell them how their father and husband had touched my life. Handwriting is extraordinarily difficult for me as arthritis has taken much of the function from the first two fingers on my right hand.
Part of me hopes that the Violet lives as long as her grief, another part of me hopes she smashes it into the bottom of a trash can.
So now I’m crying and trying to write and trying to not make a mistake because I only have one condolence card and condolence cards are among the most horrible of all cards. They say too much and they say the wrong thing.
I was sad that my neighbor died, no doubt. I love the family he left behind, but we weren’t very close, he and I. What was scary, what terrified me (and perhaps others) was that he died at the wrong time. He was supposed to be there for his daughter’s wedding and his son’s graduations. He was supposed to grow old with his wife and tend to their grandchildren. He was supposed to be in the driveway when I walked the dog and we were supposed to chat too long making us both very late. He was supposed to always be there as that nice but quiet man with the really great family.
There’s this hole in the neighborhood and I don’t have very good words to describe it.
Well that went well. Dr. Ari Brown spat out the words Mommy Blogger a few times with a little more disdain that Sister Susan uses for syphilis or satan. James Steyer was magnificent at promoting his website and chastised me more than once for arguing the science.
Because ya know I’m like Michelle Bachman if I argue the quality of the science. Yet I do question the quality of the science.
We talked about how low income kids watch more TV and it might not be children’s programming. Perhaps because it’s less safe to play outside? I’m thinking that’s true in the cities, but not every low income home is urban. I strongly suspect that with NPR talking about less screen time for children (particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area) it’s preaching to the choir.
There was great concern at the top of the hour about apps, smart phones and computers, but that wasn’t discussed. Lesli Rotenberg joined us as a representative of Sesame Street and everyone fell head over heels. She might as well have been Grover. Who doesn’t love Sesame Street?
The discussion on KQED’s own site centered around the fact that these families had screen free homes. Irony anyone?
I’m tired of of women like Dr. Ari Brown who have an agenda that is dismissive of real life. It’s exhausting to me that folks think that because you’re a blogger you’re uneducated. It’s tiring to hear from the “experts”, as new media has evolved I’ve seen the curtain pulled back and much like the Wizard of Oz there are often tiny men with big megaphones.
Your infants and TV? The AAP’s recommendations are sound. Limit media.
Okay, got it? Limit media. Houses with TVs on all day? You suck, the AAP says so and I totally agree with them.
The recommendations suggest nesting cups or wooden spoons. You should totally use these toys for your kids while you’re milking the cows and churning your butter.
I understand that people worry about too much media. There was a time that lawmakers were concerned about radios in cars.
I also know that there is a richness in new media. Good content should not be ignored and Bugs Bunny won’t make your child violent, he simply will not. If a Baby Einstein video introduces your infant to Mozart and a Brainy Baby DVD teaches them colors go for it. Also if you think your child doesn’t have to be learning every single second of their day, you might be right too.
I’ll be on The Forum with Michael Krasny at 9 tomorrow morning. We’ll be talking about kids and media. The show is on KQED the Bay Area’s NPR affiliate.
You may or may not be aware that the AAP has recommended zero screen time for children under two. I suppose I’m invited to add a little color as I cannot comprehend why the AAP would think taking such an extreme stance would support new parents. I’m pretty sure this Washington Post article led them to me.
If you don’t live in the bay area you can listen online at KQED.org.
Guests:
Ari Brown, pediatrician and lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ policy on television and kids under two years old
James Steyer, CEO and founder of Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based non-profit which conducted the survey on media habits for kids up to eight years old
Jessica Gottlieb, parenting blogger based in Los Angeles
Lesli Rotenberg, senior vice president of children’s media for PBS
I don’t like SeaWorld. I don’t like PETA. When I think of two companies (PETA really is just a crappy PR firm) that I’d wish off the planet I think of Sea World and PETA. I’ve been to Sea World both as a child and as an adult and I find it incredibly depressing. They’ve taken mammals who migrate hundreds of miles every year and trapped them in tiny swimming pools (ask a marine biologist about the wilted dorsal fins).
If I had a magic wand Sea World, and all the aquariums with performing mammals, would be shut down and the creatures would be safely returned to the sea. This is a feat that would require a magic wand.
In their latest PR Stunt PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is suing SeaWorld for keeping five performing killer whales in conditions that violate the 13th Amendment ban on slavery.
PETA is a large collection of stupid people. I’m not saying that to be funny or to glib. I’m not trying to get a reaction from anyone. Plain and simple, people who work for or donate money to PETA are morons.
The Constitution (and it’s amendments) exist to protect people. Whales are not people. If I could write the prior two sentences in smaller words for PETA folks to understand I absolutely would.
Now, let’s pretend for a moment that we were all dropped on our heads and have the same ridiculous thought patterns as the folks over at PETA. Let’s enter a total fantasy land and pretend that PETA successfully sues SeaWorld on behalf of five whales for slavery and there is a Judge who goes for it… maybe he’s had a cerebral hemorrhage and the shunt wiggled something in his brain. Let’s travel into this fantasy land where the US Courts would want to free the slave whales.
Next will PETA sue to free the enslaved horses that work on ranches? Perhaps Junior should sue me because sometimes I don’t take him on enough walks. The gate is closed and clearly he exists only as a love slave for everyone in the house.
Further, there are slaves in this world. There are slaves in America. It’s wildly offensive that anyone would compare mistreated and imprisoned mammals to humans.
I get a little giggly that PETA and SeaWorld are stuck in a cesspool together. If lawyers are going to work overtime and waste a corporation’s money, at least these are corporations that deserve to lose a lot of it.
Photo credit to Boon Lee Fam on Flickr via Creative commons
