Twenty or so women who knew each other, some well, some strangers. Some in passing. Beverly Hills is small after all. The women were beautiful, there was a young one in a short skirt that radiated the beauty of her 20’s and there were an ageless duo who are best described as elegant and active. There were a few of us who were the right age to be raising a family and some of us were doing so. Some of us had partners doing the heavy lifting and still others had opted out of children all together. Some were single, others were married, it had little to do with the children and everything to do with pragmatic decisions about who belonged with whom.
It was a collection of talented women with the ability to reach vast communities coming together because three of our girlfriends has asked for us to show up. They hadn’t asked for anything more than just to show up.
The dealmaker gave a presentation that made sense to us all. Glass ceiling my ass… glass front fucking door. But the conversation she deftly moved to was the different expectations we have of men and women. I feel like the men in my life were there to walk me to my wedding and the women were there to walk me to my grave. Men don’t have the ability to break me. With the exception of Father, Husband, Son and Brother they’d never particularly achieved object permanence.
The women are taking media in a direction they believe it ought to veer. They don’t want to be Bridesmaids and they aren’t interested in being adorable. Somehow they’re clever and sexy and life affirming without fucking anyone or looking like they might seduce someone just for fun.
Refreshing.
Talented.
Connected.
I’m not sure where I fit in with this group, but I fit somehow. Maybe just as a first audience, and my goodness, that would be just fine. It has to fit because my 13 year old daughter doesn’t have issues in meaningful ways with the other girls and I attribute that fact to the women in my life.
Susan G. Komen Foundation reverses decision to end grants to Planned Parenthood
This is the Yahoo Headline. It’s followed by few words, because really the headline IS the story. I don’t like the pinkification of a disease that ravages women, it ravages more than their breasts, though the breasts are what people love to discuss.
The question remains: is the damage done? Is it just too late to get everyone back?
I think it is.
There was never any controversy about the Walther P-22 handgun that benefitted the Susan G Komen marketing machine. Why? Well, because like abortions handguns are legal.
The question I’d like to ask of all of you is how you’ll spend that time. You see the Susan G Komen Foundation didn’t just steal your money and spend it suing other non profits who are actively seeking cures for cancer, they stole your time.
All that time spent walking, training and fundraising. My question to you is this:
How will you use that time to benefit women in your own backyard? It could prove to be quite valuable.
UPDATE: Folks keep asking if this is a real gun. Yes, it is… you know the saying, “Some comedy writes itself.”
The best talks with the kids seem to be when we aren’t face to face. Car rides and long walks bring out the chattiness in my kids. I suspect there’s less pressure on them when we’re side by side, or perhaps these are just times where there are fewer interruptions.
I don’t know why they talk when they do, but I’m smart enough to listen.
Last night I was able to secure 20 minutes alone in the car with Jane. Jane is pretty tight lipped without being particularly secretive but when she wants to talk to you it sounds like this.
And you might sit in the car for twenty minutes while only nodding a few times, wishing you could take notes because the cast of characters is ever evolving and you don’t want your first born to think that you don’t love her enough to know who all her friends are. You also marvel at how long she can talk without needing to breathe.
She finally told me about the dance. Mind you this was the Halloween Dance, but I did get a few words about slow dancing and who knows how to and who doesn’t. The fact that the boys want their pants to sag like gansta’s (difficult and moderately amusing in a school uniform), the fact that they puff their boxers out and the logic that no one should slow dance with them because all this fussing with their pants makes touching their hands “disgusting”.
Jane’s volleyball club has brought her back to girls that she hasn’t seen since second grade and facebook makes catching up all that much easier. She’s a generous child and told me all the ways her teammates are talented, beautiful and successful. I love that about her. Jane is a lot like her father as they both have a sweet ability to focus on people’s strengths.
Today I’ll have a car full of kids and a very typical afternoon of homework, friends, dinner and family time. I’m considering carving out a car ride for Alexander so that we can catch up too.
On February 7th I’ll be hosting a twitter chat to introduce y’all to LuxeYard.
LuxeYard is a flash shopping site that features stunning home furnishings at up to 70% off. Previously I wrote about LuxeYard and gave you some insight as to how they’re able to source the furnishings.
One of my favorites this week is the Ginger Red Lamp.
Save the date because on February 7 at 10 am PST (11 MT, 12 CT, 1pm ET) we will we chatting with the folks from LuxeYard about ways to make your home a sanctuary without breaking the bank. Christine Kirk will also be joining us, she brings an incredible eye for design and a fondness for everything luxe.
Participate. In addition to giving you great advice the folks at LuxeYard will also be giving two lucky participants LuxeBux. LuxeBux are credits that can be spent on anything in the LuxeYard Store. In order to be eligible to win one of the two LuxeBux prizes you must have a LuxeYard account. All it takes is an email address and a password. Set up your account now.
To win a $50 gift card to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf follow this link.
Be sure to follow the panelists and RSVP here with Mr Linky so that everyone can follow you back. Please leave your name and for the link make it your twitter ID. Mine would be http://twiter.com/JessicaGottlieb. The hashtag for the event is #LuxeHome.
Alexander is in the 5th grade and in the fifth grade you study the Revolutionary War. I studied the Revolutionary War in 5th grade and did a report on Nathan Hale who I referred to as Nathaniel Hale for a good long time because I knew Nathaniels and no Nathans. I remember little about my studies except that Hale supposedly said:
I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.
Which I thought was a load of shit. At age ten I was pretty sure that historians were prone to exaggeration. At age 41 I’m even more sure. Who says that?
Alexander will be studying Thomas Jefferson who Mr. G insisted was not a president but we all seem to think he was. Mr. G was telling Alexander that he was the brains behind the Revolution and penned the most important parts of the constitution and then the two of them went on to talk about history in ways that I really didn’t understand. I picked up my phone and googled Thomas Jefferson to confirm the fact that he wasn’t ever president. Shut up. I’m really good at math and science.
In addition to researching their historical characters the 5th grade class will do a Walkthrough Revolution. Alexander will play the part of Jefferson. He doesn’t see Jefferson as a large role and thinks that the boys who get to play George Washington and Benjamin Franklin are the luckiest.
“You know who is unlucky, Mom?” He asks me. Not waiting for an answer he says, “Tony. Tony has to research Samuel Adams and it’s going to be impossible.” He waits a beat and says, “He’s going to google that guy and the only thing he’s going to find is beer.”
My kid may know a lot about history, but we’ve got to teach him a thing or two about search.
