The Problem with Fantastic Mr. Fox

is that my son barely registers its existence. I'm sure it boils down to money but the world of Thelonious is awash in Planet 51 ads & promos.

I like Wes Anderson but my husband is a much bigger fan. I've already staked out my kids flick for the holidays and its Disney's The Princess and The Frog. Jim thought he had his all figured out as well but our son has other ideas. When I suggested watching Planet 51 on dvd at a later date and going to see Mr. Fox in the theater, he pointed out that he could do that. But that he would do it in the opposite order.

Poor Jim.

Another One Bites the Dust

I've been out of touch with the few NYC natural birthing advocates that I know so this news reached me late. It still makes me incredibly sad. Poor women deserve choices, whether it be to continue with a pregnancy or where and how to give birth.

Given the tough economic times, I know that there are many short term fixes that are being made to save money. Even if in the long term they make no sense.

Many local teens have benefitted from Jane Fonda's foundation dedicated to childbirth education. I hope they continue to spread the good news, now more then ever.

True Jackson's Face

Since Disney, Nickelodeon and the like aren't paying my kids to advertise their questionable programming, I don't buy them character or franchise laden clothing. I conveniently over look the High School Musical pajamas & the occasional Star Wars t-shirt they've gotten as gifts. Which of course become their all time favorite pieces of clothing.

But our move to Florida will put us in a decidedly different demographic. To battle the overwhelmingly white world we'll soon be inhabiting, I've been searching for clothing adorned with brown people. My daughter looks a lot more like Selena Gomez then KeKe Palmer but that's beside the point. I would be devastated if either of my kids came to embrace their light, bright almost white phenotypes as a superior form of beauty.

So I was thrilled to learn that True Jackson has a line of clothing at WalMart, putting aside all of the inherent issues about WalMart patronage. The thrill was gone when I discovered that none of the merchandise contains the image of brown skinned True. Granted, it's the first Nick live action series to have a clothing launch. It's not as if the channel has Disney dollars but I was still disappointed. So I'll skip putting this gif up and just give the Mouse some more money.

UnFriending People

I do it all the time on Facebook.

I initiate very few friend requests and accept all that come my way. If elementary school classmates who would like to catch up after 20+ years contact me, I'm all ears. I spent 6 years with the same cast of 24 characters, so it's pretty easy to recall who is who. But I actually would like to have some sort of interaction with you. No matter how brief or fleeting. My family makes the majority of my FB friend list, so what I would like them to know en masse is obviously different then what I would tell people who I haven't seen in decades. I'm sure eventually there will be somesort of tiered system, with friendship catergories.

In the meantime I'm not an investigative reporter, I don't want to piece your life together from wall posts. And if you don't have the time to tell me what's going on with you that's fine too. Contact me when you have a minute. In the meantime, I'm content to cull my list so that I have some idea as to who knows what about me. This blog might be public, but if a tree falls and no one is there to hear it does it make a sound?

In addition to being the private sort, I'm nosey as all hell so I've delighted in the "where are the now" edition of my life via FB. Years have passed but with a few notable exceptions there haven't been many "wtf happened to _____" moments.

Safe in the knowledge that you did in fact end up a Real Housewife of NJ, an investment banker or an attorney, I wish you all the best. And UnFriend you...

Princess Tiana has Arrived!

At 35, I'm too old to have felt the power of the Disney Princess machine. During my princess impressionable years the movies were still being pulled from the vault every several years. I didn't have access to Sleeping Beauty until I was in middle school.

But that doesn't mean that I'm not looking forward to The Princess & The Frog. Mirette and I have had a standing date for two years to see it on opening day.

I hope I don't embarrass her by crying!

Awkward Pause

Our trip to Florida was overwhelmingly positive. The elementary school seemed great, the principle gave me a tour and pointed out the ethnic, cultural & religious diversity of the student body. Routine statement or special notation for one of the few black parents? Probably the latter but I appreciated the sentiment. The local parks & recreation facilities well maintained and active.

We were able to meet a couple of my message board friends and that went really well too. One has a daughter a year older than Mirette, and it seemed like they have the potential to become friends. The mom is a natural birther & breast feeder which I didn't know until we met in person, so needless to say we got on like a house afire.

The black woman I met was sweet and we'll probably meet again but she gave me a jaw dropping moment. Her is mom biracial, her dad black and we met on a SAHM of color board

She nonchalantly said that she hoped her daughter would have "good hair" like my kids. I felt like I was in a time warp or speaking to a 70 year old woman. I honestly had no idea that there were black women who still dropped that phrase in casual conversation. How we really feel about natural hair vs processed hair is another story. But I guess that I've been fraternizing with the black granola set too long. Even my grandmothers know its not considered an acceptable thought, much less one expressed out loud.

Etiquette aside, I just felt sad. Sad that she hated her own hair so much & sad that her adoration of "good hair" was going to impact her daughter's perception of beauty & self worth. I did give a short little speech about loving the hair you've got, embracing the naps, black hair is problematic when we try and make it something it's not etc etc etc but it was falling on deaf ears. But it underscored the need to actively work against such ideas in my family, because the world at large still has a lot of catching up to do...

Head Start

I really needed to see this. I instantly recognized two of the centers in the article from my childhood neighborhood and several were not familiar but the streets were.

My mission to find the perfect elementary school in Florida had reached a fever pitch. I've found a promising school with a gifted program, so now all my energy can be channeled into obsessing over whether or not they will "do well" on a psych education evaluation. I'm confident that I'm not transmitting my sense of desperation to the kids about the test, I haven't even mentioned it and probably won't until the night before their appointment.

But my state of mind was given a serious jolt of reality by the Slate piece on inner city day cares. The bright, cheery reasonably well staffed institutions, on tree lined streets surrounded by well maintained homes have little in common with the choices my mother had for me as I entered elementary school. My own IQ test almost 30 years ago ensured that I would be placed in a school a couple of miles away but infinitely different from my zoned elementary school. I would remain in the Astor Program until middle school, and that experience was largely positive. But not without its pitfalls.

The small, progressive private school my children currently attend has the resources and staff to individualize the curriculum to each child's specific needs. It is ideal in many ways. But the demands of most public schools don't make that feasible. So I'll pack the kids up to "talk to a fun teacher" and not sweat the outcome. I vividly recall the day of my test, what I wore, specific questions etc. It was a day that literally changed my life. I have no doubt that my parents, my mother in particular would have come up with another option had that Astor Program not panned out. But whether or not my kids test well, their zoned school will be a viable alternative. Which was not a luxury my parents had.