Archive for June 25th, 2007
More new Zen, baby. All about my birthday weekend. I’m getting ooooooold, my sistas and brothas.
My children’s beloved former nanny showed up with a bottle of wine branded “Jezebel.” Later in the evening, while my two regular babysitters poured shots of Wild Turkey down their throats, the rest of us (mostly moms who had to get up early the next morning) shouted in horror and admiration.
“You have great friends,” they all said to me, one after the other. “Let’s do this for your birthday every year!” By Shari MacDonald Strong.
June 25th, 2007
This morning, as we were driving to our Quaker meeting, our family stopped at an intersection where nine or ten girls from a local high school rally squad were standing on the corners, holding signs that said things like “Go Trojans!” and “Oh, yeah, Trojans,” and hollering for cars to come into the gas station to participate in their car wash fundraiser.
While we waited for the light co change, I smiled through the window at the girls and muttered to Craig, “Can you imagine being a Trojan? Having your team name be ‘the Trojans’? How do the other teams not just laugh at them?”
“Yeah,” said Craig seriously. “But at least they get to chant: ‘We’ve got condoms. Yes, we do. We’ve got condoms. HOW ‘BOUT YOU?”
June 25th, 2007
I forgot to post my last Zen and the Art of Child Maintenance column, written shortly after Jerry Falwell’s death. I’ve seen a lot of conservatives write affectionately about Falwell in recent weeks, but I personally don’t see it as a bad thing that he’ll no longer be serving as a spokesperson for Christianity.
“As a Christian I feel that role modeling the gay lifestyle is damaging to the moral lives of children,” Falwell wrote in a statement [about the Teletubbies] at the time. Notably missing was any speculation as to what modeling harsh views and behaviors in the name of religion does to these same kids. Or about the damage done to our society when spiritual leaders who emphasize judgment over love serve as spokespersons for an entire religion. (I won’t even get into the questionable logic that credits an asexual purse-carrying fictional character with “modeling the gay lifestyle.”) By Shari MacDonald Strong.
June 25th, 2007
