Love/Hate

Love:

My husband, my kids, my kids when they were my babies, homeschooling my kids, all kids, all babies, my friends, my family, the family of man (OK and womyn), roasted garlic, laughter, irony, wild flowers, thunderstorms, foreign films, cow bell...I have to have more cow bell, my wicked cool Romika shoes that I got pre-compact, my cat, when I catch my cat in pre-vomit mode and can get her out to the porch successfully, adventures, poignancy, crying at sad movies, the shape of certain water towers and not others, the way dandelion stems curl up when you split them and put them in water, Harold and Maude, chocolate croissants from Trader Joe's (the baked ones are good, but the frozen uncooked ones are even better!), stickin' it to the man and this magnet that I don't feel I can get and put up on my fridge until the kids are waaay older...

Oh yeah, and sunsets and rainbows too!

Hate:

The white racist, homophobic, patriarchal, bullshit paradigm, lies, liars, and the lying liars who tell them, hypocrisy, arrogance, mean people, shallow people (although sometimes they can be fun!!), not catching my cat before she vomits all over our living room rug, or downstairs rug, or the rug in our bedroom, teasing of the kid-to-kid variety, not getting enough sleep, ABBA-really I can't even get into the very high camp factor there, ice berg lettuce, cheap plastic toys, the idea that formula is equivalent to breast milk, the idea that homebirth is dangerous, the idea that just because someone is a woman she is entitled to get all the women's vote and be crowned the nominee even though she hasn't won as many primaries or popular vote as another certain individual (wink, wink--I think you all know who I'm talking about here!), and drivers when they cut into my lane at the last moment to move over because of lane closures because of construction...HELLO! You got the notice 1/4 mile back just like everyone else that the lane is closing--move it over and don't insist that I let you in at the last moment, even though I will because I'm cool like that.

Mall of America!

My husband just returned from a business trip to Minneapolis. He was there for a few days and had some time to kill. Great! He was going to be able to take pictures of the Mall of America, one of the biggest malls in the world. He could show all of the excess and marketing and ways to show all of us how meaningless and awful our lives are unless we buy the things the stores are selling.

He could have done all of this except I didn't put the newly charged battery in the camera that he carefully packed.

That, and he never left the hotel to go across the street to check it out. He couldn't bring himself to do it.

That's OK husband. We'll all just try and picture store after store of shiny new beautifully, excessively packaged stuff that we don't need.

Thanks though. Welcome home!

The Logic of Hillary '08

This seems like an accurate dramatization of what happened in Michigan.

What do you think?

People Doing Homecooking--Turn Away From Public Kitchens

Home Eating a Threat to Public Kitchens?
State Allows Growing Trend of Eating At Home

by Angela Paul

April 13, 2099
Reunited Press

After much heated debate on the house floor, legislation was passed today to allow a growing number of families to cook meals for their families in their homes. The children must have annual physical examinations to assure proper growth and weight gain. Attempts to require weekly meal plans and monthly kitchen inspections were voted down.

A spokesperson from the National Association of Nutritionists (NANs) condemns this decision. "These children are being denied the rich socialization and diversity that is an essential part of the eating process. Without the proper nutritional background, it is impossible for the average person to feed their own children. We, as child advocates, see this as a step backwards and speak out for the sake of the children who cannot speak for themselves."

Homecooking parents say the benefits of eating at home include increased family unity and the ability to tailor a diet to a particular need. Elizabeth Crocker, a home cook, states, "We started cooking and eating at home when we realized that my son had a severe allergy to eggs. The public kitchens required him to take numerous medications that had serious side effects in order to counteract his allergy. We found that eliminating eggs was a simpler method and our son has thrived since we began doing so."

After this experience, the Crockers decided to home cook for all of their children, and converted their media room into a kitchen. Elizabeth says, "We have experienced so much closeness as we have explored recipes and spent time cooking together and eating together. We have a dining circle with other families where we sometimes share ideas and meals together."

The Crocker children have done well physically under their mother's care, weighing in at optimum weights for their ages and having health records far above average. It should be noted that Mrs. Crocker, while not a professional nutritionist, has a family history rich with nutritionists and home economists. "Surely the success of the Crocker children is due to the background of their mother," responded the spokesman from NANs. "The results they have achieved should not be viewed as normative." Mrs. Crocker counters that her background was actually a hindrance to the nutritional principles she follows. "Our paternal great-grandmother was a home economist, but she prepared most meal from pre-made mixes. In our homecooking we try not to duplicate public-kitchen meals, but to tailor our meals to the needs and preferences of our children."

In a related issue, legislation is in committee that would provide oversight for the emerging homecooking movement. Says the Home Eating Legal Defense Association (HELDA): "We want to provide umbrella kitchens to aid parents in the complicated tasks of feeding their children. Many families lack the expertise of the Crocker family, yet desire to eat at home. As we have seen, the umbrella kitchens meet the needs of all concerned. We are happy to provide this service."