Wrong Message

I'm not sure why I bother watching The Today Show. If it's possible to send the wrong message about weight, appearance, and values, they manage to hit the nail on the foot every time. This morning they've got this plastic surgeon who has written a book for young mothers to use to explain their plastic surgeries to their children. In one scene, a mother is telling her daughter that she's having her nose changed so she'll look pretty. That sends such a skewed announcement to a child! And what if the kid has mom's nose? What about the teens who die having breast implants? What about working on character and personality rather than looks?!!

I have an idea about a book in which a couple of children live next door to a heavy older woman. The kids' mom is vain, has had lots of "procedures," and constantly says negative things about the heavy woman. So the kids think fat = evil, and they are scared of the heavy woman, even though she is kind and pleasant to them. She offers them cookies. They think she wants to make them fat (like the witch in Hansel and Gretel), so they run screaming away from her. Later, perhaps, the heavy woman saves the children from some danger (maybe skinny mama's sicko pervert boyfriend?), and they learn that she is indeed a good person. The book might end with skinny mama undergoing a change of attitude and sharing some beautiful apple pie or cookies with the heavy woman and the kids.

For some time I've wanted to do a paper on weightism and how the media perpetuate (heck, they practically invented) this bias against larger people. Just the other day, when we had our little earthquake, a man interviewed on the local news said he was awake when the shaking started. "It sounded like the footsteps of a really heavy person upstairs," he said. "At first I wondered if my wife had somehow gained a lot of weight overnight." He laughed uneasily and added that of course, that had not happened, that his wife was a beautiful slender woman. So we have this negative of "weight = destruction and danger" that goes unchallenged.

Maybe once the semester ends, I'll have time for all my projects, including writing my children's book. But right now, I have miles to go before I sleep. I really do need to get grades turned in before we leave for my son's graduation. Speaking of that, his invitation came yesterday. It's beautiful and so impressive.

My blog would be incomplete without a weather report. It rained during the night, a quiet little rain that lasted maybe half an hour. We had to get up and shut our open windows, which was a pity because we've been enjoying the fresh air (and pollen!). One consequence of spring finally having arrived is the infestation of yellow jackets in our mailbox. The other day, I quickly snatched out the mail and sprayed the mailbox all over, inside and out, with wasp and hornet spray. I'm sorry if that's not eco-friendly, but when it comes to being stung, I'm not a very eco-friendly person. A yellow jacket sting causes me great pain. I swell up, have fever, and even have a hard nodule and bruise in the sting spot for weeks.

Alas, the weather dude is telling us we'll have another cold front next week, with the possiblity of a little snow included. Say it ain't so. My hubbie is leaving in two days to visit his mother and will be returning mid-week next week. He's hoping that there won't be weather delays for his flight. Personally, I'm so delighted with the blooming that's taking place that I'm dreading watching the little buds and blossoms freeze and fall off. And of course, I don't want his flight compromised. We don't have a lot of wiggle room with time before we head to Oklahoma next week. (Yes, of course, my main concern would be with my husband's welfare should the plane run out of gas or something.)

Now--I have to get to work. S.