Rosie and Me: Moms with Mouths-Kids in the Crossfire
June 28, 2007 by 19 Comments
My stomach churned. My blood boiled. The Rosie photo making waves across the talk shows and blog posts has moms and pundits all a flutter.
My gut reaction, upon seeing this photo of Rosie O’Donnell’s daughter dressed in fatigues, was anger and confusion. Why is this darling girl wearing bullets? What sort of sick political statement is Ro making, exploiting her daughter this way?
Then my brain kicked in, I took a deep breathe, and realized Rosie has one hell of a point. Don’t get all crazy on me now-yelling about how much you hate Ro. Use your head and listen to me for just a second.
Whatever her reason for posting this picture, whatever the situation surrounding this picture (Rosie says the kids were playing dress up), and whatever you think of her—stop and think about WHY you are reacting the way you are to this captured childhood moment.
Let me show you another example, a photo of my son a few years ago at Halloween. Does your blood boil when you look at this? Do you question what kind of mother I am?
I mouth off on political issues all the time. I am against this war. I use photos of my children all the time to further my causes. To make my points. To make you think.
So why lash out at Rosie?
Ask yourself-is it because it’s her daughter..not her son?
Is it the bullets?
I see kids playing with toy guns all over my neighborhood.
Or is it because the thought of war, violence, military is too much for you to handle in the context of children. We teach them to respect our soldiers, to look up to them, to say “Wow, Captain Killing Machine-I think you are cool…I want to be just like you when I grow up.” They play war in the backyard. They even use their fingers as guns when there are no toys to shoot around.
Makes you uncomfortable, doesn’t it? Those two child soldiers ready to fight, simply doing what we have told them is admirable, honorable, and acceptable.
Now go look at the photo of Rosie’s daughter one more time. Go look at the photo of my son one more time.
Tell me the difference.
Bravo Rosie. I’ll keep posting my photos and mouthing off, promise me you will do the same.
(photo from http://www.rosie.com)
Register-before the spots are alllll gone!
June 27, 2007 by 1 Comment
*ok, for those who don’t know yet—Elizabeth Edwards, Amy Sedaris, Kim Gandy—ALL in Chicago and we’re going to pipe them in LIVE to Second LIFE—get REGISTERED NOW
BlogHer ’07 in Second Life it taking off!!! Is your avatar flying with us, or still stuck on the ground??
Many of you have downloaded Second Life this past week and it’s time to take a deep breathe and get comfortable moving around.
I’m sure it would be just fine with you if our conference just came to your avatar and set up shop-but trust me…you are going to want to walk (or fly) around the FOUR island conference center provided by Hyperstring.net, not to mention dance to a live performance by female-fronted band Toe’d Up at Sanctuary Rock (a Second Life based nightclub-owned and operated by a fellow female blogger!)and strut your stuff with your personalized avatar makeover compliments of Vodkarella.com.
So yeah, you need to learn how to move.
First thing is first..the arrow keys are your friends. They do it all and you need to get comfortable using “up” as a forward move and “down” as backward.
The “page up” and “page down” keys will help you jump and fly…but using the “fly” button on the bottom of your screen might be the way to start off. Once in the air, you can then use those all important arrow keys to move forward, back, left and right.
Let’s practice together! Don’t forget I am available to help and SHOW you these things during my BlogHer in SL office hours:
Queen Tureaud office hours:(PST)
Monday 10-2pm
Wednesday 10-2pm
Thursday 5pm-8pm
Sunday 4-7pm
If you can’t figure out how to send me an instant message while you are in SL-send me an email during those hours at queenofspainblog@yahoo.com and I will come FIND YOU.
For those who have yet to register-get moving! You will get to hear audio LIVE from Chicago and mingle with BlogHers in Second Life.
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=137268. Registration is free.
Social Butterfly and her Larvae
June 26, 2007 by 6 Comments
We spent today at a great little beach here in Florida. Sand, sun, more sand, shells, sand in swim diapers, sand in hair…you get the idea.
Count Waffles the Terrible spent most of his beach time looking for friends. He approached many a group of what could only be vacationing cousins or relatives on an outing…only to strike out and be ignored. Ok, maybe ignored is too harsh. Mostly he ran up to a group of older kids and yelled something like “Hi guys!” and then just proceeded to try and do whatever they were doing. Many times they just didn’t even notice the new little kid tagging along back.
While I’m proud of my little guy for being so social…it also kinda freaks me out that he always tries to play with the big kids and where he is not invited. I worry about rejection. I worry about them including him only to pick on him. I worry about stupid shit that is all part of childhood that I really shouldn’t worry about.
I spent the day worrying…until I overheard my mother and father talking.
My Mom was telling my Dad how the Count just runs up and finds friends wherever we are…just like his mother used to do. She told stories of how I would ditch my cousins to go find new friends on whatever vacation or trip we were on. How my cousins would then sit back and complain that I left them yet again for my new friends I met at the hotel pool, or theme park, or beach.
Suddenly I was much less worried about the Count. After all..I’m just fine, and my willingness to meet new people and introduce myself at random has really blessed me with some of the most amazing people in my life.
Yeah. I feel better now. I’m going to try and NOT freak out anymore when my little social butterfly just prances up to a group and joins in on the fun. After all, if he really is that much like me…he won’t listen when I tell him not too anyway.
Thunder Thunder Thunder (on Sunday Sunday Sunday)
June 25, 2007 by 11 Comments
Down here in the wiles of swampland Florida, it rains a lot. Correction, it storms a lot.
When you’re just a wee one who has grown up in storm free California, things like thunder tend to make you poop your pants.
My little guy is scared shitless of thunder. Its been cracking and booming since we arrived in the sunshine state sending my 4-year old diving under blankets about 3pm, daily.
Of course he is comforted and hugged and told the loud booming noises are nothing more than “people” bowling. (we said angles back in my day and I’m fairly certain my mother said “people” due to the number of times my husband and I have discussed religion with our families and why we’d like them to refrain from mentioning it to our kids) So the “people” are up there bowling bit still isn’t sitting well with my son, and my father starts down a road I’ve seen so many fathers, grandfathers, and uncles march down before: oh, don’t be a baby…we need to toughen you up!
Two guesses how that went over with me.
Now I realize every man is afraid his son will be a pussy. Every uncle, grandfather, father, and male in the world seems to think it’s perfectly all right to nearly scold a little boy over his fears.
I don’t.
So, men of the world. Fathers reading my blog, random males that came by to oggle my tits…explain to me why I don’t knock Gramps into next week? I did everything, stopping short of calling the grandfather of my child a bully to be ignored, in front of my child.
How, men of the blogosphere, do I handle this?
Just have them home by dinner
June 21, 2007 by 12 Comments
I just spent 20 minutes consoling a 2-year old who firmly believed she was going to the moon.
Today.
With her Gramps.
You see, my father just left for a doctor appointment and when asked by said 2-year old where he was going, he said “the moon.” Our little princess peanut then said “Gramps, I wanna go Moon TOO!” and gramps said “sure, we’ll go later.”
It’s later. I have a very loud, crying, totally upset child on my hands here. She wants that moon field trip delivered and delivered NOW. Later will not do, using our imaginations will not do, and I don’t have the heart to tell her we’re not actually going to the moon.
So yeah…when Gramps gets back he’s in trouble. Never joke with a 2-year old. Good thing we’re in Florida, maybe we can go see the shuttle land or something.
Can’t make it to BlogHer in Chicago? Attend VIRTUALLY!!!
June 19, 2007 by 9 Comments
“Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”- The Queen, in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass.
While Lewis Carroll’s Queen in Through the Looking Glass believed her six impossible things before breakfast, this Queen has done them. In the virtual world of Second Life anything is possible. It’s possible to fly, it’s possible to visit far off lands, and it’s possible to bring hundreds of BlogHers to the Chicago conference without ever leaving their homes.
I’m Queen Tureaud. It’ a Second Life avatar name. You may know me as BlogHer Contributing editor Erin Kotecki Vest of Queen of Spain blog. For those of you who can’t make it to the BlogHer ’07 conference in Chicago, I’ve teamed up with Elisa, Lisa, and Jory to bring Chicago to you.
BlogHer in Second Life will offer the opportunity to experience the Chicago conference live on a virtual platform, complete with general sessions, audio feeds, and even a virtual cocktail party! Similar to BlogHer ’07 in Chicago, the BlogHer Second Life virtual conference will feature an interactive format designed to inspire discussion. Not to mention FREE virtual goodies from our sponsors and vendors!
So how does it work?
First thing is first, if you want to attend the virtual conference you will need to download and install Second Life. Unfortunately it will not run on all computers, so check Second Life system requirements at https://secure-web7.secondlife.com/corporate/sysreqs.php . A basic account at Second Life is free.
Next, you will need to register for the conference. Registration can be completed at http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=137268. Registration is free.
Now you are ready to get comfortable in this virtual world, and Queen Tureaud is happy to be your guide. I will be holding Second Life training and office hours to get you ready for the conference.
Queen Tureaud office hours:(PST)
Monday 10-2pm
Wednesday 10-2pm
Thursday 5pm-8pm
Sunday 4-7pm
You can email me at queenofspainblog@yahoo.com, or you can instant message me while IN Second Life by using “search” on the bottom of your tool bar and searching for “Queen Tureaud.” Click on Queen Tureaud to pull up my profile and send me an “instant message” telling me who you are and that you are a BlogHer. I will then work with you and hold your hand in the sometimes complicated but always fun virtual world.
You can also take advantage of Second Life tutorials to get you started. These resident made video tutorials can be found at http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Video_Tutorials .
BlogHer in Second Life will be a PG event. This means those of you wishing to explore some of the more adult oriented spaces will have to do that on your own, and it will be expected that you adhere to these policies while attending any BlogHer events in Second Life.
I will be posting at BlogHer.org with tips, tricks, and ideas to get you ready for the virtual conference.
Hope to “see” you there!
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