Aw Come On....Tell Me How You Skin 'Em!

Scary!

Hockey Mom, Sports Mom

As the nation heard Sarah Palin's self definition last week, "the only difference between a Hockey Mom and a pit bull is a touch of lipstick" (she had lip liner on as well, define "a touch") a few of us sports chauffeurs wonder what unique qualities we bring to the table.
Amy Finnerty and Annabel Levy astutely sort through the fine points in Forbes, closing with a jab at the baseball Mom.
"Unlike in soccer, where the mothers are free to show up looking as if they just rolled out of bed (often their actual state), in Little League Baseball, looks count. The baseball mom doesn't so much choose a team or coach as a coach chooses her, it is said. He usually prefers the boss' kid, his son's best friend or ... the one with the hottest mom. And by the end of an eventful season, if dad isn't equally committed, she tends to have her divorce lawyer on speed dial."
(A-Rod culture?)
Each sports kingdom brings its inherent personality, which washes through the arena, court, locker room, starting with the heroes, on down to the coaches, players, and of course reflected in the supportive Moms on the sidelines.
Over the years, my boys have played tennis, soccer, baseball, basketball and Ultimate Frisbee. So I have been many kinds of Moms. Hip and flippant. When we cheered our soccer team on those chilly Fall mornings, we were keenly conscious of anyone tripping or grabbing our little heroes. We made our gentle noise.
Hockey and football on the other hand seem far more vicious and violent. They thrive on the blood. I seem to remember something about an enraged parent and a sharp hockey skate blade. And jail time.
Around here, we know some kids that play Rugby and Lacross. They are often bruised.
I, on the other hand, raised wusses. I carried arnica in my bag, along with The New Yorker. From my folding chair on the sideline, I never raised a racquet, we occasionally questioned a ref's call. But a civilized discussion sorted everything out.
So what's with the tough? Maybe it has to do with sports requiring helmets, the danger, the violence is heightened. Pulses race. Veins stick out of screaming spectators' necks. Not so with the leonine Frisbee player, loping and lunging to catch the lobbed disc. The greatest danger with that sport is grass stains.
According to Vicki Poretta, creator of The Mom's Guide to Sports, there are lots of differences between sports for the mom. "Volleyball is indoors, in a gym, not very complicated," say Poretta. Tennis? diplomatic. Golf, you just drop and go. Parents don't stay and watch. There are no stands, sidelines. Swimming, you sit indoors in a cozy warm arena, knitting. Stressful? Only when your child's goggles fill with water.
Now softball and baseball, those tend to last long. Many late afternoons are spent sitting in chilling rain, no chance of getting a home-cooked meal into the little sluggers. And what about the car? Trashed from spilled take-out food, mud, smelly uniforms? And don't even talk about cranky losers. "Would you mind not kicking the seat?!"
Also, imagine the organization skills of any sport Mom, as she plans drop-offs, pick-ups, sometimes at various locations. Practices, home games, away games, sometimes out of town, travel plans. Fridges full, fridge door papered with schedules. Cooler in car filled with snacks, liquids.
So any sports mom really has the patience of a saint, the brains of an air traffic controller, and any one of us, with a bit of coaching could be qualified to throw on a dash of lipstick (and liner) and run for office.
Join us next week when Ballet Moms take on the Senate.

State of the Art of Dining

Today's busy bees can't be bothered relating to other humans in the flesh, what with crazy schedules and all. Why not just call it a day, retire to your nearest cozy restaurant, order some yummies and get back to everyone virtually. No need to make small talk, go through the split-the-check dance, or even set a time. Just get out and dine, but phone it in.

WASP

This is making the rounds. I have received several emails today urging me to add to an insta-blog, Women Against Sarah Palin. With the click of a button, voices can now rise up, not solo but in resounding chorus. Any woman with an internet connection can, and should make her voice heard if she is not comfortable with, is insulted by, or shudders in fear of this looming puppet.
I share with you:


Friends, compatriots, fellow-lamenters,


We are writing to you because of the fury and dread we have felt since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican Party. We believe that this terrible decision has surpassed mere partisanship, and that it is a dangerous farce on the part of a pandering and rudderless Presidential candidate that has a real possibility of becoming fact.

Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of what Ms. Palin and her professed beliefs and proven record could lead to for ourselves and for our present or future daughters. To date, she is against sex education, birth control, the pro-choice platform, environmental protection, alternative energy development, freedom of speech (as mayor she wanted to ban books and attempted to fire the librarian who stood against her), gun control, the separation of church and state, and polar bears. To say nothing of her complete lack of real preparation to become the second-most-powerful person on the planet.

We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin as a woman, a mother, or, for that matter, a parent of a pregnant teenager, but solely as a rash, incompetent, and all together devastating choice for Vice President. Ms. Palin's political views are in every way a slap in the face to the accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers so fiercely fought for, and that we've so demonstrably benefited from.

First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does not demonstrate or uphold our interests as American women. It is presumed that the inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could win over women voters. We want to disagree, publicly.

Therefore, we invite you to reply here with a short, succinct message about why you, as a woman living in this country, do not support this candidate as second-in-command for our nation.

Please include your name (last initial is fine), age, and place of residence.

We will post your responses on a blog called "Women Against Sarah Palin," which we intend to publicize as widely as possible. Please send us your reply at your earliest conveniencethe greater the volume of responses we receive, the stronger our message will be.

Thank you for your time and action.

VIVA!

Sincerely,

Quinn Latimer and Lyra Kilston
New York, NY
womensaynopalin@gmail.com

**PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY! If you send this to 20 women in the next hour, you could be blessed with a country that takes your concerns seriously. Stranger things have happened.

Internet Election

So I just received an email letter (e-letter?) from a friend, about the upcoming election. I suppose we will see and send many in the next few months but I felt compelled to post this.
I hear that this is the Internet Election, we can now post, link, upload a variety of information. This is good, and I assure my readers that I will certainly apply editing skills to avoid overload, but when something touches my heart, I must share it with you:


Dear friends and acquaintances,
I grew up on the dark stories told by my parents, Holocaust survivors. Watching the Republican convention on TV, I became physically ill because this is what Fascism looks like in its early stages. The venom, the lies and half-truths, the mockery, the nationalistic fervor, the demagoguery, and the utter lack of empathy for most of humankind chilled me to the bone. Couple this with the fact that the Republican Party strategists are not allowing journalists access to Palin (just heard this on CNN) and are effectively demonizing the media that veer from right-wing ideology, and we can see clearly where our democracy is heading.

We can, of course, shrug and say this is hopeless situation, or we can resort to magical thinking that all will turn out for the best if we simply send Obama good thoughts and vote for him. Let us instead act. In the two months remaining let us do EVERYTHING to elect the Obama and Biden and (for those of us living in Colorado) Mark Udall--who is being relentlessly attacked by the oil industry--and Jared Polis. For our children and grandchildren, let us do everything and then some. If it is comfortable to send $25 to the Obama campaign this week, please send $50. If you are well-to-do, please be extraordinarily generous in your giving; give so it makes a dent. Go to https://donate.barackobam.com/wecan. If you don't have discretionary money, think of something else to do, and keep on doing things until election day. My friend, Wayne (a physician) plans to go to nursing homes to inform patients that under a McCain/Palin administration, Medicare (which really works!) is threatened. My Sudanese daughter Rose is volunteering in Mark Udall's office even though she is not yet a citizen. My husband and I, both introverts, are canvassing for the Democratic Party.

In addition to working for the Obama/Biden ticket, if you like this letter, please send it on to others--those already committed, those on the fence, and those in the McCain camp.

Thank you with all my heart,
name withheld

Password Please

Doncha hate when you forget (or misfile) your password to some site and you try to enter and you can't but they offer a "forgot password?" button and you hit that button that assures you that all is forgiven and no problem, a new temporary password will be sent to your email and you wait.....and wait.......and wait.......and where is the damn email from them?
I am currently waiting for:
Plaxo
American Airlines
and a few others I don't want to divulge....
I am still waiting.
Please send me new temp passwords because the ones I have entered don't work and I can't access my info and I just need to get in there and didn't this all start with September 11 in the first place?
Anyone else?

Cleans Up Nice

I know, Barak, families are off limits. The media should indeed spare the innocent offspring of candidates. No scrutiny. No judging. No labels.
But what about the fiction that is being concocted before our eyes, as Levi Johnston morphs from hot-blooded hockey teen to first family pawn. What is going on here?
"Just play nice and get married, kids."
"You can still get into good schools, we will take care of that for you."
"Put this ring on before the cameras arrive."
"Better get on a plane and meet Momma's new boss."

For most of the other unwanted pregnancies in this country, the outcome will not look so bright. No marriage. No sparkly ring. No makeover and White House trip. No school. No career. No cute Juno (odd coincidence, Alaska's capitol and hit film) type ending. No support. No nanny. No forgiveness.
And many teenage girls do indeed find themselves pregnant. According to The Guttmacher Institute, almost 750,000 teenage women aged 15–19 a year in this country.
For some reason, teen pregnancy rates are much higher in the United States than in many other developed countries--twice as high as in England and Wales or Canada, and nine times as high as in the Netherlands or Japan.
We cannot assume all teen pregnancies are unintended.
Some girls get pregnant to make their partners happy. Some girls carry the mistaken belief that the babies will give them love and nurturance. And some want to get pregnant because they see other girls in their social circles getting increased attention and what seems to them increased material benefit by being mothers.
But we can help those who don't want to get married or raise a child in poverty. They certainly need more help than we are offering.
According to the CDC, efforts to decrease unintended pregnancy include finding better forms of contraception, and increasing contraceptive use and adherence.
We should be able to at least talk to our children about these things. Sex is depicted so often in advertising and entertainment, yet consequences rarely.
A pregnancy changes lives, and not always for the best.
That said, blessings on the new family.