In the margins

Mostly, my mind won't go anywhere except the crisis confronting me and my family, but on the margins are these meaningless thoughts. Since I'm not ready to share (or speak even) that info, here are the meaningless thoughts:


*Tyra Banks should find another way to announce the people "still in the running to be America's Next Top Model." Saying, "The next name I'm going to call is __________ " seriously annoys me; Logically, she should follow that sentence by calling the actual name of the girl. Of course, that would sound weird: "The next name I'm going to call is Teyona. Teyona."



*I really wish someone would tell Sherri Shepard that the words "also" and "too" don't go together. Saying, "I think also too . . ." doesn't make sense.



* I keep trying to figure out what fruit the housewives oh New Jersey could hold. Aren't they the Garden State? It's driving me crazy!

Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me, Guess I'll Go Eat Worms

I was going to write a post today about the push-pull of motherhood and work and staying at home with children and the external intrusions that try to define women. Instead, here's what I'm writing:

So, I'm watching "The Real Housewives of New York" and here's another person who is going on and on about a career that is fabulous and enriching (both for soul and for purse) for which she was not particularly trained that was a hobby and just blossomed like a big ol' freaking flower and now has her all on TV with a book and I'm sitting here with squat.

Where's my stuff? Man, I suck.





*P.S. And here's what else I'm wondering: If you could (or had to) enter a totally different field, what would it be?

Gag me

In my newly unemployed state, I'm realizing how much time laundry and dishes take up. Perhaps this is why I'm still so doggone tired even though I don't have to actually go to work. I am still doing work, mostly publication stuff, but I don't have a conventional job that pays a monthly check and requires talking to other people. I'm fighting the sadness of this loss of identity and usefulness. But as I'm uncontrollably watching the reruns of "The Real Housewives of ------" I'm noticing an annoying theme. On the Orange County version, one of the daughters complains about the "tree people" hanging out near Berkley, where she attends college. Apparently, she's also not interested in eating her lunch near the "bums" on the street. How dare those homeless people taint the loveliness of her dining with their unsavory lack of functional lives! To escape this unbearable experience, her mother provides her with a fully furnished penthouse. And on the New York version, one of the women comments on how "hectic" things are while her housekeeper is away; all the feeding her own children and washing her own clothes is overwhelming it turns out. (Roll your eyes with me, please).

On the Today show this morning, one woman points out that they taped the show before the economy went in the crapper. Nevertheless, is this the reality of people's lives? The obvious answer, I guess, is that this is the reality of these women's lives. But this kind of oblivious self-centeredness is painful, especially when I think of my colleagues who are single and have children or are scarily close to retirement; losing your job without warning is not filled with fabulosity. This is why people don't like rich people! It's not just about your money or the overpriced things you have. It's the attitude of entitlement and myopic selfishness that assumes that you deserve the stuff you have. Don't people who work two or three jobs, who do their own laundry every day, or who--ahem--have earned a Ph.D., also deserve some ease in their lives?

So, the new season begins soon. Perhaps I'll update you later. (Now, roll your eyes at the irony--maybe if I had a job I wouldn't have time to watch!)