Hallowe'en Redux

Yay, Sassafras Mama has a Hallowe'en retrospective post up! Check it out here!

In other news, my niece Super T is featured in a CNN clip over here... also awesome!

(Bonus points for anyone
who can tell me how to get CNN's "embed" feature
to actually work. Fail.)

Obama celebrations

In the East Village, and in Rwanda (about 3 minutes).

Change

There may be a change coming.

To date, our boy Mr. D has been of the "live out loud" variety. Wears polka dot socks with abandon. Proudly claims hot pink as one of his top five colors. Talks his stylist into going for adventures like this:


Even with the latest haircut, when he knew he was likely to get teased for it, he forged ahead anyway, and proudly so.

Then his teacher sent an email to tell us that he and another boy in school had gotten into it over the composition of Mr. D's family. Our son's classmate couldn't quite wrap his brain around a two-mom family, and kept insisting that Mr. D's dad must be dead.

Needless to say, Mr. D got upset. But not, it turns out, for the reasons we might think.

Mr. D's main frustration was in not being believed. "I told him the truth, and he wouldn't believe me, even though I was talking about my own life!" he exclaimed indignantly to us.

He handled it perfectly, standing up for his truth and then asking for help when the other kid just couldn't let it go. Mr. D's teacher similarly did the right thing, both in supporting Mr. D and in immediately reaching out to tell us what had happened. And Mr. D himself seemed pretty unfazed by the whole thing, once it was over.

And yet.

We wonder if this kind of social interaction in Mr. D's life might mean that he eventually starts measuring the cost of difference differently. We've heard from other families that there is sometimes a change. A point at which an openness starts to give way to something more calculated. So will he change?

Or will he just keep speaking his truth?

(Thanks to the women
of Sunday Scribblings
for their continuing inspiration.)

That Friend Speaks My Mind

The amazing Paula Poundstone:

It is two days after the election, and I still feel like I’m walking around in a Burl Ives Christmas song. I’m pretty sure a guy doffed his cap to me today. People seem full of hope.

This is America, though, it can’t last. Pleased and proud as we are, it’s nothing compared to how happy the Europeans are. After all, Obama seems great, but he hasn’t been on American Idol. That’s why President Elect Obama needs to waste no time in harnessing this feeling, and ask something of us.

Obama could ask anything of us right now. We’ll collect rubber. We’ll wear sweaters. We’ll spend. We’ll save. We’ll do laps. He just has to ask.

My parents are a part of the greatest generation. My generation rode out the Beanie Baby crash, ran up credit card debt, brought us reality T.V., and the S.U.V., but it’s not all we can do. We’ve grown up collecting box tops. We’ve earned free donuts by getting our cards punched with every dozen purchased. We can do stuff. We’re the “a-thon” generation. We’ve jogged, walked, and pedaled thousands of miles, because someone said it would cure cancer. Just ask us. We’ll bring an unwrapped gift. We’ll bring canned goods. We’ll collect flip tops. We’ve adopted freeways, and been up all night with night feedings.

What do you need us to do, President Elect Obama? We could each take a shift at a bank. Our sheer numbers should do something. We could collect Band-Aids (not the useless little ones) and hand sanitizer for the health care system. The entire country could hold a progressive dinner party to feed the homeless. We could all commit to wear the same clothes two days in a row to save water, energy, and time. We can carry road mending materials in our cars and fill pot holes during traffic jams. We can put a wishing well on wall street.

So far our leadership has often told us that we have a long, hard climb before us, which I would welcome, because I love the outdoors, and could use the weight loss, but I have a bad feeling it has nothing to do with climbing.

I’m waiting. I’m punching my glove. It’s oiled and ready. Pitch it in here sir.

Marriage on Our Minds

There's been some heartache mixed in with the general celebration about President-Elect Barack Obama's recent victory. Most notably, we have seen multiple anti-gay initiatives affirmed, including Proposition 8 in California.

In addition to street protests and lawsuits, citizen activists have proposed taking economic steps, including moving the Sundance Film Festival out of Mormon-dominated Utah.

My friend JB, watching the election results come in, noticed one state in particular:

And then she thought, How about we get Nevada to re-write their constitution in support of gay marriage?

Image: James Marvin Phelps on Flickr

Part of why Nevada voted Democratic this year is that they're really hurting economically. Surely some creative legislator in the Silver State will see legalizing gay marriage as a possible gold mine. In one easy step, Nevada could be looking at an even larger slice of our country's 50 billion dollar wedding cake. Skeptical legislators could give their counterparts in Massachusetts a call, since that state has already reaped a significant gay marriage dividend. So how 'bout it, land of double rainbows?

Image: Beat Kueng on Flickr

Okay, so that's probably not going to happen. But you know what will for sure happen? The young people for whom banning gay marriage is a non-starter are going to grow up. As I've been saying for years, "I can outlast the dinosaurs."

(Hat tip to JB, of course.
For additional reading, this
discussion and critique of the
"Blame African-Americans for Prop. 8's passing" meme.)

Priorities

We went into Mr. D's room together first thing this morning to share with him the news of Barack Obama's President-Elect status. He seemed pleased, although also concerned about the feelings of his good friend B at school, who was a committed McCain supporter.

At breakfast, Mr. D thoughtfully shared: "I would like, not to be President, but to be a part of that family."

"Really," we said. "Can you tell us a little more about that?"

"Well," he continued, eating his breakfast with a sly grin, "if I was in that family, I would live in the White House, and I would just keep calling down to ask them to bring up more doughnuts."

Okay then. Good to know.

Vote.

Fun with playground toys...

This is what I was thinking about
while hanging out at my son's school playground recently.

Stay in line. Vote.

(I saw people crying tears of joy
at the polls this morning.
What did you see?)

Shrieks Were Shrieked

Let's just go directly to the pictures, shall we?

A headless accident victim and his alien friend

Headless boy tries valiantly to re-attach his head

Three neighborhood cuties,
including a friend of niece C's

Everyone had a great time. Tama stayed behind to do the tally (50 souls this year, up a little from last year), while Sassafras Mama and I took the boys around in search of loot. Tama caused several visitors to shriek with horror as she opened the door with our famous alien hands, and D & JT both got their fortunes told on the best Hallowe'en street in town.

D's costume was the source of much conversation, especially from other kids, who asked things like, "How can you see?" and, "If your brain is detached, how are you still breathing?" D was especially pleased when one candy-giver looked directly at him and said, approvingly, "Now that's what I like to see."

(After the boys went to bed (at 10:30!),
the mamas stayed up even later talking.
So there will probably be some more
great pictures up over at Sassafras Mama,
but maybe not until a little later today!)

Onstage and Backstage

Earlier this fall, the after-school program at D's school held a wee talent show. Since Mr. D had practiced The Star Spangled Banner for his Christmas Carol audition earlier this fall, he was ready to go. They started the show with his solo. I arrived at the school two minutes after he finished (they started early because of impending rain), and was temporarily devastated. But then I asked him if he minded, and he said, "No, it's okay Mommy, you've heard me sing that song lots of times." Gotta love that perspective. And a big "THANK YOU" to M for taking this picture and sending it along.

Now we're onto the next show. Tonight is Hallowe'en and we are ALL ABOUT IT.

Last year, as you may remember, D was a bloody accident victim for Hallowe'en. This year, he's upping the ante and aiming for headless accident victim. So first, we needed him to do his very best "dead face," which we then took a picture of.

Here's the head in progress...

and the pumpkin in progress.
(Thanks, Miss A, for all your help!)

Were people scared?
Tune in late tonight or tomorrow for a full report!

(Weather here is supposed to be
relatively temperate tonight;
we're hoping for a big ol' turnout.)