Looney Tunes

"Bugs Bunny is kinda mean, but he's funny!" observed my 5 year old daughter.

"Yeah! He's mean sometimes, but he's *super* funny!" confirmed her 3 year old brother.

I had to agree. We rented a video of old Bugs Bunny cartoons over a month ago and kept it for less than a week. They still talk about it or make reference to it to this day, nearly every day. Before watching the video, the kids had heard of Bugs and had seen pictures of him, but they had never seen him in his original context. In the interest of cultural literacy (and with a bit of personal nostalgia) I checked out the video from the library.

As I watched along with the kids I began to wonder if I had made a mistake. I hadn't remembered how liberally insults were slung about, and I had under estimated the level of slapstick violence. (Being a good liberal mommy, we talked about how those things would be hurtful to real people, but not to cartoon characters. Contrary to conventional wisdom these days, they really seemed able to understand that. I did not notice any negative affect on their behavior.) PC these cartoons were not -- some of them dated to the 1940's and maybe even earlier. The one thing I had remembered correctly was how funny they were.

The kids loved them! They talked constantly about their favorite parts, describing them over and over and over to anyone who would listen. (Guess who that was, 90% of the time…) They began to exclaim “Nah, What’s up Doc?” every time they ate raw carrots. They now pronounce the word “first” like New York City gangsters in an old movie. They are clamoring for more.

Soon after the video went back to the library, the kids were watching Bob the Builder – one of their usual Sunday morning cartoons. As I walked through the room I overheard Bob describing in ernest tones the importance of recycling. It was enough to make this committed environmentalist, composter, and recycler of everything from batteries to box board, roll her eyes. It was educational, it was cute, but it wasn’t even a little bit funny.

Belonging in the Kitchen

Today was potluck Sunday at our Quaker Meeting. At the rise of Meeting, I joined the flow of Friends into the kitchen to prepare the food I had brought to share. Quakers have long been proponents of gender equality in both public and private life, and I love to observe the strong, loving marriages in our meeting that are based on equality, generosity, respect, sharing, and sometimes even (dare I say it?) mutual submission. Nevertheless, on potluck Sunday, most of the folks in the kitchen are female. The men pitch in equally for clean-up, but traditions surrounding food preparation run strong, even among liberal Quakers. The age-old ritual of women joyfully working together in the kitchen is repeated month after month in our meeting, as it is in churches, community centers and social halls everywhere.

As I chopped my pineapple, chatting and laughing with women I love so dearly, I felt swept up in the flow of female traditions – the good traditions that can coexist with the changes that free us from the more oppressive customs of the past. I felt connected in love and strength, not only to the women around me, but to generations past, from my own mother and her friends in the small town church of my childhood, to the millions of long-forgotten women who made the best of limited life options by making food preparation a communal project whenever possible. I felt that I belonged there in that kitchen in the best possible way. I belonged to the community of Friends I was with; I belonged to my female ancestors; I belonged to God in all Her creative and delicious glory.

First Post!

I created this blog account yesterday, but didn't have time for a post. It looks so forlorn with no posts, however, so I want to get it started. This first post will be quick, since I just promised my son that he could do a computer game when I'm done. At 3, his "wait time" is very short. I know, I know, 3 year olds shouldn't be playing computer games -- bad for their brain development and all that. I am a woman of pretty high standards and principles, but I confess to buying myself some time to do the dishes with various forms of electronic media.

So now I've begun my blog by revealing a parenting practice that wouldn't be tops on my list of "reasons I'm a good mom". Ah well, a little humility is a good thing! One thing I *do* try to model for my children is keeping my promises, so I'm signing off to turn the computer over to my son and Bob the Builder.