WTF? I just don't get people

BabyTalk magazine, a free mag sent to new moms, featured a nursing baby on August's cover. Reader reaction was not good.

WTF? What is wrong with people in the US? Women freak at the sight of a nursing baby, but go and buy Cosmo in droves? The Vanity Fair cover with Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley didn't receive such negative attention.

The article covering the BabyTalk flap mentions a poll conducted by the American Dietetic Association. 57% believe women shouldn't breastfeed in public? 72% opine that that breastfeeding women on tv is a no-no? To you narrow-minded a-holes, I ask, "Would you eat your lunch in the john? Would it be okay for you to sit on a toilet, to scarf down your PB &J?" I ask this because that's the popular place suggested to breastfeeding women to excuse themselves to feed their babies. You might be okay with dining in the crapper, but I'm not. And no baby should be fed in such an environment. How many bottle fed babies are taken to a public restroom to be fed?

I thought BabyTalk's cover was adorable. It brought back terrific memories of when my kids were newborns. Shame on the redneck, sexist, dogmatist readers of BabyTalk who were horribly offended by a bit of flesh. Think about your puritanical views the next time you reach for People magazine in the checkout line.

Book meme- tag you're it.

Kirsten, over at Enjoy Every Sandwich, tagged me for a book meme. This one was kind of hard-- just one book?! I tried to stay true to the one deal. Enjoy. Play along if you'd like to.

One book that changed your life?
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. When she tells her dad how she's afraid to die, and he tells her a story to illustrate how God gives us strength, just when we need it, has stayed with me for a long time. Her story has lifted me up and given me hope for many years.

One book you have read more than once?
Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy.

One book you would want on a desert island?
A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute. You've got stength of character, cliff hangers, romance and intrigue all wrapped up under one cover.

One book that made you laugh?
Matilda by Roald Dahl. Rosie and I read this together when she was younger, and we'd laugh until tears rolled down our cheeks.

One book that made you cry?
Requiem for a Wren by Nevil Shute. I don't want to give it away, but this book is the ultimate on missed chances and not seeing what's directly in front of you.

One book you wish had been written?
[edit: See what happens when you don't read closely. I thought the question was "What book do you wish you'd written.]Tex by S.E. Hinton. I read this book a bazillion times when I was a kid.

Since Tex has already been written, I need to fix this answer. Making friends with guilt to live a more productive life is the correct answer to this question.


One book you wish had never had been written?
Native Son by Richard Wright. I still don't get why this book is considered a classic. Every character in it is horrid.

One book you are currently reading?
Indecision by Benjamin Kunkel

One book you have been meaning to read?
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memior in Books by Azar Nafisi I've read most of this book before, but I'd like to reread it and finish it. I'd also like to read the book Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov, which Nafisi mentions so often in Reading Lolita. Okay, so it appears I'm mentioning two books, but in reality I'm only mentioning one, since I've read most of the first book mentioned. So there = p .

Tag five people:
Taran Jordan, Claire, Morrigan, Mark and Don

Photos of my garden (caution dial-up users-- not sure how quickly the photos will load)

Okay, I've entered the digital age, I think. Here's some pictures I took of my garden.

These are a couple of veggies I picked yesterday.

This is a close up of the gypsy peppers I'm growing.

Check out the retaining wall I built, with a little help from Lew.

The purple-y hydrandgea is doing better than the blue one.

rocking out

I will finish up my accounting of the Bowron circuit this week. I've been busy working and playing. Lew and Zander each had an extra ticket to KUFO's Rockfest in the Portland, Oregon area, so they took Tee and me with them. We saw Buckcherry, Seether and Alice in Chains, along with some lukewarm local bands. Here's a picture from the AIC portion of the concert. Zander is in the picture, but it's up to you to guess which one he is.

On Sunday, as we lolled around the house drinking coffee and kicking ourselves for being gone until 2:30 in the morning (it took a long time to get out of the venue), we got a wild hair and decided to go see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I chalk it up to Deadhead Girl-- she joined us for coffee, and Lew brought up the show. She said, "You wanna go?" I answered, "Yeah." Let's just say that it kind of snowballed from there. Check out the Seattle PI review of the concert here.

During the show, Deadhead Girl kept heading to the bathroom because of all the coffee we drank. It rubbed off on me, so I headed to the restrooms. Right as I reached the bottom of the stairs, Eddie Vedder came onstage. I hurried, but I only got to hear him sing, until the encore, when he came back out with Stevie Nicks to sing American Girl. Excellent, excellent concert. I knew the words to every song but one.

There was one drawback to our weekend, besides being tired. I realized, to my dismay, that Tom Petty and I have the same hair cut, and I'm afraid it looks better on him than me!