I had no idea that Columbus was home to an influential scientist in the search for intelligent life. (The comments tied to this story are a scream.) Too bad that this man is leaving, he might have found an acolyte in Declan.
I’ve run SETI at Home on my computers for years. You should too!
Life soundtrack: David Bowie, Hunky Dory, “Life on Mars”
Copyright Tracy Zollinger Turner, Tinymantras.com, 2007
Before you believe any too-good- or too-strange-to-be-true news this April 1, you might want to check the latest findings at the Museum of Hoaxes.
Copyright Tracy Zollinger Turner, Tinymantras.com, 2009.
Published today: A piece I wrote about artist James Dupree’s exhibit at Kiaca Gallery.
Copyright Tracy Zollinger Turner, Tinymantras.com, 2009.
I love this! As a regular contributor to newsprint for over a dozen years, I’ve had a handful of embarrassing gaffes that still haunt me in the wee, paranoid hours in the night. (And a few that irritate me in the night because I’ve actually had errors edited into my copy as well.)
Here’s reassurance that even the best, most highly-paid folks in the biz make common, and sometimes hilarious mistakes.
Copyright Tracy Zollinger Turner, Tinymantras.com, 2009.
My story on an exhibit featuring
five local art mommies.
Copyright Tracy Zollinger Turner, Tinymantras.com, 2009.
Well here is an interesting read. Apparently it is the second study to report that insecure toddlers and children who feel the world is out to get them are more likely to grow up to be conservative adults who are “uncomfortable with ambiguity.”
If you look at the way Republicans spin their identity and agenda in the media, this is a natural. I’m consistently amazed at how well they make themselves look like the underdog, no matter how much power they wield. I find it dishonest and irritating, especially when I see otherwise thoughtful people buy into the seemingly endless Republican persecution complex. We live in increasingly weird times, when journalistic attempts to hold public officials accountable for their actions are written off as “liberal” and “personal attacks.” In a time when the balance of power has allegedly been tipped by Christianity, it seems like honesty is the last thing our culture values.
What’s interesting to me is how an article like this will be discussed in exactly that prism, without any service to the gray areas, because we are living in conservative times. Plenty of people who would never pull a lever for a Republican don’t even seem to see this. I know some who are as politically left as left can be who still use terms like “politically correct” even though that’s been one of the best operating tools for Republicans for about 15 years. I know people who appear to think that repeating the mantras of Fox News pundits and conservative radio hosts makes them an independent thinker.
The oddest thing is that the behavioral definition of liberal in this article implies that a child has the confidence to be independent, question things, and not take it personally if they are questioned. Those are qualities I would want my child to possess. Aren’t they the qualities most people would say they want in a leader?
Copyright Tracy Zollinger Turner, Tinymantras.com, 2009.
We were channel surfing a couple of days ago, when we stumbled upon People Magazine‘s newly-named sexiest man alive in one of his earliest roles.
Lo and behold, there was a very young Matthew McConaughey, being ruthlessly shot by some crazed maniac in a dramatic reenactment on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. I doubt we’ll see another death scene from him for a while.
Copyright Tracy Zollinger Turner, Tinymantras.com, 2009.
In the U.S., the decision to have a baby automatically makes you a member of two cults.
First, there’s the mommy cult, which you are unwittingly inducted into as soon as people find out you are pregnant. You suddenly find yourself hearing intimate details about childbirth and child-rearing from relative strangers. Some women I know don’t like it, because plenty of women are inclined to aggressively supply you with advice you didn’t ask for, or to tell you birthing horror stories right when you’re already feeling bloated, vulnerable and apprehensive about how you are going to get this kicking being out of you.
But I’m down with the mommy cult. I like the way it opens channels of communication with women that you thought you had nothing in common with, deepens friendships with women who have or want kids and even makes some friends without kids anxious to be part of your child’s life. I’ve had the obligatory comments from people who openly admit they either don’t like or don’t know what to do with babies and hearing those things doesn’t bother me. I’ve been a self-questioner who wondered whether procreating was socially responsible for long enough that I feel that sharing my joy doesn’t mean I need to evangelize about parenthood.
Then there is the consumer cult, which you are unwittingly inducted into as soon as you make your first pregnancy-oriented purchase. A free copy of the book “From Here to Maternity” mysteriously arrives in your mailbox, along with postcards for 3D ultrasound portrait studios and dozens of overtures to bank your baby’s cord blood. People throw sample pregnancy and child rearing magazines at you, offer you credit cards that put part of their interest rate into a college trust for your child and give you giant packets filled with baby soap samples and diaper coupons. By the time you have the baby, the formula makers are hunting you down: Between the diaper bag full of samples we were handed as we left the hospital and boxes of samples we’ve gotten in the mail, we have all we could possibly need, should we ever have to supplement our purely breastfed baby.
Trying to figure out what exactly you need for baby before he arrives is utterly daunting, and aside from combing through Consumer Reports‘ book on baby products, there is little out there that’s helpful. Thankfully, if you embrace the mommy cult, it can help you limit your participation in the consumer cult. Most of my baby gear was handed down to us from my brother’s family, along with many clothes, and I tend to pass things on to the next mommy in line.
I can’t really understand participating heavily in the consumer culture willingly. Sure – now and then something is either so practical or so cute/clever you go ahead and buy it new, but I really can’t understand investing much in baby bling and fashion. For example – and it pains me to think about why this is so – but two of the top sellers on this baby boutique web site, are, ironically, camouflage baby towels and a vintage gas station-themed receiving blanket. Additionally, there is this desert camo loungewear outfit for a steep $37. If militarizing baby boys isn’t specious enough (and I’m not a fan of adult-ifying boys any more than I am of putting baby girls in trampy make-up), who spends nearly 40 bucks for an outfit that’s made to last less than three months, and that will undoubtedly be pooped or peed on?
On the flipside, I did laugh out loud at Babywit’s “President Poopyhead,” “No Blood for Mohel,” “Little Kafka” and “Binkie, Boobie or Blankie: Nobody Rides for Free” t-shirts. $20 bucks a pop seems obscene, but the t-shirts are made in the U.S. – in a non-sweatshop environment – by an independent mom instead of a corporation. Ah, if I were rich, all my consumer dollars would go to independent and fair trade businesses with good service and organic groceries… At the very least, since Declan was born in May, I’m looking forward to planting tomatoes and cucumbers on his birthday every year, and donning them his birthday vegetables all summer long.
What’s the most ostentatious, perverse or ethical baby product you’ve come across?
Copyright Tracy Zollinger Turner, Tinymantras.com, 2005.
