February 12, 2007
Anna Nicole Smith update: still dead!
Over the weekend, I was regaling Wade with all the theories about who the father of the late Anna Nicole Smith’s baby daughter might be. “How do you KNOW all this?” he finally asked me.
It’s hard to miss, really.
I am surprisingly sad about Anna Nicole’s death, particularly, I think, because she leaves behind a tiny baby, a child who will have to live with the legacy of her mother’s unconventional life. The whole story is incredibly tragic.
But the All Anna Nicole media frenzy has left me craving some more positive, or at least more useful, stories about women. Too bad there’s nothing like that in the news this week. OH WAIT, THERE IS.
On Sunday, Drew Gilpin Faust was appointed President of Harvard University. And before you say, so what, big deal, oh come on HARVARD are you kidding me–Dr. Gilpin is the university’s first woman president (although she wants people to stop talking about her as a “woman” and just talk about her as the president, which makes me like her even more). Gilpin is a fascinating woman (the article is worth reading) but of course what the Times latches on to in it’s headline is her description of herself as a “rebellious daughter.” See! She’s just a girl after all!
Sheesh.
Also in the New York Times (the paper we love to hate!) Lisa Belkin analyzes the arrival of helicopter parents in the workplace, telling the story of a mom who called her ADULT daughter’s boss to ask for his help arranging a birthday party for the daughter. And THEN called her ADULT son’s boss to ask why he was working on Thanksgiving day. But before you get swept up in the crazy that is the helicopter parent, keep this in mind: Lisa Belkin is the writer who popularized the “opt-out” rhetoric, in a piece she wrote for the Times Sunday Magazine perhaps three or four years ago about women leaving work to stay home with kids. The moral of that particular article? Women aren’t advancing because they are choosing not to.
Hmmm.
What I learned from both these articles is this: kids do better when they buck their parents’ expectations; parents do better when they stop worrying about every damn thing. That, and the ideal playgroup seems to consist of three cocktail mommies and one helicopter mommy. That way, the cocktail mommies can have a drink guilt-free while the helicopter mommy hovers over the children and makes sure nothing goes awry.
Now back to Anna Nicole.
Posted by Susan @ 12:06 am • Uncategorized
RSS feed for comments on this post.
TrackBack URI
February 12th, 2007 at 2:45 pm, Jenorama Says:
I am laughing out loud in the coffee shop about the ideal playgroup composition.
Oh, Lordy. We got those helicopter mommies calling us about their kids’ grades when I taught college.
Nothing gave me greater pleasure than to tell them that I could not and would not discuss that with them.
February 12th, 2007 at 3:34 pm, boogiemum Says:
Oooh, you caught onto my secret for playgroups! I have a helicopter mommy friend and she is great for watching and micro managing all the kids while I kick back and relax!
February 12th, 2007 at 5:02 pm, Anne Glamore Says:
My husband and I were stuffing loads of cannelloni Thursday night, and he went from “Anna Nicole who?” to “That lawyer dude Stern is bad news” after Nancy Grace, Anderson Cooper, Larry King, and everyone else in the known universe had weighed in on it.
February 12th, 2007 at 5:13 pm, Mrs. Chicken Says:
Oh god this made me laugh and I sure did need it.
Did you know Princess Diana is also still dead?
February 12th, 2007 at 5:25 pm, Susan Says:
Amy, have you seen that Saturday Night Live skit where they ask people where they were when they heard that JFK was dead? And the last guy yells, “WHAT???? KENNEDY IS DEAD?!?”
Because that’s what you made me think of.
February 12th, 2007 at 5:36 pm, Granny Says:
Other good news about women, at least to me.
The Dixie Chicks.
February 12th, 2007 at 7:47 pm, Wendy Says:
Brilliant!!! I need to find me a helicopter mommy. Lord knows that when we have company over, I completely forget about the kids. Someone will either come and get me or take care of it. Ahhhhhhh!!!
February 13th, 2007 at 12:09 pm, Velma Says:
The ANS trainwreck just keeps getting so very much much much more…uhm…I don’t even think there is a word to describe how awful and convoluted it is.
TRAINWRECKIER!
(Seriously, it is amazng how much this is playing out like a Sidney Sheldon novel.)
February 16th, 2007 at 12:17 pm, cape buffalo Says:
alrighty then: off to find 2 more cocktail mamas and a helicopter mom.