Historic

Yesterday, New York became the 6th state to allow same sex couples to marry. Mazel Tov.

Super Busy Month

We had our first Team Image practice, Cutie passed Free Style 1, 1st grade writers cafe which was brilliant, class trip to Museum Village. And today the town pool opens.

I'm not sure what was most exciting.
I'll post videos as soon as I figure out out how to convert from phone to web.

Elena Kagan and the Siddur Ceremony

Elena Kagan is an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. She was born and raised in NYC, attended Princeton, Oxford and Harvard Law. She grew up Orthodox on the UWS and was a member of Lincoln Square Synagogue. For her Bat Mitzvah she wanted to read from the torah. A girl is not permitted to read from the torah in Orthodox circles. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, who went on to found the city of Efrat in Israel had her read from the Book of Ruth on Friday night, 5/18/73. Today she identifies with Conservative Judism.

About a month ago when they were preparing for the ceremony, Cutie came home and said her teacher said that girls could not be Ariot or the Siddur in the play. I didn't think anything of it at the time, just brushed it off as a misunderstanding. I am sending her to an egalitarian Hebrew School so I won't have to worry about her being a second class citizen.

At the ceremony last week, there were many children who were Ariot and the Siddur and not one was a girl. Could it be that the teacher discriminated against girls? Did this school that identified with Conservative Judism realize that the brilliant (she really is a great teacher) first grade teacher for the past 30 years had a sexist bias? So I called some parents with children in older grades. It is true - no one I spoke with remembers a girl in the leading roles during the Siddur Ceremony.

I spoke with the Head of School. This will be the last time girls won't be allowed to be Ariot. I can't wait for Elena's autobiography to be written. How much as it parental influence and how much was it the feminist movement in the media. BTW - We don't really have kind of feminist agenda that I ascribe to. I don't believe in equal pay for equal work. I do believe in equal pay for the same work.

Mother's Day

Mothers are starting to hate me. I posted a picture of a tiger mom on my FB page.

I believe that moms are responsible for nut allergies in kids. If you don't expose your baby to nuts early, they are going to develop an allergy. Moms who eat nuts when pregant, have nuts around the house, probably won't have a child who's allergic.

I believe that moms who feed their children food designed for children (chicken nuggets ...) are practicing a form of child abuse.

I believe that children are fat because they are bored and have nothing better to do than eat junk. If a child is having fun, running around, keeping busy, doing something they love doing, they will never say they are hungry. It they are not busy, it's mom's fault.

Then the mothers tell me - well, you only have one. I don't think if cutie had a sibling it would be that much different. I still wouldn't serve chicken nuggets.

They each would have activities they enjoy. They would keep each other busy. It would actually be easier.

Cutie's favorite foods are things like potato leek soup, stuffed green peppers, salad pizza. Yes she eats ice cream - but doesn't do birthday cake. She likes four bean salad, quinoa burgers, and stirfry. Yes, I developed her palette in utero.





Moms hate me. Even my mom can't wait to get off the phone with me. In the end I'll be proven right.


Until then.

Royal Wedding

I've been thinking about when I realized that feminist movement ended.
I was just 18 during the summer of 1981. I worked as an intern for ERAmerica in Washington, DC. ERAmerica was a coalition to extend the deadline for states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.
Text:
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

Two other important things happened the summer Ronald Reagan was President.
1. Princess Diana got married
2. Sandra Day O'Connor was appointed to the Supreme Court to replace Potter Stewart.

I was one of those 18yo girls who didn't have "getting married" on my mind. I was still a virgin and planned to stay that way until I met the right one. After a few weeks a ERAmerica, I found a boyfriend on the District of Columbia law clerks softball team I managed to infiltrate. The women in the office were amazed. And then there was Diana's wedding. I didn't watch, thought the dress and pomp were silly. Yet the women in the office were salivating.

When it came to Sandra Day O'Connor appointment, they were all trying to figure out where she stood on issues. I called the Arizona State Senate and spoke to her Admin. Reading between the Admin's lines, I concluded that Sandra was indeed for a woman's right to choose. That was the only issue I cared about. Making sure the government didn't have control of what I did. I couldn't rally around .59 on a dollar for similar work. If a woman wanted to be a sanitation worker and lift cans as heavy as a man - yes, they should get paid the same. But if they sat in the office and picked up the phone receiver - no.

Looking back I now realize that at that moment feminism was over. Now most women (including me) are taking the easy way out. Their daughters are protected while their sons are taught to swim. They sign up boys for t-ball and girls for arts & crafts. It's no wonder boys are better in sports than girls.

I'm not raising my daughter that way. But it's hard when everyone else sees boys and girls. Even the books they are given to read have boy and girl roles.

In a way this all can be good for Cutie. She will be the smart and strong girl among a lot of mediocrity.

And now it's another royal wedding of William and Kate. And no, I'm not waking at 4am to watch it. Well, maybe on you tube.

Too Young, Too Old, What's a Girl to Do?

This was a trying month. I'm working close to full time. Cutie was off from school for Passover (almost 2 weeks). Tryouts for Synchronized Skating teams were 4 weeks apart. She easily made one team. The one closest to home (15 mins away). The other team was 45 minutes away. That team only took girls 8-9 and thought 6 was too young for the team.
Cutie was heartbroken. She like skating because it was how good you are - not your age.

I'm too old for an advertising gig. She's too young for a team gig.

Cutie rode a bike completely by herself this month. I'm on rollarblades and she's on the bike as we go around the lake path.

Seder at Adam's was great this year. All the children are old enough to really participate. Cutie is reading hebrew beautifully. Even mom was impressed.

Outstanding Progress

Just got Cutie's Report card. There are 4 categories:

Improvement needed, Progressing, Satisfactory progess, Outstanding progress. Nobody gets outstanding progress. I want to know why if nobody gets it, why it's a category. I like grades that mean something.



I'm really working. Went down to Cleveland last week. Wrote a creative brief. The usually stuff. I like after school activities that start after 6. She started taking piano at the Rockland Conservatory of Music. It's a pain driving her. Next year we will find someone who comes to the house.