My Jillian Michaels Mini-Rant

Oh, are you here because you thought I was ranting against Jillian Michaels? Boy are you out of luck.

Look, personally, I'm no Jillian Michaels super fan. I didn't watch The Biggest Loser [I've seen it maybe three times ever]. I got her Wii Fitness game a couple years ago, and it bored me to tears -- now I know why it was on sale. I don't dislike her though. And, quite honestly, on a daily basis, I don't even think about her. I imagine most people don't.

All of the sudden, though, Jillian becomes a mom, and she's everywhere you look. Last week, when I saw the first picture of her adopted daughter and newborn son, as they say on Ni-Hao, Kai-Lan, "It made my heart feel super happy!". I'm one of those mommy-geeks, so any time I see a picture of a happy mother and child, I'm ecstatic. Even moreso than my usual mom-geekdom, however, I was overjoyed because Ms. Michaels and her partner adopted a child from Haiti and their biological baby [yes, I said "their." DEAL WITH IT] looks (though I am not sure if she is) biracial.

And then I read the comments on the article on People.com, and my super happy heart got super stabby. Forgive me, I'm still training myself to ignore the comments. I have to keep reminding myself that the anonymity of the internet makes every darn fool come out and show off their ignorance. I have to tell myself that most people don't think like the people who comment on news (including entertainment news) articles... If I let myself think that most of the world thinks like the comment world, I truly could not live here. I could not.

Apparently people of the Comment World fall into the following camps: (1) normal people who are happy to see a happy mother and that people are adopting [these are my peeps]; (2) people who are upset her child(ren are) is black; and (3) people who, most of whom weren't even aware of Jillian Michaels' sexuality prior to this point (I know I wasn't; didn't care either way. Still don't.), who can't get over the "OMG, she's gay! And why do gay people have babies? And is she going to make these babies gay? And that child isn't hers if she didn't carry it or contribute an egg!" camp. These are the people I'm ranting against. In a word: Seriously?!?!?!

First, how in the world does it affect you at all if Jillian Michaels and her partner, any other gay couple in the world, or even one singular gay person, has a child? You can't make someone gay by raising them with a gay parent or two--if you could, then straight people wouldn't keep having so many gay children, now would they? And even if you could "make" someone gay, who the eff cares?? How does anyone else's sexuality affect you on a personal basis, unless that person is the one with whom you are partnered?

I, for one, am glad to see children being raised in a loving home, and I am especially glad to see black children being adopted. Unless or until someone else adopts a needy child, I don't want to hear boo about what you think about another couple's right to adopt. NOTHING. Haters will hate, but they certainly won't do anything to help, now will they?

So, although I was Jillian Michaels neutral, consider me a new fan... of her as a mother. To those of you out there who are negatively and hyper concerned about the gender of the person she loves or the color of her children's skin, go get a life, why dontcha?




(photo by People magazine)



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How to End the Mommy Wars

Did you see those last few posts and wonder what the heck I was doing with all the one-liners? Justifying my parenting decisions the only way I should ever have to.

Forget the stupid Times Magazine cover. Forget what some know-it-all with a different parenting style from yours told you that you "have" to do in order to be a good parent.

There are a million ways to parent, and only a few of them are truly bad. Unless you fall into one of those truly bad (abuse or neglect) categories, you don't owe explanations to anyone.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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Why I Work Outside the Home

Because I want to and I can.
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Why I Breastfeed and Practice Extended Breastfeeding

Because it's what's best for babies in general and my family in particular, because I can, and because I want to.
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Why We Follow an Alternative Vaccination Schedule

Because we're comfortable with it.
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Why We Co-Sleep/Bedshare




Because we love it.

(note: this is not an accurate representation of how we actually co-sleep)
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Why I Cloth Diaper




Because I like them.
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Nice Try, Mike Fleiss, but I'm not Buying Lerone for One Minute (The Bachelorette)

Last night, another season of The Bachelorette began with yet another recycled reject from a previous season. This time, the prize is Emily Maynard, the frail little blonde from North Carolina, who everyone may remember actually received the proposal… and then subsequently found out that Brad Womack was a damaged control freak with a wee bit of a temper.

Every season begins with controversy, but this season marks the first where the controversy was 100% off-camera—a class action lawsuit in which two African-American would-be contestants allege racism in the casting of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. DUH!

So imagine my (initial) surprise when the third Bachelor video introduction of the evening was the very handsome, very well-built, Lerone. Did I mention that Lerone is black (or possibly Blasian)? Say whaaaaaaat?

The second I saw (gorgeous) Lerone, I laughed. Then I declared, "There's no way he goes past the first night." And I was right. However, watching it all play out, I've gone a little conspiracy theorist. No, I don't just think Lerone was added to the cast the stave off any allegations of racial bias in casting, I think he was added after taping had generally concluded in an attempt to avoid judgment in the lawsuit. Hear me out.

Sure, he had the audition tape that was aired front and center. Yes, we saw him meet Emily and stand waiting to find out if he was getting a rose (shyeah right!!); but that's where the normal treatment ends.

1. Lerone was never seen interacting with ANY of the other Bachelors. The other Bachelors were sizing each other up and picking each other apart all night. No one had any conversations with or so much as mentions Lerone. Sure, it could have been edited out, but seeing how these edits are made shortly prior to the episodes airing, and Mike Fleiss & Co. have a lot at stake with the class action suit pending, you're telling me they would give the first black contestant in forever zero edit time? Unlikely.

2. During the rose ceremony, you could not see anyone else's face whenever they panned to Lerone—just shoulders. I'm calling ABC stand-ins. We already know from Reality Steve that the rose ceremony is frequently shot and edited out of sequence and sometimes even reshot over and over. Why not weeks later?

3. Lerone did not have an exit interview. They interviewed the other rejected contestants, and those guys "said their goodbyes," but there was nothing of Lerone in that sequence. I refuse to believe the other 20-some-odd Bachelors were so racist that no one would talk to him. Those odds just don't compute.

UPDATE: An exit interview now appears on ABC's website, where a good-natured Lerone shrugs off his dismissal. This guy clearly didn't believe he was going to stick around for long.

4. The numbers don't add up. First, there is the odd number of Bachelors. Additionally, the show ran an odd one hour and six minutes last night. Shows are known for going slightly over to screw with the competition, but six minutes is a long and an unusual number. I'm willing to bet that it you add up the bit of screen time given to Lerone, it comes out to close to six minutes. Perfect if you're adding material into a show that was already edited down to an hour or so.

5. The interaction between Emily and Lerone was weird, to say the least. Sure, it could be her surprise at seeing a black guy on The Bachelorette of all places. Hey, maybe black men make her nervous? I dunno. But it also could be because at some point long after the first night, ABC asked her to squeeze back into that little gold dress and fake it to make it (look real), so Mike Fleiss doesn't have to cough up millions of dollars in settlement funds.

6. Also, you're trying to tell me with this lawsuit going on, Mike Fleiss or ANYONE at ABC didn't immediately come back with a rebuttal that there WAS a black Bachelor in the crew this season? Taping started this past March and went through April or May. The lawsuit was filed in April, looooong after Lerone said his goodbyes (allegedly). However, instead of answering back with, "We DID have a black guy in the cast this year!", the stock answer from ABC and Mike Fleiss has been along the lines of "Finding black folks to be on this show is hard, yo!". They have never in the past refrained from leaking details about the contestant pool when it suits their needs. And it is not like anyone was watching "just to see" if there would be a black guy this year, when everyone has already come to expect that no, there will not be.

Bottom line is, I'm not buying Lerone (if that is your real name) for one second. Maybe he's a paid actor. Maybe he's just some guy from the trash pile of actual applicants they decided to call back after this lawsuit came to head. Heck, maybe he was a paid actor there on the actual first day of taping (actually, they're ALL pretty much paid actors anyway). Stranger things have happened. Whoever he is and whatever happened, you cannot convince me that anyone, including him, believed for one minute he was staying in the mansion past night one.

I'm not saying everyone or anyone involved is racist; I'm jus' sayin'.

UPDATE: This is a tongue-in-cheek post about one woman's conspiracy theories based on just how outlandish the behind-the-scenes events have been on this godawful show over the years (not to mention the crazy stuff allowed by the contestant contracts). If you don't get that or appreciate that, please by all means, stay away from this site. There's a lot of that here. And... you probably should also refrain from reading Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal. That'll just mess you up.

Also, for what it's worth, I have a whole range of opinions on the lack of diversity of this franchise, none of which are remotely expressed here. If you're reading anything about my opinions on race on this show beyond "they found a token black guy for the sake of avoiding liability in a lawsuit, even though no one had any plans for him to stick around," you're reading too much into it.

- PCM




Image courtesy ABC.com

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Teacher Appreciation Week

We will soon get back to our regularly scheduled blog (I promise!), but since I had a little time, I wanted to share what the Pop Culture Family has done so far for Teacher Appreciation Week. Last month, the Pop Culture Kids started a new preschool/daycare. I really like the school a lot, and one of the things I like the best about it (as opposed to their former Montessori school) is how much communication the school has with the parents. Teacher Appreciation Week was no different. In honor of the week, the school basically gave the children a guideline of what to do every day of the week:
Monday - Bring your teacher an apple. Be creative! Examples are apple pies, pictures of apples, apple lotion, etc.
Tuesday - Bring breakfast for the teachers [separate sign up sheet]
Wednedsay - Bring your teacher a flower.
Thursday - Bring lunch for the teachers [separate sign up sheet]
Friday - Write your teacher a note

I took the "be creative" as a challenge. I'm no Martha Stewart, but I do like to be crafty. Below is my interpretation of a creative apple. (Side note: Pop Culture Preschooler has two teachers and Pop Culture Baby has three)
Inline image 1Phase one: baking. If you're wondering why my apples look a little wonky, it turns out I was wrong wrong wrong when I assumed the Michael's near my house would sell apple-shaped cookie cutters. Therefore, I had to use a plain circular cookie cutter and make it up as I went along. Some apples fared better than others.
Inline image 2Phase two: frosting (ignore the picture quality, as it was taken by a three-year old)
Inline image 10
Inline image 3
Inline image 4(Yes, those are worms. Why not?? They studied bugs last week. And... I'm just weird like that)
Inline image 5Pop Culture Baby wanted to "help" too. No, that tube was NOT open.
And then we placed them in baskets (with a little fake grass on the bottom):
Inline image 6
Inline image 7
VoilĂ ! Challenge accepted and met.
For Wednesday, we were a little less sophisticated. I simply picked up a nice Spring kit from Michael's and let Pop Culture Preschooler get to work:
Inline image 8Inline image 9


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