Packaging Girlhood

I was listening to Kansas City's NPR station while doing Meals on Wheels yesterday and caught part of one of my favorite programs - Up to Date.

http://www.kcur.org/uptodate.html#Wednesday

I was able to hear the portion where callers can phone in and ask questions or make comments on the topic and I was delighted to have caught Wednesday's topic - how the media sells sexuality to our female children and how adult women are being "girlified" at the same time.

Then I learned about Club Libby Lu - An "experience-based retailer" that allows groups of girls to come in, get covered in makeup, nail polish, and age-inappropriate clothes so that they can learn their roles as princesses, divas, and sex objects. Basically - it is a store where you can take your daughter to be turned into a living Bratz doll. I have been meaning to rant about Bratz for quite some time and just didn't get around to it, but a store where you can have parties to encourage our girls to become everything that they think boys want them to be at the cost of their individuality and a huge dent in parents' pocketbooks? I am horrified.

I will be tracking down Dr. Lynn Mikel Brown's book and let you know what I think.

Mortality

If you have met me you have probably heard about how much I hate winter. It was with great enthusiasm that I crawled back into bed last Sunday when I learned that my congregation had canceled services due to the incredibly slick roads. Don't get me wrong.. I love working. But I don't love driving to work when it is dangerous out. I called my son's father to tell him to sit tight and not come up to the Fellowship, but he didn't get the message. Next thing I knew I was on the phone with the Franklin County Sheriff's Department hearing that my son was in a wreck and headed to Children's Mercy Hospital and I needed to get there right away. TOTAL PANIC!

Got my husband up and he was able to take sensibly to the sheriff and assure me that my son was fine, but injured, and we needed to move it.

Long story short - broken iliac crest and a scraped up face. His dad had bruises, and the oncoming driver that they hit because they were driving over the posted speed limit and the road was covered in slush had a broken rib. Very lucky.

There are all kinds of changes going on with YRUU and C*UUYAN that I should be passing on to others, but it hit me this morning that my son almost died. I saw the pictures of the wreck. He almost died.

Hug your family and friends tightly. Drive safely. Tell people that you love them when you love them. You never know what will happen. We don't always get second chances.