Author: marylowd

The 6-year-old: “Want to hear a joke? Why did the golfer wear two pair of pants? In case one got a hole!” Followed by delighted cackling.

Me, having trouble listening: “What? A mole wearing pants?” Also delighted cackling.

There are some shows that help clarify the world & even help you understand yourself. So when they end, you’re not just losing a show you enjoyed watching, you’re losing a source of insight, something you could lean on to make your life and yourself better.‬

I know there’s a lot more important things to wish for… but I wish that there was a new episode of Star Trek: DS9, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Bojack Horseman, and Tuca & Bertie every week, instead of, you know, all of those shows being over.‬

‪I guess, while I’m wishing, I wish there was an animated musical space show with lots of animal characters, spaceships, songs, and feminism with a new episode every week too.‬

The lesson the six-year-old learned from The Lorax: if you want to summon the Lorax, just chop down a tree.‬

The twelve-year-old: “Being a child is kind of like being the Doctor in the middle of regeneration. But you’re not glowing all the time. But he was able to grow a new hand.”‬ Continue reading “Growing a New Hand”

Today’s mood: mad about toxic masculinity in the lyrics of songs that were Oldies before I was born.‬

---

There’s a Beach Boys cover of the Crystals song, “Then He Kissed Me.”‬ Continue reading “The Cover That Could Have Been”

That feeling when you think you’re having a perfectly normal conversation and then your ten-years-younger friend follows it up with, “What are They Might Be Giants?” and you just don’t know what to say.

You never have to grow out of playing with toys, wearing costumes, reading books with pictures and talking animals, watching animation, singing songs for fun, and just prancing around when you feel like moving. You only get one life. Hold onto the things that make you happy.

I’m watching The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005) with the six-year-old, and the singing dolphins seemed to be perfectly natural to him, but he did not expect the Earth to actually be blown up. “Whaaaaaat??” Now he’s speechless and entranced.‬

There are two big ways to express misogyny — one is to actually express the underlying contempt for women that runs through so much of society. The other is to simply leave women out.

For a long time, I found it easier to ignore the misogyny in books, movies, shows etc. that simply didn’t have women than in the ones that blatantly treated them like objects. Continue reading “Bad Representation vs. No Representation”