In the focus group on academic motherhood, the moderator asked us, "Tell me about the support network you have--who else besides you helps parent your children?" Everyone mentioned partners and a few mentioned parents, and while they were talking, I was counting on my fingers. "There are 16 people," I said, "I would be comfortable leaving my daughter with for a weekend." Sixteen people is a lot of people, although top of that list are Lucia's grandparents, Grandma and Abuela top, bolded, and underlined. It's not just about the weekend, though. For more than a year, I've been living with my in-laws and "commuting" to my retired parents' house for work hours, largely because of the support that Grandma and Abuela are able to provide. This may be an aberration for Mary's life, but having grandmothers around are part of our evolutionary heritage : families have long depended on the support grandmas and others give, especially fo
Comments
True story: The gait women have when they wear high heels is the same gait that ancient Chinese women had who'd had their feet bound.
I hate heels, for the record. And if that means my legs never look good, well, so be it. :P
Spending so much time trying to look good and impress others = a life lived in fear of others' opinions. By all means be healthy, take care of your skin, and exercise. For all other attempts to be fakely beautiful, David O. McKay can take his painted barn and burn it.
I am in a terribly bad mood.
Personally, my stance is this: heels, for either gender, should be a choice--and as free a choice as possible. That means we should strive to create the kind of environment where it's not EVER something that's just expected of women, even in a romantic context. A man who can't appreciate a woman out of her makeup and heels deserves scorn. . . and, when it comes to those of us who are well suited to that sort of thing, a man who can't appreciate us in them deserves pity.
That's all. ;)
And Jenny's partly right about the gait. Depends on the style of binding, but usually it created a more "swaying" gait. It was considered very alluring, though.