A suspicious new endorsement by singer Jewel, and a note from Anne re: life.

Working out at the gym the other day, I was rocking out with my iPod and reading a trashy magazine. Hey, some people can read Pynchon and listen to Mahler, I need brain candy and synthpop. (I also choreograph song parodies as I'm trudging away. If anyone ever needs a breastfeeding promo set to Madonna, I'm your woman. Call me Madoula.) Anyway, I came across an Oscar Mayer ad, and though I'd normally flip right past it, something in the jumbled images caught my eye.


Apparently Jewel is now shilling for Oscar Mayer. But leaving aside how icky I think this processed crap is in the first place, something else really, REALLY bothered me. Can you guess what it is before scrolling down to see a close-up?

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Okay, here's the zoom-in, also turned upside down:


That right there, in what we're apparently supposed to think is Stuff You Find In Jewel's Bag, is a copy of Babywise. No doubt about it. See?



I'm sure people following my blog are familiar with the most notoriously awful book on parenting ever there was, but just in case, you'll find all you need to know here.

So, was this an intentional endorsement? She just had her first baby a month ago (congratulations on your baby boy, sincerely), so it's possible that this was on purpose (not the Boudreaux's Buttpaste in there as well). Or was this purely a matter of "Hey, young photographer's assistant, run out and grab a bunch of mom stuff. I dunno, diaper cream, I guess, whatever. Jewel can't possibly care what it looks like she's promoting if she's doing an Oscar Mayer ad, anyway,"?

Anyone else bothered by this? I'm not, like, ready to torch her Texas ranch or anything, but some sort of explanation would be nice. If, in the end, only kindness matters, "Babywise" is philosophically about as far from that as you can get.


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And now for something completely different:

It bums me out that I haven't had more time for blogging in recent months. I normally try to maintain SOME boundaries between the blog and my real life, which may seem odd given the intimacy of many of the experiences I've shared here. But I'm not a "mommy blogger" in the strictest sense, if there is strictness in such things - while I certainly have blurred the lines at times, my focus is not on chronicling my parenting experience; my shared experiences have all been mostly on-topic.

But, suffice it to say, low-income single parenthood is seriously kicking my ass. There are LOTS of good things in the works for Lily and I, lots to give us hope and the gumption to stick it out - but the day to day present is quite difficult most days. Alas, this means blogging here is something that falls by the wayside during more strenuous times, which, again, bums me out because it's something I find very satisfying. This is my internal soundtrack* many days:



Point being, I'm not going anywhere, and as ever, hope to be able to produce more frequently in coming weeks and months. Just forgive the sporadic-acity and check in on me once in a while.

*Moment of teh fun: I managed to get out for some grown-up fun last week, and entered a pub trivia contest that was ALL JOSS WHEDON! And our team, Big Damn Heroes, won by a landslide.