Things that make me go, "hmmm"

Okay, so in the film "Margo At The Wedding", Jennifer Jason Leigh is wearing a night shirt which references "The Arsenio Hall Show", which the title of this post reminds me of, because it was a popular song which was also a bit on that show.

Two blog posts which I found via the Racialicious rss feed, made me go, Hmmmm, in a good way this morning.

"Stuff White People Do" has a mindbendingly interesting post on how white women can give birth to black babies but black women can't give birth to white ones. This resonates with me because I am the black(ish) mother of a white child. My youngest could "pass" if we were still using that kind of societal test. I sometimes am still amazed at how it all worked out that he got light eyes, hair and skin when his big brother is olive with darker brown eyes and dark brown hair.

The other post is Kareem Abdul Jabar's post on Horton Hears a Who and the damaging message about girls' worth vs. boys' (a message I found in the film Shrek 3, which I absolutely still am livid about). He connects sexism to racism in a thoughtful way. I will have to read more of his columns to see what he has to say.

Crazy eyes

Last night before falling asleep, boyfriend and I were talking about crazy eyes, and this morning, as I reflected on the lately Britney Spears news (she apparently is FINALLY getting inpatient treatment, after 4 days without sleep), I thought about how I *knew* she was bi-polar, because of her crazy eyes lately. How I can spot a "crazy" person because I've looked in the mirror and seen those same eyes looking back.

When Ms. Spears shaved her head, I was pretty sure she was bi-polar and manic. It's something about how one is convinced that what they are thinking and feeling in that moment of mania is the absolute end all and be all of life. That's a part of mania (and to a lesser extent hypomania) which makes it all the more difficult. It's why people don't seek or accept help, and why they make terrible decisions. The absolute certainty about life is hard to see past. I think that's a problem for lots of people, not just people in periods of mania, but it's something I have experienced with others and myself.

I guess it's Grandiosity, technically. Or something like that.

Anyhow, now that she is back in hospital for 72 observation, I had this thought: I was thinking about how I was happy I was right, because it reminds me to believe in myself, as twisted as that is.

So that's my goal, to believe in myself, but to remember that I'm not always thinking in my own best interest. To find balance, I guess, between complete self-doubt and absolute certainty (because one thing I was thinking, but never did say to the boyfriend last night was that I felt never-quite-certain about everything these days, which made good decision making a challenge at times).

Now I gotta go take my crazy eyes and get back to work.

On "the great American melting pot"

A great post from Harlow's Monkey on the idea of the melting pot as drawn by School House Rock, and how it was remembered differently from how it looks to her today. The segment was one of my favourite when I was a kid (she and I are just about the same age), and I had the same reaction as an adult upon being reintroduced to the song.

Here's an excerpt from the post (go read the entire thing):

In 1976, the Schoolhouse Rock creators began working on a series to celebrate and highlight the bicentennial which they titled “America Rock.” My favorite of the America Rock series was “The Great American Melting Pot” with the image of all these little kids jumping into a swimming pool “pot” shaped like the United States. Of course, as an internationally adopted kid, “The Great American Melting Pot” was a comforting notion. Heck, the United States is a country MADE of immigrants like myself! Right?

Uh, wrong. Looking back at TGAMP with fresh and adult eyes, here is what I noticed: American was founded by the English, German, French and Dutch. And the “immigrants” who came “in search of honest pay” were Russian and Italian.

Hm. Nary a Korean, Nigerian, Iranian, Japanese, Indian, Kenyan or Samoan.

According to the 1970s version of the United States, this country was only made up of European and Eastern Europeans.

Nothing about the people who were already on the land. Nothing about the slaves and indentured servants kidnapped and stolen and forced to “immigrate.”

In short, nothing but a happy, pastel rainbow version of how great all the “immigrants” have “melted” into a giant pot.

Really great post, thought provoking and something I needed to read today.