Giant squids kick my ass. I don't know if it's all the nature shows and creature features involving Japanese men wearing big rubbery outfits, flying three-headed puppets, and exploding toy tanks, but, God, I love that Vernesque titan of the deep.

I've always told my kids that there are no such things as monsters. I think that dissapointed my son. I thought "oh no another child spark of imagination snuffed out" until... A few years ago we watched a Discovery show about monsters of the deep that scared the bejeebus out of my boy. I had to tell him the squids were pretend. He actually turned away from the tv. Disappointment over, enter irrational fear.

Two years and a few emotional hurtles later...I took the kids to the St. Louis zoo. There was a life size replica of one dangling fom the main lobby. OOO! Were the creepy crawlies tingling on the spine! After seeing that and some horrible fictional dramatization of an undersea safari trip encountering one of the silly beasts, my boy is hooked. Disappointment gone. Irrational fear of the giant tentacled animal gone. Now it is replaced by a pure love that only a boy whose favorite communication consists of roaring and firebreathing could possibly muster.

My love is because it is something tangible, new, and so totally outside of our human control. Eh. Whatever, I think those small protozoans that they find in fresh, melting icecap waters are amazing too. Don't get me started on thermal tubeworms or ice fish. Iyiyes are the bomb. If only our flip off finger could be the lenghth of theirs. Jesus, as the only adult in the house, I would love to have chameleon google eyes to see everything those kids try to do.

What I'm getting at is this: We are still discovering life. It sparks my imagination, curiosity, and love of life. It's one of the reasons my Goddess name is Enarda. A play on the arcaic "innarda" or innards. I love biology. I love natural systems and how they work, look, and came to be.

To end this I'd like to leave you with a few words of wisdom...
"From now on, by court oder, I hereby decree that religon should stay 500 feet from science at all times."
-the judge from The Simpsons

Shoot just one more...
"Life's no fun without a good scare."
-Twas a Nightmare Before Christmas

So I am conscious about how my children view others and have other mother friends with the same concern, but recently I have had my first shocking, unhumorous conversation with my daughter. This little 4 year old who gets a multicultural education at home and has a plethora of different skinned friends who come over almost everyday has told me that she does not like one of the little girls in the nieghborhood because she has brown skin. Yes I know it's a controversial subject. "Hmmm" I thought after the initial shock wore off. "Where did you hear statements like that? All of your friends have brown skin except for one." She proceeded to tell me the other light skinned girl was the source. I thought about that, and then pointed out her that the said perpetrator's best friend was darker than the disliked girl. I explained the concept of "good and bad in all" that including race and cultures and that humans were equal even if they were not always treated that way. I also had her put herself in the other girl's shoes. She of course did not get the whole gist of the talk was about, but for her part I think she truly tried.

My thought for you other socially aware and enlightened parents is: How do you get your children to think about and discuss race and social classes without instilling stereotypes whether good or negative and an ineffective "us and them" attitude while be sensitive to their emotional capacities and mental capabilities?

I realize that this is close to another time in our culture's history where the discussion of race has come up for adults, but there is no discussion that I have heard on class or even how to talk about the discrepensies in caste/race treatment. I have to point out that this is from a small human with a socially conscious mom who reads biographies of different people from around the world to let them know that there is life outside our myopic country and culture. Yes, yes, I also realize that kids cannot be around their parents 24-7, so outside input is inevitable.

Ok then..discuss amongst yourselves. I'm going to go bake premade cookie dough.

Oh yes she did apologize the next day.

Ok. So I don't get flak for not actually posting...
I found it lovely to see you ladies on Sat evening. Goddesses always look ravashing! I get shy and need alcohol if ya'll ever noticed that. Yes, I'm a Kansas girl I get to say "ya'll". I never professed to be a grammarian, spelling bee champion, nor at the very least an "intoolictyooaal".

I heard something that made me sit back and rethink my circumstances. Unfortunately other people's worries and troubles often do that for people. Please don't think me callous, I'm just unaware. It's kinda like someone opening your closet and a flock of moths fly out at break neck speed right at yours and your companion's faces. Embarassing and shocking. I want to find a way to remedy the discovered problem while not for sure how to go about it. Thank you, Goddesses, who have given support and reminded me that all is relative and pretty much transient, so there's no need to truly fret over the small stuff.

For a while I have been holed up here in my single momdom "castle", so that making those important connections and keeping them "tuned up" have become a dusty social grace shoved next to my collections of stuff on my mantle. I apologize. So! On my honor (whatever that means) I swear my reptillian like exterior will break down enough to let ya'll know that there is a real, caring, sincere human being that resides in this biolgically driven shell of visera and what not. Until then...

I'd like to leave you with a thought on what I think is the best ending a movie could ever have... Monty Python's Life of Brian's "Always look on the Bright side of Life"
Take awhile and let the whistled tune just soak back into your conscience and fill your day up with joy! Peace.