(Just a quick post tonight. In my zeal to tame the shrubbery in the backyard, I failed to recognize a sumac bush. I'm an itchy, swollen mess.)
Apparently, motherhood is a hot, hot topic. I know that because I've been approached by two academic presses and one journal to write something about mothers' political organizations.
I also know that because the Time Out New York said so. In their Aug. 5th issue, they review four new novels where the main character is a mother. The novels are: Murder Plays House, Reproduction is the Flaw of Love, Maybe Baby, and Within Arm's Reach.
The author of the Time Out article says that the hip parent trend grew out of Ariel Gore's Hip Mama website in the late 90s. Has parenting become an alternative lifestyle?
Maybe multitasking motherhood is an alternative lifestyle, or proud multitasking motherhood. It used to be that working mothers were always hiding one part of their lives. Either they were working and trying to minimize the fact that they were mothers (to show that they were equal partners to men in the office) or they were at home and trying to give "quality" time to their children.
Posted by: Wendy | August 26, 2004 at 08:20 AM
One word of advice for itch: Zanfel. I have no relationship with this company--it's the one thing I have found that really works. I am fearsomely reactive to poison oak and the joint's covered in it. I have now no fear of venturing out--if I get some itch, it's gone with one or at most two treatments.
http://www.zanfel.com/help/pharmacy.html
"Zanfel™ Poison Ivy Wash is a safe and effective topical solution for poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac. It is the only product known to remove urushiol, the toxin responsible for the reaction, from the skin after bonding, enabling the affected area to immediately begin healing. After using Zanfel, the itching and pain are the first things to be relieved, usually within 30 seconds."
Posted by: Liz | August 26, 2004 at 05:02 PM