Friday, December 26, 2014

Not too Late for Christmas Cheer

I've been slacking because for me, this has been a week, but here's a neat little video of President Obama showing that toys aren't really easily sorted as "girls'" and "boys'":



I was all about anything I could throw, catch, shoot, or build (my emptied-out Idaho-powdered-mashed-potatoes canister repurposed as a LEGO container was my go-to favorite thing--I mostly made castles) as a little girl, and my dolls were usually "patients" for playing at being a doctor. I'm not too sure why things kids play with get so gender-segregated, myself.

Also this:

Reminds me of all the daddies who have ever perched on too-tiny chairs to drink imaginary tea from too-tiny cups, or patiently endured a "make-over". Too cute.

Christmas is a neat time for getting back on the floor watching kids open toys and just seeing the spirit of play all over again. My little nephews and I turned stuffed animals into footballs and tried not to mess up Nonna's living room. It was a good day.

4 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Also this.
~

Vixen Strangely said...

Bigelow's "hot take" on Obama supporting Girl Scouts over, apparently, Boy Scouts, is simply precious. For my part, in a short post, I will give a lot of attention to this sentence:

Ironically, Obama serves as honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America.

This is beautiful. I can play endlessly with it.

Although the American rebels are strong critics of English rule, they ironically claim their basis for revolution in the rights decreed to English citizens.

Despite being a strong critic of the Vatican, the Pope is ironically the worldly leader of the Church.

A majority of Americans do not trust their government, although, ironically, the government is for, of, and by them.

or even:

Vixen Strangely is one of Strangely Blogged's greatest critics, even though it is ironically written by her.

I like this use of "irony". I am not sure he's using it right, but he by God is.

Formerly Amherst said...

Hi Vixen, I like the picture of Obama with the girls. I know he loves his daughters and this causes me to believe that he is genuine in his affection for children. Furthermore, children have yet to become critics.

It strikes me that I have been less than sensitive. Probably a lot of my friends on the left are feeling pretty gloomy because of the election.

I used to get gloomy about elections as well. What I finally came to realize is that our system does not allow for either party to have permanent status. The left and right swap back and forth and very little that occurs is permanent. We act as though one party has captured the mountain instead of seeing it as temporary. When I finally got it through my head that everything is here today, gone tomorrow, the whole thing stopped being as emotionally wearing.

Vixen Strangely said...

Formerly Amherst--I think I've finally gotten to a place where, regarding political losses, I think they can be if not good, at least useful, in the sense that they can give a side a chance to revisit the playbook, as it were. There's something at least intellectually honest about figuring out when went wrong when something has, so for my part, I hope that political strategists and potential candidates take note of why hearts and minds weren't easily won on this go-round--and work out how to do better.

Sometimes that means "pet causes" get downplayed. Sometimes that means running on being willing to go the extra mile for the people one knows is their core constituency. The solution won't be the same in all areas, but I'm sure there's lessons in losing.

Thomas Edison is supposed to have said that he didn't have 100 failed attempts at inventing the light bulb before getting it right, he just discovered 100 ways not to make one. That's a pretty good flavor of optimism, I think.

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