Can I let you in on a secret? I am SO EXCITED that stretch pants are back in (if not in fashion, at least in stores). Sure, they're kept under dresses now instead of just with shirts, and I am by no means of the appropriate size to wear them as anything except tights-replacements but lordy do I love them. I loved the in the 80s, early 90s and let me tell you, if I lost enough weight I would be back in those suckers full-time so fast. Yeah. I loved too wearing em with a super long men's button downs shirt with a vest over it! I had so many vests! Sigh.

Which leads me to the diversion:

Whether they're in the back of your closet or you've managed to allow yourself to be shamed into giving them up, everybody had clothes they adored despite their fashion shelf-life (or no life). So fess up- what is your favorite fashion "don't"? Did you get rid of the clothes? Do they hang at the back of the closet just waiting? Do you still wear them proudly anywhere you please? Share your secrets! Pictures speak volumes too, friends.

Celebrity parents aren't having a good week. Miley Cyrus got the Leibovitz treatment in Vanity Fair. The photos were more adult than not, and the parental pearl-clutching screeching predictably followed.

The sad thing? She and her parents have decided to take the "OMG! I had no IDEA it would be like this!" route, with Disney signing back-up:

In its own statement about the Vanity Fair story, the Disney Channel, which broadcasts Cyrus's series Hannah Montana, said: "Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines."

Also in the gossip news, Leah Remini (King of Queens) appeared on the Rachel Ray Show last Thursday to talk about issues she's been having with her 4-year old daughter Sofia.

"I'm very consistent; I give in," says Leah. "My daughter runs the house." Although Leah is conflicted about taking a stance that leaves her daughter in hysterics, she'd like to try getting Sofia off the bottle. "The problem I'm having with bottle-feeding is basically that Sofia drinks six or more bottles a night," she explains, a situation that leaves her and her husband Angelo exhausted from handing over new bottles and changing diapers at all hours.

Yowza. If anything, it's a reminder that being famous doesn't equate being a model mom (or even a good one re: Britney).

Also in the news

If I was gonna pick one of these stories to get up in arms about, it'd be the four year old on a bottle, but that's just me. Every time I see a picture of Suri Cruise with that bottle in her hands my eye twitches. Then again, talk to me after this summer if the bink-weaning works out. Any other good gossip you've heard about?

Going through the posts over at feministing.com I was  surprised to read about some seriously ill advised, flat out racist opinions pieces in college campuses. This one in particular, about "Asians" was shocking in its vitriol.

Students have claimed this to be "satire." At the very least, they should retroactively fail whatever literary classes they've taken for their abuse of the word, and sit with Alanis Morissette in a class on "proper use of literary terms, satire, irony, etc."

There are many things college is supposed to be- a place to learn academics, yes, but it's also a safe place to test limits, to protest, to drink too much, to make mistakes. But how far should students test those limits? Often we look to colleges to create the most passionate, activist types around us, and I think it's shocking when something like this- which, let's be frank, is average in its offensiveness when you compare it to the general populous- comes out of a college. We expect better. And yet you will not find me on the side of colleges acting in loco parentis. I wonder what the consequences for something like this should be? In "real life" you'd get fired... or maybe sued by China. I have a story after the jump about my own experience with  campus media. It's isn't entirely pertinent to post, but the link opened old wounds and I felt the urge to purge.

We all know it's gonna happen sooner or later- there is gonna be A (singular, solo, uno) Democratic Nominee. And if our Wednesday open thread is any indication, about half of us are gonna be elated and the other half are gonna be drowning their sorrows in their cocktail of choice. BUT the day after whatever day that is, we're all gonna pick ourselves up, dust our selves off, and join the cause- we're just those kind of people. I have been so relieved to see that regardless of our passion for the candidates, none of us seem to be making the "if X doesn't get the nomination, I'm voting for Nadar" claims (if I missed them, let me stay ignorant).

That said, Thom Hartmann (I am such a sucker for that show) was asking his callers today to make their "elevator speech" for the candidate they are NOT supporting currently. The idea being that when push comes to shove, Obamamanicas like me may be riding the elevator with an undecided voter and have to give a "here's is why I am totally voting for Hillary!" speech (or vice versa). As good patriotic democrats, we should not only be willing to do it if pressed, we should be happy and able to.

So it's early, but it's good to be prepared. If you would, please, post your elevator speech- but for the other guy. We'll know if you're cheating. This isn't a thread for debates, though of course there's no censoring or anything. If a poster is genuinely stumped feel free to give a few pointers about your candidate of choice, but do your best to stick to praising the other guy/gal. I think there are a million good reasons for each candidate, and it'll be interesting to see what everyone comes up with.

Stellasmomma wrote a diary about fine dining that reminded me of the topic I wanted to ask all you fabulous mommas (and dads) about... kid-friendly restaurants.

This year, on Lily's birthday, DH and I attempted to come up with a fun "out to eat" plan for her birthday- somewhere she would enjoy that didn't involve Ronald and chicken nuggets. We were completely stumped.

Chuck E Cheese was an option, but honestly- the pizza is expensive cardboard and it was a Monday night, not exactly prime-time for playing after your meal. And besides, games to throw money away on wasn't exactly what I was looking for, you know?

I seem to remember the family dining experience being different when I was younger- there were pirate hats and affordable meals at Red Lobster, or Shakey's, the not-just-for-old-people buffet with a Sunday Bar and a whole room where the families with kiddies got to sit. There's a CiCi's by us, but all-you-can-eat pizza is much better in theory than in practice.

Since no one seemed to mind the silly quick hit idea, I thought I'd give another. If you want to make up your own MT Diversion, by all means do so- this is in no way a proprietary idea, as I swiped it myself :)

Now Casting: MotherTalkers, the Movie. Finally having run out of original ideas, Hollywood has turned it's creative eye to the hottest blogs on the net. Yes, the television appearances of Perez and the Britney Crying Man were just the beginning! In what is sure to be the biggest ensemble cast ever, each poster will be represented on-screen with one other member of their family. Seeing as though the casting would be a nightmare, the director's turned it over to you! So for your appearance in this movie, please provide:

1. The actor who SHOULD play you

2. The actor you WISH would play you

3. Your supporting cast member (DH, DD? DS? Sophie's Choice Lite- choose one!) and the actor that would play them

Have fun!

My Beautiful Mommy.

Could have been a really great title for a nice book about how girls find beauty in their mothers. Heck, I could even picture writing something like that- it wouldn't be all about physical beauty, though I always think it's wonderful how children tend to view their mother's as beautiful. No, it could be about older children recognizing the INNER beauty of their mothers.  Could be about seeing older pictures of your mom, "'Fore she was Momma" as the Clay Walker song goes, and recognizing something about your mom you never saw before.

Wouldn't that just be so nice?

Too bad the title is taken.

My best friend e-mailed me just yesterday about a conversation she had with the director she has been reporting to as a consultant. It was an odd conversation, started by my friend to address how she is perceived by the rest of the staff. BF is slightly younger than I am, very smart and in a position with some older men with more experience.

Somehow, and she wasn’t entirely clear about how it came about, the conversation took what I thought was an odd turn. From her e-mail:

He asked what I thought others thought of me. I said, I don't know to that one. He replied and said that some find me very easy to work with and some think I am pushy, however, he thinks that is unwarranted because they are throwing it out of proportion. He said in a meeting a couple weeks ago with a bunch of directors, he asked, how much cleavage is too much? So he asked me that in terms of how I dress. I told him I thought I dressed okay especially since I always wear a wrap. He asked if I thought my job and treatment in the area is effected by the fact that I am pretty girl with nice hair and a nice personality. He also said that someone like me doesn't need to try so hard, unlike some others out there.

Anyone else slightly creeped out? She assures me it "wasn't like that" but anyway. I thought it was an interesting juxtaposition to the recent New York Times Feature, "The Feminist Reawakening Hillary Clinton and the Fourth Wave."

On the bestest website for movie reviews ever, pajiba, they often post what they call "afternoon diversions"- little topics that are quirky, funny and meant to have the commenters share quick personal stories that don't require a lot of contemplating. If you feel like playing along with the newest one over there, it's "Misheard Lyrics".

That said, I thought it'd be fun to try it over here since I'm kind of crabby and need something cheerful (it's all about me)! If it doesn't take off so well, I won't post them anymore but here goes:

You've been limited by internet regulations to choosing only 3 sites to visit for the next three months. Elisa engaged in some fabulous negotiating and Mothertalkers is a freebie site, so you don't need to list it as one of your choices. Which websites do you choose? (Oh, and "google, so I can get to all the sites" doesn't work to do anything but search for all the places you can't go to. Nice try.)

Last week I had a stomach bug that seriously effected my usual coffee-caffeine intake, mainly because I can't drink coffee without cream of some kind and dairy? was not my friend. So on our way to my cousin's 6th birthday party (where DH and I are expected to be those really cool adults that keep up with the kiddies) I picked up my first RockStar energy drink.

With the exception of the jäger bombs my co-workers and I would slam down after a long day at work (assuring we could stay up and sing bad Karaoke at the bar) I had never tried an energy drink before that day. Yesterday I bought a case of them. Oy, I think I'm in trouble.

Randi Rhodes was suspended from her Air America talk show yesterday in response to some clearly ignorant remarks she made towards Hillary Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro and Dina McGreevey. I'll get into what she said after the jump since it isn't even something I want to post on the front page.

For those who don't listen to Air America or the show, I'll give you my take. Randi Rhodes was the first "progressive" talk radio show host I listened to, and the reason I tune in to WCPT 850 in Chicago (go progressive radio!) She is crude and edgy and really really pissed off about the War in Iraq. While she was the reason I started listening to the station, she was also the reason I started getting podcasts of Thom Hartmann, so I could listen to someone else during her time slot. She is not unfamiliar with being suspendedfor content. Most recently, she let loose with her "true feelings" about Hillary Clinton and her presidential campaign and the rhetoric became... monotonous at best, even for a hardcore Obamaniac like me.

I thought a discussion about Ms. Rhodes' suspension was timely due to some recent discussions on this blog about polite discourse and appropriate discussion in certain forums. The details of her suspension are pretty clear, but definitely discussion worthy.

I have never bought into the idea that feminists inherently believe that men are not important factor in a child's life. Essential? Maybe not. But when present and accounted for, or noticeably absent, the effect that any parent has on their child is undeniable. I have a great Dad, imperfect and loving and supportive and, sometimes, purposefully absent. The evolution of understanding my relationship with my Dad continues every day. It has been a long, strange process, very different than negotiating the murky waters of relating to my mom.

The reason I'm bringing it up is because I got in a "fight" with my Dad last weekend, and it still bugs almost a week later. I say "fight" because my Daddy and I don't fight, like my mom and I do, with words or looks or anything- essentially, we disagreed about politics and at the end of the conversation, I got a Disappointed Look. Oh that is the worst! Nothing makes me feel like I'm 10 years old more than that look!

Somewhere in the late 90s, my Dad became a Republican, and I cannot stand it. It smacks so hard against the adolescent adoration I still feel for my Dad from time to time. It's one more chink in the perfect shiny armor I built around him growing up.