Skip to main content

Fatherhood is a Gamble

My daughter is like a slot machine: old people love her, she makes 
a lot of loud noises and I keep pouring money into her.  But lately, parenting is feeling even more like a gamble because she won’t let me hand her food directly. I have to put whatever I want her to eat on the tray of her high chair, then she picks it up herself, inspects it and decides if she’ll accept it. It’s like handing a blackjack dealer money in Vegas: sometimes some of what I give her comes back to me, but mostly I just get back shit.

Comments

More Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dad...

Everything You Need to Know About Jordan Peterson (and it's not even 500 words)

Jordan Peterson is a professor of Psychology at the University or Toronto and he taught at Harvard, which is the Mount Olympus of academia for people who don’t know much about academia or Mount Olympus. As a professor at the University of Toronto, Peterson felt he was oppressed when he was asked to refer to students who identify as queer or transgender by their preferred pronouns.  He threw and enormous academical hissy fit and took his case to the internet where he has found fame and fortune as a right wing guru railing against political correctness. Dr. Peterson’s whole POV is that human beings are capable of doing evil deeds while believing they are doing the right thing.  Drawing examples from Nazi Germany and Socialist Russia, he argues adhering to an Ideology - in this case the ideology of political correctness run amuck in his eyes - creates blind spots in personal morality. As a form of security in a chaotic world full of people who believe they are doing good but ...

Put Your Marriage in Jeopardy!

It’s polar vortex season which means it’s a nice time or year to stay inside. The idea of a few days bundled up indoors used to be daunting or carry the risk of boredom, but thanks to streaming video I now have access to just about every movie or TV show that’s ever been made. The hours can go by surprisingly quickly.   Shows these days are so engrossing it’s easy to zone out.   My wife and I turned on Netflix’s RUSSIAN DOLL and I think the only thing we said to each other during the entire four-hour run of the first season was when I turned to her after episode one and said, “So we’re staying up late to finish this?” and she replied, “Duh.”      We’ve watched a lot lately.   RUSSIAN DOLL (Netflix, A+++), FOREVER (Amazon, C), I’M SORRY (TruTV/ Netflix, B+) THE GODFATHER (HBO, fell asleep), OCEAN’S EIGHT (HBO, fell asleep), 20 TH CENTURY WOMEN (Amazon, A++++). It’s easy to snuggle, mesmerized, engrossed, sitting in silence and slowly drifting apart. ...

The Iceberg

I’m going to assume you know about the Titanic, the colossal boat that sank in the North Atlantic, not the 1997 film about the two lovers on the colossal boat that… well, I won’t spoil it for you.  You may not know that the Night Captain who spotted the iceberg was inexperienced and thought putting the engines in reverse would help; instead, the swirling water created a vacuum, pulling frozen doom even closer.  Still, the luxury liner was engineered to withstand a head-on collision with an iceberg. There would have been damage of course, but the ship, 1,503 people and that enormous diamond would not have been lost. However, the newby Night Captain thought it wise to turn the ship, trying to avoid a collision.  In so doing, the iceberg caught the side of the hull, where the ship was weakest, fastened together with cheap rivets to save money. As a result, water flooded areas no engineer imagined it could reach and, after a harrowing struggle, the ship was swallowed by...

Hop on Pop as Queer Children's Lit

Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss has been delighting children for generations and my daughter is no exception. I've probably read it to her 100 times by now.  Unlike many children's books, each new reading of Hop on Pop reveals something new in the text.  Buried in the subversive narrative, I think I've found evidence which can prove Hop on Pop is an early example of Queer Children's Literature.   First, let's consider the title.  The idea of 'Hopping' on pop is subversive as it suggests leaping atop conventional symbols of power, in this instance "Pop."  The title also connotes "Daddy" imagery which is popular in gay culture.   In further examining Hop on Pop's homosexual connotations, we come to Red, Ned, Ted and Ed, four males seen here sharing a bed.  It's possible this image is just a rendering of young boys at a sleepover, perhaps there's nothing sexual or gay about it.  However, considered in the larger context of the na...