Is this that difficult to discuss with children? Ladies kissing on each other? "Well, honey, they love each other just like Dad and I do. Some ladies are like that. You want a hot pretzel? I'm sending your brother on a concession run. Mama needs another beer."And ain't dat jes' right?
Sunday, June 26, 2011
WHAT WILL I TELL THE CHILDREN?!
Athenae at First Draft splains what to tell the kids when they see the shocking sight of two people of the same sex kissing on the tee vee.
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It sure is! Why make it more complicated?
ReplyDeleteExactly. Keep it simple.
ReplyDeleteAthenae tends to colorful language, and I didn't quote her most colorful words. Women are entitled to saltiness, too. We gutted a house together in New Orleans, an activity which establishes a life-long bond.
It most definitely does. Bless Athenae, and you, Mimi.
ReplyDeleteI like "Mama needs another beer" particularly.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned on Facebook there were complaints to the BBC about a same-sex kiss on a drama on the basis that children would find it "confusing". Well I've never met any kids who are old enough to know about sex who find it in the least confusing. It's their parents wot are the problem.
Confusing? You ought be attached to my lips! I still get a little startled when I see a GAY KISS-IN on TV/NEWS! Clearly, WE, people like me, once had a very well earned reputation for operating at full throttle in the blushlessness of dark! Ah, you missed that part? Not me, but I´m still quite puckerless in the the light of day (at least the ¨mixed¨ light of day)!
ReplyDeleteBetcha the younger Gays aren´t shy --when I was at college there was only ONE tiny and secret bar in San Francisco (North Beach) that allowed us to DANCE but several bars where we could do much more! Quite odd all of this.
I don´t know why I´m reminded of this...but:
ReplyDeleteI was working lateshift one Friday Night at the Department Store where I was an executive trainee--maybe I was 20 (I worked and went to college simultaneously)...I was on the ¨floor¨ speaking with this elegant/older woman who was Divisional Merchandise Manager of Fashion Accessories when two young employees, heterosexuals, went skipping by, holding hands and kissing as they went out the side door-- I said something about their lack of ¨class¨ and she turned to me and said ¨always appreciate young people in love--it´s a very beautiful thing¨---gulp, red, shame (and then I thought ¨wonder what you´d think/say if I did the same with the Manager of the Mens Furnishings Department who I had a huge crush on)!
Leonardo, I'm fine with mildish displays of affection, but I'm still embarrassed by PDAs that go too far. Some things are best kept for private time.
ReplyDeleteYour elegant/older woman was spot on. I think I would have been okay with the young couple. Alas, I can't say what she would have thought of you and the manager of Men's Furnishings.
Did I ever tell you that one of my first jobs was in the Men's Furnishings Dept. at D. H. Holmes in New Orleans? There I was, such an innocent 16 year old, selling, selling men their drawers. It was beyond embarrassing.
I am not sure I have shared this with ev3eryone but here is
ReplyDeleteHome is Where The Heart Is
Peter, Paul and Mary
On the corner there's this nice man
His name is Mark, He's always smiling
He's got this mom who comes on Wednesdays
In the evening with soup so steaming
He shares his house with his friend Martin
They're not brothers, they're not cousins
My little girl wonders all about these men
I take hold of her hand, and I begin
chorus:
Home is where the heart is
No matter how the heart lives
Inside your heart where love is
That's where you've got to make yourself
At home
Across the yard live Deb and Tricia
With their tools and ladders
And their room addition
My kid yells over, "Are ya having a baby?"
They wink and smile, they say, "Someday maybe."
But through their doors go kids and mommies
Funny how you don't see the daddies go in
My little girl wonders
'Bout this house with no men,
I take hold of her hand
And I begin
chorus
'Round the corner, here comes Martin
He's alone now, he tries smiling
He roams around his well stocked kitchen
He knows that fate will soon be coming
My little girl wonders where he will live
I take hold of her hand and I begin
chorus
Martin sits and waits with his windows open
His house is empty, his heart is broken
We bring him toys and watercolors
He loves to hear my little baby's stories
She's the gift I share
She's his companion
She's the string on the kite
She guides him into the wind
My little girl wonders who will care for him
We take hold of his hand and we begin
The dumb@ss notion that, if kids see it, it will "make them gay."
ReplyDeleteListen up, parents of the world: by the time the kids ask, they're already gay (or, much more likely, not).
D.H. Holmes turned into quite the mover (is it now Dillards?)...anyway, later as a ¨designer¨ I made personal appearaces at D.H.Holmes and Mason Blanche (always my favorito)! I think as a resident buyer earlier on we had a store in New Orleans named Steins(?)-- upper end ladies I think (can´t remember the early 70´s that well, lots of cocktails at lunch)! Anyway-- VIVA NEW ORLEANS (great people, good food and wow, much, much more at Miss Dixies/others).
ReplyDeleteJCF, the argument that seeing gay people will make kids gay is so stupid, I don't know how anyone can swallow it, but people do.
ReplyDeleteLeonardo, D. H. Holmes were once fine stores, but when the Dillard's chain bought them out, they were never the same. Actually, The stores had deteriorated even before they sold out. I worked at Maison Blanche, briefly, too.
The most interesting part about all of this is:
ReplyDeleteNew Orleans folks probably could write the most informational/instructive handbook on how to deal with bold ¨kisses¨ and ¨intimate actions¨ of all kinds--afterall, you´ve been witnessing very public/colorful Mardi Gras displays of ALL KINDS for generations (and most likely trying to explain them away).
Leonardo, what you say is true, but there are layers on top of layers of nuance in the culture of New Orleans. Don't forget there are those who joyously join in revels on Mardi Gras and then on Ash Wednesday give serious attention to Lenten discipline.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget that much of the outré behavior that you see on Bourbon Street is not that of locals, but rather of tourists come to go wild in a place where no one knows them.
However, that is not to say that New Orleanians are a puritanical people. :-)