Monday December 18: The ABW Almost Daily Commentary - Farewell 2006

Farewell 2006

What a year it has been!

The mid term elections are over and the main stream media has not finished trying to cram Barrack Obama down our collective throats.  Now in the last several days the executive and legislative branches are holding their collective breath either hoping for the recovery or demise of Democratic senator Tim Johnson who suffered a brain hemorrhage last week.   I wouldn't be surprised if his room isn't under armed guard to insure that the Republicans don't slip in to pull the plug on dear Senator Johnson.  Oh, come on you know somewhere some Republican thought it.

The news media is still giving the viewing and listening public what they seem to want more than anything--more news about pantyless stars and celebrity's pimped out rides. It's their lives that reigned supreme and filled countless TV and radio hours this year.

Darfour is still dying and choking on it own blood.  Ethiopia and Sudan are again saber rattling. In 2000 the China-Africa cooperation forum was established and this past November china stepped up its courting of Africa.  The largest gathering of Chinese and African leaders in history took place in November with the convening of 48 African leaders in Beijing. But World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz accused China and its banks of ignoring human rights and environmental standards when lending to certain African countries.  But the us government has perfected ignoring Africa, unless of course, it's to sell arms to a crazed despot.   But here in the last weeks of December, the White House weighs in with the PMI--that stands for the President's malaria initiative.  Yes, malaria kills but so does genocide and AIDS.  And those are two things that didn't get enough attention this year.

Jimmy Carter tried to sort out the convoluted and confusing history surrounding the Israeli-Palestine conflict in his latest book titled Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, but got accused of plagiarism in the process.

If someone tries to tell you that racism is a thing of the past, I've got Mel Gibson and Michael Richards' phone numbers.

On a personal note:  to those of you who thought I was being a hard ass for not letting my son play basketball last year, you'll be glad to know that thanks to his great grades, he is on the team this season.  And the team has not won a game yet.  Let's just say he's learning the old saying--it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.  As I sat in the gym last week watching his team give a great effort to a losing cause, I was entertained by the cheerleaders.  These weren't high school or even junior high cheerleaders.  The squad was made up of 5^th and 6^th grade girls.  They were all of varying shapes and sizes--no cookie cutter beauties here.  But what dawned on me was the fact that I had just finished watching the 1^st half of my sons game.  He wore the requisite, very long and very baggy shorts and jersey that kept flopping down his shoulders at the most inconvenient time.  But the basketball uniform used to look different.  Some of you might remember the more fitted uniforms from back in the day.  But the cheerleader's uniforms--seemed to me--hadn't changed in many, many years.  I watched as the young girls--who obviously lacked the confidence, fine tuning, finesse and athleticism which will come in several more years--hurriedly and uncomfortably pulled at short skirts and fitted tops.  I know that age, for the new listener, I also have a 15 year old daughter.  And I was a majorette in high school and varsity tennis player at Towson State University--I know short skirts.  But my son's uniform was longer than the cheerleader's skirts.  I watched as one of the more athletic girls surveyed the gym to see at which corner she could cartwheel and round off to as not to flash so much of her spanky pants.  Then a young girl in the audience, equal in age to any of the cheerleaders decided to take to the floor and perform her own half time routine.  She flipped and cart wheeled so effortlessly that the difference was immediately obvious to me.  The ad-hoc performer was clad in yoga pants and a tank top.  After completing a few lines of flips to all four corners of the court, she pulled herself up from her full split at center court and scurried back to her seat. As she rose she didn't pull or tug at her clothes.  She didn't seem the least bit concerned about what she was wearing.  She just wanted to do some flips.  After the game I asked what turned out to be the girl's mother, if the girl was a cheerleader at another school or had had lessons.  She replied "no" to both questions. The mother told me that the girl had learned her skills on the playground with many of the girls on the cheerleading squad, but declined being on the squad because she didn't want to wear the uniform. 

You didn't have to go far this year to find a story about how parents have allowed and Madison Avenue and the clothing makers have succeeded at sexualizing our young girls.  At a time in their lives when body image is most precarious, shouldn't we be looking at ways to make them more comfortable in their own bodies? Wouldn't younger girls be better served by a uniform that allows full athletic expression?  Instead of worrying about getting through a routine so she can hurry up and adjust what she's wearing?  I mean the boys have certainly embraced the wardrobe change.  Oh, I get it! It's more important to continue the image of young girls in short skirts.

And finally, I'd like to thank Time Magazine for naming me "person of the year."  Well, you too.  As I can attest, it's been a great year for people to take back their devices and their choices. It's all been driven by you. So congratulations! We plugged in and sometimes tuned out.  And mostly we were led around by our noses by media conglomerates that played to the lowest common denominator.

I, for one, am ready for a clean slate.

See ya next time,
Sunny