I saw the guy that plays
Van (daughter’s bf) on Reba yesterday. I was with my SO and at first thought it was a wedding, but then he walked out of the church and I noticed all the production equipment…Apparently his name is Steve Howey and he’s in the new movie
Bride Wars that’s been filming in Boston. Hmm.
Recently I’ve been trying to figure out exactly how I feel. Happy seems a little too juvenile, probably because every other time I’ve proclaimed my joy it’s all come crumbling down soon after. I’m definitely not on a flatline of emotions either though, lately there have been times where my head has felt like it might spin off from all the good vibes that surrond me.
So, as I sit in my brilliantly lit living room, drinking some yummy coffee and watching Julia Child make blueberry scones, I know I am content. Life is not perfect by any means, however I’ve reached a point of stability that is quite refreshing and very welcome.
Today’s agenda includes stopping off at the library to pick up then to the lovely Paradise Nails for a $22 pedicure (can’t break out my fave sandals with my scary hobbit feet). I’m also considering beginning to peak around for a black dress for my new hostessing gig. All in all it should be a quiet day that I’ll have to myself, and even if the promised rain does arrive. I have a feeling that I’ll be just fine.
I just posted a video of the Duggar family on Today. In this segment Meredith Viera panders to the enormous family, making it seem totally normal that they’re gearing up for their 18th child.
When asked about birth control Mr. Duggar said they let God handle that, and Mrs. Duggar added that each child is a blessing. That’s all lollipops and rainbows, but what happens when this ideal goes wrong?
I looked into this family a little further and found that they are adherants to the Quiverfull Movement. On of the main tenants of this sect of conservative Protestantism is to maintain that God “opens and closes the womb” at will. Quiverfull couples are to have sexual intercourse regularly and use no form of birth control what so ever. And yes this includes withdrawl and watching one’s ovulation cycle.
So while the Duggar’s reap the publicity benefits of their unique family structure, what happens to the victims of being a Quiverfull?
Did you know Andrea Yates adhered to this same way of thinking? While she wasn’t officially part of the movement she and her husband used no birth control and felt the same way as the Duggars did about their children being blessings. Sadly the Yates children met an untimely fate at the hands of their overburdened and now institutionilized mother when she drowned all five of them in the bathtub. If you really want to get mad, think about how her husband didn’t take the psychiatrists seriously after she attempted suicide twice in ‘99, & was diagnosed with psychosis and post partum depression. After Yates’ discharge they conceived a fifth child against all medical recommendations.
Feminist “Cheryl Lindsey Seelhoff, a former ardent Quiverfull adherent, birth-mother of eleven children, and former editor of Gentle Spirit Magazine” has this to say:
“[the Quiverfull movement is one] in which women and children are routinely and systematically subordinated and subjugated by the men in their lives - fathers, husbands, older sons, sons, pastors, elders, leaders - as a matter of biblical principle.”
Watching Viera pander to such behavior really got me going today, and now I’m even gladder that I don’t watch much TV anymore.
“ Recently I picked up this hitchhiker in Baltimore and this kid started huffing glue! I said, ‘In the daytime?’ He said, ‘You want some?’ I’m like 61! What am I gonna do? Start huffing glue in Baltimore, in the middle of the day? Actually, I almost did. I thought, well, that’ll be interesting. I gave him a ride the whole way.
Feature piece on John Waters from NY Mag
