Hello Again!

Been away too long.  Why?  Of course.  I had my baby on  August 13!  Her name is Ciara (pr. KEY-ra, i.e., Keira Knightly).  My husband and I used the Gaelic spelling.  You guessed it.  People are mispronouncing it in The States, yet in Ireland it is the third most popular name.  More about Ciara later.  She's asleep and will be awake any moment.  I want to give my little one her proper due with pictures and stories.

In the meantime, I am including a trailer to the film Vision, which is about Hildegard Von Bingen.  It opens today in Chicago at the Music Box Theatre.  Will have to wait to see it until the DVD is released.  Hildegard, like my patron saint Teresa of Avila, was an amazing woman.

BP Spills Coffee

"Nothing Really Matters" by Madonna

A message to BP, the Obama Administration, and Those Who Believe Life Thrives on Destruction Instead of Creation.

Erica Jong on The Pill's 50th Anniversary and the Lack of Support for Child Care. Need to Know's (PBS's WNET) Premiere Episode

The Time Traveler's Wife and The Golden Notebook

Now you may be asking yourself:  what connection could there possibly be between Audrey Niffenegger 's The Time Traveler's Wife and Doris Lessing 's The Golden Notebook ?

Today I read the section in TGN where Anna Wulf is contacted by a television producer who wants to adapt her novel Frontiers of War into a play for television.  Anna refuses and tells the producer Reginald "call me Reggie" Tarbrucke, ". . . [T]here are very few plays I see on television which encourage me to write for that medium . . . If I believed Frontiers of War could be adapted for television in a way which would satisfy me, my attitude would different" (270).

Nonetheless, Tarbruck persists, and Anna reluctantly meets with him for lunch.  As she guessed, Tarbruck, while he says "[he] was immediately struck by [Frontiers of War's] freshness and sincerity" believes the core story of the novel to be the love story and not a commentary on war and the conflict between the black and white races on the African continent (269-270).  Anna then quips she sees the play as a comedy (which the novel is not) and tells Mr. Tarbruck her ideas for the script.  Tarbruck then rescinds his initial offer.

As I read this section, I immediately thought of the film adapatation of The Time Traveler's Wife.  Like the other readers, I adored the novel and felt excited about the film adaptation.  The novel chronicles Henry's and Claire's courtship and marriage and the difficulties both face from it because of his chrono-displacement gene.  It spends much time developing the characters, major and minor, and the original story itself is deep, dramatic, funny, dark, and haunting.  The novel's ending was perfect.  I felt for Henry and especially Claire.  However, I heard from a good source that the film adapatation was a sore spot for Audrey.  As a courtesy, the film company showed her the script, and Audrey, according to my source, spent time "fixing the inane dialogue."  I was also told the script reduced the film to "I wuv you Cware.  I wuv you Henwy."  My stomach sunk though past book adapations onto film have gone this same way.

Shortly before the film's release, Rachel McAdams, who played Claire in the film, said only the love story was focused and the additional, larger issues Audrey addressed in the book were only touched on or jettisoned.  Then I read the ending was changed.

Bill and I saw the film, more out of curiosity as is the human instinct to slow down during a car wreck.  While some element of the book were kept, overall it destroyed what Audrey had created.  All that was focused on was the love story, and even those elements, Claire's multiple miscarriages, the suicide of Henry's former girlfriend, the wedding taking place in a church, were butchered or neutered.  And don't get me started on the new ending.

As Tartrufe tells Anna, "It's a simple medium.  And the audience--well I don't have to tell you, it's not the  most intellient audience" (275).  Oh how that applies to film adaptations and especially the adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife.  Television and film all to often appeal to the lowest common denominator at the expense of the artist's original vision.  There have been very few films that remain true to the author's book.  That is when the almighty dollar serves as the muse.  Well, as I predicted, Audrey's fans were smarter than the audience the producers were vying to grab and the movie tanked in both critical and financial response.  I am not sure how the DVD sales are currently going, but I think many would prefer to wait until it appears on cable.

My friend Tatiana de Rosnay 's novel Sarah's Key just finished filming.  She said she, like Audrey, was offered the script as a courtesy to read.  Unlike Audrey, Tatiana is happy with it.  It stars Kristin Scott Thomas as Julia Jarmond.  We will see if the final cut reflects Tatiana's vision.  I do hope so.

Knocked Up Week 24: A Visit to Northwestern MS Clinic

Today I visited my neurologist, Bruce Cohen , at Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation's MS Clinic .  I am pleased to report that not only is my MS stable but that I have made improvement in regards to my mobility and dexterity.  After I talk my walking test, I do a "peg test" where I insert small wooden pegs into the holes of a wooden cube.  My times for both improved by ten seconds.  Pregnancy often helps improve the health of women who live with MS.  These past few months I have felt extremely well -- almost back to my pre-diagnosis days.

However, in the three months after la bimba's birth, I have a 30 to 50% chance of a relapse and complications because of the shift in hormones.  I have been staying active throughout my pregnancy (my next prenatal yoga class starts this Saturday) and eating healthy, but biology and my immune system will have other ideas.  Dr. Cohen did mention to me months ago that there have been some studies showing that breastfeeding has proved not only beneficial for the child but also for the mother who lives with MS.  I do plan to breastfeed.

Still, Dr. Cohen mentioned possibly starting me on IV steroids after I give birth.  They would be given to me while I am still in the hospital.  There is debate among pediatricans about steriods and nursing.  Dr. Cohen told me some are fine with it and some advise against it.  I plan on contacting my pediatrician later this week to find out his views.

Right now, I am leaning toward foregoing the steriods in the early days and weeks; I want the baby  to receive breast milk free of chemicals -- regardless whether Dr. Sagan is fine with it or against it.  It is a fine balance.  I know I am no longer number one, but if I cannot physically care for my baby, what is the trade off?  Yet my baby will be healthier via breast milk versus formula.  The saga continues . . . .

Knocked Up Week 24: Getting in Touch with My Inner Goddess and Bitch

This week marks week 24 of my pregnancy.  To keep my family and friends who reside outside Chicago (though those inside the city limits are welcome to read this as well), beyond the state of Illinois, and across the pond of my pregnancy's progress.

So far so good.  On May 11, Maternal Fetal Medicine at Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation will have me under go a glucose test for gestational diabetes.  A woman from my prenatal yoga group said it tastes like Orange Crush .  Luckily, I love Orange Crush the drink and "Orange Crush" the song by R.E.M. -- my favorite band.  Maybe it won't be too bad of an experience.  Even before pregnancy I ate healthy and exercised.  Even though my exercise has changed, I remain active:  prenatal yoga, prenatal pilates, lots of walking, strength training my arms with five-pound weights, and swimming at the Ray Meyer Fitness Center .  Had hummus with pita chips for a snack today in addition to drinking water and milk.  Prenancy has not been a drastic sea change in terms of my diet and fitness regimen.  As an MSer, I have no choice but to live a healthy lifestyle.  While I cannot be  on my MS meds right now, living healthy has proved as beneficial as the increase in progesterone that has helped keep my MS stable.

Now you may be wondering what the deal is with the Bea Arthur picture from her Maude days above my text.  Last week I finished my prenatal yoga class at Sweet Pea's Studio .  My instructor, Jennifer Barron Fishman , often referred to the warrior pose as the "goddess pose."  In addition to yoga, she provided informtion regarding doulas, breastfeeding, identity, essential oils (she went around to students and had us sniff different ones), childbirth, and post-partum recovery.  For post partum recovery she advocated, like the pediatrician Bill and I have chosen--Andy Sagan , being a queen during the first weeks and months following delivery.  Maude is the perfect symbol for embracing one's inner goddess, who I also like to refer to as an "inner bitch."  Do you know mythology?  Some goddesses have been nuclear bitches? 

Having lived with MS for over ten years, embracing my inner bitch has become easier.  Women need to take a proactive role in their health care.  I know women's health is not taken as seriously as it should be by some doctors.  And with a baby now in my life, my inner goddess/bitch needs to come out more than ever.

Another area Jenny discussed was everyone not being shy nor embarassed about embracing our primal side during childbirth.  She also mentioned that feminists (though some still look at having a baby equal to injesting hemlock) are now believing motherhood is an extremely feminist life choice.  Unfortunately, there are some feminists and American politicians who look at child care and motherhood negatively.  When a Canadian woman in my prenatal yoga class mentioned that the Canadian government allows post-partum women to take a year of paid leave, I knew feminists and women in general need to do a better job of embracing their inner godddess/bitch.  What is sad is that I don't believe some feminists or women in general know that amongst her feminist platforms, Betty Friedan advocated for better child care and treatment of women's health.  Friedan, after all, in addition to being a feminist who wrote The Feminine Mystique and started the National Organization for Women (NOW) , was a mother herself.

"Not Even in South Park? " by The New York Times's Ross Douthat

Two months before 9/11, Comedy Central aired an episode of “South Park” entitled “Super Best Friends,” in which the cartoon show’s foul-mouthed urchins sought assistance from an unusual team of superheroes. These particular superfriends were all religious figures: Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, Mormonism’s Joseph Smith, Taoism’s Lao-tse — and the Prophet Muhammad, depicted with a turban and a 5 o’clock shadow, and introduced as “the Muslim prophet with the powers of flame.”

That was a more permissive time. You can’t portray Muhammad on American television anymore, as South Park’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, discovered in 2006, when they tried to parody the Danish cartoon controversy — in which unflattering caricatures of the prophet prompted worldwide riots — by scripting another animated appearance for Muhammad. The episode aired, but the cameo itself was blacked out, replaced by an announcement that Comedy Central had refused to show an image of the prophet.

For Parker and Stone, the obvious next step was to make fun of the fact that you can’t broadcast an image of Muhammad. Two weeks ago, “South Park” brought back the “super best friends,” but this time Muhammad never showed his face. He “appeared” from inside a U-Haul trailer, and then from inside a mascot’s costume.

These gimmicks then prompted a writer for the New York-based Web site revolutionmuslim.com to predict that Parker and Stone would end up like Theo van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker murdered in 2004 for his scathing critiques of Islam. The writer, an American convert to Islam named Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee, didn’t technically threaten to kill them himself. His post, and the accompanying photo of van Gogh’s corpse, was just “a warning ... of what will likely happen to them.”

This passive-aggressive death threat provoked a swift response from Comedy Central. In last week’s follow-up episode, the prophet’s non-appearance appearances were censored, and every single reference to Muhammad was bleeped out. The historical record was quickly scrubbed as well: The original “Super Best Friends” episode is no longer available on the Internet.

In a way, the muzzling of “South Park” is no more disquieting than any other example of Western institutions’ cowering before the threat of Islamist violence. It’s no worse than the German opera house that temporarily suspended performances of Mozart’s opera “Idomeneo” because it included a scene featuring Muhammad’s severed head. Or Random House’s decision to cancel the publication of a novel about the prophet’s third wife. Or Yale University Press’s refusal to publish the controversial Danish cartoons ... in a book about the Danish cartoon crisis. Or the fact that various Western journalists, intellectuals and politicians — the list includes Oriana Fallaci in Italy, Michel Houellebecq in France, Mark Steyn in Canada and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands — have been hauled before courts and “human rights” tribunals, in supposedly liberal societies, for daring to give offense to Islam.

But there’s still a sense in which the “South Park” case is particularly illuminating. Not because it tells us anything new about the lines that writers and entertainers suddenly aren’t allowed to cross. But because it’s a reminder that Islam is just about the only place where we draw any lines at all.

Across 14 on-air years, there’s no icon “South Park” hasn’t trampled, no vein of shock-comedy (sexual, scatalogical, blasphemous) it hasn’t mined. In a less jaded era, its creators would have been the rightful heirs of Oscar Wilde or Lenny Bruce — taking frequent risks to fillet the culture’s sacred cows.

In ours, though, even Parker’s and Stone’s wildest outrages often just blur into the scenery. In a country where the latest hit movie, “Kick-Ass,” features an 11-year-old girl spitting obscenities and gutting bad guys while dressed in pedophile-bait outfits, there isn’t much room for real transgression. Our culture has few taboos that can’t be violated, and our establishment has largely given up on setting standards in the first place.

Except where Islam is concerned. There, the standards are established under threat of violence, and accepted out of a mix of self-preservation and self-loathing.

This is what decadence looks like: a frantic coarseness that “bravely” trashes its own values and traditions, and then knuckles under swiftly to totalitarianism and brute force.

Happily, today’s would-be totalitarians are probably too marginal to take full advantage. This isn’t Weimar Germany, and Islam’s radical fringe is still a fringe, rather than an existential enemy.

For that, we should be grateful. Because if a violent fringe is capable of inspiring so much cowardice and self-censorship, it suggests that there’s enough rot in our institutions that a stronger foe might be able to bring them crashing down.

The Daily Show and John Hodgman's Recommdendations for Stopping Pedophilia in the Catholic Church

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-14-2010/you-re-welcome---church-scandal-prevention