The Stepford Wife

The Stepford Wife, a term coined in the 1970’s with the satirical origination of the overly submissive and docile housewife. An idea, in it’s genuine form, that sought to expose the idyllic tendencies and expectations of the American woman. The precursor to the ever growing concept that women actually do have a mind of their own!

In more recent years, it has become more avant gard- if you will– to be the independent woman. A woman with a life of your own, a good job, the confidence to make your own decisions. Careful though, because women with any self-governance run the risk of being labeled a feminist.  Yikes! She woman man hater. And it seems an ongoing controversy -an unending test- to depict the type of woman who you will actually identify with.

Have we been raised up to play with barbies, have dress up bins, wear high heels, always cross our legs when we sit, dream of our wedding day since age 5.. expectations of 2.5 kids, one dog, one cat, a big house with a white picket fence, and a tall dark and handsome husband that is bringing home the bacon … Or.. something more familiar to me-  a life where climbing trees, catching tadpoles, playing basketball, getting into fights, and dreams of the moment I could be without shoes was always at the forefront of my mind..

Isn’t there something to be said about balance? Can’t a woman -after all- be strong-willed, passionate, opinionated, void of complacency and still not have to “wear the pants?” Maybe it is foreign but I tend to think there can be some sort of notion in regards to what a woman should be that isn’t so disproportionate from who she actually is.

I surely don’t want to be so mundane that I lose the very essence of who I am. Can’t I be an individual whose idiosyncrasies unequivocally provide people with a desire to love me just for me?

For those of you who still desire the quintessential life of a Stepford Wife, there is hope! Here are steps to maintaining your stepfordwifeness… Lighten up, this is just for fun.

1Always wear your makeup.

2Always take care of your hair. Not a strand should be out-of-place.

3 If you are not well-endowed in your torso area, use bra inserts, augmenters, or the chic shaper.

4 If you are not thin, wear a girdle.

5 Wear tight, but conservatively-cut clothing to show off your assets. (Remember to wear an apron during housework)

6 Look in the mirror. Imagine yourself as a girl in a television commercial; you should look flawless, at all times. The picture of the Stepford Wife is the picture of a person who is healthy and takes good care of herself.

7 Clean clean clean! Everything needs to be spotless. Even if it takes a dozen repeated rubs, scrubs, and buff in the same spot. Clean and clean some more, in every corner of the house.

8 Cook.

9 Shop at the supermarket. Push your cart slowly. All items need to be placed in your shopping cart neatly, methodically, and in an orderly fashion.

10 Practice gracious and polite behavior even when you are alone. Eat with the silverware in place even when you eat alone. Etiquette and proper manners begin at home, when no one is looking.

11 Never raise your voice.

12 Always say “please” and “thank you” for the smallest things, in public and in private.

13 Always apologize for the smallest things, in public and in private.

14 Do not possess any strong opinions on any subject, unless you are expressing enthusiasm for cleaning products or food ingredients and recipes.

15 Your man is No.1. He is the kingpin in your life. You answer first to him, then to your son, and then other men (and only when you are spoken to).

 

“Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” Oscar Wilde

Touché

It’s likely that if you are reading this and my previous posts, you have determined by now that my intentions here are not to duplicate your overdone blog topics or to review a day in the life… You may have noticed that there really may be no one true point to any of this…  Each day I feel inspired – or uninspired – by various things. And that my friends, is the sole force driving this blog. My intentions here are merely to express my thoughts and feelings, if only for a moment, about the inexplicable ramblings that proceed from this mind of mine.

I’m unapologetic and don’t necessarily desire to elaborate for the sake of explanation. If anything, I would like nothing more than to leave someone, somewhere asking themselves some questions – especially if they are unanswered here.  I don’t know all the answers or pretend to have it all figured out. What I do know is that my perceptions, whether shared or brashly unwarranted, are all I have to go on. So, if you’re left thinking, “what the hell is she talking about?” …   Touché!!

 

 

Pledge of Allegiance

I recently served on behalf of my organization at the high school health fair, sacrificing my time to unknowingly non influential high school students, who regarded my information as uninteresting at best.  While my dissertation was inspired by community norms concerning alcohol use among youth, I also prepared a guise that I hoped would inform me of something greater than a high schooler’s desire to learn of how their binge drinking might impact their future.  I hoped to understand how effective a health fair can actually be.

At first glance, such an orchestration seems diplomatic. A school system with their constituents in mind?  What a grand gesture in preparing the next generation!

Before the first students arrived,  I found myself thoughtlessly interrupting the pledge of allegiance with senseless chatter … and then it hit me – They’re saying the pledge of allegiance!? Unbeknownst to me, that still exists in the school system, the same system that fought to separate church and state and to this day debates the eligibility of students to be able to read their Bibles or other religious texts in school.

I know what you’re thinking… You’re thinking I am here to defend the phrase “One Nation Under God” and how a Christian nation warrants – if not deserves – a dignified response to being a God-fearing people who righteously stand up for their beliefs, regardless of the recent influx of those who, in fact, do not believe in that very thing at all.

Unfortunately, I am not here to gain the attention of any theologians and certainly don’t intend this to better define America as a godly, religious, Christian nation as opposed to atheistic communism.  I’ll leave that deliberation for another day.

What I am here to do is to emphasize something Francis Bellamy – the Baptist minister who wrote the pledge – understood back in 1892 when he created the original statement of intent for a nation that he believed should stand – indivisible – with liberty –  and justice for all.   Bellamy accounted his pledge as an antidote to a divided people, an observation that sought to protect immigrants and native-born alike, in their search for freedom, and promote a nation of equality.

That’s right, a Christian whose stance was solely in support of  social change and to create a more egalitarian society. A society in favor of equality, one where race, religion, ethnicity, political affiliation, economic status, social status, and cultural heritage would in no way predispose you to hatred.  A society that believes equality is and should be the natural state of humanity.  A society void of elitism and one that represents an allegiance to one another.

As it remains today, the Pledge of Allegiance reads, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

If we continue to stand in a school or public forum, with our hand to our heart, and recite a pledge of fidelity,  propsing that we  and and the generations to come should stand for liberty and justice for all – the very statement purposed by Francis Bellamy- shouldn’t we actually stand for that?

 

Give Us Your Tired And Weak And We Will Make Them Strong Bring Us Your Foreign Songs And We Will Sing Along Leave Us Your Broken Dreams We’ll Give Them Time To Mend There’s Still A Lot Of Love Living In The Promiseland

Living In The Promiseland Our Dreams Are Made Of Steel The Prayer Of Every Man Is To Know How Freedom Feels There Is A Winding Road Across The Shifting Sand And Room For Everyone Living In The Promiseland

So They Came From A Distant Isle Nameless Woman, Faitheless Child Like A Bad Dream Until There Was No Room At All No Place To Run, And No Place To Fall Give Us Our Daily Bread We Have No Shoes To Wear No Place To Call Our Home Only This Cross To Bear We Are The Multitudes Lend Us A Helping Hand Is There No Love Anymore Living In The Promiseland

Living In The Promiseland Our Dreams Are Made Of Steel The Prayer Of Every Man Is To Know How Freedom Feels There Is A Winding Road Across The Shifting Sand And Room For Everyone Living In The Promiseland

Willie Nelson – Living in the Promise Land