Tag: Lydia

Lyrical revenge

I realized that this was some sort of cosmic payback.

I was at a church meeting recently, which hadn’t really started. I was sitting next to one guy, and it seemed that every other sentence uttered by the others was a cue for a song lyric to pop into my head. It was coming so fast and furiously that I stopped citing the song and would just mention the artist. “Fleetwood Mac!” “Led Zeppelin!” “Jackson Browne!” Indeed, after a while, I only noted every OTHER song I was hearing from the discussion.

It’s fun, but it’s also a curse. I don’t go listening for songs; they just well up in my brain. I used to subject my mother to this torture when I was growing up, but it was a bit of a wasted effort since she usually didn’t know my reference point.

A few days ago, the Daughter was lying on the sofa and said something I thought was funny, so I chuckled. She said, with a straight face, “How can you laugh when you know I’m down?” She was quoting lyrics from the Beatles, and an obscure song at that, the B-side of the single Help.

I realized that this was some sort of cosmic payback.

The graphic above I stole from Facebook and indeed reposted. Someone commented, “I can vouch that it’s true.”

I’m Down – the Beatles (1965).

The Lydster, Part 102: Science Girl

She also loves to water the outdoor plants and weed the garden.

Maybe The Daughter will be a scientist. Two of her favorite shows are science-oriented. One, which I may have mentioned, is the Canadian/American television series called Dino Dan, shown on Nick Jr in the US, which “follows the adventures of the paleontologist-in-training Dan Henderson (played by Jason Spevack)… and his friends, who uncover clues about the past and secrets of the dinosaurs. The show combines live action with CGI dinosaurs.”

The other is Wild Kratts, an animated series, with live-action framing sequences, “created by Chris Kratt and Martin Kratt, presented by PBS in the United States… The show’s aim is to educate children… about biology, zoology, and ecology, and teaches kids small ways to make big impacts… while entertaining them with the Kratts’ usual antics.” Here are some videos.

She also loves to water the outdoor plants and weed the garden. Her reading material includes lots of biology books. The Toronto Zoo was entrancing to her, as was the Ontario Science Centre, where the picture above was taken.

The Lydster, Part 101: The Litigator

If she doesn’t become a librarian, like her father and maternal grandfather, maybe she’ll become an attorney.


The Daughter needs to join the debate team at school if it has one. I’ll say I NEED to cut the grass, she’ll say, “No, you WANT to cut the grass,” which I will dispute. But then she’ll say, you WANT the neighbors not to complain.

We’ve had similar conversations about going to school. Since she LIKES school, it’s something that she WANTS to do. I might say, “That may be true, but even if you didn’t like it, you’d HAVE to go.”

We end up agreeing that she wouldn’t HAVE to go, but would suffer the consequences of the truant officer calling or visiting.

Do I NEED to go to work? Well, no, although being able to pay for food and the mortgage IS something I WANT to do.

If she doesn’t become a librarian, like her father and maternal grandfather, maybe she’ll become an attorney, who can argue either side of the case.
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The Daughter had TWO dance recitals in June. The first was step, at her school – think STOMP, not Michael Flatley. The second was ballet at UAlbany. She’s always nervous, but she always does well.

Black girls’ hair

In Whoopi Goldberg’s Broadway Show from the mid-1980s, she wore a yellow shirt or sweater over her head, and talked about her being a kid pretending to have long, luxurious blonde hair.

That first week of the London Olympics 2012, when I wasn’t watching, the primary storyline apparently was about Gabby Douglas’ great accomplishments in the Olympics. And her hair. Yawn.

As long as I’ve been alive, how black girls and women wear their hair has been “an issue” with someone. Processed or natural – “proves” how “black” someone really was, at least when I was growing up. Dyed or not – hey, do they “want to be white”?

In large part, I’m less upset by it than just sick of it. When the Daughter was about three, we were figuring out the best way to deal with her hair. At some point, we were experimenting with letting her hair go natural. Several black people I saw – who I didn’t even know, BTW – acted as though we were committing child abuse. “Hey, what are you DOING to that child?” Or “You get her to a stylist – NOW!” And these were some of the more reportable responses.

Back in 2009, Chris Rock made a movie called Good Hair which addressed his own daughter’s frustration with her “bad” hair.

Do you recall that poor white teacher in NYC who lost her job for READING the acclaimed children’s book called ‘Nappy Hair’ to mostly black and Hispanic third-graders “after parents complained and threatened her”? Sheer silliness.

I have, on LP, Whoopi Goldberg’s Broadway Show from the mid-1980s. She wore a yellow shirt or sweater over her head, and talked about her being a kid pretending to have long, luxurious blonde hair, just like she was “supposed” to have.

Seriously, I wish there was a moratorium on hearing about black females’ hair, especially by other people, but I’m not counting on it.

The Lydster, Part 100: The Library Cataloger

One of those days after her birthday, when I stayed home with her because she was too sick to go to school, by their rules, but not THAT sick, I suggested that Lydia organize her books in the guest room. They were stacked so that one couldn’t even see what they were. So she decided to put them into categories: Learn, Bible, Scary, Adventure, Funny, Fun, and Mariah.

Learn are educational books. Magic School Bus shows up here, as well as encyclopedic items.
Bible includes Christmas books, Bible songbooks.
Scary can be anything from Dora’s trip to the dentist (she has a cavity!) to Scooby-Doo’s Halloween adventure to various mysteries.
Adventure seems to encompass the reading books with a narrative that’s not too scary.
Funny is books that make her laugh.
Fun are books that she can have fun doing something.
Mariah involves the books she has outgrown, but she keeps them to read to her favorite doll, and to the others, I suppose.

With a system, it’s MUCH easier to get her to put her books away. I’d do it myself except I wouldn’t want to misfile something.

Her books may now be better organized than mine. I think catalogers are wonderful people, though I would never want to BE one.

Ramblin' with Roger
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