A Visual Interpretation of Depression for People who have been Blessed not to Experience it

"Imagine being trapped in a 1,000 foot jello mold with nothing but a toothpick to get yourself out. You can see a blurry reality through the jello and so you start digging your way out with your toothpick. If you have someone supporting you, your toothpick can be bumped up to a chopstick. If you choose to go to a doctor for help your chopstick becomes a plastic spoon. As you continue on with your therapy your plastic spoon becomes a wooden spoon and soon it turns into a ladle. Digging has become easier, but you still have a lot of digging to do to make it to the sunshine on the other side."

Excerpted from a post by Moosh in Indy.

Thought for the Day

"Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts." ~Buddha

Reality Check

It's often embarrassing to admit in mixed company (as in when I'm mixed in with people who actually have some brain cells left) but I love reality TV. I'm what you might call a reality TV junkie. I love 'em.

I'm old enough to have watched the first season of The Real World, granddaddy of the reality genre. Heck I'm even old enough to remember back to 1973 when that very first slice of reality, An American Family, first aired on PBS. That was before the editing became slick and reality became a money maker.

These days when I need to escape from my own reality, I'm inclined to watch shows like Toddler & Tiaras, Survivor, Project Runway and yes, I'll say it...Big Brother. And don't get me started on The Real Housewives franchise. Those ladies are over the top fabulous entertainment. It's like you can't believe people would actually open their homes (and families) to be filmed, edited and laid bare in someone else's version of their life. And there's always a good helping of staged drama and bad behavior. All for money.

I realize some of these shows are contests of a sort and I appreciate that. But still, every act within the contest is filmed and edited and used to create a story of the producer's choosing. So even though I love to watch the drama and comedy and ridiculous actions that arise from this "reality," I'm not sure why anyone would sign up for it.

Even the shows with a gentler, more informative approach like Little People, Big World are shaped, formed and edited to tell the story that will get the biggest ratings. And in the process, the participants open themselves, and their community, up to judgment from nameless, faceless viewers like me. Viewers who, in reality, know nothing of the subject's real lives at all.

And that is the point of this post. I've just been made aware that there is an unschooling family about to start filming a reality show based on their unschooling lives. I've said it before and I'll say it again, no good can come from a reality show about unschooling no matter who is the star. Unschooling does not work in sound bites. It shouldn't be presented to the world through editing by producers who are not intimately familiar with unschooling. Unschooling is a choice that requires you to examine your core beliefs about how children learn and thrive. It requires a paradigm shift to step away from a school-based life and towards a life-learning family dynamic.

I've already cringed when I've seen supposed unschooling families show up on Wife Swap. Predictably, the unschoolers were portrayed as nutty, over the top and ridiculously laissez-faire in their parenting choices. This is NOT my unschooling reality. And I say "supposed unschooling families" because I have no idea if these families understand unschooling or not. That's my point. Unschooling was presented, talked about and ridiculed in each episode and the family in question, in that moment, represented my community. Poorly.

I, for one, do not want my unschooling community to be represented by one family, no matter who that family is or how wonderful their lives may be. Unschooling requires thought, daily examination and constant tweaking to get it to work best. It's an individual journey for each family that thrives when it is NOT under the microscope of school based comparisons, mainstream expectations and, yes, a TV audience.

These are the things that clog my brain and leave little room for anything else.

My friend Craig sent me the following screen shot off of his daughter's Fable III game, along with this note:

Looky here, Effie found the ghost of you-know-who hiding in Fable III - dancing a little jig for her pleasure.

You-know-who?

Why I do believe he's referring to James front man, the amazing Mr. Tim Booth, who has been known to dance a little jig every now and then.

But this wouldn't be the smiling Tim Booth.

I'm thinking this is a more sinister Mr. Booth, getting in touch with his villainous side.

And loving it.

Works for me! As long as he continues working on his new solo album that's coming out this Spring. I'm REALLY looking forward to that.

Click on the pic and check out his new tunes.
So. Much. Good.

I'm still here, more or less

So I got this note from a friend on Timesuck Facebook wondering about the status of this blog. Yeah, I've been wondering about that too.

She asks "Where is Zenmomma's Garden...and do I need a parachute to connect since said hijackery?"

Damn! A parachute, I knew I forgot something.

She goes on to say "Mary, be kind to me...it's Friday after a lonnnnnnng care giving week :) :)"

I'll try to blog, but I'm not sure I can be very funny.

The honest truth is that my words (and sense of humor) seem to be stuck in my head and buried in my soul lately. I get that way sometimes, especially at his time of year. But I'll dig deep and dig out. Promise! Afterall there's only so much time a person can spend watching reality tv. Even me.

So in the spirit of senseless blogging content, here's a random picture I've been saving on my desktop just waiting for the right moment.

Now see THAT makes me happy.

So does having friends who miss me when I'm gone.