There was a recently article on Carte Blanche which drew attention to the abuse of elephants at circuses.

The footage was shot at the Brian Boswell Circus.  I may be referring to the Brian Boswell’s Circus by name, but all circuses that keep wild animals are inherently cruel.

Even if not beaten into submission, as is the case in MANY circuses, they do not deserve to be caged up and carried across the country as performers!  The conditions are less than ideal, and at some point that animal is going refuse to perform, or be unable to perform and then what?

I really hate animals in the circus.  I really do.

I do think that as long as a market exists for circuses that feature animals, then tickets will continue to be sold, and these sort of circuses will continue to exist.

The answer is simple in terms of how to protest this sort of thing.

Refuse to buy tickets.  If you are given tickets, do not go.

Nothing convinces circus owners that an idea is not working more than no income and empty seats.

Speak to your child about why animals in a circus are not what you support, and why it is cruel.  Ask your child’s school or class to support a project about educating the children as to why circuses with people are good, but circuses with animals are not.

{The natural next question is, where will all the animals go who are in circuses once they are out of work?}

There is a really active Facebook Page happening at the moment.  Interested, check it out HERE!

A few years ago I might have thought this was weird, and left the store shaking my head.

Now? I would put my pants on, find a clean t-shirt, some lip gloss and go and buy this guy.

I think he would work like a bomb with my motorbike riding squirrel that I am hoping to receive for my birthday.

Seriously who comes up with this stuff? It is so fucked up, I think I would buy it.

I saw this on Facebook recently, and it was one of the few things I see on Facebook that makes me guffaw.

No doubt it is a joke, but I think any of us who has had to pop along to a GYNE appointment could so believe this could happen ….

“I was due for an appointment with the gynecologist later in the week. Early one morning, I received a call from the doctor’s office to tell me that I had been rescheduled for that morning at 9:30 a.m.

I had only just packed everyone off to work and school, and it was already around 8:45 am. The trip to his office took about 35 minutes, so I didn’t have any time to spare.

As most women do, I like to take a little extra effort over hygiene when making such visits, but this time I wasn’t going to be able to make the full effort.

So, I rushed upstairs, threw off my pajamas, wet the washcloth that was sitting next to the sink, and gave myself a quick wash in “that area” to make sure I was at least presentable. I threw the washcloth in the clothes basket, donned some clothes, hopped in the car and raced to my appointment.

I was in the waiting room for only a few minutes when I was called in. Knowing the procedure, as I’m sure you do, I hopped up on the table, looked over at the other side of the room and pretended that I was in Paris or some other place a million miles away. I was a little surprised when the doctor said, “My, we have made an extra effort this morning, haven’t we?” I didn’t respond.

After the appointment, I heaved a sigh of relief and went home. The rest of the day was normal… some shopping, cleaning, cooking, etc. After school when my six year old daughter was playing, she called out from the bathroom, “Mommy, where’s my washcloth?”

I told her to get another one from the cupboard. She replied, “No, I need the one that was here by the sink, it had all my glitter and sparkles saved inside it.”

I hope you had a Happy Easter where ever you were – and the bunny found you.

A few weeks ago I was at Woolworths shopping for kids school uniforms.   {okay it was ages ago, but I have just been too lazy arse to download the photos off my phone – there you caught me!!!}

It was the usual chaos of stores trying to get all their Xmas shit out the door, at the same time as trying to work in the joy of BACK TO SCHOOL and Valentine’s Day soap on a rope – so it was pretty hectic in retail circles.

Woolworths, which usually is a store that is organised and very neat, was looking slightly less so on the day I was visiting them.  They had no idea who I was, so there was no begging and scraping as I have come to expect, but consistently miss no matter which retailer I am in.

I saw this note for Mark, and it made me smile, namely for three reasons:

1.  Woolworths can be as disorganised as the next store.

2.  There is always a Mark that needs to get his shit together – and this sign might have been more indicative of his life than this little hangar set.

3.  It supports my belief that people feel they can pretty much say anything, no matter how shit or stupid, but the addition of a smiley face or a LOL  at the end makes it universally acceptable.

I realise I over think this sort of thing, because Kennith tells me “you over think this sort of thing.”

This idea links back to the girls being princesses idea.  Pretty, pampered, immaculately dressed and waiting for their prince to waft in on a horse and hopefully with a large engagement ring in his hip pocket.

Two thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head lately are – “Do my children see enough black people doing a range of jobs for them to believe that black people/non white people can do a range of jobs?”

… and ….

“Do my girls see women in a range of positions for them to believe that women can do anything?”

The issue is not whether you believe a women {insert non white person} can do anything, but whether you see them in every facet of your daily life, so that the fact that they are the dentist/doctor/teacher/paramedic/secretary already tells you that they can do anything, and do everything.

I think it is one thing for someone to stand and tell you “women can do anything” but one tends to think in terms of what you see, and then you aspire to that.

I am not suggesting there are rare and exceptional women who will aspire to be the president and an astronaut and a hundred other things that women have not been, but I am thinking here more about what we show our girls every day.

I don’t want Georgia (or Isabelle) to think they can be a teacher or a nurse or a doctor because those are the positions that they see women filling. I want them to really believe and feel they can be the president, head of the IMF, head of FIFA and build a bridge because that is the positions they see women in each and every day.

Someone asked me the other day why I am trying to change the world, why not just go with the flow.

I am actually not trying to change the world, for the world’s sake – but I am trying very hard to ensure that my girls have a clear idea of what the world has to offer, and their view is not tempered by what is presented to them.

I get seriously annoyed when I look around and see the images that my girls must take in each and every day.

Over sexualised women (and girls) in television and in movies – girls who constantly tout they are doing it for self-expression and for girl power, but then why do they look like strippers and gain mileage on how sexualised their image is?

Adverts, music videos and most media personalities seem to buy into this “over sexualised image” – the short and tight skirts, the hooker heels and dancing as if there was a pole or at the very least a paying customer nearby.

I do think part of it is that we as adults no longer take note of these images, because they have become so pedestrian.  But the reality is that this is flashed before our children- our boys and our girls – and told that this is considered the “norm.”

I really do not think I am trying to swim against the current, but I really do not want to sit on my hands and then wonder in 10 years time why my daughters are dressed like strippers.

Or maybe I am over thinking this ….