Wednesday, January 30

Boy, is Naomi Wolf whacked. I mean, totally, absolutely. The whiny author of The Beauty Myth, Misconceptions and Al Gore's makeover into an Alpha Male was in Chicago recently, touring the Chicago Children's Museum.

"I have this fantasy, see," Wolf says, looking around her. "There would be this huge pit for the kids to play and bleachers for the moms. You wouldn't need to hover and track your kid, as if you're a Soviet spy. Instead, you'd be able to sit and think and dream.'

Keeping track of kids and tending to them while they play is akin to spying?

She peppers Leah Weatherspoon, the museum's media relations director who good naturedly tags along for the tour, with questions: Why can't the museum provide a place for moms to meet in reading groups or political action committees while their kids play? Why can't there be Internet portals for moms to incubate small businesses while the kids pretend to go grocery shopping in the museum's pint-sized Dominick's?

It is not enough to provide a fun, stimulating and safe environment for kids, Wolf says. "Let's turn this place into a community center, where moms are not isolated from the rest of society."

Yah. I would definitely see a trip to the children's museum as an opportunity to "incubate a small business."

I wonder why Naomi Wolf is so helpless, and why does she project that same helplessness on other women? What world does she live in? How can she be the mother of two small children (6 years and 21 months) and not be aware of the riot and wealth of activities that mothers of all kinds are involved in, paid and volunteer? Why does she think that women must constantly have opportunities provided for them, rather than creating their own?

Here's the article.