Thursday, October 11, 2007

BROAD CAST 10 OCTOBER 2007

(Ripley and Newt from "Aliens")
Just a couple of interesting things to share today, scouts.

What American Accent Do You Have? Take the quiz and let us know. Mine was:

What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The South

That's a Southern accent you've got there. You may love it, you may hate it, you may swear you don't have it, but whatever the case, we can hear it.

The Inland North
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The Midland
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

And for the record, I DO love it.


I woke up today with a piece about Ginny and Myra being Grammas in my head, part of Book Two (even though I'm not finished with Book One). I gave in to the inevitable and wrote it down, feeling that old familiar serotonin rush. But later I realized some of the impetus may have come from reading this article in Broadsheet at Salon.com yesterday, about the value of grandmothers. They reference a New York Times article Evolution's Secret Weapon: Grandma and say:
"Today many women feel marginalized once they reach menopause. But research suggests that far from being a burden to societies, grandmothers have played an important role in the evolution of human longevity. Studies of modern hunter-gatherers in Tanzania, Venezuela and Eastern Paraguay — societies that offer insights into how humans evolved — consistently show that Grandma is doing much of the work.
Researchers have even measured the muscle strength of men and women in these communities and weighed the baskets and bundles carted around by them. Often, the scientists find, women in their 60s are as strong as women in their 20s. 'It’s the women over 40 who are carrying the heavy loads,' said Dr. Kristen Hawkes, anthropologist at the University of Utah."

I was reminded of the great, not-at-all-kidding essay by Ursula K. LeGuin about how governments should be turned over to old women, if we want to survive as a species, and her quote from one of the Earthsea books, “Old women are different from everyone else. They tell the truth.”

Congratulations on your impending grandmotherhood, Shadocat. Molly Alice chose well which family to enter.

5 comments:

shadocat said...

Wow, Maggie; I'm flattered (she said, blushing)...

Back to the topic, despite my sometimes contentious relationships with my mother and my mother-in-law, I could not have raised my kids without them.

My mother-in-law often cared for my children while I went to school or work. She potty-trained my eldest while I was in the hospital (don't know how, and don't want to ask). Later when that same daughter was a rebellious teen and wanted to be "independent", her grandma let her move into the finished basement of her house. My own mother was a much more patient "mother" with my girls than she had been with me. I remember my own grandma taught me how to do many things; how to knit, crochet, and embroider; how to grow tomatoes; and how to play blackjack and poker. Now those are valuable skills!

little gator said...

Mine: Boston(no surprise)

waht did surprise me was that The West was second and Northeast was 5th or so.

Just for the record, the Kennedy accent is not Boston, though it resembles it. The Kennedys have their very own accent unique to them. The mayor on the Simpson's has a fake Kennedy accent.

Anonymous said...

Mine said "the midland"......what the hell?
Like, omigod, I'm from California! That's hella weird!

Anonymous said...

Mine said New York City.
Duh.

Born and bred.

little gator said...

That quiz seems ot thikn everyone pronounces "whore" the same way.