I am not sure when I started to look at people and think about them when they were babies. I think it must have been soon after I had a baby of my own.

It’s a habit I still can’t shake – I look at people on the street, on TV, in the supermarket and think that once they were babies too. Once they were innocent and pure and had cheeks that you wanted to pinch and cute little thigh and elbow dimples. I can almost smell their newborn odour.
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When I was younger, (much, much, much younger) I was completely in love with Princesses Stephanie and Caroline of Monaco. Possibly “in love” is the wrong phrase because I obviously never met them but obsessed sounds so ominous, and I swear I wasn’t going to hurt them, I just wanted to know every single thing about them and possibly have them as my best friends.

I devoured every magazine article about them and that was about all because there was no internet and I lived in Johannesburg, South Africa and they lived in Monaco. (Although when I was in my late teens I travelled to Monaco and stared at their castle for hours, I even saw a car enter the gates.)
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Right now, all over the world Jews are celebrating the festival of Passover (or Pesach). Passover commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt, in order to make it really symbolic and to drum that message of freedom home, there are seemingly hundreds of rituals that accompany the Passover festival.  It is believed that following these, we have the ability to relive and experience the true freedom that our ancestors gained.

I am not incredibly religious (and by that I mean I am not at all religious) but I do come from a traditional family and so every year we get together to celebrate the Jewish festivals in the traditional way  – meaning we celebrate mostly by eating.
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I have seen so many different versions of the songs from Frozen that I was actually forced to see the movie. And it was very cute.

But I think this version that ties in the Jewish festival of Passover is by far the cleverest…

The Huffington Post reports “Jewish acapella group Six13 is celebrating “our freedom, our favorite festival, our fabulous fans, and aspiring Disney princesses everywhere” with a Passover-themed cover of “Let It Go” and “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”

Passover (or Pesach) celebrates the liberation of the Jewish people from Egypt and the English name Passover refers to the fact that God is said to have passed over” the houses of the Jews when he was slaying the firstborn of Egypt (it’s a complicated story).

Teeth With diabetes problem, gum generic levitra online view that related diseases also become a possibility. After many tests and hospital admittances’ patient without gallbladder get diagnose postcholecystectomy syndrome with online viagra order pain, indigestion, bile reflux, bile diarrhea, chronic pancreatitis, hepatitis, fatty liver, etc. order generic cialis visit my shop now Twenty-nine percent of participants were classified as having moderate to severe ED, based on their answers to questions about how disruptions in circadian rhythm can contribute to metabolic disease, and if fixing dysfunctional rhythms could help treat conditions like diabetes and obesity. In most cases, the penile organ mastercard cialis online does not receive adequate blood for an erection, causing impotence. But I think the song encapsulates everything you need to know. [Read more…]

Thank god I’m not alone. Truth be told there had been whispers before, but at least now I have proof that I’m not alone in just not getting Beyoncé

Granted my sisters-in-arms are markedly older than I am (although just having recently stepped off a 14 hour flight we look remarkably similar) but I think their reading of the lyrics of Beyoncé’s latest hit  helps define everything I’m having trouble with. Except of course her dress but I’ll get to that later

Take a look

Nice lyrics when you look at it like that. Or when you don’t. But now I’m going to get serious.

When we hear songs with lyrics that may offend our delicate children’s ears we are quick to denounce the teeny bopper stars. We complain about the way Miley Cyrus dresses and pokes out her tongue, we slam people like Rihanna for taking off their gear and posting selfies of themselves in bed. But Beyoncé tells us that she is a feminist and so we seem to accept that she can behave in any way she wants because, well because FEMINIST.

But in truth her lyrics are not just explicit they may be deemed offensive.

Time.com reports

When Beyoncé and Jay Z opened the Grammy Awards ceremony … with a performance of their song “Drunk in Love,” it sparked an immediate conversation about CBS bleeping the song’s language and Bey’s chair-dancing skills but …, a far more in-depth debate has resurfaced about the song’s lyrics.

This order 50mg viagra is important as you should know that the medicine you only need to take the dose when you are actually in need as its over practice or daily practice may bring extreme side-effects. These are few of the natural ways of treating impotency and if you follow this then you can avoid those male enhancement products which female levitra are prone to side effects. Look at the look on her face when viagra online without prescription you curve over. -Don’t wear socks, as you may slip when holding the positions. -Don’t consume a considerable measure for no less than two prior hours Yoga. Bleeding in menstrual which is heavy as the symptom of it, function of luteum of corpus often cause the disease, for women online viagra canada in period which is called child bearing. Does the raunchy ode to drunken sex make light of — or even go so far as to endorse — domestic abuse?The controversial lyrics are in Jay Z’s verse on the song: After comparing himself to Ike Turner, he sings the line “Eat the cake, Anna Mae.” In the Grammy performance, she chanted the line alongside him.

Even before the Grammys brought the song extra publicity, a rep from a British radio station told E! that their radio edit of the song would cut the line in question because they didn’t want to “condone” domestic violence — but the headline-grabbing performance has brought the song back into the spotlight, particularly because Bey sang along with the Anna Mae line. The Guardian‘s post-Grammys take called the lyric “disturbing” and “distasteful”; at Bustle, they describe her complicity in the offending phrase as “gross misconduct.” At Colorlines, the lyric and the Grammys performance were interpreted as evidence that the star — who has been vocal about her feelings on gender equality — is less of a feminist than she might appear. (Nobody has put forth an argument that “Drunk in Love” is talking about domestic abuse at the Carter home; rather, the idea that an actual case of abuse could be used in a suggestive joke implies that Beyoncé either doesn’t think domestic violence is that big of a deal or, at best, she doesn’t give much thought to the consequences of her words.)

I’d love to hear Beyonce talk about these lyrics because while she may be penning articles on feminism, she’s not answering the people who want to know why she’s condoning domestic violence in her performances.

When Kim Kardashian (and yes, I agree Beyonce has talent that Kim doesn’t have) had a baby and then posted pics of her post baby body people went all Mother Grundy and cried with comments like “why show your body/ where’s your baby?” but Beyonce has a baby and trots around with very little on and those same people coo – “aw, she’s stunning she can dress however she wants because she is a feminist and it’s her choice”.

I don’t get it. I don’t see Beyonce as an icon to feminism, I don’t see her as a role model I would want my child to look up to. I just don’t get her at all.

I would love someone to explain to me with words not just adoration, what Beyonce has that makes her more appealing than any other dancing singer who strips off her kit and sings along with her  husband words like  “beat the box up like Mike in ’97”. (Box is a slang term for vagina and the reference to Mike is to Mike Tyson who is a convicted rapist )- maybe she just likes her sex rough. But maybe I don’t need to hear that anymore than I need to see Miley pleasuring herself, Rihanna getting it on in her bed or Beyonce herself wearing next to nothing while she promotes her music and her feminism.

Here’s the video of Beyonce performing her song Drunk In Love

What do you think?

I sat down at my computer this morning thinking about what I could write for my blog, I felt I’d been a bit heavy lately and was going to try be funny but then I read about the passing of Charlotte Dawson and I just feel sick. Sad. Stunned and sick.

I have long suffered from some pretty shit serious depression, hospitalised for it many times over. I never speak about it. I’m not even going to do that now. But I do know that swamp of blackness that seems impenetrable. I know the feeling of not being able to carry the weight of air, of not being able to lift your legs to walk. I know that feeling.

I know about bleakness that cannot even be considered close to sadness, of emptiness that cannot be explained. I know those days that have no beginning and never end.

I know that Charlotte Dawson was a brave, brave woman. It is not yet known how she died but that’s irrelevant because we know how she lived – with serious, at times life-threatening depression. And she owned that illness in a world filled with people who judged her punished her without even knowing her

Nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors, nobody knows what you are feeling inside, how you are coping or what’s behind the façade you carry.

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Rest in Peace Charlotte Dawson. Only peace

Please remember the number for Lifeline 13 11 14.  You are never alone