Strollerderby : sadness

A Tragic Secret Revealed About 'Anne' Author

Amy Kuras — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:59:00 GMT

Well this is just plain sad: The granddaughter of L.M. Montgomery, beloved author of the Anne Of Green Gables books revealed recently to the Toronto Globe and Mail that her grandmother’s death at the age of 67 was in fact suicide via a drug overdose.

Montgomery had apparently suffered from deep feelings of anxiety and dread and felt isolated and sad for much of her life. None of this was a secret to her descendents, or to scholars who have written biographies of Montgomery or studied her work.

Kate MacDonald Butler told the Globe and Mail that she and her family decided to come forward because of a series on the Canadian mental health system the paper did this year, and also the renewed attention to Montgomery on the 100th anniversary of Anne of Green Gables’ publication.

They wanted to bring attention to the idea that mental illness can and does strike anyone, Butler said. It’s likely her sense of isolation was exacerbated by the times in which she lived, when depression and other mental illnesses were seen more as weaknesses of character than imbalances of chemistry.

I loved Anne of Green Gables when I was a girl (really, between this and Little Women, I didn’t grow up in the 1930s or anything, I just loved classic books) and still envy redheads and harbor dreams of seeing Prince Edward Island because of reading them.

While it’s not surprising that someone who wrote so prolifically struggled with sadness – perhaps she was so prolific exactly because the idyllic worlds of Avonlea and Ingleside provided an escape from the sadness that engulfed her daily life – it’s still sad to think that she took her own life. As much joy and pleasure as she brought to others through the characters she created, I wish for her sake and that of her family’s that she could have enjoyed some joy of her own as well.

Babble Ethics: Let Your Kids Get Hurt

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:28:00 GMT

I'm trying to make this a little less self-promotional than it will probably sound, sorry, but I've received a ridiculous number of heated emails from ~~crazy~~ concerned people about a series of pictures I took showing my 2-year-old daughter in the midst of a fall. It seemed like the perfect topic for another round of Babble Ethics, even if I come off like an unfeeling moron, which never, ever happens.

"Why didn't you stop taking photos and help her?!" screamed one person.

"You should be ashamed of yourself!" barked another.

And I keep thinking, jeez, it was an 8-inch fall off a curb. Granted, the curb was a little high, but I knew she'd learn something from a little tumble. Not all curbs are the same. She has to watch her step. She has to be careful on her own. Her father is more interested in taking her picture than reaching out to her.

Seriously, just how protective is too protective? Should I have sprayed her in protective foam? Put out a few pillows?

This little scene began with me stepping away from her in a deserted alley to take a photo. She groped the wall for a few minutes and then decided she wanted to jump off the curb. She studied it, gauged it, prepared to jump. And I let her, knowing full well it was a higher curb than she usually encounters, and a goodly portion of me knew she may well take a tumble.

She did.

But then of course she got up, kicked the street with her toe, mumbled something about "mother fucking shoddy masonry work!" (or something like that) and climbed back up the curb to do it again.

Still, I'm left wondering: I can't be the only person who lets their kid try things out on her own, right? Or maybe I'm just the only moron taking pictures of it. I don't know. I do appreciate the concern but it also frightens me a little to think of what happens to kids who aren't allowed to make mistakes on their own. Or maybe I'm just being defensive. Sometimes I hate you, ethics.

Mad Moms Make For Sad Moms

Adrienne Martini — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:30:00 GMT

I've always been amazed that it takes a scientific study to point out something that seems obvious. Like this one, just completed by the University of Haifa in Israel.

One hundred and sixty moms-to-be were interviewed about their expectations of motherhood. The pregnant ladies who had unresolved conflicts with their own parents envisioned parenting to be challenging. Those who had warm relationships with their folks figured their relationship with their infants would be warm.

Which makes a certain intuitive sense, yes? But now that someone has been able to quantify the obvious, perhaps OBs will take an extra 30 seconds to ask a pregnant lady how her relationship with her parents has been and, I don't know, help her get some insight into those unresolved issues because they might have an effect on her future well-being. Seems a lot more helpful than just doing another check of her cervix, anyway.

Oh, and no word yet from those researchers working on the "water still wet" hypothesis.

Photo credit: www.evilbeetgossip.com