TresSugar

Dear Poll: Do You Keep a List of Future Baby Names?

DearSugar — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:40:00 -0800

Even if you're single, it's not uncommon to keep a list of names for the kids you might have someday. I know plenty of women and even many men who do this, so be honest: Do you have a baby-name list stashed away somewhere?

Source

Dear Poll: Do You Have Baby Names Picked Out?

DearSugar — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:00:00 -0800

Coming up with a baby name that isn't run of the mill is all the rage these days. Perhaps that's why people end up keeping their names hush hush until they sign the birth certificate. Even friends of mine who are years away from having kids, or getting married for that matter, have their favorite baby names stockpiled. Some of them even have the names written down so that they won't forget!

I guess when you come up with a good one you don't want to let it go. Of course, there are certain names I find really beautiful and original, but I think I want to wait until she or he is born before I narrow it down. What about you? Do you already have your baby names picked out?

Source

Is This Baby Name 4 Real?

GiggleSugar — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:00:00 -0700

Are they 4 serious? These parents know their son will get teased on the playground for his unusual name, but they don't care. They think they're just keeping it real. The question is: will the kid ever 4give them for it? (Thanks, i am bored!)

The Baby Name Hall Of Fame

GiggleSugar — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:00:00 -0700

No doubt, a name like this will make life "hard on" this kid. (Hee, hee, hee.)

Source

Name the Baby Rhino!

GiggleSugar — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 11:04:12 -0700

A one-ton rare black rhino named Sita just gave birth to a little female calf, as yet unnamed, at the Paignton Zoo in Devon. Take a good look at this cutie pie--what should they name her?

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The Dark Side of Cute

TresSugar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0800

Kittens in casts. Babies nudged to laugh every five seconds. Stuffed teddy bears left at killing-spree sites. We are so surrounded by the tyranny of cute that even multibillion-dollar corporations have cute names like "Google" and "Twitter," and the uncute business of insurance is represented in ads by a cute lizard with an English accent. (And yes, I too am guilty of spreading cuteness.)

What's up with the cute? Writer Jim Windolf has had enough and decided to try to get to the bottom of what he calls the "self-infantalization" of Americans. His conclusion? There's a dark, manipulative side to cute. If you want to know what it is, read more.

In Daniel Harris's book Cute, Quaint, Hungry, and Romantic, he says that there's a hidden sadism to our love of cute, citing the barrage of images of cats falling, puppies slamming into mirrors, and even babies trapped in high chairs being prodded to laugh.

"The process of conveying cuteness to the viewer disempowers its objects," he writes, "forcing them into ridiculous situations and making them appear more ignorant and vulnerable than they really are. Adorable things are often most adorable in the middle of a pratfall or a blunder." In other words, they are cute insofar as they are helpless, and we, conferrers of cute, are all-powerful.

Becoming cute, conversely, is one way of disarming opponents or critics. It's not incidental, argues Windolf, that the cult of cute in the US emerged during the Bush years, when "the American image went from that of protector to invader, from defender of human rights to aggressor on the lookout for loopholes in the Geneva Conventions." Cuteness then, according to this theory, "came about as some sort of correction, as a way for us to convince ourselves and our friends that we're not as bad as our recent national actions have made us seem." (It reminds me of smiley emoticons at the end of passive-aggressive email messages and instant messages. In this case, American cute is like a ginormous cultural smiley face emoticon tacked on the end of dubious actions telling our allies we're not all that bad.)

Windolf traces American cute back to Japan's kawaii culture, which got huge 10 years ago but actually emerged at the end of WWII after it was "humiliated and emasculated." If you're interested in political and cultural psychoanalysis, I suggest reading this long essay. But whatever you do, remember - ~~sometimes a cigar is just a cigar~~ sometimes a cute kitten isn't just a cute kitten.

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Do Tell: What's in a Name?

DearSugar — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 07:00:00 -0700

A recent segment on The Today Show highlighted the pressures new moms feel when it comes to naming their children. The new profession of baby naming consultants are charging anywhere from $50-$300 for their services, and while I think your name does say a lot about the person you are, I happen to feel hiring someone to help you pick one is pretty absurd! While choosing the "perfect name" for your baby isn't necessarily easy, do tell, what did you name your baby, or what will be your ideal baby name when the time comes for you?

Source

Astrology: Do You Believe in Saturn's Return?

TresSugar — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:00:00 -0700

If you're anywhere between 27 and 30 and have ever had, oh, a problem, someone might tell you not to worry - or, actually do worry. It's all part of a perfect celestial storm known as Saturn's return. Taking about 29 years to orbit the Earth, Saturn returns to the place it was in at your birth every 29 years. This means one thing to astrologers - rebirth!

Birth is painful; rebirth isn't much better, especially considering Saturn is a sign of growth. Astrologers believe Saturn's return represents life changes: the first time it returns in your late 20s, you enter adulthood. The next time, around 60, you enter maturity, and the final time, at 90, you enter the wisdom of old age. None of it comes easy.

So what does Saturn's return mean for those approaching 30? It's out with the old and in with the new: self-examination, career changes, bad relationships ending, good relationships deepening, and, hey, maybe you'll have a baby! To which I say, these are all things that happen anyway.

Yet, Saturn's return is all over pop culture. No Doubt named its 2000 album Return of Saturn as Gwen Stefani approached her 29th birthday; there's a book - Surviving Saturn's Return - about it; and then there's this amazing blog that connects Saturn's return with events in celebrities lives. It's quite morbid, actually, blaming Annie Leibovitz's money troubles and the deaths of John Hughes, Heath Ledger, and Julia Child on the return of Saturn.

Sound about right to you, or should the idea return to outer space?

Source Flickr User LarsOh

Roe v. Roe: Pro-Life "Jane Roe" Arrested at Sotomayor Hearing

TresSugar — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:00:00 -0700

The tale of America's battle over abortion is a complicated one. When asked about Roe v. Wade today, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor said that the case was settled law. But that's an answer the case's namesake wishes weren't true. Jane Roe, whose real name is Norma McCorvey, was arrested at Sotomayor's hearing yesterday after she began screaming that Sotomayor was wrong about abortion.

Norma McCorvey's pregnancy and subsequent lawsuit - the infamous Roe v. Wade - resulted in the 1973 Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion. But today, McCorvey, who gave birth to the baby in question before her case reached the Supreme Court, opposes abortion. She heads her own pro-life ministry called Roe No More.

In case you don't know much about Norma (aka "Roe"), let me share some of the more intriguing details of her life. Her grandmother was a prostitute and a fortune teller, her father a TV repair man, and her mother an alcoholic. After her first child was born, she told her mother that she preferred women to men, prompting her mother to take the child and banish Norma. She later gave birth to another child, which she gave up for adoption. She got pregnant again with a baby that became the Roe baby. Years later, in 1995, Norma quit her job at an abortion clinic, announced that she was pro-life, and joined Operation Rescue.

McCorvey once wrote: "Though I had never had one, abortion was the sun around which my life orbited." It seems that is still the case.

Birth Place: The Birth Order-Personality Connection

TresSugar — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:10:01 -0700

Most psychologists say there's no significant correlation between birth order and personality because it's impossible to control other variables, like a family's financial status, age differences, natural temperaments, marriage quality of parents, gender, and other endless factors. Still, they're as irresistible as horoscopes.

We look to birth order not only because it's definite and measurable, but also because we see evidence of its effects in nearly every family we examine. Who hasn't known an overachieving firstborn; the charming, freedom-loving baby of the family; and a forlorn, sensitive middle child. We could name someone who defies their birth-order personality, but they may be the exception. So with the help of celebrities, let's go over who's who and see if your birth order suits you.

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