Pictures of my kids

I hated being a cute kid. I thought people judged me by the first impression they got: pretty, cute, clean, whatever. I always considered it terribly unfair to those who weren't cute and to those who were cute who might actually have a brain or an opinion or something of more importance than physical attributes. It has been some relief to grow old and older-looking.

As a mother, I have learned that it is great to have cute children. What I never realized until now is that if one's children are far away on an adventure, if they are friendly, cute, nice, other people will take pictures of them and I will get to see them in a duct-tape boat at college or on top of a bus in Cameroon.

comedian in the senate

What is the problem with Al Franken being in the senate? Those who think Al Franken should not be a US senator always epithet him as "TV comic" or some such denigration. Never mind that, in the absence of a Minnesota law stating that a majority must amount to a lead of more than 225 votes, he won the election, what is the issue with a comedian being a senator? Haven't we had several physician senators, who wasted a perfectly good medical education to become an elected representative? What about the bug killer from Texas? I think it is about time that a funny guy got seated. I just hope he has some fun there. It looks to me like a not very fun job, but what do I know?