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No thanks #2

Redbook sent me a complimentary issue in the mail, and as I was tossing it into the recycling, something on the cover caught my eye, and I decided to thumb through this women's magazine, something I only do when I'm desperate for input, like in a doctor's office. There I usually indulge in my weakness for People, but I digress.

Aside from Christine Applegate's reference to Michael Beckwith, there wasn't one thing in this publication that didn't shout, "You're not OK the way you are!" This isn't news, but it's good to dip into the cultural well every now and again to reinvigorate the natural defenses against the marketing monster. I don't need to buy anything, I don't need to participate in the Valentine's Day frenzy, I don't need to color my hair or make room for yet another tube of mascara, I don't need to see pictures of things I don't have that will make me think that I need them.

No thanks, I'm fine the way I am.

No thanks #1

So I'm watching some commercial television with my son, a rarity in and of itself, and I have to turn off the sound because I can't stand it anymore. First came the sexualized commentary on an Animal Planet show, and then the inane music and narrative on another, plus the ridiculous commercial I endured one too many times - a dour female who expresses the fact that she has the post-holiday blues. But wait - a sale at a national retailer will make you feel better!

Puh-leeze.

I've had enough.

I'm not buying the marketing to children of adult content, the commercialism of the holidays, and I'm not buying your handy antidote to what you created, Culture.

No, thanks. I'm fine the way I am.