Pregnancy Blues

it’s been a while since i blogged about any books, mostly because i haven’t been reading as much lately.

a couple of weeks ago, i read Pregnancy Blues: What every woman needs to know about depression during pregnancy by Shaila Misri, MD. over the last few years, postpartum depression has garnered more attention as a common and serious problem. unfortunately, there hasn’t been much attention given to the subject of depression during pregnancy.

Misri begins with conceptions and misconceptions about womanhood, pregnancy, and motherhood and works her way through risks, causes, and types of depression, explaining treatment options and the risks of different types of treatment as well as the risks of untreated depression during pregnancy.

“One reason for my writing this book is to let every woman know that if she is feeling unbearably sad, guilty, or hopeless at any point during her pregnancy, these are not normal feelings, and she needs to address them as surely and swiftly as she would a rise in blood pressure or unusual staining or cramping. Just as she wouldn’t endanger herself or her baby by waiting until her high blood pressure turned into preeclampsia or the cramping led to preterm delivery, she must not wait until her symptoms of depression become so severe that they threaten not only her own well-being but also that of the child she is carrying. . . psychological and emotional stress can ultimately be just as dangerous to both mother and child as any physical complication.”

the hard thing about a book like this, is those who most need it, pregnant women suffering from depression, are not likely to read it. after all, it’s hard to read anything while depressed. and unfortunately, the chapter that talks about the risks of untreated depression is towards the end of the book. i think that women struggling with depression while pregnant will tend towards fear of treatment because of the risks to the unborn baby, so waiting so long to get to the risks of not treating depression means that a lot of readers may not make it far enough into the book to find out why they should seek treatment.

overall though, this is a very informative and well-written book that i hope gains a large audience.

revved up

i’m not sure when this blog switched from mostly book reviews to mostly posting videos, but that seems to have become the case in the last few months.

i know a lot of you don’t bother clicking through to links, but this one is definitely worth it. revveduptv has a series of videos that are freaking hysterical. my favorite’s are eternal darnation and lyrical punishment, but so far, all of them are funny.

[ht to Michael Spencer at the Boar's Head Tavern]

what the world eats

based on photos from Peter Menzel’s Hungry Planet, Time has 15 pictures posted of families around the world with a spread of food representing what they’d eat (and spend) in a week. pretty thought provoking, especially to think of the differences between what graces our kitchen each week compared to what others have. certainly makes me want to change my own eating and spending habits.

[ht to ysmarko]

the answer to life

if you google the answer to life, the universe, and everything, google gives you the answer. pretty trippy.

women in art

since i’ve posted a few videos – more than i ever intended – i thought i’d throw this one in. it’s 500 years of women as portrayed in art.

[ht to Richard of the Boar's Head Tavern]

Prince of Tennis

our friend Rilina got Jak into reading some manga back when we were living in boston. somewhere between boston and seattle, Jak got me to start watching the anime version of Naruto with him on occasion. now we watch it regularly.

after reading about Prince of Tennis on Rilina’s blog, Jak picked up volume 1. last week he picked up vols 2 and 3. looking for something light and easy to read one night while i couldn’t sleep, i read through them as well.

(for the unitiated, manga is a Japanese style of comic books or graphic novels, and anime refers to animation originating in Japan.)

Prince of Tennis is about the tennis team of a middle/high school, and the prince is this little 7th grader who can basically play like a pro. i’m not into tennis, so it took me a bit to catch on to some of what was going on.

but it’s cute and entertaining (though i prefer Naruto) and i like the little guy’s attitude.

Joe Jones

i first read Anne Lamott during a writing class in my undergrad, where we read her book on writing, Bird by Bird (hated the class, loved the book). i fell in love with her style instantly, and proceeded to read her other nonfiction works (Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, and Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year). at some point, i also read one of her novels, Blue Shoe. i felt let down. i so enjoyed her nonfiction, and i don’t remember much about the book, except that i ended up disappointed.

since the growing stack of books on my “to-read” shelf currently consists of a bunch of psych books and one or two theology books, i started craving something a bit lighter to read. so when we went to barnes & noble last week, i abandoned my typical perusal of the psych section to wander into the realm of fiction. i don’t buy a lot of fiction, but with so many books already stacked on my shelf for me to read soon, i couldn’t bring myself to purchase another psych book quite yet (especially after two mini book buying sprees on amazon in the last few weeks). so i bought another Lamott novel, hoping to not be so disappointed in this one.

i felt rushed by the time i decided to look at her books, so i didn’t really take time to read the backs of any of them, i just grabbed the first one that wasn’t Blue Shoe, and it happened to be Joe Jones.

i took my time reading it over a few days this past week, though i think it’s style also lends to a slower reading. it’s a book about the characters, not really about a plot. there really isn’t much happening throughout the book, mostly dialogue and time spent in the characters’ heads listening to their thoughts.

i was going to say the book revolves around the characters in a diner, but really, the book is the characters in the diner. not much happens, except for conversations, thoughts about the past, and building of relationships (and the strains and pains that come with them).

sometimes the characters are annoying, but i think that is part of what makes them seem human, real, and true. they are broken people, and they hurt each other and yet their honesty makes them desirable. i think they main difference between them and us (as non-characters, but real people), is that while we are equally broken and searching for relationships, we lie and hide and pretend to be something other than we are. i guess that’s what makes us most like the title character, Joe Jones, who is part of this group, but never really completely. he’s hurt them out of fear, he’s troubled by his own reality, he craves what they have but is himself the one at fault for the distance between him and the others. he refuses to step into the relationship as authentically as the others, so when he hurts them or they hurt him, relationships aren’t mended as readily as when those same hurts happen among the others.

wow, that was vague. i got lazy and didn’t feel like describing each of the characters. so all you get is this vague description.

so i guess, if you like a book with action or a fast-paced storyline, don’t read this. but for something different than others, something that is about the characters more than the story, it makes for an interesting read.

cultural perceptions of women

the emerging women blog has an interesting post on cultural perceptions of women’s menstrual cycles and what those perceptions say about views of women in general. the comments that follow the post are worth the read as well.

from the post:

“for centuries men have found women’s menstrual blood and the products they use to deal with it unclean and the butt of jokes.” She writes, “Without menstrual blood, we would not have the human race for much longer. It is that monthly cleansing of the womb that allows pregnancy and prolonging our species. It’s high time we acknowledged that far from being unclean and a joke, it is what allows us to be and continue being. It is what makes us intensely feminine, female and other and beautiful.”

and

We seem to fear or hate our bodies as much as the men.

Is this a latent fear of all things feminine? It is too other for men to try to engage and understand? Is it part of the centuries old habit of despising women for the “weakness” of these things? Or is it even confined just to women or does our culture still accept the dualistic assumptions that disparage the physical body? And why do we as women continue to see the natural aspects of what it means to be female as something to be embarrassed by and hidden? Or is this just a Christian backlash to the world’s objectification of all things sexual?

i’ll post my own thoughts in response to this in my next post.

confused lyrics

okay, i know i’ve posted a lot of videos lately, and i promised to post other stuff, but i’ve got one more first:

[ht to ysmarko]

mac vs. pc parody

sorry to be posting another video so soon after the others, but i like this one.

i don’t remember where i first saw this, but i’ve now seen it on a bunch of blogs. the church that produced it has a series of something like six of these now, though this first one is my favorite so far.

anyway, just a fun look at american christianity.