Dear all,

My Jill, whose reading taste does not embrace the highbrow, brought home the
latest issue of People Magazine which has a story about Binti-Jua, the
gorilla who saved the little boy at the Brookfield Zoo.  Parts of the story
really struck me:

"Binti-Jua was takne from her mother, Lulu, at 2 months because Lulu did not
have enough milk.  For 24 hours a day, keepers worked in three shifts to
hand-raise Binit, constantly holding her in their arms.  'We raise them as if
we're their gorilla mothers,' explains one of the keepers.

"...Concerned that she (Binti, who became pg at 6) had no strong maternal
role model, trainers gave her mothering lessons, using a woolly stuffed doll
to teach her to nurse and carry her baby constantly."  Koola (her baby) is
now 17 months; is still carried constantly and nursed.

Would someone please explain to me why we, as a nation, will spend thousands
teaching a gorilla how to parent appropriately, but we won't spend a few
hundred dollars to teach human mothers how to nurse and carry their babies?
 And how we are so thrilled to see mama gorillas nursing their 17 month old
babies, while we decry human mothers doing the same thing (and in PUBLIC, at
that...please see "Wanda" below).  Why do we value gorilla life more than we
value the lives of human babies?  And in the middle of praising Binti who
saved this little boy, we "tsch tsch" the mother, wondering how this careless
person could have allowed her son to climb the three foot barrier; never
thinking that perhaps she may have been distracted for less than a
minute...it doesn't take long for an active three year old to be out of
there, up over that barrier, and down into the pit....

Off that soapbox....

Has anyone been following my second favorite comic strip, Baby Blues?  Well,
yesterday, Wanda, Darryl (her husband), Zoe (her 2 1/2 year old) and Hammie
(the 5 month old) are at the pool.  Darryl takes Zoe in for a swim, but Wanda
says Hammie is hungry, and pulls over into the shade to nurse him -- very
discretely (she doesn't even qualify for a FLASHsession :)  ).  The lifeguard
comes over and literally blows the whistle on her.  Today's episode:
 Lifeguard:  "Let's go, lady.  You're outta here."
Wanda:  What?? Why??  I wasn't doing anything wrong!  I was just sitting here
breast-feeding my baby when you--"  Lifeguard:  "AHA! So you admit it!"
 Wanda:  I don't know what you're talking about!  Lifeguard takes Wanda over
to the sign that says:  NO food or drink allowed.

Stay tuned for Wanda's response tomorrow.....

Jan Barger, deep in highbrow reading in Wheaton