My weirdest fortune ever

Last night, our family went out to dinner to Mandarin Palace. We like the food and the people that run the restaurant. Everyone there seems to speak in slightly hushed tones, in true Chinese restaurant form. We like the small tiki bar set into a cubbyhole by the kitchen and marvel that a bartender can fit inside it.

We are always mesmerized by the peeling, flocked red velvet wallpaper that has been there since the restaurant opened in the 1960's. My husband remembers it from when he went there as a child. Perhaps the wallpaper was unconsciously on my mind when I ordered the Chicken Velvet. It was tasty as always.

That should be enough to satisfy any diner, but there was more. After our dishes were taken away, I cracked open my fortune cookie and saw what is possibly the weirdest fortune I have ever received:

(You will read this and say "Geez!! I could come up with better fortunes than that!")

I like to imagine the bored fortune cookie factory worker who slipped that one in. I regret that he or she did not get to witness our family breaking the respectful silence as we laughed hysterically in our booth surrounded by the creepy wallpaper.

Mum's Still the Word in Texas

It's late October, and homecoming season is in full swing. "Are you going to the dance?" is what everyone wants to know. It's time for Friday night lights, and the Star Spangled Banner, and the exciting moment when football players burst through long signs held by cheerleaders. It's time for drill teams stepping in matching boots and bands waiting for their cue, polished instruments raised.

And, in Texas, it's time for the homecoming mum. I wondered if this tradition might have fallen to the wayside, but judging from the photos recently posted by my friends on Facebook, the mum is not only around, but has gotten bigger, bolder, and more pimped out than ever.

For those unaware of the phenomenon, the homecoming mum is a corsage formed around a single flower: a mega-sized chrysanthemum. To the right is a photo of a mum that I wore in 1981 to a Jersey Village High School homecoming game and dance. Hanging from the mum were floor-length ribbons, in my school's colors. My school's name and other various things were written on the ribbons in glitter. And if the visual of the mum itself did not attract enough attention, there was a dangling cowbell to announce my arrival.

The tradition was so widespread that you could actually order your mums in the cafeteria; it was a fund-raiser for the school. You would pick up your mum on Friday, and wear it to the homecoming game and dance that night. At the game, the stadium would be filled with girls picking their way up stadium steps--in high heels, of course--trying not to trip on the long ribbons.

But the mum I wore in 1981 is downright humble compared to the mums of today. Angela Perry, of Mom’s Custom Made Mums in Corpus Christi, has graciously agreed to let me post of few of her creations. The mums, which can range in price from $15.50 to $150 (for the "Cascading Heart" to the left), go a long way to proving the adage that everything's bigger in Texas.

According to Janna Lewis, of the Fort Hood (Texas) Sentinel, "They have been around as long as I can remember and the mums represent the admiration a young woman inspires in people who know her...The bigger the mum, the greater the love."

Doing a little research on the web, I found that you can show your love in a whole host of ways. You can order a single, double or triple mum. You can have a "satellite" mum connected to your main mum (as pictured to the right). You can have your name and your date's written in pre-pressed gold letters or in old-school glitter ("retro lettering"). You can accessorize with teddy bears, feathers, disco balls, battery-operated lights, or just about anything you can imagine. According to the McAdams Floral blog, "For the truly extravagant, florists in larger Texas cities provide 14-karat gold jewelry trinkets."

Trinkets, such as megaphones and musical symbols, identify your involvement in school and personal interests. And in a surprising development since 1982, the guys are now wearing smaller, matching "garter" mums.

Over-the-top? Yes. Outrageously cumbersome? Absolutely. But show up without one for your date and you're toast.

Let the Wild Rumpus Start

The much-anticipated live-action film of "Where the Wild Things Are" opens today. Many critics have already lavished praise on director Spike Jonze's interpretation of the beloved classic. Michael Phillips, of the Chicago Tribune, calls it "a nervy and breathtaking achievement."

Jonze, the director of such offbeat and edgy concoctions as Adaptation and Being John Malkovich, had to take some liberties in turning a 338-word picture book into a feature film. But the movie has earned the stamp of approval from author/illustrator Maurice Sendak, who walked down the red carpet with Jonze and child star Max Records at the film's New York premiere.

The movie has aroused controversy; some charge that it is too scary for young children. "But what if that intensity, that asymmetry, is exactly why children should see Wild Things?" ponders Newsweek critic Andrew Romano (see http://www.newsweek.com/id/217830) "The greatest children's stories are about what happens when we become untethered from authority...to be rid of rules and face a dangerous and exhilirating world alone." Parenting today seems more about structure and supervision, but "the less room we leave in real life for rebellion and abandon, the more kids need stories to make space for those very things."

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The Caldecott-winning book also stirred things up when it was published in 1963. "Having a story about a small child throwing a tantrum for the benefit of his mother was not a story you were going to find in children's literature before the 1960s, because children weren't supposed to yell at their mothers," said children's book author and historian Leonard S. Marcus. "The idea that children experience rage and that it's a natural part of their psyche was a new idea to children's picture books."

Then, as today, some found the "wild things" too frightening for children. But exploring childhood fears has long been a preoccupation for Sendak, who at age 13, learned that many of his relatives had perished in the Holocaust.

Sendak grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of Eastern European immigrants. His "wild things" were based on relatives who frequently visited his family on the weekends and shared meals with them. "Three aunts and three uncles who spoke no English, practically. They grabbed you and twisted your face, and they thought that was an affectionate thing to do. And I knew that my mother's cooking was pretty terrible, and it also took forever, and there was every possibility that they would eat me, or my sister or my brother," he recalled in a recent Newsweek interview.

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Reflecting on the Wild Things, I remembered a great story that Sendak once told in an interview, that really demonstrated his appreciation for children. With a little searching, I found the interview, which was conducted by NPR's Terry Gross a few years ago. Sendak described how he had received a card with a charming drawing on it from a little boy. "I loved it. I answer all my children's letters--sometimes very hastily--but this one I lingered over," he said. "I sent him a postcard and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, `Dear Jim, I loved your card.' Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, `Jim loved your card so much he ate it.' That to me was one of the highest compliments I've ever received. He didn't care that it was an original drawing or anything. He saw it, loved it, he ate it."

My Parents Were Awesome

A new website is looking for photos of your parents from their "Mad Men" days--when they were young, beautiful, and having the time of their lives. The website celebrates the days "before the fanny packs" when parents "were once free-wheeling, fashion-forward, and super awesome."

The photos on http://myparentswereawesome.tumblr.com/ are mainly from the 1950s to 1970s. A journey through the site confirms--yet again--that people were simply more glamorous pre-1970. The fashions of the 1970s, combined with drinking, were not a good mix. But see how the elegant mid-1960s lady pictured below deftly manages her cigarette, cocktail, AND bridal veil.

The first names of the subjects in the photos are given, but no other information is provided. We are left to imagine the stories behind them. There's "Dan," a young man from the 1950's, sitting astride his motorcycle. I think he's just gotten his diploma and he is done with his small town. "Magali," a beautiful blonde with Britt Ekland bangs and a confident smile, poses in front of a plane. She's a future Pan Am stewardess who one day just might marry that millionaire.

In the picture to the left, "Renato" holds "Isabel" in his arms and kisses her on a rooftop. I imagine they are backpacking through Europe and have stopped in Italy. They are young and just starting out. They are poor, but very, very happy.

White lace and promises. A kiss for luck and we're on our way...

As my husband looked through the photos he was charmed by them, but a little wistful. "It's such a brief time when we are young," he said.