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Calendar
Save the Date Feb. 20: 12th Annual Taste of Homewood. 5:30-8:30 p.m. Rosewood Hall, SoHo. $30 in advance, $35 at the door. Visit homewoodchamber.com.
HHS Athletics Jan. Jan. Jan. Jan. Jan. Jan. Jan. Jan. Jan. Jan.
7: Girls Basketball vs. Briarwood. 6 p.m. 7: Boys Basketball vs. Briarwood. JV 4:30 p.m., Ninth 6 p.m., Varsity 7:30 p.m. 14: Girls Basketball vs. John Carroll. 6 p.m. 14: Boys Basketball vs. John Carroll. JV 4:30 p.m., Ninth 6 p.m., Varsity 7:30 p.m. 21: Girls Basketball vs. Ramsay. 6 p.m. 21: Boys Basketball vs. Ramsay. JV 4:30 p.m., Ninth 6 p.m., Varsity 7:30 p.m. 25: Girls Basketball vs. Holy Family. 1 p.m. 25: Boys Basketball vs. Bob Jones. JV 2 p.m., Varsity 4 p.m. 28: Girls Basketball vs. Leeds. 6 p.m. 28: Boys Basketball vs. Leeds. JV 4:30 p.m., Ninth 6 p.m., Varsity 7:30 p.m.
Area Events Jan. 10-12: Memphis the Musical. BJCC. $20-65. Visit bjcc.org. Jan. 11: Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Walk. 10 a.m. registration, noon walk. Railroad Park. Visit birminghammetrodiversitycoalition.org. Jan. 11: C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce. 4 p.m., 8 p.m. Alabama Theatre. In this Dantesque celestial journey from Hell to Paradise, Lewis draws some of the most fiercely funny characters he ever created. Visit alabamatheatre.com or ticketmaster.com. Jan. 12: Southern Bridal Show. Noon-5 p.m. BJCC. $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Call 1-800-523-8917 or visit eliteevents. com. Jan. 15-16: Welcome to Mitford. Saturday 7 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m. Shelby
County High School Auditorium. Play based on Jan Karon’s Mitford novels. $10. Visit shelbycountyartscouncil.com or call 669-0044. Jan. 16-19: Birmingham Boat Show. BJCC. $10 adults, free for children. Visit birminghamboatshow.com. Jan. 18: An Evening with Bill Cosby. 8 p.m. BJCC. $33-65. Visit bjcc.org. Jan. 19: Reflect & Rejoice: A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 3 p.m. UAB’s Alys Stephens Center. ASO Assistant Conductor Roderick Cox leads the orchestra and The Aeolians in this annual tribute to the work and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Visit alabamasymphony.org. Jan. 22-23: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Various times. BJCC. $16-76. Visit bjcc.org.
2014 Homewood Chamber of Commerce
The best food and beverages Homewood has to offer. Thursday, February 20, 2014 Rosewood Hall at SoHo 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm www.homewoodchamber.com (205) 871-5631
Title Sponsor
The Homewood Star
January 2014 • 23
Opinion Ordinary Days By Lauren Denton
Thanks for nothing, Barbie Barbie has taken over my fourbut it still broke my heart a little bit. year-old daughter Kate’s life. Well, To that end, I am trying hard to maybe it’s not that drastic, but it’s eliminate the word “pretty” from my vocabulary. I don’t mean that I never hard to ignore the perky, plastic dolls that have taken up residence tell her she looks pretty because I do. in our house over the last year. I did I think every little girl wants to hear that her parents think she’s lovely and all I could to hold them off as long as possible, but she’s a girl and it beautiful. But I’m using my mental seems young girls love Barbies, as thesaurus to replace “pretty” with they have for decades. other, more important, descriptions. What really turned her on to I’m telling her she’s creative, that Denton she works hard, that she’s deterthem was a long trip to Mobile with me to see family. At my parents’ house, mined and helpful and strong. My hope is to my mom and I decided to pull out my old Bar- show her that there’s much more to being a girl bies for Kate to play with, and she was smitten. than just being pretty, regardless of how Barbie I didn’t mind so much because these Barbies or the Disney princesses look. I remind her often of the 1980s were pretty tame. Sure, they had that what makes someone beautiful isn’t what a rather womanly shape, but they wore mostly she looks like, but how kind and considerate modest, tasteful clothes and minimal makeup. and brave she is. Fast forward to the Barbies of now, and it’s Cutting out the word “pretty” won’t change a big, scandalous change. I won’t go into my the world, but I hope it makes a difference in tirade against Mattel (I can get a bit riled up our house. Kate recently had a bad night where about it!), but suffice it to say, many of the dolls she woke up often and didn’t want to stay in and toys popular with little girls do nothing her bed. After sitting with her and making sure to emphasize the importance of inner beauty. nothing was wrong, I told her she needed to be Instead, they offer a version of outward beauty a big girl and try to go to sleep. She didn’t call that most people will never attain, much less the out to me again until the morning. When I went kids in their target age range. in to get her, she said with a big smile, “I was To be fair, it’s not Mattel’s job to teach my a big, strong, brave girl!” If only she can hang children about inner beauty — that’s my job. But on to that picture of herself to drown out all the I realized recently that Kate is taking in more of other voices that will try to tell her otherwise. what these toy companies teach her about beauty Obviously, I think my daughters are both than what I do. And it scares me. For her, the beautiful, but I’d rather them be “big, strong, idea of “pretty” is tied to flowing hair, beautiful brave” girls every day of their life than put too dresses, permanent smiles and perpetual happi- much stock into our culture’s impossible verness. I even heard the words, “Will you dress sion of beauty. me up so I’ll be pretty?” come out of her mouth Lauren can be reached at LaurenKDenton@ a few days ago. I know it was innocent, I know gmail.com. it’s not the same thing as a 13 year old saying it,