This n That - And the Hussein Meme

By the time this post publishes, I will be running around the house trying to get Megan ready for this weekend's gymnastics meet (she competes at 8:00 a.m. today).

I just wanted to announce that next week, we will be holding TWO meetings of the Mom's Movie Club. On Monday, we will be viewing "The Other Boleyn Girl" at ArcLight Sherman Oaks. The first screening that day is 11:10 a.m., which means we will get out in time to pick the kids up from school. If you are in the area and want to join us, drop me a line and I'll add you to our ticket list.

We are also planning to see "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day," which opens on Friday (ArcLight schedule not posted yet -- but most of the matinees start around 11:30).

At some point this weekend, I will post a review of Definitely, Maybe over on Socal Stuff.

The OTHER bit of business I want to talk about has to do with the "Just Call Me Hussein" posts over at the MOMocrats. The response to the bigoted efforts of political "commentators" to create something out of Barack Obama's middle name has been overwhelming... so we've decided to turn it into a meme. As founding MOMocrat Stefania says:

If you are reading this and haven't posted, consider yourself tagged. All you have to do is post your "Hussein name" in the title of your blog and share a story about how someone tried to make you feel bad about your name. (See examples below.) Help put childish bullies like Bill Cunningham in his place by declaring yourself a "Hussein!"

Not sure how to begin? Just look at the ones already linked in the MOMocrats post, as well as the ones already on their site. Also, I'm cross-posting mine below the jump:

Donna Hussein Schwartz Mills

I don't remember anyone making fun of m name as a child, which is weird, because there's a lot a creative kid could do with Schwartz.

But I did have a hated nickname that followed me from elementary school all the way into high school and college. And the worst thing about it is that I came up with it myself: Dodo.

You see, it wasn't originally meant for me. I created the epithet "dodo dum-dum" for my little sister, who did what any little sister would do and called me "dodo dum-dum" right back.

My mom heard the name and I guess thought it was a cute diminutive for Donna. I knew it to be a reference to a bird that was so stupid it allowed itself to become extinct.

Anyway, I got what all name-callers deserve: the hated nickname boomeranged right back and stuck to me. And the more I let my family know I didn't appreciate it, the more it stuck. My parents called me Dodo in front of my friends, and then they started using it, too.

I couldn't even escape it after a move to a new Junior High in a new part of town. Just as I'd started to think I'd gotten rid of that ignominious nickname once and for all, I brought a friend home for dinner -- and it started all over again.

I never fully shed the nickname until after I entered the work force in my mid-20's,and probably only because I'd finally acquired the maturity to let it slide off my back. Once it stopped bothering me, it lost its power to amuse my family and friends.

Let's hope the so-called pundits who think it's sport to make an issue out of a candidate's name can gain that same kind of maturity.

I don't remember anyone making fun of m name as a child, which is weird, because there's a lot a creative kid could do with Schwartz.

But I did have a hated nickname that followed me from elementary school all the way into high school and college. And the worst thing about it is that I came up with it myself: Dodo.

You see, it wasn't originally meant for me. I created the epithet "dodo dum-dum" for my little sister, who did what any little sister would do and called me "dodo dum-dum" right back.

My mom heard the name and I guess thought it was a cute diminutive for Donna. I knew it to be a reference to a bird that was so stupid it allowed itself to become extinct.

Anyway, I got what all name-callers deserve: the hated nickname boomeranged right back and stuck to me. And the more I let my family know I didn't appreciate it, the more it stuck. My parents called me Dodo in front of my friends, and then they started using it, too.

I couldn't even escape it after a move to a new Junior High in a new part of town. Just as I'd started to think I'd gotten rid of that ignominious nickname once and for all, I brought a friend home for dinner -- and it started all over again.

I never fully shed the nickname until after I entered the work force in my mid-20's,and probably only because I'd finally acquired the maturity to let it slide off my back. Once it stopped bothering me, it lost its power to amuse my family and friends.

Let's hope the so-called pundits who think it's sport to make an issue out of a candidate's name can gain that same kind of maturity.