So, I binge watched Euphoria

Photo Credit: Rotten Tomatoes

Having promised myself never to watch a trending Gen Z series, I am ashamed to say I did. And boy was it good

This series was filled with sex, drugs, parties, power, lowkey rape and some moments of bullying. The characters were very complicated teenagers. They were very burdened for 15-17 year old children and I don’t know if this burdensomeness was self inflicted or out of their control. It made me wonder if we were this heavy laden as teenagers. One thing I am sure of, I enjoyed disliking the characters in Sam Levinson’s Euphoria.

Let’s discuss Rue for a bit – who I dislike

I cannot let this piece end without discussing Rue, the main character *sigh* Rue was a lot.

She is an individual that is too within herself. Too mysterious. Too much of an addict. Too selfish. I don’t know how her mother didn’t give up on her sooner. She did not care too much. She fell unnecessarily deeply in love with her friend, Jules, which was also too much. My wish for her was that she could be less, maybe her life would be better. She is also quite untidy and reckless, too much. Reckless with her life and the lives of others.

And yes, perhaps she lost her father too early in her life. She watched him slowly wither away and die being taken away by a monster of a disease. That is too much for any child to experience. She was also a child who already had mental health issues. Her panic attacks were huge and it was hinted that she dealt with OCD. And in came strong, highly addictive medication to help her manage her illness. I wonder if doctors worry about what these drugs can do to people?

Rue went through a lot and she realises herself that she did not know what to do with it all – how to channel her grief and other deep emotions. Instead of dealing with it she let drugs consume her, leading to an array of events where she got people like Jules, Lexi and Fezco entangled in. Her sister Gia is also deeply hurt by Rue’s actions however Rue is too selfish to see any of this. Her beginning and end goal is drugs.

I don’t remember her parents sending her to therapy though. That plus less pills would have helped, especially after the loss of her father. It could also have been a matter of money or she perhaps became too much of a junkie to care about therapy, when she was older. I don’t know…

I really would have loved to see the story from the parents’ side. For all the characters, it would have been comforting to see that the parents are active in their children’s lives and that they are not just uninvolved bystanders letting underaged children control their own lives. Children are usually products of how they are raised – we see this quite clearly in Nate’s story…

The passing of Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison – a picture copied from The Charleston Chronicle article of 22 June 2019

The passing of Toni Morrison caught me by definite surprise. I am not a person who would be touched enough to dedicate a blog post to a celebrity who has passed away however Toni Morrison was not just a celebrity [even though she was world-renowned/famous].

She may not have known this but she touched and changed my world with her writing. Reading The Bluest Eye connected me to the writing of my people – the writing of black people. Her work made loud the voices of black girls [and boys] about the world we live in.

I might not have experienced the African American type of oppression or their cultural way of life but her work made me feel as though all black people have the same experience of life. Her work made me curious about African writers and finding out whether our stories were similar to those of African Americans.

I mention The Bluest Eye because it was the first book I had ever read and analysed written by a black person. Imagine that? An African child who has never read work by other African children and then lo and behold comes a descendant of African children to open up my eyes.

Toni Morrison was a true gift to the African American community [as well as Africans]. I pray she rests knowing that her voice gave all other black people [especially girls] a platform to make their voices heard.

Parenting: Toddlers and Tiaras’ Style

I was watching an episode of Toddlers and Tiaras’ – struggling to even type because my 8-month-old son has realised that he can too bang on the keyboard and things will happen

Anyhow, I am shocked at some parents nowadays and as a parent myself [like all those parents who like adding their 5c of parenting as they see me walking with my offspring in the streets] I feel I have better judgement and clout to speak on this.

Firstly, they have very beautiful babies, my goodness are these kids talented – and these moms and coaches put in 300% into making sure their prized ponies perform well but I was shocked to see how some of these mothers [I will refers to the coaches also as mothers cause in that time the mother has relinquished her role and given it to the coach] are so horrible to their own kids.

One mother does not allow her daughter to play outside – a 3-year-old child that is not allowed to play outside; what madness is that – and all this just to keep her skin tone golden [this baby is biracial]. This mother also bribes her child with food and other expensive items like flat TV screens to allow them to do her make-up, hair, or just rehearse the routine. Did I mention that the child was already overweight – she eats and the mother allows it because it gets the crowns [apparently heavier kids get crowns and they look really adorable in all that fatness, I see how they could be picked first] however her child could get diabetes and be obese before the age of 7 but it is okay because she will get the title???! Sacrifice your child for what, something she does not even love doing?

Then mother two or was it coach, is such a rude human being. The little girl was quite afraid of her. Her demeanour isn’t filled with fear or anything but she knew that if she made a mistake miss thing will kill her. The coach is so abusive even with to make-up artists. The coach swears every five seconds in front of the child and other people’s children. So disgusting and disrespectful and she wants things done her way or the high way, even the little girl has to do it right the first time – meanwhile she has no pageant queen titles under her belt. This lady is so awful and miserable that she does not view any crown – except for the Supreme – as the crown to win. Her child won best beauty title and she was disappointed. I mean really? She clearly is those people that failed horribly at pageants and instead of teaching others with love, she is still angry at the world and spews bitterness at everything and everyone around her.

This episode just made me wonder how we are raising our children and what type of humans we are raising up. Has parenting just gone to the dogs where we let 3-year-old children make demands and we just give them what they want? Have we become lazy parents who leave the parenting up to angry, bitter and disappointed young people?

These children that we are raising are going to be grown up humans soon – what legacy are we leaving? We are leaving them with the following traits: selfishness, being spoilt, needing to be bribed to do anything, entitlement, conceitedness, fear and a whole lot more. How will they form meaningful relationships? How will they take care of each other and this struggling planet we have right now?

These parents need to be called into order. Period.

P.S. I watch Toddlers and Tiaras’ because it is really funny and cute and those kiddies have talent. It would be a better show had the mothers not been living their unfulfilled hopes and dreams at the expense of their children’s wellbeing.