Michael Ann Dobbs's discussions

Ohmigod, “supima” is not a GMO. It’s been around since the 1950s. Pima cotton is a modern domesticated descendant of Ecuadoran cotton domesticated by native tribes in the pre-Colombian era. After cotton was shown to grow well in southern Arizona in the late 1800s (as the cotton economy in the South weakened and then… Read more

That’s actually how Martin Sheen puts on a jacket. He has shoulder problems. Read more

What I don’t get is, if you’re trying to be famous why you would ever say anything that wouldn’t be appropriate printed on 24 font on a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese. Never, ever leave a paper trail. Read more

Tuck Everlasting is the one where a girl grants immortality to a frog. Read more

Have you ever seen Dangerous Beauty? It’s about a courtesan in 16th Century Venice. At one point the French court arrives and they all  have British accents. It’s kind of weird.  Read more

I only know it was ‘98 because I have the big “Coming Soon” poster hanging in my room. I’ve been disappointed that Disney hasn’t done a bunch of stuff for the 20th anniversary.  Read more

Ella Enchanted would have been in editorial at the same time Ever After would have been shooting. Inspiration for both probably lay way back in 1992-1994. Definitely something in the air though. Read more

All I Wanna Do! never played in our one-screen town, but my best friend and I found it at the video rental place (it must have literally been later that year) and watched it probably monthly for the last two years of high school. That and Daria made the end of high school bearable. Read more

Skateboarding is one I didn’t think about! Read more

I teach swimming lessons and one thing I wish all parents (of both handed-ness!) knew was that your kid can be right handed and left footed (or vice-versa). Left-footed kids should get to try out sports like tennis and golf left handed. (And the occasional left-handed, right-footed kid should try them out right-handed.… Read more

Dear Rebecca, 39 is the top edge of “Millennial.” Millennials were born from 1980 to 2000. An argument can be made that those born after 1994 or so are “digital natives” in the way those of us who were born in the 1980s were not. Read more

Really? It doesn’t sound like Xeni’s writing (but throw her to the dogs if it is). I would bet it’s somebody like Barbara Marx Hubbard who keeps going on about the “birthing” of humanity and feminist economics. As in, I’d bet money before pay day. Read more

Caltrops?! Try roofing nails — they are of a size and shape that almost always lands head down, they are sold by the pound (use cash, buy across state lines) and have a long history of being used by strikers in labor disputes. Read more

The “zombie stereotype” is from Thorazine (Chlorpromazine). It literally caused people to walk like zombies (known as the “Thorazine Shuffle”). It was one of the first antipsychotics and it is a serious drug. But people taking it won’t self harm, commit suicide or see things. Read more

Gullivar’s Travels in 1726. Alice’s adventures in Wonderland, 1865. Flatland was published in 1884. Peter Pan is post-OZ. Herland is also post-Oz, as are the works of Lord Dunsany (who gets quite a bit of credit for writing the first fantasy novels). Of course you get into all kinds of weird stuff before that, like is… Read more

This guy is the WORST. Read more

I think terrible twos vs. threenagers is a function of verbal development. If your kid can communicate okay at two they won’t be i a constant state of meltdown frustration. However, by three they will turn those skills against you and destroy you. If, however your kid can’t really talk at two they will be so relieved… Read more

They actually probably riveted it. Nails aren’t appropriate for armor. Read more

Totoro is a great first movie for toddlers (also the documentary Babies — that’s a huge hit at our house). I would be careful with Ponyo though — it is too scary for our kid, while Kiki’s Delivery Service is fine. Read more

Nobody is going back far enough!! Shop girls at the department stores had to wear black in 20s and 30s to distinguish them from patrons. This was true in France as well (where the grisettes [gray/little/feminine] were the traditional seamstresses [and occasionally sex workers] who were then employed at the bottom… Read more