In Go the Fuck to Sleep Adam Mansbach  captures the familiar–and unspoken–tribulations of putting your little one down for the night. With verses like “The flowers doze low in the meadows, and high on the mountains so steep. My life is a failure, I’m a shitty-ass parent. Stop fucking with me, please, and sleep,” and adorably dreamy illustrations by Ricardo Cortés, the book opens up a conversation about parenting, granting us permission to admit our frustrations, and laugh at their absurdity.

“I wanted to sort of do a riff on these classic children’s books that are all like very dreamy, and gauzy and loving and have little animals and stuff, and I wanted to contrast that with the interior monologue of the parent putting the kid to sleep,” said Mansbach.

Seeing that today is Women’s International day, here’s some food for thought!

http://www.ted.com/talks/liza_donnelly_drawing_upon_humor_for_change.html

Times change!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

I am all for animal rights – don’t get me wrong – even if I’m no activist. I don’t approve of bullfighting (currently under heated debate in Spain), animal testing or any kind of cruelty inflicted on animals; but believe me when or if I am born again I would like to come back to this world as a dog – or, on second thoughts, a horse – in Switzerland. I have not gone mad… yet. Please, indulge me and keep reading.

Under the current Swiss legislation fishermen need to get sensitivity training,  that is, they need to learn how to catch fish humanely; dog owners need to ‘qualify’  , e. g.  take a course,   in order to receive a license to own a dog; horses must be kept in close proximity to other horses, and any animal considered social – including goldfish – must be kept with at least one other of its kind. Talk about leading a dog’s life…

However, after months of campaigning in the local press for the creation of a public legal office for animal rights in each of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, voters have rejected the proposal with 70.5 percent of Swiss voting no.

I wonder, are you better off being a dog than an immigrant in Switzerland? I rest my case…

Seriously, watch this video of David Letterman’s show to find out about the tell-tale signs according to Hurley.