The best time I had last year was at the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island. It was my first experience there and I immediately put it on my calendar for this year.
The parade is today! I'm heading out with Jamie and Robin. And my camera, of course.
What summer event are you looking forward to?
Oh, and not to get serious on you (which I'm prone to), did you know mermaids are the icon of my people? Studies of young M2F transsexuals find a remarkable number of us idolize mermaids when we're children. Researchers don't know why we're attracted to them, but we are.
My theory is this. Children don't perceive gender the same way as adults. Children believe that if you look like a girl on the outside (usually by dress), then you are a girl. Not only are mermaids feminine and beautiful, but they have no private parts -- which makes them someone a youngster like me can relate to. In our child minds, we believe that maybe we can be like them.
Aww how adorable. Hope you're having a ton of fun.
ReplyDeleteI've been planning on doing the art crawl again this summer, but my friends have been MIA for the summer so nothin' has come of it. I'm hoping to catch a few more summer movies, but I'm more interested in what's coming out this winter.
Kids brains are astounding. They don't have all the constructs that our adult brains have so it is always fascinating to hear how they think.
Of course, I still remember being quite distressed as a young girl because "If two men get married - who wears the dress!?"
(Because to my 3-year-old brain, of course two men could get married, but a wedding couldn't happen without the dress)
I have wondered about the appeal of mermaids and I think your theory makes perfect sense.
ReplyDeleteYou are so spot on about the mermaids. I have spoken to quite a few parents of gender variant kids; mermaids are a common theme. In fact, my little one just told me the other night that she pretends she's a mermaid in the bath. It's very interesting.
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