[Boomer]

Barbie is turning 50 soon. She now has to wait only 5 years until she can buy her own place in TV. I have heard though that she has been spotted in The Villages, here and there, throughout the years. Probably a trophy wife. (Is this economy making anybody else wonder whatever will those trophy wives do now?) ... I digress.

Anyway, Barbie was the topic of today’s Diane Rehm Show, in a segment at 11:00, on NPR. That’s what got me started thinking about various Barbie issues that have come up in my life over the past 50 years.

As a young mom, I stood my ground. I refused to buy Barbie for my daughter Boomette. It was the 70’s. I had strong ideas about what girls needed to have planted in their minds for what the future should hold. And I did not believe that being Barbie was it. I saw Barbie as a possibly corrupting influence. And so Barbie was forbidden to enter our house.

Well, we all know how it goes with that forbidden stuff. Boomette found a way. Friends’ houses where Barbie was welcome. She later confessed. Playing with Barbie. In hiding. Oh well, at least they were not secretly smoking those Virginia Slims.

Boomette turned out fine. But she is sort of a slave to fashion. I finally bought Boomette her own Barbie. When she got her undergrad degree, I gave her Graduation Barbie.

Barbie has done some stupid things, like we all have. Remember when Teen Talk Barbie said, “Math is hard.” (I think she actually said, “Math class is tough.”) And it was the 90’s. Idiots! Whose head was where on that one? The phrase got yanked.

Barbie has had lots of different jobs. Boomette, of course, allowed my granddaughter to have her own Barbies. Teacher Barbie was one of them. She also had a Ken doll.

Doll dialogue can be fun to listen in on. My granddaughter and her friends were playing with Teacher Barbie and Co. It was the usual scene. Teacher Barbie in front of the rest of them. Teaching them stuff.

Suddenly Ken entered the imaginary classroom. Ken was wearing his tuxedo and his hair had been chopped up in places and looked wild. Ken walked over to Teacher Barbie, mumbled something, and then he turned and ran out of the room.

My granddaughter who was doing the dialogue for Teacher Barbie made Barbie say, “It’s OK kids. You won’t see much of him. We all know he’s crazy. That’s why we made him be the principal.” (I am just reporting. If you are out there, do not come after me.)

I just thought I would write a little something today about Barbie. We all know her. And many of us have opinions and stories about her I bet.

(I just tried to link the NPR show here, but it’s not up for listening on the site. It was not Diane Rehm doing the segment. It was a guest host. I cannot find that little “Listen To The Show Now” thing that I do so love to click on. I hope it shows up later. I missed part of it. And for those of you who might be interested, I wanted to pass it on. And there was some really juicy gossip about Barbie in it, too. Darn. Maybe later.)

Boomer