8 Terrace Review — Wednesday, November 2 1988 : .
Parenthood and —
intellect: oe
inverse relation

Com mentar "y —— by Stephanie Wiebe

_. Whoever quipped ‘‘Insanity is
hereditary — you get it from
your kids’’, may have suggested
a valid theory. I have no con-
crete proof, but circumstantial
evidence supports this concept.
The evidence: me.

I used to be an intelligent per-
son. After a good education,
I’ve read Tolstoy’s War and
Peace, could carry my weight in
“Trivial Pursuit”, and conquer
a crossword puzzle, But now.all
that has changed, because I have
children.

One morning, I was startled
awake by the pounding of a
plastic hammer against my
forehead. A though formed:
millions of people don’t begin
their day like this. I stumbled
out of the bedroom to notice a
two-year-old wringing out her
socks in the toilet bowl, and
thought, millions of people
don’t live with this, either.

Without experiencing it,

- nobody could know how the

human brain is affected by the
incessant sing-song voice of a
six-year-old, chattering for two
hours non-stop. Or the stress in-
flicted by a toddler hanging onto
one’s leg (like a dog in heat) as
they try to walk like a normal
adult, I’m gradually recovering
now, but I remember one par-
ticular day when my brain
shrank to the size of a hamster’s.

It happened in the grocery
store. Quite often I’d see calm,

‘ well-groomed’ women without

children: They always seerned to
be buying steak and diet Coke,
while I carried Froot Loops and
ketchup-flavored potato chips.
As I calculated the best buys,
one child was pulling on the

Wilderness

policy

deadline

extended

Forests Minister Dave Parker
has extended the deadline for
public comments on the propos-
ed policy for managing
wilderness in provincial forests.

The new deadline is

-November 15, The old deadline .

had been September 30.
Last year the British Colum-
bia Forest Service was given

responsibility, under the Forest

Act, for wilderness management
in provincial forests. The pro-
posed policy, distributed earlier
this year, outlines how the
Forest Service intends to manage
designated wilderness areas.

After receiving input from the -

public, agencies and licensed
resource users, the Forest Ser-
vice will finalize its policy.
Copies of the paper are
available at the Kalum Forest
District office. Comments on
the paper should be sent to the
Recreation Section, B,C. Forest
Service, 1450. Government
Street, Victoria, V8W 3E7. .

cart, whining ‘‘Let me drive it!”’
while the other one wondered
aloud why we couldn’t have
frozen Eggo’s for supper every
night. By the time we reached
the next aisle, I couldn’t recall if
we like long grain rice or short
grain. My 1.Q. was slipping.
The meat aisle was fun. Two-
year-olds love to poke fingers in-
to the soft red packages. A six-
year-old’s fingers have been bet-
ter trained, but their inquisitive
minds haven't. ‘Mom, what do
they do with all the blood and
bones from this meat? Where’s
the skin? Where does ‘rump
roast’ come from?” I suddenly
considered vegetarianism -as a
new lifestyle. a
Bulk Foods was an adventure
in maintaining control. The six-
year-old opened the cornstarch
bin just as the two-year-old had

‘to sneeze. With visions of

‘Typhoid Mary’ headlines, 1
quickly walked away.

“Trying to actually
think... : had finally
taken its toll.’’

When we finally arrived at the -

checkout, the youngest had
opened the Froot Loops and the
oldest was fingering gum
packages placed at her eye level,
and had to go to the bathroom
“right now’. The woman ahead .
of us with a calm face, and ex--
pensive ‘‘dry clean only’’ dress,
(and obviously no wild bar-

. barian children), glanced our
way and smiled condescending-

ly. I knew that'ske knew which
grain of rice to buy, and ‘she
knew that I couldn’t possibly
know anymore. It showed.
She’ wore earrings and per-
fume, and I-couldn’t.even floss
that morning because the two-
year-old had used all the dental
floss to tie up the-cat.
The groceries were rung up,

and I tried to.keep an eye on the .

sale prices, while the oldest
recited the plot of a television
show and the youngest wiped
her nose-on my pants. My brain
was literally shrinking now.

Trying to actually think amid .

the constant nattering, whining
and inane dialogue had finally
taken its toll.-I could barely
write out the cheque. I
remembered a friend who, when
flustered at the checkout with
her crying infant, cranky tod-
dler, and chattering four-year-
old, smiled weakly at the cashier
and said, “‘E have a degree, you
know.” os

We clambered off to the car,
loaded it up with kids and
groceries, and drove away. The
two-year-old fell asleep, her

chubby: face drooping to one .
side. The six-year-old was .

blessedly quiet,

‘‘Mommy?’’.
Sigh. “Yes.”
“'T love you,”

except for,

Ah, who needs intellect

oe

still-green grass. Over the w

strong winds stripped most

Last week was a serles of somber autumn days in Terrace, with damp leaves matted:on.
eekend, however, a foretaste of winter arrived as sleet and |
of the remaining foliage from these maples and other leafy

trees that line many of our city’s streets.

| Hospital Auxiliary is there to help

Contributed by’
Aveline McConnell
The Mills Memorial Hospital

Auxiliary has been in existence —
" in Terrace for over 45 years with

many volunteers working on
fund raising as well as helping to
make the patients’ hospital stay
more comfortable.

Over the past year our mem-
bers have put in over 6,000
volunteer hours and have raised

approximately $18,000. A bur-

- Notes for.

_ complied by Tom Taggart

sary is given every year to a high
- school student entering educa-
tion in the health care field.
~ Consulting with the hospital
administration, the Auxiliary
purchases various articles for the
hospital. Some of these in the
past year have been a
defibrillator ($9,561), neuro-
muscular stimulator ($1,044),
and infusion pump ($3,721).

The most recent purchase has
been four hi-lo hospital beds at a

American inventor, Mr. Gatling, patents his rapid fire machine gun (1862): :
Birth of the humorist and ‘‘common-tater’’, Will Rogers (1879).
Murder at sea of filmmaker Thomas Ince, survived by W.R. Hearst (1924).

- Bonib explodes in hallway of U.S, Senate (1983).

_ Admiral Byrd and Floyd Bennett make first fl
Birth of Martin Luther (1483), instigator of the Reformation.
“Dr, Livingston, I presume?’’ asks Mr. Stanley (1871). -
Russian revolutionary, V.I. Molotov unlives at age 96 (1986).
Birth of the author, Fyodor M. Dostoevskii (1821).

Physicist Wilhelm Roentgen discovers “X-ray” te
-” Birth of the social-activist, Dorothy Day (1897). -

_ Birth of the author, Ivan S. Turgenev (1818).° TG PEt
English graverobbers violate King Tut's Tomb, after 3,300 year's rest (1922
y-by of North Pole (1926

REMEMBRANCE DAY/ARMISTICE DAY (1918), WWI ends, 31 million casualties
Pakistani (Bangladesh) flooding (1969). es The

Claude Monet (1840).

250,000 Americans gather in Washington protesting war against Vietnam (1969). ;

for business and trade (1869).

996 citizens of Jonestown, Guyana sip Cool-Aid (1978). ae
U.S. President Abe Lincoln gives short talk at Gettysburg battlefield (1863).
fails to blow up the Tsar (1869), 7 ve

Joe Hill gets execution by firing squad (1915).
British tank attack, 350 strong, routs Germans at Cambrai, France (1917).

Nazi war crime trials open at Nuremburg (1945).

Birth of the philosopher, Francois de Voltaire (1694).

- Birth of the anarchist, Alexander Berkman (1870).

Women’s Fire Brigade of Vancouver, B.C., bomb
Birth of the revolutionist, Catherine Breshkovsky (1844). .

Air pirate, D.B. Cooper bails out over Oregon wi
Pope Pius IX flees Rome disguised as priest (1848).

Birth of the author, Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain (i835).° e

*

Gangland style assassination of Jack Kennedy, age 46, U.S. President (1963) ;
s out ‘Red Hot Video" (1982)

Birth of the philosopher and pantheist, B. Spinoza (1632). he
Iderness (1971).°

Nov. 03: Birth of the-explorer, V
—_ First canine cosmonaut (Laika) laun
Nov, 04: Birth of the sculptor, Auguste Rodin (1840).
. Novy. 05: GUY FAWKES DAY, England (1605).
_.,. Socialist Eugene Debs pull 6 percent o
Noy. 06: Birth of the physicist, Marie Curie (1867).
Nov. 07; Birth of the author, Albert Camus (1913).
INDEPENDENCE DAY, USSR (1917) —
Nov. 08:
_ _ BLECTION DAY, U.S.A., 1988. -
Nov. 09: |
Nov. 10:
Nov. 11:
Nov.12: | 500,000 humans perish in East
Nov. 13: °. Birth of the artist,
Nov. 15:
Nov. 17: Suez Canal opens
Nov. 18: Russia: Andrei Zhelyabov
Nov. 19:
Russia: Sophia Perovskaya
Utah: Working class hero,
Nov. 20:
Nov. 21:
ELECTION DAY, CANADA, 1988.
- Soviet and French cosmonauts begin
Nov, 22: Birth of the author, Jack London (1876).
| Death of the author, Aldous Huxley (1963).
Nov. 23:
FULL MOON, 1988.
Nov. 24:
: Nov, 2
Nov. 30

November

¢, Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879).' 0.
Psychoanalyst ‘Wilhelm Reich dies in U.S. prison (1957), °°. see
ched by USSR on Sputnik 2.(1957). ;

F U.S, votes (1912).

(EVENT OF THE MONTH): *
hnique (1895).-.

fails to blow up the Tsar (1879).

30-day joint space odyssey (1988).

price of $1,200 each.

The major fund raising pro-

jects are the Hospital Gift Shop,
vending machine, the Thrift
Shop (selling used clothing and
household articles) and an infant
car seat rental program. -

There are various other. ac-

tivities we could be involved in if |

we -had more members. If you

are interested in becoming a
member, please give a call to’

635-5650 or 635-3928.

pe get gene eo A PL eral as OS sb