She's What???

Britney Spears has officially mated.

Yuck.

In some ways, Britney is very sad (as in pathetic sad). She doesn't realize that her target audience is still preteen girls. Or, maybe she does realize it and doesn't care and just dresses the way she does and behaves the way she does because she is, in fact, sad. She married a guy who cares more about her money than he does about her or his ex girlfriend and their two children. And now he's bringing a third into the world.

Yuck.

I know, I know. Why does a twenty-seven year old, reasonably well-educated, employed, intelligent woman give a rat's ass about Britney Spears? I don't have an accurate answer for that. Something about celebrity fascinates me. It fascinates all of us. Look at any newsstand and the entertainment magazines outsell the real news ones. Check the web, and how many sites are devoted to t.v., actors, actresses, films, music, singers, athletes. We live and die by what some famous person did last week or who she slept with.

I've always wondered what that would be like, to be famous. Can you imagine going through something as painful as a divorce and having the whole world watch? Or doing something as personal and intimate as getting married and have helicopters fly over the chuch? I can't. The money part of things would be fabulous, but what about the rest of that crap? Who would willingly want that?

Maybe that's why they all demand such high salaries. Their personal lives no longer belong to them; why shouldn't they be compensated for that loss? But don't they go into fame knowing that they lose all anonymity? Why should they be compensated for wanting to be famous when my parents who are school teachers can't even get compensated for their kids' college educations?

I look at the money those people make and I think of all the things my family could have done with even a small fraction of that money. My mom and dad could have taken a lot more vacations with their family. My sister and I wouldn't have been saddled with so much debt when we left school that moving out of the house seemed like an impossible dream. I wouldn't have had to work two jobs, sixty-five hours a week, seven days a week for two and a half years. My sister could have had much better medical care than she got and than what she's getting when she's sick. My dad could get his PhD and not have to worry about paying for it. They wouldn't have to have that mortgage anymore. I could pay for The Wedding.

I know people say well, your parents made those choices and too bad for them. But what other choices did they have? They studied to be teachers; in their own way, they have made an impact on the world that Britney Spears and Brad Pitt could never, ever make. Why is their job so much more important than what my mom and dad do? For that matter, why is mine? I make more than most starting teachers.

Anyway, Britney Spears is all knocked up and the press needs to cover every detail.

Yuck.