Eastern Apparel (UPDATED)

***Scroll to the bottom to read the update!

If you're new to Livin' In A Fishbowl, read this first.

Secondly, for those of you who were appalled that I put my offspring in a fuzzy diaper, you join the ranks of my father who called last night insisting that I take it down. Something about, "No self respecting grandson of mine, etc, etc..." I did hear him but, much like some of the decisions I made as a teenager in his home, I decided not to listen. Loincloth Garrett is still happily gracing the March 8 blog.


Now on to today's Red Thing.

I don't encourage anyone to actually wear her Red Thing or Magic Scarf in the following way. I am just attempting to be multicultural and show the rest of the world that this wonderful accessory is not limited to Westerners. Behold, the burqa:

The burqa is a garment worn by women in some Islamic traditions for the purpose of cloaking the entire body. It is typically removed once the woman has reached the sanctuary of her home. It was a good thing that Troy and I were laughing pretty hard whilst trying to take this picture because otherwise I might have puked or gone into a temporary nervous breakdown over the situation. I pretty much want to rip these off the heads of the women I see wearing them and scream something along the lines of, "With Jesus you are free!" Actually, there's no "pretty much" about it. I definitely want to rip them off. It's not that I don't understand the call to modesty but I think it can be done in a way that allows for identifying who's who in a family picture. I mean, see below:

Can you even imagine this? Okay so, one day, ten years from now, a woman will say to her little girl, "Look, there's mommy, the second burqa from the left. And that's your auntie there on the end. I know because I recognize her purse. And that one next to me is...is...is. You know I can't remember. I can't tell us apart. We all look so much alike." It's ridiculous.

I know that if I had been born as a Muslim in Afghanistan I wouldn't know any different and I would think that bikinis were of the devil and I would maybe even be happy to just live my life behind my mask. But I would like to think that I would still be the strong-willed woman that I am today. I mean, I was born stubborn so I suppose that they would have had to beat it out of me in the Middle East. I hope that under my burqa, even if there was nothing I could do about my place in life, I'd be giving some abusive and controlling man in my life the finger. I mean, as a pastor's wife I don't flip the bird. Ever. But if I had grown up under the oppressive weight of the burqa I wouldn't be a pastor's wife and I think I would consider my middle finger a great deal more of an asset than I do now.

But I totally digress. The Red Thing can be used as a burqa so yay for that, right? In fact, it would be an alternative to the traditional blue and black that they typically wear. I'm all for integrating color into people's wardrobes.


****A comment by anonymous wondered if that was entirely Red Thing or if, perhaps, a red sweater accompanied the Magic Scarf. It is, in fact, entirely the wondrous Red Thing.