Which One AM I?

"Which one are you?" he asked.

He has asked this at least three times since our single file line started walking. I have ignored each question, hoping someone around him would help him out.

This camper has been with us all summer. Baby A and I have explained the differences over and over and over again, since we get new campers often.

He has asked this approximately 300,000 times this summer.

I looked at him over my shoulder.

"This morning, I said that only one of us is here today. I told you which one I am." Baby A had to help out the camp for younger kids. This morning, I introduced myself to the whole group since we had a new camper, and I explained where Baby A was. Also, two seconds ago, another camper got my attention by saying MY NAME.

"Ummm..."

I turned around. I looked at him, head tilted, and not in a Snow-White-I'm-listening-to-the-forest-inhabitants sort of way.

"Uhhh... Well, which one are you?"

"You should know by now."

And then I turned around and continued leading the line.

I said it nicely, so don't think I'm some sort of evil camp counselor who terrifies poor children for fun.

I think I've made it clear here and IRL that Baby A and I are pretty laid back about the whole identical twin confusion thing. It's OK to mix us up or forget, especially if we've just met. Our good friend and coworker calls us by the wrong name probably two or three times a week, more if she's tired. But she tries. Which is more than I can say for some people.

Baby A is pretty noticeably blonder than me now. I have half rim glasses, hers are wire with full rims. I'm taller. My backpack is black, hers is green. She wears slip on Vans, I wear shoelace-less sneakers. And there are differences in our faces, bodies, selves.

And let me say this: yes, some people have a much harder time than most telling us apart. We get that. That's OK. Screaming above everyone else's chatter when the question has already been answered for you at least twice that day is not. Luckily for me, that behavior is usually confined to people under 10 years old.

Cheers,
Alison

Gred and Forge

I mean, Fred and George Weasley. The identical twins in the Harry Potter series, though I do hope those names were instantly recognizable to you. Troublemakers extraordinaire, and businessmen to boot. I do speak about fictional characters as if they were real, thankyouverymuch.

HP movie marathons on TV, Half Blood Prince out in theatres, and it just seems like Harry Potter is everywhere. Again. (Which is just the way I like it). And it came to my attention that *gasp* I had not yet brought Fred and George into my little space here.

I think there's plenty to say about the Weasley twins, but right now, I'll just leave you with some pictures. I am so, so glad that they found British identical twin boys to play George and Fred. Makeup and camera tricks can only do so much. Any one remember Double Teamed, the Disney channel movie about identical twin basketball players Heather and Heidi Burge?



Having a laugh at Hogwarts. From HP Lexicon.


Grown up and looking fine. Heh. From harrypotterupdate.multiply.com.

Cheers,
Alison

Are You?

It's no secret 'round these parts that I love and support Heather and Mike Spohr, parents of the Famous Madeline.

Now they've gone, with friends and family members, and started a non-profit to support NICU families during the difficult time of their child or children's stay.

This is the most amazing way to honor Maddie, who spent 68 days in the NICU. Madeline is still lighting up the world, thanks to Friends of Maddie.



Be a Friend of Maddie.

Love,
Alison

Nan and Diana

I have been rereading the Anne of Green Gables series. Even now, I reread series and books I loved as a child. Often. Harry Potter? Practically memorized. The Laura Ingalls books? Know them like the back of my hand. But I forgot about Anne. She's popped back into my consciousness now and again, but never at a time where I was near my books (we trimmed down the books we took to school to the essentials) and with free time to read them.

Anne's life has twins weaving through it throughout the books. She cares for Mrs. Hammond's three sets of twins before her arrival to Green Gables, the home of Matthew and Marilla. Marilla and Anne take in Davy and Dora, a set of twins, as their own. Anne has her own set when she is building her own family, Nan and Diana. Yes, we are breaking down a fictional series, twin-style.

Nan, with brown hair and brown eyes, and Diana, with red hair and green eyes, do not look alike. Anne mentions her disappointment that they do not look "one bit alike" in Anne of Ingleside.

The Hammond twins were probably all fraternal, since it runs in families. Davy and Dora... obviously fraternal. (The gender difference is a dead giveaway, folks.) And Anne's are certainly fraternals.

I like how these twins are treated like their birth status is incidental, just a detail. We really don't need every ficitional pair of twins to be all twin-y.

Cheers,
Alison

An Endlessly Fascinating Tattoo

Working at a summer day camp means I hear a lot, and I mean a lot, of "Kids say the darnedest things" things.

"Are tattoos really permanent?" (Yes.)

"Is that going to wash off when you get in the pool?" (No.)

"Why do you have an 8 on your wrist?" (Not an 8, says I to the 8 year old.)

"You and Baby A have the same tattoo, did you know?" (Oh yeah, I know.)

Cheers,
Alison

In Honor of Finals Week...

This post will be short and sweet, about a movie recently watched when roomies and myself felt some procrastination was in order.

Seen On a Clear Day? Excellent movie, I recommend it.

A: It's got the whole UK thing going on, as it is set in Scotland. I pretty much love movies and TV shows made by our former landlords across the pond.

B: It's about swimming the Channel. I don't actually like open water swimming (just past the breakers is good enough for me, thanks), but I inexplicably enjoy watching movies or reading books about it. Lynne Cox' Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer is pretty freaking epic.

C: It has identical twin boys in it! Played by Andrew and James MacLennan, the boys' twinness isn't the focus of the movie. They are just a family that happens to have twins in it. A lot of movies with twins in them make the twins one of the focal points throughout the film. Andrew and James are just normal sons and grandsons in the movie, just as singletons would be. No hocus-pocus or kooky mix-ups here!

Cheers!
Alison

Eeeevil

Evil twins don't exist. Sure, there can be twinships where one is a better person or whatever. But there is no cosmic rule that in each pair of twins, there is an angel and a devil. You would be surprised how often we come across people who truly believe this. "Oh, come on," they say. "One of you *has* to be the bad twin." I would sometimes like to respond "Oh, well, then you *have* to be an idiot."

I don't, however. Wouldn't want them walking away, thinking they were right all along and this one is definitely the evil one, now would we?

Maybe they watched Sabrina the Teenage Witch episodes with Sabrina's evil twin (from an alternate universe) Katrina. Maybe they played Legend of Zelda and saw Link's evil twin Dark Link. Maybe they are Trekkies who saw Star Trek Nemesis, and since they watched a movie with Data and his evil twin B-4, they are now twin experts. I could go on and on with examples.

I am not even going to go into soap operas' use of the evil twin. It's just not a good soap if someone's not coming back to life after being offed by their evil twin, right? Katharine Chu wrote a paper, up on MIT's OpenCourseWare, about the decline of the soap opera. She's got a whole paragraph on the evil twin plot twist.

To be fair, a lot of "evil twins" in the media are actually evil, or misunderstood, doppelgangers, not identical twins. But people don't always... oh, alright, NEVER pick up on that subtlety.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some evil homework to do.

Cheers,
Alison