Blog time has rolled around once again, so here we go. Mostly this week I'm trying to get out from my personal head-fog, finishing up some stuff for Kate, and getting ready for Atlanta. However, I'm also trying to get my sister to clean the house, and (more successfully, I hope) attempting to determine whether I'm wussing out on teaching high school just because my particular practicum class is not so hot.

On a happier but completely unrelated-to-anything note, I finally took a few minutes yesterday to look over the massive collection of Scouting books I got at the library book sale. It was interesting to me not only because I am a long-time aficionada of these types of things but also because some of the older ones - from the fifties - have the craziest advertisements in the back, for such items as hatchets and athletic supporters (two things you need to be a real man, I guess....) The subjects of the ads are not the interesting part, though. What really gets me is that as big as advertising is today, it was a lot more direct back then: the athletic supporter one says "More top athletes buy Bike supporters than any other brand. Make sure you buy one too." And what's more, the "make sure you {insert buy, get, have, purchase here} one, too" model of persuasion is found in lots of the ads in these books. It amuses me, because though it's barely a step away from how we do things today, the modern consumer at least likes to pretend that he's more sophisticated, and I wonder what made that happen.

So that's what's on my mind right now - 1957 advertising for the ten-year-old boy. Probably I should work on getting a life, but hey: I have a good time.