ATTITUDE

My wife subscribes to numerous magazines, most of which I don't read. However, there are times when I find myself in the bath or eating breakfast, and an issue of Oprah, Glamour, Lucky, or Romantic Times Book Review just happens to be sitting nearby. While I sometimes read a bit, I often just get a kick from checking out the article titles. For example, this month's Romantic Times Book Review really captured my eye. Its cover features an African-American author, Kayla Perrin, next to the legend "SINGLE MAMA DRAMA: A NEW SERIES WITH A NEW ATTITUDE."

Okay, let's just forego the obvious racial undertones swirling around "Single Mama Drama," shall we? I want to move on to the richer waters of "A new attitude." How refreshing to find a book with a new attitude. And by an African-American woman, no less! Goodness knows that African American women aren't known for having "attitude," and there are (happily) no cultural stereotypes encouraging them to display "attitude."

What's next? "Bookish" brunettes? "Bubbly" blondes? Perhaps a "mysterious" Asian babe or a "spicy" Latina? Could we possibly throw a "fiery" redhead in the mix, just for good measure?

I could belabor the point with a lot of meaningless discussion, but I'll just short-circuit all that and admit that I'm dying for the day when "bodacious" brunettes will enter the lexicon, alongside their equally under-represented sisters, "brilliant" blondes, "sexually-repressed" Latinas, and "ploddingly logical" redheads.

Hey, it could happen.