Nova

Rude Awakening: I have become obsessed with Nova’s website on www.pbs.org.

It started out a few days ago, during my internship at ANLC. It was the day they were doing sex ed in the 7th/8th grade classrooms. I had been dreading this day, imagining this horrifying day where 7th grade boys asked disgusting questions to irritate everyone. I had forgotten, however, that they separate boys and girls for sex ed. Someone asked me why they do this (separate them) and to me it’s obvious. You aren’t going to get an honest reaction from any 7th/8th grader (regardless of gender) if a member of the opposite sex is in the room. They just won’t feel safe and will be embarrassed.

Where was I? Oh yeah, sex ed. So, in this class, which I had been dreading, we just watched a couple of videos. Really not what I had been expecting. So, the video was by Nova. It was called “Life’s Greatest Miracle.” It wasn’t that I loved the video or anything. I mean, it was good, but come on…no one is going to pop “Life’s Greatest Miracle” in the DVD player for an evening of relaxing viewing. I’m getting off track again. Grr.

At the end of the video, a couple gives birth to their baby. Earlier in the video, it was stated that they didn’t want to know the sex of the baby before it was born. The birth was both gross and touching. I actually misted up. Then I mentally called myself a pansy. I don’t know what is more sad: that I almost cried in a birthing video, or that I called myself a pansy. Or that I got off track…again! Gah! After the birth, I waited anxiously to find out what it was…and they never tell you. Never. Tell. You. They even wrap the baby in a blanket that has equal amounts of pink and blue.

(Maybe it’s a hermaphrodite. Maybe not.)

It’s actually been bothering me that I still don’t know the sex of their child. Like it’s my business or something. Like it’s going to have some profound affect on my life. In my OCD moment, I went to the NOVA/PBS website to see if they had any info on that particular show. Turns out they do. They have an entire freakin’ website devoted to it. Not only that, but they apparently do the same for EVERY SHOW THEY AIR! How amazing is that!?!

Long story short? If that’s possible at this point? I just spent about a half hour digging through this site, looking at the shows and their companion websites. And I still don’t know the gender of that child.

*Edited because I can’t spell.