super-structure

So Angela and I have been reading some different books on pregnancy. Okay, she’s been doing most of the reading so far as she has about five different books. I bought one, titled Pregnancy Sucks for Men: What to Do When Your Miracle Makes You BOTH Miserable, which is a fairly entertaining read as well as informative, although I could do without some of the patronizing man-humor. I interested in my kid more than the football game and I don’t need some other guy to tell me in a burly voice that’s the cool thing to do.

Anyway, Angela’s nightstand has become a pile of pregnancy related information. From her prenatal vitamins to her Fit Pregnancy magazines, to her stack of pregnancy books, she’s been reading a lot lately. Of course, when you’re going to have a baby, the de facto handbook is What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Everyone reads this book when they’re about to have a baby (It even showed up in an episode of last year’s ill-fated sci-fi show Invasion, with the mother-to-be Larkin reading the book). I think they must pay OB-Gyns to hand it out. However, it wasn’t until Angela and I spent some time in the pregnancy section of our Barnes & Noble that I notice something about the cover of this book, as well as the cover of the associated book (also on Angela’s nightstand) What to Expect: Eating Well When You’re Expecting:

See the pattern? This woman does not seem very happy about her child-to-be. What I don’t understand is, if you’re drawing a model for the cover of your book, can’t you draw them anyway you want? Why not draw them happy? Wouldn’t selling pregnancy has a cause for joy help you sell more books about that subject?

In looking some of these up, I came across the Spanish version of this book:

I don’t get it. If you speak Spanish, you’ll be happy about being pregnant? Nonsense. We’re happy. A lot more than the depressed woman on the cover of Angela’s books, who looks as though she may give up at any moment.