Children Beneath Foil

2014, Associated Press [Ross Franklin]. Republished in the Tucson Sentinel Dec. 22, 2017.

BROWN FEET. THE FEET ARE ALWAYS BROWN. Four years ago, and now, they're brown.

Children lay face-down on green camping mats, but no packages of Jet-Puffed or Honey Maid or Hershey's, classic American childhood staples, are nowhere in sight. Present instead are large sheets of Reynolds wrap, silver and shiny like a housewife's wedding ring. A woman in an advert grins overenthusiastically holding a huge box of Reynolds wrap, her hands cupping either end of the box like she's describing how big her husband's dick is. 

I guarantee you a woman did not make that ad.

There's a webpage that's titled: WOMEN IN JOURNALISM NEWSPAPER MILESTONES. It's short. Thirteen women are listed between 1739 and 1976. The author of the article is named Bill. 

In a different advert, in another decade, a boy stands in a yellow rain coat holding Reynolds wrap next to his dog. The boy is pleased. Of course he's pleased: rain boots protect his feet and he splashes in puddles with his beloved dog. 

I call the woman "woman" and the boy "boy." Most of the people who read this will assume the invisible, default word in front of those words:

                             white.

We don't have to specify.

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