arts & entertainment
Mamma Mayim!
Sitcom star Mayim Bialik believes "attachment parenting"
is a natural outgrowth of her Judaism.
Curt Schleier
Special to the Jewish News
M
ayim Bialik doesn't fit the con-
ventional Hollywood mold. In
fact, she probably doesn't fit
anyone's idea of conventional.
She was a child actor, Bette Midler's
youthful doppelganger in Beaches and
then the eponymous star of Blossom, a sit-
com that ran 1990-94.
At series' end, she largely left show
biz to continue her education full time.
"Education" may be a bit of an under-
statement. She earned a doctorate in
neuroscience. Neuroscience! Her thesis:
"Hypothalamic Regulation in Relation
to Maladaptive, Obsessive-Compulsive,
Affiliative and Satiety Behaviors in Prader-
Willi Syndrome."
Then, after an absence of about a dozen
years, she returned to work three years
ago, turning a one-shot guest appearance
on The Big Bang Theory into a regular gig
as girl friend (not girlfriend) of socially
awkward physicist Sheldon Cooper (Jim
Parsons).
More recently, she authored Beyond
the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising
Confident, Loving Children the Attachment
Parenting Way (Touchstone), a book about
raising her children in a holistic manner.
Yes, attachment parenting is an uncon-
ventional child-centric philosophy, but
in some measure, an outgrowth of her
Judaism. She believes the book may be
the first from Touchstone — a division of
Simon & Schuster — with a dedication in
Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News
Film Notes
Director Tim Burton has adapted the
original Dark Shadows, a cult daytime
TV soap opera (1966-71) about vam-
pires and other B-movie creepy stuff,
into a film of the same name that
opens Friday, May 11. Burton's Dark
Shadows – what one critic has called
"gonzo comedy" – is much closer
in style and dialogue to The Rocky
Horror Picture Show and Burton's
own spooky farce, Beetlejuice, than to
the TV show.
Still, the basic plot remains
ghoulish gothic: Rich 18th-century
playboy Barnabas Collins (Johnny
Depp) breaks the heart of Angelique
Bouchard (Eva Green, 32), a literal
witch who turns him into a vampire
44 May 10
c,
2012
Hebrew: Psalm 34.
Bialik was raised in a largely Reform
environment. She became increas-
ingly observant while in college and now
considers herself somewhere between
Conservative and Orthodox.
"I started to study and learn more about
the traditions;' she said. "I found a lot of
beauty and intellectual complexity. It felt
like coming home. It is a slow process."
At first, her parents were taken aback.
"They were nervous — as I can under-
stand',' she said, but ultimately they recog-
nized this was "the path intended for me
to be on," and in fact have become more
religious themselves.
Observing Jewish law in the real world
has its moments. For one thing, Bialik
dresses modestly — "I like to be covered
elbows to knees" — and not many Emmy
Awards red-carpet-suitable dresses were
available. She "finally found a stylist" who
understands her needs.
Similarly, Big Bang brass — co-creators
Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady (a Southfield
native) are Jewish — also are aware of her
needs and sympathetic. But Bialik admits
she's not perfect and does the best she can.
"I feel in a lot of ways I didn't fit what
was normal for a lot of my life. But now
I'm honored to be on this planet and as
close to being in the image of godliness as
possible. I'm a complicated, multi-tasking
Jewish female, and we do a lot of things."
One of these tasks, of course, is as wife
and mother. She met husband Michael
Stone in school. After an extended court-
ship, they married and now have two chil-
and buries him alive.
Two hundred years
later, he is freed from
his tomb and returns
to his now-decrepit
family manor, filled
with family members
Eva Green
with hidden secrets.
The film's score is
by Danny Elfman, 58, who has scored
every Burton film since 1985.
In the satirical comedy The
Dictator, opening Wednesday, May
16, Sacha Baron-Cohen, 40, plays
General Admiral Aladeen, the dicta-
tor of a North African Arab country
(the Republic of Wadiya); according
to film publicity, Aladeen has "risked
his life to ensure that democracy
would never come to the country he
so lovingly oppressed." Aladeen visits
America, and culture clashes ensue.
dren, Miles, 7, and Fred, 3, both raised
using holistic attachment parenting
techniques.
Of her attachment to holistic philoso-
phy, she says: "I was always green. I was
raised in a Reform community where tik-
kun olam was very important. A lot of my
being vegan and my holistic-ness are part
of Judaism. I feel part of my responsibility
is to leave the world a better place."
A central theme of attachment parent-
ing is that babies shouldn't be scheduled,
and parents should recognize when their
infants are hungry and ready to go to the
bathroom.
One of the tenets of attachment par-
enting is called "co-sleeping" — that is,
babies sleeping in the same room with
their parents or (what Bialik practices)
bed-sharing, sleeping in the same bed.
"Co-sleeping is something primates and
humans have done throughout history:'
Bialik said. "Most adults don't like sleeping
alone."
She also is into "baby-wearing," using
a sling to keep her child close as she does
everything from housework to shopping.
Mayim is a proponent of breastfeeding
and has even become a certified lactation
education counselor. She does not sub-
scribe to what was the prevailing wisdom
for most of the last decades, which is to
set and adhere to a feeding schedule. She
fed her children when they were hungry.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of
attachment parenting is a potty training
method called "elimination communica-
tion:' Its premise is that babies signal
Larry Charles (Borat
and Bruno), 55,
directs. B.J. Novak
(Ryan Howard on The
Office), 32, co-stars.
TV Notes
When Lifetime's The
B.J. Novak
Conversation, airing
11 p.m. Thursdays, debuted on April
26, British host Amanda de Cadenet
interviewed Gwyneth Paltrow and
Sarah Silverman. Upcoming famous
Jewish woman include Diane von
Furstenberg (May 17), Donna Karan
(June 7) and lvanka Trump (June 14).
Catch episodes you've missed on the
Lifetime website.
Short Takes
On Mother's Day, Sunday, May 13, at
10:30 p.m., E! airs Joan & Melissa
tottows her
when they
need to go, and it is up
to parents to recognize the signals.
There are misses and messes, of course,
but Bialik maintains that it is all worth it,
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give signals:' she said. "Some parents just
don't care to learn them."
Bialik also believes in gentle discipline
— no yelling and no time-outs.
Attachment parenting is "intuitive. It
makes sense,' Bialik maintained. "But I've
studied the hormones of attachment, and
it [also] is informed by neuroscience."
Bialik admits her husband wasn't as
enthusiastic about all aspects of her child-
rearing ideas.
"We pretty much reach all agreements
together. My husband is pretty much
open-minded and laid-back. What he
didn't agree with, I did on my own."
Even she had some doubts, initially.
"With my first son, I felt really judged.
I felt incompetent and wrong. But after I
built a like-minded community and [with]
my success, now I say it's the only way to
go." E
Rivers: The True Hollywood Story.
Joan Rivers, 78, and daughter
Melissa Rivers, 44, dish on their lives
(they've portrayed their sometimes
fractious relationship on WE's reality
show Joan and Melissa: Joan Knows
Best; Melissa also produces Joan's
weekly E! series, The Fashion Police,
airing 10 p.m. Fridays.) ... On April
25, the Phillies added relief pitcher
Michael Schwimer, 26 and a bar
mitzvah, to their big league roster
... Actress Drew Barrymore, 36, and
her fiance of three months, fine art
consultant Will Kopelman, 33, are to
be married on June 2 at Barrymore's
$7-million-dollar estate near Santa
Barbara, Calif. E! Online, which
broke the news, said it was likely the
groom's family rabbi would marry
the couple (who also are expecting a
baby). Ei