At 11:34 PM 1/5/97 -0600, Richard Lawson wrote:

J. D. Farber wrote:

Again, why does having a large family mean that Akane is doing nothing
besides raising the family.  In fact, since Ranma is home all day anyway
running the dojo, it would make more sense that *he* is the one spending
more time raising the kids than Akane.

Well, traditionally, women stayed home to take care of the family because

Actually, not all traditions were like this.  Take post-Renaissance Western 
Europe for a few centuries.  Since most people were farmers or artisans, and 
ran family businesses at home, no one bothered to draw the line between 
"work" and "raising the kids".

Usually both the husband and wife did farming or glass-making or whatever, 
and raised their kids at the same time.  This wasn't as hard as it sounds 
because most kids' education was just learning the family trade (watching 
Mom and Dad farm or make glass or whatever).

The main difference was that Mom might take a break from her trade to have 
the baby and then take shorter breaks now and then to nurse.  Rich families 
didn't do this - usually the kids were sent to wet nurses (women who at some 
point had babies of their own but kept lactating for years because they also 
nursed and raised other people's children for a living).  After about four 
years the parents would take the kid back into their home.

they were the only ones that could breastfeed.  Yes, it's sad but true.
After many failed attempts, men just gave up trying to get anything to come
out of their nipples.  I know from personal experance.  However, now, with

So they invented the bottle.  Mainly because back when it was likely that 
your wife might not survive labor, you still could feed the baby after she 
died.

Ranma's special curse, Akane is free to pursue a carrer right after birth,
and the young tot can still get the healthy breast milk soooo conducive to
good health early in life.

Akane: Ranma, my nipples are aching.  Would you mind feeding 
little Toshihiro?

Ranma: grumble grumble mutter <SPLASH!!> mutter mutter grumble.

Uh, unfortunately, only women have just or are about to give birth can
lactate.  So Ranma would be nothing more than a living pacifier.

I heard somewhere that if you take enough hormones or otherwise trick your 
body into thinking you're supposed to be nursing (I forgot how) then you can 
lactate for a kid you adopted, even if you didn't recently nurse a kid you 
gave birth to.  It was in an Ann Landers or Dear Abby column, I think.

But your point about Akane being able to pursue her career after birth
is right on.  Babies don't have to breast-feed.  Akane could work on a
career during and very soon after her pregnancy.  Even if she had twelve
kids.

Of course, having twelve kids isn't socially responsible.  

How about having them adopt a whole bunch of homeless teenagers and feed 
them normal food instead of arguing over social responsibility and breast 
milk?

This is all a little deep for a silly piece of spam.  All I meant is

True, and it's about nine billion times longer.

that Ranma and Akane loved each other so much that they decided to share
that love with a large family.

<Hey, Lawson.  Anything new in the works?  Like maybe more with 
Kentaro and Ranma?

Well, I *have* written a third Ranma/Kentaro story, and have plans for a
fourth.  However, they are more for my own edification than anything
else - I don't intend to publish them.  I'm just interested to see what

Why not?  The first two were good.

kind of conclusion I can bring to this particular version of the
Ranmaverse.  They don't cover anything particularly deep, or new.  You
know me; just emotional, angst-driven stuff.

Other than that, I've finally finished my TIL sequel, "Magic".  I plan
to go over it from beginning to end and straighten everything out, then
begin releasing it in a couple of weeks.  It's just as long as "Thy
Inward Love".  I plan to release it in eight parts.  You were wondering
about second generation characters; this one has plenty of those.  The
story is told from the perspective of Akane and Ranma's first child, all
grown up.  Expect to see it begin to appear in a couple of weeks.

J. D. Farber

-Richard
sterman@sprynet.com

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