Spreadin' Love

Two academic bloggers, Mark Grimsley and Laura Blankenship, explain the craft to blog novices. I am embarrassed and grateful to be cited as an example. Mark's post made blush for half a day.

The Internet continues to expand. Magazines are expanding their online presence. Washington is finally realizing that the Internet is a wonderful tool for organizing. Joe Trippi says "Duh." And most happily, it looks like the Digital Divide is closing.

Jane Galt writes that it makes sense from an economic point of view that there should be "mommy wars." Gains for one group means a loss for the other. Read it; it's good. Since I've been a parent, I have never had another parent say to my face that they thought my work/family choices were incorrect. Plenty of non-parents have. Plenty of people in the blogosphere or in academic papers have. In real life, mothers have a lot of sympathy for each other and easily see themselves in the other's shoes. Also, mothers group themselves with similar types of parents. The biggest war I think is between parents and non-parents; the lines are clearer and the interests more stark.

I am really sorry to hear that Russell Arben Fox has stopped blogging. We've been in the same blogging circle for a couple of years now, and I feel like the neighbor kid just moved to Canada. His other news is sadder still. Russell, like so many friends in academia, has had to hang up his cap and gown and move on to a new career. I wish him luck.

In a bizarro article in the Times, Mary Matalin and others argue over the term chattering class, which they agree is basically a negative term to mean shiftless, eggheads who sit on their ass discussing the latest political scandal or gossip. Mary says that Republicans are definitely not part of the chattering class. After a few paragraphs, I started skimming for the word, "blogger". Not to be disappointed, they trotted out Kos, who said "YES. Bloggers are part of the chattering class". Bloggers be not proud.

All about Caitlin Flanagan.

Comments

[northridgmom]

I agree that there is significant disagreement between parents and non-parents these days.

But, in terms of mommy wars, I think the real war, is an internal struggle that each mom has on the subject of balancing career and family. I wrote about it a few days ago.

Thanks for pointing me to Jane Galt's interesting piece.

[joe o]

Jane Galt is correct to a point, but I think the "mommy wars" problem has more to due with the fact that people like consensus. Especially, for child-rearing.

Think of how taboo toy guns became in less than a generation. Or how quickly the upper class parenting style moved to the model described in that Annette Lareau book .

[Clancy]

Another thanks for linking to the Galt post. Leslie Morgan Steiner should link to it at the flamefest that is On Balance. Why I keep going back I'll never know.

[Laura]

Thanks for the link, Clancy, to On Balance. I was thoroughly disgusted. Only someone deeply insecure about their choices could write that stuff.