Archive: Oct 2007

Did ya’ll see that article in Newsweek from Sept. 30, “Father Time”? Well, I just caught it and the most interesting finding, I thought, was this: The researchers expected that the dads who were really involved were going to be the dads who had working spouses. But that wasn’t the case. “In fact,” explains University of Maryland sociologist Suzanne Bianchi, “dads are more involved over time whether their spouse is working outside the home or not.”

And why are dadly responsibilities changing? Says Bianchi,

“Dads had a clearer message in the 1960s about how they were supposed to behave: they were supposed to earn a living. Maybe now it’s less clear that breadwinning is enough. We still expect dads to be good breadwinners, but it’s not sufficient: you’re also supposed to be caring and nurturing your children. I think men are also taking cues from their wives. Just because moms go to work doesn’t mean they lose the feeling they should be involved moms. And dads are also picking up the message.”

(Hey Paul, dude, fatherman, when are we going for lunch?!)

Inspired by Alex Juhasz (who is currently teaching a course on YouTube about YouTube), I’ve decided to teach my fall webinar “Making It Pop: Translating Your Ideas for Trade” as a bloginar. Meaning, the online part of the class will take place as–you guessed it–a blog.

What better way to learn about using the blogosphere as a platform for your books than by becoming more familiar with a blog, right?

So the class blog–private, of course!–will provide a forum where participants can post elements of their book proposals, or thoughts toward ideas, as we go along. And get feedback. I’ll be walking participants through the mechanics on our first conference call (that would be Nov 6). We’ve got some great NYC-based agents and editors lined up for the calls. And while I’m at it, and for those of you who like to get ahead (you know who you are), the suggested reading for the course will be from: Thinking like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction and Get It Published. More info–dates, cost, rationale–here.

I think Marco took this (goofy) pic of me the day I got my current laptop. Boy, do I love me my MacBook.

I know I’m starting to sound like a Hillary supporter over here. Full disclosure: I am still undecided, as my feelings keep evolving. But I’m just riveted by the spectacle of her running. Not merely *her* running, but the fact that a viable woman candidate is.

So check this out: According to the most recent Newsweek poll (61,093 responses, 51% believe American voters would elect a woman to the White House in 2008, while 41% do not (8.4% aren’t sure). Everyone I talk to around this town these days (and granted, I’m talking about a rarefied urban island) seems to feel a woman can’t win. The Newsweek poll is (as they themselves note) not scientific. Has anyone seen a recent one that is?

These pics are from the amazing dude ranch wedding I went to the other week. (Congratulations, Rebeccemy!)

Now I know the good folks of Ratify ERA Florida are well intentioned. But the description of this “Hillary” doll that appears on their website is a bit…much:

This is the exclusive, celebrated President doll with the shirt that thrills us all, seen enlarged. You will not find “Hillary” anywhere else. She is 15 inches tall, finely-made, soft and completely undressable.

Meanwhile, the not-so-good folks at Walmart had a different objection:

“Hillary” announces that “Someday a Woman will be President” on her shirt that Wal-Mart banned from its shelves. They claim that having a woman in the White House “is against ‘Family Values’ “. We think it is most timely and just perfect.

Yeah, ok, I’ll give it to them there.

As Elizabeth Curtis reminds me, Judith Butler’s book, Precarious Life: The Power of Mourning and Violence, came out in 2005. The book begins, “Since the events of September 11, we have seen both a rise of anti-intellectualism and a growing acceptance of censorship within the media.” Uh huh. And I also hear it’s one of her more accessible ones.

Thanks, Elizabeth, for the heads up!

I recently got a “hey, how are ya” email from Elana Levine, a colleague of mine from grad school, who has written what sounds like a fabulous book. It’s called Wallowing in Sex: The New Sexual Culture of 1970s American Television. Love the cover (left).

And meanwhile, Annalee Newitz expresses her disappointment at the remake of Bionic Woman over at AlterNet:

This time around, Jaime [Sommers, the bionic woman] isn’t an independent career jock: she’s a 23-year-old bartender and college dropout who has just gotten pregnant and is about to marry her surgeon boyfriend. When she asks said boyfriend why he likes her, despite her lack of professional success, he replies, “You’re the one thing my father didn’t plan for me.”

Newitz says much more, and concludes that “there’s something deeply wrong about a science fiction show, allegedly about a woman of the future, whose message seems taken from a past much further back than the show’s origins in the 1970s.”

Darn. I loved that show.

My HuffPo po is now live, here. Please check it out, and comment away! I’ll be responding over there later today.

Moved by Naomi Wolf’s talk on The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot on Friday at Labyrinth, and having finished Susan Faludi’s Terror Dreams yesterday, today I wrote a post on them both that should go live in the politics section of HuffPo tomorrow.

If you like it, please click “I’m a fan of this blogger” (or whatever that button says) and post comments!

I love it when tradition meets practicality. Last weekend, at my friend Rebecca Segall’s wedding on a dude ranch in upstate New York, some friends pitched a sukkah in celebration of the Jewish holiday, Sukkot. Now, “pitch” isn’t usually the word you use to describe putting up a sukkah–that would be “build.” But this one, no mistake, was pitched. The friends got it from a website, www.popupsukkah.com, and it was basically a tent with a bamboo roof.

Overheard, from the (Jewish) groom: “Is this so Jews can camp?”