DC Metro Moms

Blog for your life!

Science is finally catching up to something that some of us have suspected for quite some time now: blogging can help you feel happier, sleep better, and work out issues.  This month's issue of Scientific American features upcoming studies on how blogging helps people with serious illnesses cope.  (Something about how complaining acts as a placebo treatment for those in pain; I'm not sure I buy that part of it, but I'm no neuroscientist.)  The feedback mechanism (comments) is huge, of course; I wonder if the scientists fully recognize the power of comments and friendship, in any form, in healing.  I hope they do.  I know for me, that's been incredibly important, and I've been speaking out lately about the power of blogging to help heal.  There's an article this month in Health magazine, and I'll be speaking at BlogHer, with Laurie K and Flutter, about the power of blogging communities as a healing force. 

Of course, none of this is news to any of you.  You know what it means to blog.  You feel its power, its pull, and you come away from your computers more satisfied and fulfilled after a good blog writing and rerading session.  It connects us.  It heals.   

Where Will it End?

As an attorney who works in child abuse, I have tried to keep my mouth closed about the polygamist sect raid.  Considering I am intimately involved in taking people's children away, I felt my opinion was a little hypocritical.  But after reading this article in the Washington Post, I knew I had to speak.  (Or blog ).

I feel very strongly about child abuse.  I feel very strongly about taking children away from abusive situations.  But, you cannot remove children for "a way of life."  We used to do that, we stopped.

Forgetting, and remembering

My father has Alzheimers disease.  Over the last several years he has gone from forgetting who is President, to forgetting where he was, to forgetting where he lived, to forgetting who I am.  The last family event at which he was more-or-less himself was my wedding.  He has never known Bunny.  It has been an extremely painful journey for all of us, not the least for him.

One of the first signs I had that my father was losing his memory in a serious way was years ago when he couldn't produce the name of the Secretary of State.  For someone else, that may have seemed like a minor incident of forgetfulness.  Not for my extremely political, extremely partisan Dad.  That meant something was wrong.

I spend a lot of time these days wondering who Dad would support in this year's primary were he to be aware of it.  He would be so happy to see -- in his lifetime, although not his cognizant one -- that there

Washington, D.C. is Protesting Today

I generally like anniversaries, but not all anniversaries deserve a celebration.

In terms of days that will live in infamy, today is one of them -- the fifth anniversary of our invasion of Iraq.  We see our share of protests here in the nation's capital, but I was amazed when I saw this list of protests and marches going on today here in D.C.:

• "Blockade the IRS": A march to the IRS headquarters at 1111 Constitution Ave.
• "Disrupt the War Profiteers": Student groups and activists will converge upon the streets throughout the day to rally outside offices of large corporations such as ExxonMobil, Shell, Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, Bechtel and the IMF/World Bank.
• "Separate Oil and State": Participants will meet outside the American Petroleun institute.
• "Veterans March for Peace": The march will begin this morning at 7th St., NW on the National Mall between Madison and Jefferson streets.
• "Critical Mass":  Cyclists will travel through downtown possibly riding south onConnecticut        Ave., NWto the White House.
• "Granny Peace Brigade Knit-in": A sit-in is planned for noon outside the Veterans Affairs office.
• "Funk the War": similar to Disrupt the War Profiteers, student groups will converge on the K Streetcorridor.
• "March of the Dead": Dozens of activists will roam the city dressed in black representing those killed in the Iraq war.
• "The World Can't Wait: Anti-torture rally at 1:00 p.m. at Lafayette Square Park.
• "March on DNC": Participants will gather at 5:00 p.m. at the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall and march to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at 430 S. Capitol St., SE

For me, it's not just getting out of Iraq I'm worried about -- there's the whole Iran thing looming over our heads.  And after yesterday's Iran "slip" of the tongue by John McCain, the hair on the back of my neck is standing up.  In five years, I don't want to see us marching against another war.  But it's obviously on his mind.

Joanne is working on her political indignation over at her place, PunditMom. You can also find her at MOMocrats and BlogHer.

Original DC Metro Moms Blog post.

Some People Never Learn

I think Elliot Spitzer should resign, but not for the obvious reason.

I actually don't care that the Governor of New York solicited prostitutes. Yes, it's illegal, and I believe our elected officials should follow the law. But, I actually think prostitution should be legal. What two consenting adults do in their own time is their own business. And, if you legalize prostitution you have less problems with rape of prostitutes and you can control better for disease.

Pardon Me, I Apparently Forgot I'm Dumb and Fickle

For some reason, the Washington Post has decided that it's going to try to alienate its women subscribers.

I can't really think of another reason why its editors would decide to run two articles attacking women voters as dumb and fickle in its Sunday Outlook section. Between We Scream, We Swoon.  How Dumb Can We Get?  and For Hillary's Campaign, It's Been a Class Struggle, I found my self shaking my head and wondering, why do we do this to ourselves?

Even if you buy that each article might have  a legitimate point buried somewhere in those paragraphs, I don't see any men penning essays this campaign season suggesting that guys are acting against their political self-interest if they don't vote for the candidate of their gender or that men are somehow irrational in their electoral decisions if they display any emotion about the candidate of their choice.

This Whole Campaign Looks a Lot Different to an Eight-Year-Old

Trying to explain our electoral process to an eight-year-old is like trying to help your child make sense of why the boys who like you in the classroom pick on you during recess.

It's all a bit inscrutable.

What's even harder is trying to help a second-grader grasp that while the election coverage that mommy is addicted to has been going on since before she started this school year, that things won't be over until she's settled into next year's school routine.

"But WHY?" is PunditGirl's continual response when I try to explain why we don't have a new President yet.  We had this discussion after the New Hampshire primary:

PunditGirl: "But who won last night?"

Can You Guess Her Politics?

In honor of Super Tuesday (even though Virginia doesn't vote this week), I thought I would go out on a limb and talk politics — mom politics. No, this is not another work vs. stay at home mom or breast vs. bottle or any of the other top discussions at play dates. This is a topic has been on my mind quite a bit lately.

Can you tell another mom’s politics without talking politics?

My interaction with my mom friends is often limited--by time and munchkins. We greet each other at preschool drop off and pick up. We might get a few minutes to chat at the playground or if we’re lucky we’ll move beyond mom talk at a girl’s night out event. Rarely does it ever move to politics due to time and circumstance of wee ones springing about. Do we not discuss it because we don’t care? Quite the contrary, I believe we very much do care. Many times we just haven’t made our way into “that part” of the mommy friend relationship. Is it that we are so different in our politics that we can’t discuss? Absolutely not. We have heated debates on other relegated “mom topics” without it being an issue.

I started playing this game with myself for a few mom acquaintance. How quickly can I figure out their politics?

Prologue vs. Twitter

Wordpress.com introduced Prologue, a suspiciously-Twitterlike platform for group mini-blogs.  It's an interesting idea for groups working cross-country, or anywhere they are not co-located.  Prologue is like a virtual water cooler for individuals to post their ideas, comment on others, and start conversations that may no longer arise spontaneously when so many telecommute.  Privacy settings are the same as for other Wordpress.com blogs -- password-protected, public, or public but not available to search engines.

It sounds like a great solution for project-based communications, and I may even use it for future projects, but one thing that I think it will NOT do is replace Twitter.

I've only been using twitter for a little over a few weeks, and already I've found it indispensible.

It's a Race for President of the United States, NOT Student Council

Hurt feelings?

Getting snubbed?

I remember those types of episodes from when I ran for Student Council Treasurer as a high school senior.

I wanted to run for President of my very small, rural high school, but everyone agreed that in 1976, no girl could beat the cute captain of the wrestling team  for that top student council spot.

I felt bad about it.  My feelings were hurt.  I did feel snubbed.  But I was only 17 at the time.

The Clintons are in their 60s.