Save the Boston Globe!

We have all read recently about the threat of possible closure faced by the Boston Globe. A number of Boston-based bloggers who care about the continued existence of the Globe have banded together in conducting a blog rally. We are simultaneously posting this paragraph to solicit your ideas of steps the Globe could take to improve its financial picture:

We view the Globe as an important community resource, and we think that lots of people in the region agree and might have creative ideas that might help in this situation. So, here's your chance. Please don't write with nasty comments and sarcasm: Use this forum for thoughtful and interesting steps you would recommend to the management that would improve readership, enhance the Globe's community presence, and make money. Who knows, someone here might come up with an idea that will work, or at least help. Thank you.

Also, if you aren't that familiar with the Globe, or are from another area of the country, think about the problem in a more global scale. Cities all over the country are going from two papers to one, or from one to none. A study done by Princeton found that a decrease in newspapers in Cincinati led to a decrease in participation in politics by those affected (there is a blog entry that talks about the results at Reflections of a Newsosaur, and it was covered by NPR's On The Media program)

(P.S. If you have a blog, please feel free to reprint this item and post it. Likewise, if you have a Twitter or Facebook account, please add this url as an update or to your status bar to help us reach more people.)

here is an article in the globe that talks about a blog rally

in the motherhood

Oedipal Complex much?

Parenthood is one of those things I've been ambivalent about. And some of it is because I chafe at "The cult of motherhood". This ideal that my life isn't complete until I get married and have a baby. Some of it is the defensive reaction against a society that wants to tell me how to live every aspect of my life. That onsie above is a good example. I mean, is the child supposed to supplant the husband in the mother's life? Is that good for anyone? I mean, it seems like the husband gets completely shut out of the picture (and a lot of times traditional views of parenting do just that, and look at daddy as an ATM, or another child in the house). I doubt it really works for the mother (although media images make it seem like once you're a mommy, then that's all you are so why would you want a husband/adult male companion or friends or anything else?). And it can't possibly be good for the kid. I know we talk about kids being the center of a parent's life, and it's true that a lot of decisions get made with the welfare of the children at the heart...but as someone who has worked with lot of kids who have difficulty dealing with distress, making kids feel like they are the absolute center of the universe isn't really doing them any favors.

The "self esteem" movement backfired, and you wind up with a lot of kids who have been told their whole lives that they are absolutely perfect and they deserve every good thing in the world just for being them. And when they get older and are faced with the truth that there are going to be people who are faster/smarter/prettier/ect than they are, and that sometimes you lose, and sometimes life isn't fair...they can't deal. Kids with HEALTHY self esteem can fall down, and know that they have the ability to get back up. Kid's who've been sheltered from failure don't know this, and it leaves them bereft of any distress tolerance skills.

And that doesn't even touch the hetero-normative nature of the shirt.

Anyhow, this onsie is creepy at best, and the message behind it makes me worried for the parents who buy them, and the kids who wind up wearing them.