What's on tap?

Having been traveling for the better part of five weeks for funerals and family obligations, I'm excited to be in my own office at my own computer. While I managed a few thoughts while connected to dial-up at my mom's place, I'm ready to read, breathe, and blog. In the spirit of getting connected and caught up, here are some posts that I've found insightful:

Pitting women against women
Why talk about giant wage discrepancies between men and women, when we can nit pick wages among different types of women? That seems to be what mainstream media is doing with some Census information that was released Monday. Pinko Feminist Hellcat did a good job summing up this skewed news item. (Thanks to feministing.com for pointing me to it.)

Avoid the Mommy wars
Let's stop fighting with other women about what is the best thing to do with our kids... Work, don't work, in-home childcare, nanny. Whatever. We all just need to get along. Bitch PhD has a great post that explores what we really need to be worrying about--our social security or lack there of for at-home moms.

Women missing from the commentary pages
There was an interesting discussion on women's roles in America and how the ebbs and flows of the feminist movement shapes the women of this country. KQED's Michael Krasny talked with Gail Collins today about her new book America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines. You can listen to the discussion here.

Be as self-absorbed as you want!
Meagan Francis writes for the Langston State Journal about mommy blogs and the heat they've been taking in the mainstream press recently. And I like the way she summed it up: "I reserve the right to be as self-absorbed as I want to be after-hours. My kids get 90 percent of my attention, and the moments I manage to claim here and there as my own -- usually squeezed in after bedtime -- are mine, mine, MINE. Am I a narcissist? Sure, when I've got the time. Who isn't?" (Thanks to Ann Douglas over at The Mother of All Blogs for pointing me to that column.)

More on the Mommy Wars
As if there isn't enough stress in regular everyday life, we have television helping us see the "real" world. Mirium over at Playground Revolution had an interesting post about how shows like Wife Swap are making things more difficult for women. "There was no mommy war in real life, yet that didn't stop the show's producers from creating it. Thanks guys. All us moms and dads in America love you for that one."

Where are the women?
Larry Summers might say that there aren't many women in the advanced sciences of academia because of some sort of hardwiring impairment, but Kathy at Creating Passionate Users has some thoughts about why women are not prevalent at technology conferences. She says it's not the stereotypical reasons that most people think, ie: tech conferences are somehow female-unfriendly. (Thanks to misbehaving.net at for pointing me to this read.)

Another mothering myth
This was a couple of weeks ago (admittedly I'm very behind because of all the travel), but it's a good read, and so worth reading. Instead of pointing fingers at women and mothers everywhere, let's take comfort in each other and lean on each other. We're all in this together. Andi over at Mother Shock had some uplifting comments about the Warner book, in response to a Slate article.

Inhale, exhale. I almost feel caught up. Now if I could only unpack my suitcase, sort the laundry, and go grocery shopping.