If you are using Facebook, share your blog's feed in your Facebook news feed with the Notes application.
If you are using Twitter, share links to new blog posts (you can shorten the urls with bit.ly).
3. Make it easy to put faces and names to blog posts
Posts should say, by your name, not by admin, or by the name of your organization.
Provide a link to a page with bios for bloggers. If your blogging platform doesn't allow you to do that, have bloggers include a one-line bio at the end of their posts.
4. Make it easy to find out more information about your organization, or project
If your blog has its own website, separate from you organization or project's website, create an "About Us" page for your blog that describes the mission of your organization or project, and links back to its home page.
If your blog is integrated into your main website, make sure it is easy to navigate back and forth between the blog and your home page.
5. Make it easy to skim, but irresistible read
Use images with every post.
Write titles that tell the reader whether or not the post has information that is relevant to them.
Use bold, italics, bullets and numbered lists to break up the page.
Don't be afraid of white space.
Keep it short. People read between 250-300 words per minute.
Have a "blogroll," a list of blogs that write about your issue.
Link to other blogs' posts within your posts, even if they have a different opinion to yours, it could start a great discussion.
Post weekly roundups of blog posts about your issue. You'll build community and provide a useful information filtering service for your readers.
7. Facilitate commenting
Allow commenting.
Moderate your comments if you are concerned about inappropriate remarks, or spam.
If they are civil, allow comments that are critical of your organization. If the conversation becomes too heated, you can always take it over to email.
If you receive a comment, acknowledge it, even if your reply is brief.
8. Post about a range topics (i.e. it's not just about you)
You could write about:
Breaking news in your field.
Interviews (written, audio, video).
Notes, photos and presentations from events.
Staff and supporters' opinions.
The story behind your organization/project.
Notes and photos from your work in the field.
Press mentions.
Requests for feedback and ideas.
Calls to action.
Guest blog posts.
How to lists.
Organizational/project news.
9. Engage your community and participate in other online communities
Comment on other blogs that write about your topic and link to your posts. You can track who is linking to you and writing about your issue by using services like Google Analytics or SiteMeter. Set up a Google Alert for your blog's URL, the name of your blog, the name of your organization, and your issue too.
Hold and participate in online contests, challenges, blog carnivals and memes.
Ask readers to share opinions, resources, and content (blog posts, photos, audio, video).
10. Track your impact
Possible ways to measure impact are (just pick a few):
Subscribers (you can see this by burning your feed with Feedburner).
Visits, page views, links and referrals (you can see these with Google Analytics or SiteMeter).
Number of comments.
Content contributed by readers (i.e. posts, photos, video).
New donors, volunteer, or members who found you through your blog.
Donations made from a link to your donation page from your blog.
Press that found you through your blog.
Relationships that were formed through your blog.
Next week, Beth Kanter will be continuing this BlogHer series about getting started using social media for your nonprofit, or do-good project with posts about social networking, connecting offline and online action, and raising money on social networks. You can follow her BlogHer blog at www.blogher.com/blog/beth-kanter
Telecommuting is one of those issues that falls under the umbrella of Work-Life Balance/Integration/Fit. It is usually promoted as a flexibility issue --as a way to help families whose work-life schedule needs flexibility to deal with real-life issues like children and elderly parents.
Telecommuting advocates also say that telecommuting increases employee productivity and retention. Yet, the majority of American businesses are not fans of telecommuting. "Just 3% of employers nationally allow some teleworking," says Susan Seitel, president of WFC Resources.
Seitel shared that statistic during a presentation at a When Work Works event on September 29, 2009, to recognize Minnesota companies which earned a Alfred P. Sloan award for workplace flexibility. Over 70% of the Minnesota companies that applied for the award offer telecommuting.
All companies that earned a spot on Working Mothers 2009 list of the 100 Best Companies To Work For offer telecommuting.
A full 100 percent of them offer telecommuting and flextime schedules, 98 percent offer job-sharing, and 94 percent offer compressed workweeks. These companies are also committed to helping working parents with their child-care needs: 86 percent provide backup care, and 62 percent provide sick-child care. But perhaps even more important is the family-friendly culture they all continually strive to create.
Which brings us to a new program designed to promote telecommuting in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It's called eWorkPlace. Instead of focusing the traditional benefit of flexibility, this program takes a more circuitous route to get companies to support telecommuting: cars. Specifically, the benefit to the community of having fewer cars on the road each day.
With funding from both the federal government and the Minnesota Department of Transportation, eWorkPlace is encouraging businesses to allow employees to telecommute at least once a week to relieve gridlock on Twin Cities highways, save commuting time, and reduce the amount of road repair needed each year.
* If 2,700 Minnesotans teleworked one day per week, that would potentially remove over 1,000 rush hour trips per day on Twin City freeways.
The Environmental Protection Agency says if just 10 percent of the nation's workforce telecommuted just one day a week, Americans would conserve more than 1.2 gallons of fuel per week.
About 9% of workers in Minnesota telecommute. Whether the current percentage of Minnesotan telecommuters is higher or lower than the national average is anyone's guess. Adeel Laari, Program Director of eWorkPlace says, "there are no scientifically valid studies on telecommuting." He adds, "If eWorkPlace is successful another 2,700 Twin Cities residents will work from home at least 1 day a week."
In doing research for eWorkPlace, Laari says the majority of employees want to telecommute and according to their research nearly 80% of jobs could be conducted with a telecommuting component. "The problem, says Laari, "are the employers. They are afraid."
What are they afraid of? You name it: control, employees not putting in a full day's work, disruption of the "team," and of course basic jealousy that some people get to work at home while others don't.
That conversation happened to a good friend of mine just this week. She is starting a new job and has to do a lot of phone calling for the next week. She shares a cubby with several other people and asked if she could work at home to make the calls privately. Her employer's response was, "How would everyone else feel if you got to do this at home and they didn't?"
Of course, the right response would have been, "Why can't they make the calls at home?"
eWorkPlace asks employers to just try it for a three month trial. For agreeing to test the concept eWorkPlace provides free consulting, IT support, and managers and employees have access to free online courses on how to have a successful working relationship when a member of the team is telecommuting.
Writing on her blog about Work-Life Trends, Seitel says employers need to be convinced that employees will be more productive if they have the option to telecommute one or two days a week.
"It means trusting employees to do what they say they will, but it also necessitates training managers to set goals with their staff, being clear about what success will look like and how they'll measure it, and knowing how results will be verified. Once managers become adept at doing this their load actually becomes lighter and employees are more satisfied, fulfilled, and able to handle their responsibilities at home as well as at work."
The University of Minnesota will be tracking participants in eWorkPlace to find out how much gas is saved, how much time is saved and whether or not the employees and employers believe productivity increases when people can telecommute at least once a week.
Will an easier commute to work really motivate companies that have been reluctant to offer telecommuting? It does seem a bit of a reach. As Susan Seitel said, "A funny thing happened on the way to the launch of eWorkPlace - a recession." Even without companies committing to the program, Twin Cities highways have fewer cars on them because fewer people have jobs to drive to. The reality is eWorkPlace has it work cut out for itself.
Television can be an odd friend to those of us who spend time at home during weekdays. The elderly, the ill, third-shift workers, SAHMs, the unemployed, telecommuters, part-time students: we're a disparate audience, and we are sometimes lonesome. Daytime television can be a friendly voice to break the monotony, a connection to the outside world, or a grown-up friend to those home with young children and in need of words for their adult brains. Ellen and Oprah. A soap opera or movie. A recipe or home project demo. A juicy trumped-up airing of dirty laundry on a court or talk show. Something is always available.
When I was young, my mother turned our television on midday to watch the ABC soap opera line-up while ironing and folding clothes until the General Hospital closing credits, at which time my brother and I could watch Electric Company on PBS--and years later Gilligan's Island reruns on the local news channel. We didn't have other options. But daytime viewing has changed. Fewer adults are home during the day watching television, and those who are have infinitely increasing options for their attention, including cable television, recorded prime time, satellite radio, and DVDs for their big screens, as well as Internet media, blogs and social media conversations.
Advertising dollars are therefore diluted as well. Soap operas with their huge casts, fleets of writers and numerous sets are expensive to maintain, so rating drops for daytime dramas in particular have been hard to justify financially. Once thought to be immune from the axe, CBS's seminal soap Guiding Light was snuffed September 18th after 72 years of programming. In the new dark age, networks are grappling with how to fill the soap void with frugal programming that will captivate the eyeballs of a recession-plagued country.
Game shows are cheap. One set, one host, and much lower production costs than talk shows or reality shows that spend resources cultivating guests and scripts. CBS's solution: Guiding Light has been replaced with a re-haul of a golden oldie game show: Let's Make a Deal, hosted by Wayne Brady. CBS must be hoping that this light, nostalgic fare, taped on a bright set in Las Vegas with an audience full of costumed aspirants, will appeal to home viewers. I can see their line of thinking, because what says "recession survival" more than "Let's Make a Deal?" Fantasy within reach plus humor is a good equation.
The show is very similar to the original game, except the contemporary version runs for a full hour--which may be a half-hour too long. Wayne Brady has cash--not crazy amounts, but hundreds of dollars, and he uses it to seduce gamers from prizes that are hidden behind curtains 1, 2 and 3. Curtains reveal AMAZING. NEW. APPLIANCES! or the like. (By giving away consumer goods Let's Make a Deal cuts even more expenses through product placement.) Or (ZOINK!) perhaps you'll win a goat. (Not sure about the costs there, but I know they are cheap to feed.)
Playing at home certainly isn't intellectually demanding like some quiz shows, and it's simplicity gives it a fun-for-all-ages appeal. Did you guess Curtain Number 3? Zoink! Sorry, you won a rusty old bicycle! So Let's Make a Deal is an hour of exuberant citizens in over-sized wigs getting lucky--just like you may someday--or getting punked, which gives you a little hit of schadenfreude, knowing you would have handled it better. It's Win-Win in a Duck Suit.
The contestants pay for their shot at the curtains with hours of their time. Mo, who writes about living in Las Vegas at her blog Another Las Vegas Daily Photo, appeared on the show as a Black-Eyed Pea. She said taping was a long, tedious day. Susan, who blogs at The Najera Family, seems to have had fun, though, and lost her voice screaming.
Check out the babies-in-diapers costumes that bloggers Double D and Single D, who write at Reality Show Critic, wore when they appeared as contestants on Let's Make a Deal. Single D describes the deals and swaps that are the rhythm of the show, including the last big deal where one contestant gets a chance to go large:
Danielle now has my dvd that I gave to her. Wayne sweetens the deal and gives her another dvd which has money in it. He tells her she can keep the dvd's or trade it for door 1. She trades the dvds, which he opens and both only held $1.00!!! We were so relieved, because if there were thousands of dollars in it I would have cried! Danielle gets a exercise package. And lastly, he ask Danielle if she would like to be the big trader of the game and give up her door for a prize that is worth $23,000! Who wouldn't? She goes for it and wins the car!
I'm neither a soap opera fan nor a big game show geek, but sadly, Let's Make a Deal feels like it is trying too hard, while also being regressive and simplistic. This choice feels like the network is throwing in the paper towel, watching its formerly super-soapy daytime ad revenue slip down the drain. I wonder if a different game show with more substance would feel better--and there is buzz that $10,000 Pyramid is launching soon.
BlogHer Ad Network blogger Jada at In Other Words wrote about the loss of Guiding Light in a way that made me think that too many game shows won't feel like adequate replacement because our lives need story arcs for engagement:
To me Guiding Light and Gramma are always linked. My grandmother watched Guiding Light on a regular basis and for years after she died, I did too. Even when my mother abandoned the show and questioned why I watched it, I stayed true. In college, my friend watched Young and the Restless. Gramma watched Y&R too, so I joined them because it was a social experience, but Guiding Light was still #1 in my heart....And so it is is with the struggles of life. We tell ourselves stories to make sense of it all. Sure, there is something manipulative in the way that a soap opera will leave you hanging a bit to get you to return, but isn't that what the best storytellers do anyway? Gramma and gone. Guiding Light is gone. But the power of storytelling remains.
Are you home during the daytime? If you flip the television on for company, what do you watch? Or are blogs all you need to get you through the day?
Deb Rox blogs at Deb on the Rocks and is the author of 5 Ways to {Blank} Your Blog. She is not auditioning for Let's Make a Deal but would jump at a chance to sit with Meredith Viera in the magical inner circle of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Because (a), Deb very much does want to be an instant millionaire, final answer.
In winning the Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama joins an elite group of U.S. presidents. He is the fourth to win the prize, the third to win it while in office and the first to receive it during his first year in office.
Unlike his predecessors, Obama was selected not for substantive accomplishments, but for his "vision" and inspiring "hope" at the beginning of his presidency.
BlogHer Contributing Editor Nordette writes, "Feels like an honor, possibly premature, and a lot of pressure to me. Look for more fundamentalist religious conservatives to say this is more evidence that Obama is the anti-Christ, a figure who is supposed to bring about a false peace."
"We absolutely should push Obama to do better — and he has a lot to improve — but the attacks on him for being awarded such a prestigious prize are disturbing. We have a sitting president who won a Nobel Peace Prize. That was unthinkable a year ago. I realize that a lot of people on the right are sore losers, but this is getting ridiculous. The Nobel conversations are already sounding like the flipside of the conservative reaction when Chicago didn't get the Olympics — there, conservatives were giddy that America had lost something just because Obama wanted it; here, conservatives are devastated that an American leader won something, just because Obama is that leader."
"The Nobel selection committee appears to have so internalized that message that they've given the world's most prestigious honor to a 9-month president whose promises are yet unfulfilled. I'm sure the Nobel committee is very, very smart, but it all made me wonder if they're so eager to reward the first black president of the U.S. that they wanted to get it done now, just in case he turns out to be a warmonger robbing them of their chance to meet the coolest kid on the block.
The people who elected him hoping for change need to think critically and seriously about what this means for holding him accountable to the vision he put out during the campaign. Maybe Obama will make peace, maybe he won't. There's no way to know at this early stage, though the Administration's flirtations with escalation in Afghanistan and Pakistan raise real questions. If, as the President said in his acceptance speech, this is a 'spurring' prize to encourage him to follow through on climate change and other agendas, we should make sure that it doesn't provide more cover than motivation."
Althouse thinks this isn't about the Nobel at all-
"The question is why didn't he get the Olympics.
The story of Barack Obama is the story of winning things when he hasn't yet done enough to deserve them. He is, quite simply, Barack Obama. We understand that. Why didn't the IOC understand? You could see it in that smile on his face, when he concluded his little speech in Copenhagen, that he bore the sublime knowledge he would acquire the Olympics for Chicago. Because he is Barack Obama, the man to whom grand prizes are given."
While Firedoglake muses, "I can almost hear the screaming from Dick Cheney and the neocons as they get the news."
The White House announced the President will be giving the $1.4 million dollars that comes with the prize to charity.
When it comes to Halloween costumes, I have always pulled the working mom excuse and bought costumes for my kids. Sometimes we got hand-me-downs or found deals at costume swap events, but for the most part, we forked over large sums of money for costumes. This year was different! I was somehow inspired to make my daughter's costume and it cost less than five dollars. If you're already crafty and can sew, move along, you will be seriously underwhelmed!
My five year old daughter was flipping through one of her favorite catalogs, Oriental Trading, where amongst all the junk she wanted to buy, she found a cute candy corn costume. I was in automatic no no no mode, but when I glanced over I thought, hey, that's something I could make. It's just a straight dress with three colors, two if we used a white shirt on top. Even though I haven't sown a piece of clothing for over twenty years, I figured this was something that I could pull off, working mom or not.
When we set off to buy fabric, I got into an argument with my daughter in the car about the order of the colors on candy corn. I said that it went top down from white to yellow to orange. She insisted that it was white, orange, yellow. I was so frustrated that I pulled out my iPhone and did a google image search for candy corn. She was absolutely right. Already correcting mom at 5 years old! Ay!
In the store, I wrapped my daughter with yellow and orange fabric and determined that we only needed one yard of each color (44 inches wide). I thought that you could buy some plastic hoop material to make the skirt hang in a circle, but the helpful fabric clerk suggested that I simply repurpose some coat hangers (can you tell that I am totally not crafty?). We went home with the $4.29 worth of fabric and a long sleeve white shirt for our chilly New England Octobers.
I am by no means a seamstress, but I do know that you can't cut a skirt into a straight triangular shapes and expect it to hang correctly. So I pulled out one of my daughter's dresses with a decent flare to help create a pattern of sorts.
I cut two orange pieces to match the curve of the bottom of the skirt, leaving plenty of extra material on the sides for seams.
Then I cut two yellow pieces below it, extending the line and following the curve.
While sewing, I kept reminding myself that this costume will never be scrutinized or laundered, so it didn't have to have perfect seams. For the yellow-orange seam, I folded over and ironed the orange side of the seam and simply stitched the yellow over it on the backside. By the way, searching for orange thread turned out to be a wild goose chase, so red worked just fine. Besides, when will you ever use orange thread again?
I left six inches open on top of one side and sewed in a velcro closure. For the straps, I used pieces of elastic. I won't lie, it took me about six hours to complete. But in the end, it was a success!
Side question: Done one really still use the word divorcee?
And to answer my side question: Tim Gunn does, and if Tim Gunn is wrong, I don't wanna be right!
OK, they've done bridal challenges before, but this had a twist. The "models" were nine divorced women (who all still fit in their wedding gowns, I might add) and who wanted to turn those gowns into hot, modern, non-weddingish gowns. Now, for the women who had been divorced 3 months and 6 months etc., I wasn't too surprised they still had their gowns. But really? You've been divorced over 15 years, and your gown is 80's crap...you never wanted to get rid of it before? Hmm.
The designers chose their models based on how much fabric the dress had, since that would give them the most to work with. They learned later they would be able to go to ErsatzMood, but they only had $25 to spend on no more than 2 yards of fabric and additional accessories if they needed them and had money left. For example, because Shirin's model wanted a Cher feather headdress (Say "wha'?), she wasted time and money buying some peacock feathers. Nicolas should have been all up in her grill about trying to steal his title as the Feather Prince of NY, but this cast is about as non-confrontational as they come, so not Feather Rumbles ensued.
Thank you ErsatzMood.
It is also announced that this is the last challenge where winning will gain you immunity, so obviously folks are motivated to get a free pass to the Top 7.
Now, I don't know if anyone else noticed, but Tim seemed a little cranky to me when he was making his rounds. Nobody was making him happy. Or seduced. Or enthralled. Or stunned. Instead he was worried. And concerned. And reminding them they had a lot of work to do.
He did go classic Ninja Comforter on Shirin, though, who was depressed about her model's tiny, cheap wedding gown and big, outlandish (and hideous) concepts for a new outfit. He broke through Shirin's funk and malaise and got her turned right round, baby, right round.
That's the Tim we know and love!!
[Where i digress:]
BTW: Have I mentioned lately, I got to meet Tim at BlogHer '09? No? Let me digress. I was perhaps more excited at the prospect of meeting him than about almost anything else. And I actually had a jaw-drop, stare-with-a-big-smile moment when I saw him greeting people on the exhibit floor. Sort of how I was when I got to meet Grover in '08's Sesame Street Suite. (Seriously, the video from that little SSS encounter is hilarious...I look really really goofy.) Anyway, I bonded with CheatyMonkey over the fact that Tim is a big animal lover like we are, and has done anti-fur and other fashion cruelty work for PETA. I know he was lovely to her when they talked about it, and he was also lovely to me. (Really "lovely" is the best word for him...did I mention that already?)
When I finally met him, I told him "I'm a big fan, and I especially appreciate the work you did for PETA", and he patted my hand, looked warmly into my eyes and said: "The work I *continue* to do!"
Yes, yes, Tim! The work you continue to do, my Reality TV Boyfriend!!!
[Where i get back on track:]
So, with my Reality TV Boyfriend's guidance and mentorship, they all finish their outfits, and we're on to the show.
Note to Lifetime TV: Give Heidi a little better wardrobe budget, m'kay? She has not been looking her usual stellar best. Is it just me?
Note to ninagarcia: Your Marie Claire underlings are not you. When are you coming back? I mean it's *great* having MK back, but we need you too, ninagarcia, we need you too.
1. Irina kicked off with a dress that I'm going to argue long and loud did *not* deserve the kudos it got form the judges. They seem to be buying into the idea that a woman past a certain age (and the model didn't look that old to me, to begin with) should look like a Mother of the Bride if she's going out. OK, the coffee-colored dye job on all that lace was well-done. Nice color. But the styling wasn't just MOB, but 1970s or 80s, Bonfire of the Vanities MOB. I like Irina. I hated this dress.
2. Shirin pulled it out and knocked it out of the park (all thanks to Tim's mentorship, I'm convinced.) Having so little fabric to work with (after cutting the dress to be a mini) she used thread to create patterns in the fabric. Create a dark ribbon around the empire waist, and what you've got it simple, sexy and way better than one could have expected. And the only feathers were a couple in her model's hair.
3. Logan is lucky he didn't get auf'ed for the hot mess he sent down the runway. Ill-fitting wool tweed pants. And then a horribly, I mean horribly-made top. It was kind of an Elizabethan wench undergarment with ruffles, and it was uneven, and unintentionally asymmetric. Has the guy ever made anything (since the first week) that surpassed mediocre? And this was bad.
4. Carol Hannah made a drab, gray strapless cocktail dress with frayed and feathered netting over it. There was a tiny black bolero too.Like the concept of that netting, but it was a bit drab.
5. Althea made a Sailor Moon dress that was horrendous. Saggy navy blue boob patches. Drooping, useless back straps. Tacky gold accessories. Hated it. Lucky she wasn't in the Bottom Two.
6. Nicolas made a matronly, grandma outfit for a sort of adorable pixie woman. It was ill-fitting olive colored pants that creased across the front, some kind of brown top, and then an ivory doily-looking bedjacket. Totally lucky he wasn't Bottom 2.
7. Gordana finally rocked it with a platinum strapless dress with curved asymmetric pleats from hem to hem. The styling also really played to the model's desire to punk it up a bit, so those knee-high black boots made total sense. It was flattering to her figure and I could totally see it out and about as is.
8. Christopher made a silvery alien bubble dress with a black belt for his discarded replicant model. I don't know what has gone wrong with Christopher these last two weeks, but he needs to get it together. The bubble silhouette? Clearly not his thing.
9. Epperson made another sailor dress, this time white with black lacing at the waist. OK, maybe it was a pirate wench dress. Or a Ren Fair dress. Or Oktoberfest dress, as Heidi opined. Whatever it was, it was an unflattering dress. Too much fabric, too long and frumpy. FAIL.
In the end, the judges likee:
Irina
Shirin
Gordana
And Gordana took the win (I think mostly for finally showing she had design sense not just sewing skillz.)
The judges no likee:
Christopher
Logan
Epperson
I was afraid Logan would be the loser, but was happy to see Epperson auf'ed. Logan may not have exactly ever wow'ed me, but Epperson has been way off the mark too many times.
Women on Capitol Hill seem to be mad as hell when it comes to health care and they're not taking it anymore. This week, women Senators and members of Congress started speaking out collectively about the lack of interest and, perhaps, the lack of respect that women's medical issues are getting in the health care reform debate.
First, there were the astounding comments from Senator Jon Kyl who believes that because he doesn't need maternity care that it shouldn't be in health care policies that men pay for.
Then there was Senator Orrin Hatch trying to slip one past us by proposing that no insurance companies -- not even private policies purchased with private dollars -- should provide coverage for any abortion procedures. And let's not forget the SEIU report that was recently released that revealed that eight states and the District of Columbia allow insurance companies to exclude coverage for domestic abuse injuries as pre-existing conditions.
That's just the tip of the information iceberg I heard in a recent press call with Senator Debbie Stabenow and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz.
Then on Thursday, the Democratic women of the Senate stood together to express their collective outrage about how we could possibly be at a point in America where it's acceptable for us to turn our backs on basic, fundamental coverage for women's health:
One story that Senator Amy Klobuchar shared on the floor of the Senate that didn't make it into the video is one of the best examples of what women can do to help change the prevailing attitudes and practices of health insurance companies. When Klobuchar's daughter was born with some medical issues, new mom Klobuchar was forced to leave the hospital after only 24 hours, even though she had not only given birth, but then had to immediately start working with doctors to assess her newborn daughter's condition. When legislation in her home state of Minnesota was introduced to guarantee that a new mother would have at least 48 hours in the hospital after giving birth, debate on the bill suggested it would be voted down.
On the day of the vote, she accompanied half a dozen visibly pregnant women to the hearings, where they made their presence and their voices known.
The bill passed.
So the lesson of the day when it comes to male-dominated legislatures (state or federal) writing and voting on laws that directly impact us is this -- speak out.
Keep speaking out. And speak out some more.
Sooner or later, someone is going to hear us and we can make change happen. It's not easy. If nothing else, they'll have to vote on legislation we want with us in the room, as with Senator Klobuchar and her group of pregnant political moms!
I was sad to see that none of the Republican women joined their Democratic sisters on the Senate floor to speak out on women's health care. Maybe there's just too much political heat at the moment, but I'm hoping that at the end of the day (are you listening Olympia Snowe??) that their women constituents will call on them to do the right thing so that insurance companies can no longer deny women coverage for purported pre-exisiting conditions or charge us more for the exact same coverage as men.
I might be going out on a limb here, but I'd wager a little money that Senator Kyl's wife and daughter might have a slightly different view on keeping maternity care out of health care reform. Maybe we could recruit them?
BlogHer Politics & News Contributing Editor Joanne Bamberger writes about the intersection of motherhood and politics at her place, PunditMom.
BlogHer is non-partisan but our bloggers (including me) aren't! Follow our coverage of Politics & News.
What's happening this week in the world of fashion? We have style from Paris Fashion Week, the new It celebrity accessory, and six shoes you need for Fall. Plus, a sneak peek at Barneys' Fall 2009 lookbook!
Fashiontribes shows you how to wear boyfriend jeans.
Second City Style brings us the scoop from Louis Vuitton's show at Paris Fashion Week.
Finding a hobby or a passion is on some levels like finding a good partner - there's a certain element of chemistry involved. But there's also a practical (financial) side of the equation that might make one hobby feasible but render another hobby's pursuit unrealistic.
Some activities, such as running, reading, Frisbee, etc. are relatively inexpensive, or have a low entry cost. On the other end of the spectrum, there are sports or hobbies that require more money. Golf, sailing, skiing, horseback riding, deep-sea diving, etc., all require significant monetary commitment.
Finances are one of the reasons why I didn't pursue figure skating lessons, even though I am really interested in the sport (an interest nurtured when I first saw Olympic figure skating on TV) and would love to learn to gracefully glide about the ice. Unfortunately, ice skating is an expensive pursuit. The rink time rental, the coaching lessons, the skates, all would add up much more quickly. Life And Debt In Chicago is a figure skater and has posted on the costs of her hobby. After a few ice rink excursions, I decided I didn't enjoy skating enough to make the sacrifices necessary to pursue more lessons.
Recently, I have begun attending Argentine tango lessons several times a week. At $15 per class, tango is not the most expensive hobby by any means. But Argentine tango, as with other types of social dance, is definitely a recurring cost activity. Classes, dance parties, and shoes make up the bulk of expenses. Of course, one can always spend hundreds or thousands to go to traveling workshops or even Buenos Aires, but that's not a requirement to participate in the hobby. But I absolutely LOVE Argentine tango, and reason enough for me to spend 4 nights a week in class and $200 a month on tuition.
So how do you decide what hobbies might be worth pursuing? If you like several different hobbies, should you let money make the decision for you? Here are some questions that might be helpful to ask yourself:
1.Does the hobby make you healthier – either physically (get more exercise / balance) or emotionally (more connected to friends / social circle)? Americans frequently don't get enough exercise – so if you find a sport / dance that you enjoy and that gets you off the couch? That's two birds with one stone. If you love to bike but running on the treadmill isn't your cup of tea, then a $1,000 bike could be a good investment in your hobby and your health.
2. Can you afford to pursue this hobby without going into debt or compromising on your major financial goals? There's no point in going into debt for a hobby - don't let worry about money take away your enjoyment. Before you invest heavily in an activity, especially before you commit to an expensive hobby (buying new skis, signing up for a night dive cruise in Australia, etc.), you should have your financial foundation in order.
3.Does it help you in your career? If you like golf and business deals are often made on the golf course in your line of work, then golf would be a good hobby to invest in. If your coworkers frequently get together for poker games, it might be a good idea to learn how to play.
4.Does it make you happy? Because at the end of the day, time is finite. In today's life we have a myriad of work and family obligations – a hobby should be a time for you to recharge your own batteries. When you complete your scrapbook, descend from the mountain top, or cross the marathon finish line, you should feel a renewed sense of joy. You should feel ALIVE. That's the feeling I get when I walk out the studio after 3 hours of dancing, and that's why tango (and its accompanying expenses) is here to stay in my life.
Krystal At Work works hard to make room in her budget for her passions: hiking, camping, rock-climbing, and skiing. Krystal has spent over $5,000 in the past two years on those pursuits. Once you've determined that you want to pursue certain pastimes, especially they are more expensive hobbies, there are trade-offs. Krystal is debt-free, maintains a frugal lifestyle, and researches the best value on equipment and lessons so that she can do what she love.
The best part is when a hobby pays for itself. Once you achieve a certain level of expertise, you might even make money from your hobbies. Little Miss Moneybags from NYC is a perfect example of someone who has managed to make money from her passion: she loves belly-dancing, and for the past couple of years she has earned enough money through performances to subsidize her class fees, costumes, etc.
Bottom line: if you really enjoy an expensive hobby, don't automatically assume you can't pursue it. Money is money, but money is only money. There are many ways to make a hobby more affordable (renting equipment, buying second-hand equipment, taking group lessons instead of private tutoring, participating in your hobby once a month instead of once a week, barter with instructors, making money from your hobby, etc.)
Finding a hobby or a passion is on some levels like finding a partner – sometimes there will be sacrifices and compromises involved, and sometimes you decide it's not worth the cost. But then you find something that brings a smile to your face, a bounce to your step, and more joy to your life, and you know: your investment in terms of time and money is repaid ten folds.
It has been an eventful year for sexual minorities in India. After successfully challenging in the Delhi High Court a Colonial-era law that criminalizes homosexuality, the community cleared another hurdle last month when the Central Government declined to take a stand on the issue and left it up to the Supreme Court (which is hearing a challenge to the high court ruling) to decide. Now the community is working toward social acceptance: they are joining in to observe traditional festivals until now the prerogative of heterosexual couples.
As we discussed in earlier posts, the ruling -- if it stands in the apex court -- will only have decriminalized homosexuality, not accepted such relationships. In fact, social acceptance is going to come slow, if at all. But the relaxed law has eased the coming-out process for many in the community.
On Wednesday, several Indians celebrated Karva Chauth, a dawn-to-moonrise fasting ritual traditionally observed by married Hindu women for the well-being, prosperity and longevity of their husbands. It is mostly observed with much fanfare in the northern and western states of India. Over the years, the ritual has ceased to be the domain of married women alone; living in a working women's hostel in India, I watched with much amusement as girls, all dolled up, walked to the balcony after sundown with their plates of offerings, waiting for the moon to rise, all in the honor of their boyfriends or fiances (a couple husbands included). Thanks to Bollywood movies, the tradition has been glamorized and immortalized over the years.
"After such a long time, we are enjoying a certain amount of freedom thanks to court's order. We are like any other couple and have normal feelings," said the "husband" on condition of anonymity.
The irony of it all is that the ritual itself has often been criticized for being symbolic of patriarchy: the fact that it's one-sided with only the women fasting for her husband's well-being has left many modern couples uncomfortable. To be fair, a lot has changed. Many women observe it voluntarily (there's a gift waiting for you at the end of the day, after all, besides all the shopping for clothes and jewelry!) and some husbands join in the fasting too. A bit of detoxification can't hurt. Other couples savor their tandoori chicken. A good part of the country doesn't observe it all. But the "good-wife-tradition" tag, family pressures to observe it, and accompanying festivities have remained, making it a popular festival. Thirtysix and Counting has never observed it:
[F]asting for the health and longevity and such like of the husband was acceptable only if he would consent to return the favour. Which of course, he would not. [...] But the practice is a beautiful one, symbolic as it is of a woman's ability to ensure for the wellbeing for her spouse and her family. I endure snoring through the night. [...] I endure unmentionable bodily sounds. I endure said spouse vegetating in front of the television for three days continuously during long weekends without insisting I be taken out and entertained. [...] When it comes to food and being fed I have zilch endurance. To keep my spirits up, and to end my self flagellation over not being a good wife, I decided to list out why I am a good wife.
1] I never say no. I never have a headache. I am never too tired.
When I mentioned to S that gays were reportedly observing the fast, he smiled: "One step forward two steps back".
I see where he's coming from, but I understand why observing such mainstream traditions are attractive to a group of people who have struggled for years to get social acceptance (It's another matter that I don't see or hear the voices of lesbians in the whole debate. Where are they?). It probably has little to do with patriarchy and more about celebrating something that we always associated with heterosexual couples. To quote a gay man who is observing Karva Chauth for his lover (Hindustan Times),
"Don't mistake me; my lover is no God and this fast is not for him." [...] "It's for us."
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