Thursday, July 29, 2004
Waist High Boxes
Apt. 11D is nearly boxed up. Just have my desk and few dirty dishes to go. The movers arrive at 8:00 am to relocate us to Piermont Ave next to the tracks.
Everybody is doing fine, though Ian nearly lost it when he saw his trains sealed tightly in a box. Steve's hernia is under control, but 112 lb. me has to be the muscles around here. I'm feeling very GI Jane.
Well, time to box up the iBook. Thanks to all for coming back to check on things during my absence. I'll be back next week to tell tales of getting interviewed by two major newspapers about blogging (and my incompetance at giving good soundbite), my new neighbors with Nascar flags waving proudly on their front porch (welcome Red America), and more BS that is my blog.
Apt. 11D is nearly boxed up. Just have my desk and few dirty dishes to go. The movers arrive at 8:00 am to relocate us to Piermont Ave next to the tracks.
Everybody is doing fine, though Ian nearly lost it when he saw his trains sealed tightly in a box. Steve's hernia is under control, but 112 lb. me has to be the muscles around here. I'm feeling very GI Jane.
Well, time to box up the iBook. Thanks to all for coming back to check on things during my absence. I'll be back next week to tell tales of getting interviewed by two major newspapers about blogging (and my incompetance at giving good soundbite), my new neighbors with Nascar flags waving proudly on their front porch (welcome Red America), and more BS that is my blog.
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Glee
I am interrupting my blogging break, because I am unable to contain myself. I have been skimming the blog posts at Convention Bloggers, and I am so juiced up.
I know that for others the participation of bloggers at the convention is all about old media v. new media. Blogs as a battering ram smashing the old decrepit system of print and TV media. Bloggers are exposing old media biases and providing a new, younger style of reporting. And leaping tall buildings in a single bound.
For more, read Patrick Belton and Dan Drezner.
What has gotten me to abandon boxing up my kitchen is the thrill of the bloggers witnessing and participating in this political ritual.
From Kicking Ass:
I hope you'll forgive the boundless enthusiasm of someone who grew up watching political conventions on television and is now finally attending his first one. This really is a dream come true for me, and when I stepped on the floor of the Fleet Center this afternoon and saw the setup, I was honestly giddy.
From Talkleft:
We're here! It's amazing. Beyond amazing. This may be the coolest thing we've done in years. We're running around like a maniac, so here's a brief recap....starting with the plane ride... So, a few minutes after we sat down in our seat, Colorado's Governor Owens boarded and sat a few rows behind us. (Yes, coach for both of us today.) What on earth is he doing attending the Democratic Convention? Well...of course we asked him.
Their joy is contagious. They are participating in politics, and their readers are vicariously sitting in the nosebleed section along with them. These posts reveal not objective, jaded observers, but enthusiastic actors. Makes me wish that I was there.
Blogs themselves might not be democratic, but blogs are good for democracy.
I am interrupting my blogging break, because I am unable to contain myself. I have been skimming the blog posts at Convention Bloggers, and I am so juiced up.
I know that for others the participation of bloggers at the convention is all about old media v. new media. Blogs as a battering ram smashing the old decrepit system of print and TV media. Bloggers are exposing old media biases and providing a new, younger style of reporting. And leaping tall buildings in a single bound.
For more, read Patrick Belton and Dan Drezner.
What has gotten me to abandon boxing up my kitchen is the thrill of the bloggers witnessing and participating in this political ritual.
From Kicking Ass:
I hope you'll forgive the boundless enthusiasm of someone who grew up watching political conventions on television and is now finally attending his first one. This really is a dream come true for me, and when I stepped on the floor of the Fleet Center this afternoon and saw the setup, I was honestly giddy.
From Talkleft:
We're here! It's amazing. Beyond amazing. This may be the coolest thing we've done in years. We're running around like a maniac, so here's a brief recap....starting with the plane ride... So, a few minutes after we sat down in our seat, Colorado's Governor Owens boarded and sat a few rows behind us. (Yes, coach for both of us today.) What on earth is he doing attending the Democratic Convention? Well...of course we asked him.
Their joy is contagious. They are participating in politics, and their readers are vicariously sitting in the nosebleed section along with them. These posts reveal not objective, jaded observers, but enthusiastic actors. Makes me wish that I was there.
Blogs themselves might not be democratic, but blogs are good for democracy.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Going, Going, Gone
Why am I being so sentimental
about moving? I have left other apartments without a tear. I guess it's
because we passed so many milestones here in our seven years in Apt. 11D.
Two dissertations and two kids happened here. There are pencil lines marking
the kids' growth on the back of door. We won't be able to pack up that into
a box to our new home.
I would like to write more. But truthfully the sh*t is really hitting
the fan here. Steve, who's timing couldn't be better, suddenly got a hernia
that is going to need immediate surgery. Chase bank is not clearly an important
check fast enough. Sensing all the stress, the kids are acting out by suddenly
crying and spazzing out. Both of our work commitments suddenly got a bit
more crazy. There are last minute attempts to sell an old fish tank and
illegal washing machine. There's no time to be sentimental anymore.
I'll be back in two or three weeks with a link to a new blog and a clearer head. See you then. Take care.
Why am I being so sentimental
about moving? I have left other apartments without a tear. I guess it's
because we passed so many milestones here in our seven years in Apt. 11D.
Two dissertations and two kids happened here. There are pencil lines marking
the kids' growth on the back of door. We won't be able to pack up that into
a box to our new home.
I would like to write more. But truthfully the sh*t is really hitting
the fan here. Steve, who's timing couldn't be better, suddenly got a hernia
that is going to need immediate surgery. Chase bank is not clearly an important
check fast enough. Sensing all the stress, the kids are acting out by suddenly
crying and spazzing out. Both of our work commitments suddenly got a bit
more crazy. There are last minute attempts to sell an old fish tank and
illegal washing machine. There's no time to be sentimental anymore.
I'll be back in two or three weeks with a link to a new blog and a clearer head. See you then. Take care.
From an article in St. Paul's Pioneer Press:
Clancy Ratliff, a student of rhetoric and feminist studies, is studying the Web logs of mothers for her doctoral dissertation at the University of Minnesota. Ratliff said she got to thinking about how Web logs that discuss the Iraq war and the upcoming U.S. presidential election — often written by men — get as many as tens of thousands hits a day, but that the Internet audience is not as wide for the women who write online about politics in a more personal, everyday-life kind of way, such as parental leave policies of corporations.
"People may think, 'Oh, this is just someone's blog about changing a diaper,' but these are women who are using blogs to have a voice in the public sphere, to get their opinions out there," Ratliff says. "It's a pretty powerful thing for a lot of women."
In a way, these blogs are documenting everyday history: "These people are talking about the daily work of motherhood," Ratliff says.
And I got a plug, too.
Clancy Ratliff, a student of rhetoric and feminist studies, is studying the Web logs of mothers for her doctoral dissertation at the University of Minnesota. Ratliff said she got to thinking about how Web logs that discuss the Iraq war and the upcoming U.S. presidential election — often written by men — get as many as tens of thousands hits a day, but that the Internet audience is not as wide for the women who write online about politics in a more personal, everyday-life kind of way, such as parental leave policies of corporations.
"People may think, 'Oh, this is just someone's blog about changing a diaper,' but these are women who are using blogs to have a voice in the public sphere, to get their opinions out there," Ratliff says. "It's a pretty powerful thing for a lot of women."
In a way, these blogs are documenting everyday history: "These people are talking about the daily work of motherhood," Ratliff says.
And I got a plug, too.
Ammunition
In academic circles, few admit to a personal life. Academics like to brag about how much they read over a weekend, rather how much they chilled out. They feel more comfortable talking shop than discussing the weather. For the really hardcore, it's almost taboo to have a life outside of the university. I worked for one university for a year, and no one asked me the names of my kids.
That's why it is going to be so much fun to go to APSA this year. Thanks to blogging, I know some about my colleagues' personal lives and views on topics that have nothing to do with political science. And, yes, they will have to take some shit for it. Just giving you warning, Chris, the thing you have for Avril "Sk8ter Boi" Lavigne will not go without comment.
In academic circles, few admit to a personal life. Academics like to brag about how much they read over a weekend, rather how much they chilled out. They feel more comfortable talking shop than discussing the weather. For the really hardcore, it's almost taboo to have a life outside of the university. I worked for one university for a year, and no one asked me the names of my kids.
That's why it is going to be so much fun to go to APSA this year. Thanks to blogging, I know some about my colleagues' personal lives and views on topics that have nothing to do with political science. And, yes, they will have to take some shit for it. Just giving you warning, Chris, the thing you have for Avril "Sk8ter Boi" Lavigne will not go without comment.
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
I just can't stop it. The corn keeps on coming...
I like checking things off lists. There are the small day to day lists: food shopping, dry cleaning pick up, finish that book. And then there is The List that only contains two or three big goals.
A few years ago, the top item on the uber-list was finishing the dissertations. When we were about 3/4rds through with our opuses, it became clear that the academic market was so tight that we would be highly unlikely to find jobs in the same city and might not even find employment at all. (Gee, it took you that long to figure that out?) We considered stopping right there. Walking away before the defense and saving months of time and money. But we finished and were able to cross the dissertations off the list. I think we made the right decision to finish. Life is so much better now that the dissertation is finished. Three years later, I'm still happy to be done.
After I finished, there was a short period of disorientation. What should I be thinking about? What should I be doing?
One of our major goal for this year was to find a new place to live. About a year ago, it became clear that raising a family in four floor walk up sucked. (Yes, we're slow.) But finding a place to live during this housing bubble was far from easy. I rambled on and on about our housing adventures: here, here, here, here, here, and here.
In two days, adequate shelter will be crossed off the uber-list. Sure we'll have to pull up carpets, steam off wallpaper, and paint the ugly walls, but those items don't belong on the uber-list. I need a new big goal.
Striving for goals is what makes life interesting. Achieving them is what makes life sweet. It provides a narrative for one's life.
Now that my kids will be tucked away safely in the second floor bedroom and I won't have to deal with the drudgery of being an urban parent, I'm freed up to concentrate on the next big plan. I just don't know what it is going to be yet.
I like checking things off lists. There are the small day to day lists: food shopping, dry cleaning pick up, finish that book. And then there is The List that only contains two or three big goals.
A few years ago, the top item on the uber-list was finishing the dissertations. When we were about 3/4rds through with our opuses, it became clear that the academic market was so tight that we would be highly unlikely to find jobs in the same city and might not even find employment at all. (Gee, it took you that long to figure that out?) We considered stopping right there. Walking away before the defense and saving months of time and money. But we finished and were able to cross the dissertations off the list. I think we made the right decision to finish. Life is so much better now that the dissertation is finished. Three years later, I'm still happy to be done.
After I finished, there was a short period of disorientation. What should I be thinking about? What should I be doing?
One of our major goal for this year was to find a new place to live. About a year ago, it became clear that raising a family in four floor walk up sucked. (Yes, we're slow.) But finding a place to live during this housing bubble was far from easy. I rambled on and on about our housing adventures: here, here, here, here, here, and here.
In two days, adequate shelter will be crossed off the uber-list. Sure we'll have to pull up carpets, steam off wallpaper, and paint the ugly walls, but those items don't belong on the uber-list. I need a new big goal.
Striving for goals is what makes life interesting. Achieving them is what makes life sweet. It provides a narrative for one's life.
Now that my kids will be tucked away safely in the second floor bedroom and I won't have to deal with the drudgery of being an urban parent, I'm freed up to concentrate on the next big plan. I just don't know what it is going to be yet.
Monday, July 12, 2004
Linky-Links
Allison's baby is here.
Maureen Ryan from the Chicago Trib is taking over for Eric Zorn this week. She also had an interesting article on how Blogads are paying serious cash to the bigger political bloggers. I'm selling out, baby!
Want to know why there's not a proper post tonight? Because of these two huge time wasters. Thanks to Dan Drezner and Ampersand for rotting my brain.
An exerpt from the Hostess Diaries in the Times:
Other times, we are less subtle about urging customers to leave. On a cold night around Halloween, Monica Lewinsky and a friend are deep in conversation downstairs when Liza approaches them. "Hi, I hate to bother you," she says.
I can see Monica look up and break into a pretty smile — her face is pale, if overly made-up, like someone who has come from a television appearance. She seems to think Liza wants an autograph. But the waitress tells her she might want to leave the restaurant.
The big smile fades. Liza explains: Chelsea Clinton and her boyfriend, Ian Klaus, are upstairs having a drink.
"Oh my God!" Monica says loud enough to hear halfway across the room. "Why won't these people leave me alone?" she whines, and stands straight up.
The woman she is with asks: "What's going on? What happened?"
"Chelsea Clinton is here," Monica says. "We've got to leave through the back." Her friend's eyes widen...
We watch to see that she steps off the property and then dash back in and upstairs to the bar, where we break into laughter and jump around holding each other. I have no idea why we are so excited.
The next morning, The Daily News reports that Chelsea Clinton and Ian Klaus haven't been out together in weeks, and suggests they have broken up.
Allison's baby is here.
Maureen Ryan from the Chicago Trib is taking over for Eric Zorn this week. She also had an interesting article on how Blogads are paying serious cash to the bigger political bloggers. I'm selling out, baby!
Want to know why there's not a proper post tonight? Because of these two huge time wasters. Thanks to Dan Drezner and Ampersand for rotting my brain.
An exerpt from the Hostess Diaries in the Times:
Other times, we are less subtle about urging customers to leave. On a cold night around Halloween, Monica Lewinsky and a friend are deep in conversation downstairs when Liza approaches them. "Hi, I hate to bother you," she says.
I can see Monica look up and break into a pretty smile — her face is pale, if overly made-up, like someone who has come from a television appearance. She seems to think Liza wants an autograph. But the waitress tells her she might want to leave the restaurant.
The big smile fades. Liza explains: Chelsea Clinton and her boyfriend, Ian Klaus, are upstairs having a drink.
"Oh my God!" Monica says loud enough to hear halfway across the room. "Why won't these people leave me alone?" she whines, and stands straight up.
The woman she is with asks: "What's going on? What happened?"
"Chelsea Clinton is here," Monica says. "We've got to leave through the back." Her friend's eyes widen...
We watch to see that she steps off the property and then dash back in and upstairs to the bar, where we break into laughter and jump around holding each other. I have no idea why we are so excited.
The next morning, The Daily News reports that Chelsea Clinton and Ian Klaus haven't been out together in weeks, and suggests they have broken up.
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Ithaka
On Saturday, in between packing boxes, Steve, the kids, and I walked about the neighborhood doing chores and entertaining the kids. As we went about our business of getting a change of address form from the post office, taking old boxes from behind other apartments, and having coffee in the cafe, each event was in sharp focus. We knew that this was the last time we would be there.
Some places, like the post office, we won't miss. Good riddance to the post office with its long lines and surly workers. Good riddance to the parking lot so far away. Good riddance to the crackhead who lives in the garbage tunnel, because our super outsources work to him. $5 to shovel the snow. Other people and places will never be replaced.
After an hour walk to the post office, we stopped by Kappy's for a video. Kappy is an eccentric fellow. He rents videos, ships packages, and is also a notary public. His video collect is mammoth and obsessively organized not by genre, but by actor and director. Kurosawa has his own shelf. Tom Cruise does too, and it is still located above a Nicole Kidman shelf. We rented Cold Mountain and Finding Nemo. In the suburbs, there will be no Kappy, just a Blockbuster with 10 copies of Kindergarten Cop.
Cold Mountain was good, though it pales to the book. The movie at least stayed true to the major theme of the book -- a man destroyed by war striving to come home. Of course, this theme wasn't dreamed up by Fraiser, but by Homer 2,500 years ago. And Homer probably got it from someone else. It's an eternal theme that the glory of war is illusionary and the only thing that matters is love and home. All war is Abu Ghraib. What matters most is family and tilling the fields. Beating those shields into plows.
A friend recently sent me this quote from Orwell, "The fact to which we have got to cling, as to a life-belt, is that it is possible to be a normal decent person and yet to be fully alive."
Today, we packed a bit. Jonah made a fort out of empty boxes. Then we stopped into the Cloisters, so that I could take pictures of their gardens. We'll be tilling our own fields soon.
Five years old is such a great age. Two years is good, too, but not for going to museums. Five years old is great for that. I showed Jonah the Unicorn tapestries and told him the story of how the mean hunters tricked and trapped it. I showed him the unicorn using his magic horn to purify the water. I left out the Jesus analogies, and its thing for virgins. Jonah, always the softy, was very upset about the hunters. Why are they hurting the unicorn? But why? Why? Then he said that he and his friends would protect the unicorn with big sticks. We let Ian run around the garden paths for a while, and then left to get a pizza.
We're leaving one Ithaka for another this week. (Is that possible?) I'm sure that the remaining three posts this week will be filled with more corn like this.
On Saturday, in between packing boxes, Steve, the kids, and I walked about the neighborhood doing chores and entertaining the kids. As we went about our business of getting a change of address form from the post office, taking old boxes from behind other apartments, and having coffee in the cafe, each event was in sharp focus. We knew that this was the last time we would be there.
Some places, like the post office, we won't miss. Good riddance to the post office with its long lines and surly workers. Good riddance to the parking lot so far away. Good riddance to the crackhead who lives in the garbage tunnel, because our super outsources work to him. $5 to shovel the snow. Other people and places will never be replaced.
After an hour walk to the post office, we stopped by Kappy's for a video. Kappy is an eccentric fellow. He rents videos, ships packages, and is also a notary public. His video collect is mammoth and obsessively organized not by genre, but by actor and director. Kurosawa has his own shelf. Tom Cruise does too, and it is still located above a Nicole Kidman shelf. We rented Cold Mountain and Finding Nemo. In the suburbs, there will be no Kappy, just a Blockbuster with 10 copies of Kindergarten Cop.
Cold Mountain was good, though it pales to the book. The movie at least stayed true to the major theme of the book -- a man destroyed by war striving to come home. Of course, this theme wasn't dreamed up by Fraiser, but by Homer 2,500 years ago. And Homer probably got it from someone else. It's an eternal theme that the glory of war is illusionary and the only thing that matters is love and home. All war is Abu Ghraib. What matters most is family and tilling the fields. Beating those shields into plows.
A friend recently sent me this quote from Orwell, "The fact to which we have got to cling, as to a life-belt, is that it is possible to be a normal decent person and yet to be fully alive."
Today, we packed a bit. Jonah made a fort out of empty boxes. Then we stopped into the Cloisters, so that I could take pictures of their gardens. We'll be tilling our own fields soon.
Five years old is such a great age. Two years is good, too, but not for going to museums. Five years old is great for that. I showed Jonah the Unicorn tapestries and told him the story of how the mean hunters tricked and trapped it. I showed him the unicorn using his magic horn to purify the water. I left out the Jesus analogies, and its thing for virgins. Jonah, always the softy, was very upset about the hunters. Why are they hurting the unicorn? But why? Why? Then he said that he and his friends would protect the unicorn with big sticks. We let Ian run around the garden paths for a while, and then left to get a pizza.
We're leaving one Ithaka for another this week. (Is that possible?) I'm sure that the remaining three posts this week will be filled with more corn like this.
Friday, July 09, 2004
Winding Down and Gearing Up
Next Wednesday is Bastille Day, my one year blog anniversary and the last day of blogging for a while. We're closing on our new house on Thursday. The bottle of champagne is already chilling in the refridgerator. The plan is to camp out that night in sleeping bags on the living room floor. Then we'll have two weeks to transfer our lives from city to 'burb, though I suspect it will take much longer to get used to the new way of life.
With all that has to be done, blogging just ain't happening.
The big blog plan is to upgrade to one of the those fancy-shmancy typepad blogs. Maybe the blog will have a new name. (My mom thinks it should be called Miss Snippy.) Maybe it will have comments. The content will probably remain a mix of politics and personal, since that makes me happy.
Any input?
Next Wednesday is Bastille Day, my one year blog anniversary and the last day of blogging for a while. We're closing on our new house on Thursday. The bottle of champagne is already chilling in the refridgerator. The plan is to camp out that night in sleeping bags on the living room floor. Then we'll have two weeks to transfer our lives from city to 'burb, though I suspect it will take much longer to get used to the new way of life.
With all that has to be done, blogging just ain't happening.
The big blog plan is to upgrade to one of the those fancy-shmancy typepad blogs. Maybe the blog will have a new name. (My mom thinks it should be called Miss Snippy.) Maybe it will have comments. The content will probably remain a mix of politics and personal, since that makes me happy.
Any input?
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Errata Sheet for My Life
I make errors. All the time in fact.
My latest error is that I didn't sign my five year old boy up for camp this summer. Since we're moving half way through the summer, it didn't make sense to enroll him in a pricey city program for a few weeks, and I missed all the deadlines for programs in our new town. This means I have a bored kid on my hands all day. Unlike his two year old brother, he needs more than trains and get togethers at the playground to keep him occupied. Today, we went to my mom's to let him blow off some energy in the backyard. But after a while, he was so bored with his brother and the oldies, that he began hammering a plastic bat into a defenseless frisbee. This is why revolutions are often triggered by a surplus of bored teenage boys. Energy needs to be channeled. I'm going to have scrounge up some soccer classes for him pronto.
Another error occured today. I've been secretly culling the boys' unwanted toys from their stash in an attempt to lessen our load for the move. I stopped by Good Will on the way to my mom's and left the boxes of broken trains and soiled teddies outside their dropoff door. Jonah saw it.
What are you doing, Mom. Why are you leaving my toys there?
It's for the poor kids who don't have any toys.
Loud wails from the backseat forced me to make a sharp U-turn and put all those boxes back in the trunk of the car. Apparently small children have no feelings of civic duty when their toys are involved. Just thought I would share my mistakes with all the other parents out there.
I make errors. All the time in fact.
My latest error is that I didn't sign my five year old boy up for camp this summer. Since we're moving half way through the summer, it didn't make sense to enroll him in a pricey city program for a few weeks, and I missed all the deadlines for programs in our new town. This means I have a bored kid on my hands all day. Unlike his two year old brother, he needs more than trains and get togethers at the playground to keep him occupied. Today, we went to my mom's to let him blow off some energy in the backyard. But after a while, he was so bored with his brother and the oldies, that he began hammering a plastic bat into a defenseless frisbee. This is why revolutions are often triggered by a surplus of bored teenage boys. Energy needs to be channeled. I'm going to have scrounge up some soccer classes for him pronto.
Another error occured today. I've been secretly culling the boys' unwanted toys from their stash in an attempt to lessen our load for the move. I stopped by Good Will on the way to my mom's and left the boxes of broken trains and soiled teddies outside their dropoff door. Jonah saw it.
What are you doing, Mom. Why are you leaving my toys there?
It's for the poor kids who don't have any toys.
Loud wails from the backseat forced me to make a sharp U-turn and put all those boxes back in the trunk of the car. Apparently small children have no feelings of civic duty when their toys are involved. Just thought I would share my mistakes with all the other parents out there.
Comments on Comments
Eszter at Crooked Timber has some interesting thoughts on comments. She's in the pro-comment camp. She's not sure if a blog can even be considered a blog without comments. Comments are a way that someone can respond to post without having a blog themselves. She points out the value of the great comments at CT. She says that blogs that have comments are more democratic than others.
Well, I think a blog is blog with or without comments. Even with comments, each blog isn't its own democracy. The commenters are not on equal footing with the blogger. The blogger sets the agenda by writing a post and can even delete the entry of a troll. And often the comments aren't read at all. Maybe we could liken each blog to a representative democracy, with the blogger serving as the elected official. Billmon recently described his blog as a cozy neighborhood pub, and he was the bartender serving out drinks or topics of conversation.
But it doesn't matter. A blog doesn't have to be a democracy. Not everything has to work that way. In fact, direct democracies in real life are impossible to maintain. Read Madison in the Federalist Papers. The problems with comments that Dan enumerated are the same problems that occur in any large democracy. Just as direct democracies only work in small spaces, comments only seem to work on smaller blogs. Fascinating.
I do think that comments can serve an important function of allowing people to respond to statements made against them. It can serve on a check on outrageous allegations. Especially when you don't have a blog of your own.
I also like comments for the same reason that I like blogs. It is another way for average people to participate in politics. A blog without comments allows one person to speak his/her mind, which is great. A blog with comments is a mechanism for hundreds. I don't really care what they have to say. Liberal or conservative or whatever. I just like that people are talking and debating issues. Participation makes democracy stronger.
I never set up comments here at Apt. 11D, because this started off mainly as a personal blog. What could someone say about my story at the playground other than "awww?" But my blog has grown more political in recent months, and I have gotten a ton of e-mail. Sometimes more than I can respond to.
To help ease the flow of e-mail and because I'm persuaded by Ezster's post, I almost certain to add comments to the new blog (more on this tomorrow).
Eszter at Crooked Timber has some interesting thoughts on comments. She's in the pro-comment camp. She's not sure if a blog can even be considered a blog without comments. Comments are a way that someone can respond to post without having a blog themselves. She points out the value of the great comments at CT. She says that blogs that have comments are more democratic than others.
Well, I think a blog is blog with or without comments. Even with comments, each blog isn't its own democracy. The commenters are not on equal footing with the blogger. The blogger sets the agenda by writing a post and can even delete the entry of a troll. And often the comments aren't read at all. Maybe we could liken each blog to a representative democracy, with the blogger serving as the elected official. Billmon recently described his blog as a cozy neighborhood pub, and he was the bartender serving out drinks or topics of conversation.
But it doesn't matter. A blog doesn't have to be a democracy. Not everything has to work that way. In fact, direct democracies in real life are impossible to maintain. Read Madison in the Federalist Papers. The problems with comments that Dan enumerated are the same problems that occur in any large democracy. Just as direct democracies only work in small spaces, comments only seem to work on smaller blogs. Fascinating.
I do think that comments can serve an important function of allowing people to respond to statements made against them. It can serve on a check on outrageous allegations. Especially when you don't have a blog of your own.
I also like comments for the same reason that I like blogs. It is another way for average people to participate in politics. A blog without comments allows one person to speak his/her mind, which is great. A blog with comments is a mechanism for hundreds. I don't really care what they have to say. Liberal or conservative or whatever. I just like that people are talking and debating issues. Participation makes democracy stronger.
I never set up comments here at Apt. 11D, because this started off mainly as a personal blog. What could someone say about my story at the playground other than "awww?" But my blog has grown more political in recent months, and I have gotten a ton of e-mail. Sometimes more than I can respond to.
To help ease the flow of e-mail and because I'm persuaded by Ezster's post, I almost certain to add comments to the new blog (more on this tomorrow).
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Parenthood and Poverty
Just a quick post tonight, because I'm busy commenting at Crooked Timber.
What has bothered some about the Alstott book is that her proposal of a $5,000 grant to care givers is not mean tested. Madonna would get the same $10,000 for Rocco and Loudes, as a mother of two in Cabrini Green. (Is that hell-hole still around?)
Alstott says that a means tested program would be difficult to administer and would be politically unpopular. Also, even wealthy mothers economic situation can be reversed if their cheating husband gets a good lawyer. So, just give the money to everybody. It will have a bigger impact on the lives of the poor anyway.
Given the fact that we have few resources, I think it would be better to not give Madonna a payout. She's just going to spend it on more Kabala lessons.
But let's not lose sight of the fact that economic and social inequality is tied very closely to having children. The poor are overwhelmingly single mothers. And even middle class mothers face enormous discrimination and obstacles in the workplace.
My husband works for a big Wall Street company where everbody sits on long desks. On one side of him, is one woman, M. M is married and childless. Between her and husband, they pull in about $300,000. M shops for SUVs on line, flies to Norway for weekends, and lives in a posh apartment over looking Central Park. The woman on his other side, P, is the office secretary. She's a single mother of a 7 year old girl. She has had to move two or three times in the past year, looking for affordable housing near good public schools. She is always exhausted because she has to commute an hour to her affordable apartment, pick up her daughter from school, make dinner, and help her with homework. She'll never have the time to get an MBA or a law degree to secure a higher salary. She's probably not getting any support from her former husband.
Parenthood is enormously expensive and is at the root of most social inequality today. If you are at all concerned with these issues, then finding a way to lessen the gap between M and P is essential. In this context, Alstott's $5,000 grant seems very small indeed.
UPDATE: Chick tells me that Cabrini Green still exists and points me to this article.
Just a quick post tonight, because I'm busy commenting at Crooked Timber.
What has bothered some about the Alstott book is that her proposal of a $5,000 grant to care givers is not mean tested. Madonna would get the same $10,000 for Rocco and Loudes, as a mother of two in Cabrini Green. (Is that hell-hole still around?)
Alstott says that a means tested program would be difficult to administer and would be politically unpopular. Also, even wealthy mothers economic situation can be reversed if their cheating husband gets a good lawyer. So, just give the money to everybody. It will have a bigger impact on the lives of the poor anyway.
Given the fact that we have few resources, I think it would be better to not give Madonna a payout. She's just going to spend it on more Kabala lessons.
But let's not lose sight of the fact that economic and social inequality is tied very closely to having children. The poor are overwhelmingly single mothers. And even middle class mothers face enormous discrimination and obstacles in the workplace.
My husband works for a big Wall Street company where everbody sits on long desks. On one side of him, is one woman, M. M is married and childless. Between her and husband, they pull in about $300,000. M shops for SUVs on line, flies to Norway for weekends, and lives in a posh apartment over looking Central Park. The woman on his other side, P, is the office secretary. She's a single mother of a 7 year old girl. She has had to move two or three times in the past year, looking for affordable housing near good public schools. She is always exhausted because she has to commute an hour to her affordable apartment, pick up her daughter from school, make dinner, and help her with homework. She'll never have the time to get an MBA or a law degree to secure a higher salary. She's probably not getting any support from her former husband.
Parenthood is enormously expensive and is at the root of most social inequality today. If you are at all concerned with these issues, then finding a way to lessen the gap between M and P is essential. In this context, Alstott's $5,000 grant seems very small indeed.
UPDATE: Chick tells me that Cabrini Green still exists and points me to this article.
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Blog Conversations
I just posted a book review of Anne Alstott's new book, No Exit. Meanwhile, Harry at Crooked Timber has posted his own review of it. Go there for the discussion. Blog book club!
- UPDATE: Brayden King writes, I’m not sure though that many Americans would respond well to a proposal that would pay parents for caregiving, even if the “allowance” was intended to improve the human capital of the caregiver. Americans seem extremely uncomfortable with the idea of offering incentives to have children, particularly if those incentives are decoupled from earned wages. All you have to do is look at the scare created by the fictitious “welfare queens” to see how deeply embedded in our culture is resistance to the commodification of children.
More talk about the politics of blogs.
- Blogging and the new citizenship by Tim Dunlop.
- I've gotten several e-mails telling me that usenet sucked. Here's a post by PZ Myers who explains why.
More talk about the civility of blogs.
- Great post by Dan Drezner who offers perspective and a ton of good links. I was especially interested in his comments about comments, because I'm going to start a new blog very soon.
- One of the commenters at Dan made this interesting point about blog comments: Blogs can't enable true two-way communication. They're broadcast mechanisms, with an owner whose primary interest is getting his own view out, not soliciting other views. Comments are a reassurance to the beginning blogger as evidence that someone's reading. Once you're important enough that comments are a hassle, it's time to stop pretending you care what others think. Commenters are the mini-mes of the blog world. Commenters might not have a two way conversation going with the blog author, but the good ones certainly add much to a blog (as CalGal demonstrates).
- [I should just shut my trap, but I can't help myself.] People often say, It's a free country. I can say whatever I like. Well, there are a lot of things that we're not allowed to say in this country. We can't cry fire in a crowded theater. We can't use racial slurs in a public school. Newspapers can't write slanderous articles. So, in the real world there are many checks on speech, because in certain circumstances, words have the force of an action. Anyhow, I'm not saying that there should be any checks on blog talk, but we should recognize that speech has consequences. And a little self-regulation isn't a bad thing.
I just posted a book review of Anne Alstott's new book, No Exit. Meanwhile, Harry at Crooked Timber has posted his own review of it. Go there for the discussion. Blog book club!
- UPDATE: Brayden King writes, I’m not sure though that many Americans would respond well to a proposal that would pay parents for caregiving, even if the “allowance” was intended to improve the human capital of the caregiver. Americans seem extremely uncomfortable with the idea of offering incentives to have children, particularly if those incentives are decoupled from earned wages. All you have to do is look at the scare created by the fictitious “welfare queens” to see how deeply embedded in our culture is resistance to the commodification of children.
More talk about the politics of blogs.
- Blogging and the new citizenship by Tim Dunlop.
- I've gotten several e-mails telling me that usenet sucked. Here's a post by PZ Myers who explains why.
More talk about the civility of blogs.
- Great post by Dan Drezner who offers perspective and a ton of good links. I was especially interested in his comments about comments, because I'm going to start a new blog very soon.
- One of the commenters at Dan made this interesting point about blog comments: Blogs can't enable true two-way communication. They're broadcast mechanisms, with an owner whose primary interest is getting his own view out, not soliciting other views. Comments are a reassurance to the beginning blogger as evidence that someone's reading. Once you're important enough that comments are a hassle, it's time to stop pretending you care what others think. Commenters are the mini-mes of the blog world. Commenters might not have a two way conversation going with the blog author, but the good ones certainly add much to a blog (as CalGal demonstrates).
- [I should just shut my trap, but I can't help myself.] People often say, It's a free country. I can say whatever I like. Well, there are a lot of things that we're not allowed to say in this country. We can't cry fire in a crowded theater. We can't use racial slurs in a public school. Newspapers can't write slanderous articles. So, in the real world there are many checks on speech, because in certain circumstances, words have the force of an action. Anyhow, I'm not saying that there should be any checks on blog talk, but we should recognize that speech has consequences. And a little self-regulation isn't a bad thing.
Book Review: No Exit
In No Exit: What Parents Owe Their Children and What Society Owes Parents, Anne Alstott tackles the hot topic of parental politics. No Exit is a good follow up for Ann Crittenden’s book, The Price of Motherhood . Crittenden excels at describing the many disadvantages that parents face, and Alstott attempts to find a policy solution. This policy solution is only fair, according to Alstott. Because society demands much of parents, parents are entitled to some support from society.
If you like your writing about parenthood to encompass all the emotion and conflict that surrounds this topic, then Alstott is not your author. Unlike Caitlin Flanagan who tackles this same subject, Alstott writes without the benefit of adjectives, anecdotes, or examples. The wrenching decisions that most women make about career and family are absent from this book. No Exit is written like a lawyer’s brief.
The first part of Alstott’s book is devoted to explaining why society should care for its parents. She says that society expects parents to care for their kids in an intensive manner for 18 years. They must provide a “continuity of care” and can’t abandon their responsibilities for even a day. Without this care, a child grows into a troubled, damaged adult with few options and little opportunity for personal contentment. And society penalizes and even jails parents who fail to provide this care.
As a result, parents have to make enormous sacrifices and severely curtail their own individual freedoms. But there is little reward for these sacrifices. Children no longer help out in the family farm. And there is no assurance that kids will provide for you in retirement.
Alstott recognizes that the biggest obstacle that parents face is the resistance by the childless to provide social policy or make work accommodations for those with families. Her argument is designed to meet the challenges of the childless.
Her rationale for why society must provide for parents is heavily based on the theories of John Rawls. Rawls just isn’t my cup of tea, so I won’t critique her rationale here. I’ll leave that to Harry at Crooked Timber, the Rawls expert.
After she has set up her reason for creating a support net for parents, she moves on to her policy proposal. She says that every caretaker (be it the mom or the dad), should be entitled to a yearly grant of $5,000 that can be spent in one of three ways: on childcare, on education for the parent, or a retirement fund for that parent. That money cannot be used to pay the rent or the child’s education or the groceries. In different years, the money can be used in different ways. There is no income cap for benefits.
Alstott correctly identifies some major problems that face parents, who are usually women. Parents who take time off from work face a heavy penalty in terms of lost wages and lost promotion opportunities. Mothers make substantially less than their single counterparts. Women are frequently left impoverished by divorce, especially those who take off time to raise the kids and support their spouse’s careers. Child-rearing is an expensive proposition with little financial reward. Caretakers have little money for retirement, especially after divorce. Childcare expenses can exceed salaries. Parents of children with disabilities must make especially high sacrifices.
Her plan attempts to lessen these inequities. It specifically helps those who work full time, but for relatively low wage jobs. It helps those who need a degree in nursing or engineering to improve their wages in the long term. It helps women, who need some security from a cheating husband with a good lawyer, by providing them with a retirement fund.
Her plan would not help the SAHM in lower to mid income range. There are many families can’t buy a house or maybe pay for groceries, because one income is no longer enough. They make enormous sacrifices because they don’t believe that childcare is good enough. A retirement plan is nice, but groceries are even better for those in that situation. Alstott is not sympathetic to families in this boat.
Her plan doesn’t help create more part time jobs. It doesn’t change the anti-family attitude at the workplace. It doesn’t help all the women, with or without an education, who can’t get jobs later in life.
It wouldn’t help me. Childcare funds wouldn’t hurt, but childcare in the city far exceeds $5000 per child. God knows I don’t need any more education. A retirement fund is nice, but I need some changes right now. I would like academia to offer more part-time positions; adjuncting doesn’t count. I would like to scale up my work responsibilities as the children grow older. I don’t want to have to pretend that I don’t have family responsibilities, that I am just as unencumbered as my single co-workers.
Alstott quickly dismisses the workplace changing or the interest of husbands in participating in a more equitable distribution of family responsibilities. Surprisingly for a law professor, she doesn’t even recommend altering divorce law.
For any real change to occur in society, there has to be an across the board shift in attitudes towards family. Instead of just pushing more women into workplace, which her plan would accomplish, there needs to be an appreciation of caring work. An advertising agency recently broke down the different types of moms, those that lunch and exercise, those that work and hate themselves, those that dress up their kids. Each characterization was derogatory, and was ridiculed by a mothers rights organization. Nobody will fork over $100 billion per year on Alstott’s program, while such attitudes exist. Perhaps it will take some generational disaster, like the one predicted by Philip Longman, to bring about this revolution.
Simply handing over our children to childcare professionals and carrying on with highly demanding jobs, I don’t believe will improve the lives of parents or children.
Alstott starts off her book explaining that her second child has severe asthma. So severe that she and her husband had to reduce their responsibilities at work to care for their son. She and her husband worked in a workplace that was flexible enough to allow them to scale back. Her husband did his share. This is the solution: having husbands that contribute and workplaces that adjust. I’m not sure why Alstott didn’t advocate that all workplaces operate in the same manner or have confidence that other men would make such sacrifices. This would be a less costly, more humane solution to the work/family dilemna.
In No Exit: What Parents Owe Their Children and What Society Owes Parents, Anne Alstott tackles the hot topic of parental politics. No Exit is a good follow up for Ann Crittenden’s book, The Price of Motherhood . Crittenden excels at describing the many disadvantages that parents face, and Alstott attempts to find a policy solution. This policy solution is only fair, according to Alstott. Because society demands much of parents, parents are entitled to some support from society.
If you like your writing about parenthood to encompass all the emotion and conflict that surrounds this topic, then Alstott is not your author. Unlike Caitlin Flanagan who tackles this same subject, Alstott writes without the benefit of adjectives, anecdotes, or examples. The wrenching decisions that most women make about career and family are absent from this book. No Exit is written like a lawyer’s brief.
The first part of Alstott’s book is devoted to explaining why society should care for its parents. She says that society expects parents to care for their kids in an intensive manner for 18 years. They must provide a “continuity of care” and can’t abandon their responsibilities for even a day. Without this care, a child grows into a troubled, damaged adult with few options and little opportunity for personal contentment. And society penalizes and even jails parents who fail to provide this care.
As a result, parents have to make enormous sacrifices and severely curtail their own individual freedoms. But there is little reward for these sacrifices. Children no longer help out in the family farm. And there is no assurance that kids will provide for you in retirement.
Alstott recognizes that the biggest obstacle that parents face is the resistance by the childless to provide social policy or make work accommodations for those with families. Her argument is designed to meet the challenges of the childless.
Her rationale for why society must provide for parents is heavily based on the theories of John Rawls. Rawls just isn’t my cup of tea, so I won’t critique her rationale here. I’ll leave that to Harry at Crooked Timber, the Rawls expert.
After she has set up her reason for creating a support net for parents, she moves on to her policy proposal. She says that every caretaker (be it the mom or the dad), should be entitled to a yearly grant of $5,000 that can be spent in one of three ways: on childcare, on education for the parent, or a retirement fund for that parent. That money cannot be used to pay the rent or the child’s education or the groceries. In different years, the money can be used in different ways. There is no income cap for benefits.
Alstott correctly identifies some major problems that face parents, who are usually women. Parents who take time off from work face a heavy penalty in terms of lost wages and lost promotion opportunities. Mothers make substantially less than their single counterparts. Women are frequently left impoverished by divorce, especially those who take off time to raise the kids and support their spouse’s careers. Child-rearing is an expensive proposition with little financial reward. Caretakers have little money for retirement, especially after divorce. Childcare expenses can exceed salaries. Parents of children with disabilities must make especially high sacrifices.
Her plan attempts to lessen these inequities. It specifically helps those who work full time, but for relatively low wage jobs. It helps those who need a degree in nursing or engineering to improve their wages in the long term. It helps women, who need some security from a cheating husband with a good lawyer, by providing them with a retirement fund.
Her plan would not help the SAHM in lower to mid income range. There are many families can’t buy a house or maybe pay for groceries, because one income is no longer enough. They make enormous sacrifices because they don’t believe that childcare is good enough. A retirement plan is nice, but groceries are even better for those in that situation. Alstott is not sympathetic to families in this boat.
Her plan doesn’t help create more part time jobs. It doesn’t change the anti-family attitude at the workplace. It doesn’t help all the women, with or without an education, who can’t get jobs later in life.
It wouldn’t help me. Childcare funds wouldn’t hurt, but childcare in the city far exceeds $5000 per child. God knows I don’t need any more education. A retirement fund is nice, but I need some changes right now. I would like academia to offer more part-time positions; adjuncting doesn’t count. I would like to scale up my work responsibilities as the children grow older. I don’t want to have to pretend that I don’t have family responsibilities, that I am just as unencumbered as my single co-workers.
Alstott quickly dismisses the workplace changing or the interest of husbands in participating in a more equitable distribution of family responsibilities. Surprisingly for a law professor, she doesn’t even recommend altering divorce law.
For any real change to occur in society, there has to be an across the board shift in attitudes towards family. Instead of just pushing more women into workplace, which her plan would accomplish, there needs to be an appreciation of caring work. An advertising agency recently broke down the different types of moms, those that lunch and exercise, those that work and hate themselves, those that dress up their kids. Each characterization was derogatory, and was ridiculed by a mothers rights organization. Nobody will fork over $100 billion per year on Alstott’s program, while such attitudes exist. Perhaps it will take some generational disaster, like the one predicted by Philip Longman, to bring about this revolution.
Simply handing over our children to childcare professionals and carrying on with highly demanding jobs, I don’t believe will improve the lives of parents or children.
Alstott starts off her book explaining that her second child has severe asthma. So severe that she and her husband had to reduce their responsibilities at work to care for their son. She and her husband worked in a workplace that was flexible enough to allow them to scale back. Her husband did his share. This is the solution: having husbands that contribute and workplaces that adjust. I’m not sure why Alstott didn’t advocate that all workplaces operate in the same manner or have confidence that other men would make such sacrifices. This would be a less costly, more humane solution to the work/family dilemna.
Dude, Where's My Post
Some computer programmer at Blogger has been wacked out on 'ludes for two or three days and instead of dutifully publishing my posts, he has been listening to old Greatful Dead albums in the empty offices of Blogger headquarters. The buzz has worn off and things should be back to normal now.
Some computer programmer at Blogger has been wacked out on 'ludes for two or three days and instead of dutifully publishing my posts, he has been listening to old Greatful Dead albums in the empty offices of Blogger headquarters. The buzz has worn off and things should be back to normal now.
Sunday, July 04, 2004
Baptism by Fire
Last week I really stepped in it. I wrote a post about the limitations of the blogosphere as a result of being insulted by another blogger. The point of my post wasn't that bloggers shouldn't lob insults around, but that it is difficult for the insulted one to respond. Rules, laws, and norms that protect people in the real world don't exist in the blogosphere.
I left the whole thing rather vague. I didn't want to call attention to the other blogger's post or get into an internet brawl. Truthfully, I have been a little fearful of the intensity of the interblog debate of the bigger bloggers. I liked flying under the radar and saving myself from the vitriol of the angrier bloggers. But as I learned, smarter blog readers will fill in the blanks of your posts and leak info. And I got flamed.
One guy thought I was part of a new intellectual Wiemar Republic. Cool. I popped my blogging cherry. People hate me.
Over this holiday weekend, I've been thinking a bit more about the blogosphere as a public sphere. One big difference is that in a traditional political public sphere, like a townhall meeting, there are moments of private. You can pull your supporters and opponents to the corner and huddle. You can look your opponents in the eye and determine if they are truly wackos or just misled. There is some private wrangling before speeches are made. In the blogosphere, everything is in the open. Some private e-mails are exchanged, but there are far less opportunities than when you can run into your opponents in the bathroom and spontaneously take up an issue.
I guess this discussion is appropriate for July 4th. The founders would have approved.
Meanwhile, John Holbo posted one of my favorite de Tocqueville passages:
Holbo's thoughts prompted me take down my heavily underlined copy of Democracy in America from the bookshelf. In his chapter on the New England township, de Tocqueville says that participation in local government educated citizens about the duties and rights of democratic government.
Here's a good quote from Alexis that seems appropriate for this holiday weekend:
Last week I really stepped in it. I wrote a post about the limitations of the blogosphere as a result of being insulted by another blogger. The point of my post wasn't that bloggers shouldn't lob insults around, but that it is difficult for the insulted one to respond. Rules, laws, and norms that protect people in the real world don't exist in the blogosphere.
I left the whole thing rather vague. I didn't want to call attention to the other blogger's post or get into an internet brawl. Truthfully, I have been a little fearful of the intensity of the interblog debate of the bigger bloggers. I liked flying under the radar and saving myself from the vitriol of the angrier bloggers. But as I learned, smarter blog readers will fill in the blanks of your posts and leak info. And I got flamed.
One guy thought I was part of a new intellectual Wiemar Republic. Cool. I popped my blogging cherry. People hate me.
Over this holiday weekend, I've been thinking a bit more about the blogosphere as a public sphere. One big difference is that in a traditional political public sphere, like a townhall meeting, there are moments of private. You can pull your supporters and opponents to the corner and huddle. You can look your opponents in the eye and determine if they are truly wackos or just misled. There is some private wrangling before speeches are made. In the blogosphere, everything is in the open. Some private e-mails are exchanged, but there are far less opportunities than when you can run into your opponents in the bathroom and spontaneously take up an issue.
I guess this discussion is appropriate for July 4th. The founders would have approved.
Meanwhile, John Holbo posted one of my favorite de Tocqueville passages:
Americans, of all ages, of all stations in life, and all types of dispositions are forever forming associations. They are not only commercial or industrial associations in which they all take part but others of a thousand different types - religious, moral, serious, futile, very general and very minute … Nothing, in my view, deserves more attention that the intellectual and moral associations in America.Holbo talks about the different subcommunities in the blogosphere and wonders whether blogroll numbers really determine importance.
- Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
Holbo's thoughts prompted me take down my heavily underlined copy of Democracy in America from the bookshelf. In his chapter on the New England township, de Tocqueville says that participation in local government educated citizens about the duties and rights of democratic government.
Here's a good quote from Alexis that seems appropriate for this holiday weekend:
In the United States the motherland's presence is felt everywhere. It is a subject of concern to the village and to the whole Union. The inhabitants care about each of the their country's interests as if it were their own. Each man take pride in the nation; the successes it gains seems his own work, and he becomes elated; he rejoices in the general prosperity from which he profits. He has much the same feeling for his country as one has for one's family, and a sort of selfishness makes him care for the state.Now I must return to my less than cool Corona and enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend. I'll be back tomorrow night with a review of Anne Alstott's new book.
Friday, July 02, 2004
Notes on Blogging
My posts from earlier this week on blogging have gotten picked up today by Brad DeLong and Henry at Crooked Timber. (Thanks guys.) I can't comment today, because I'm swamped. I'll be reading over everybody else's comments at CT and BdL over the weekend. I appreciate all the input. It will certainly make for a better paper.
Oh, and I have no interest in getting into a brawl. It's really not the best use of my time.
My posts from earlier this week on blogging have gotten picked up today by Brad DeLong and Henry at Crooked Timber. (Thanks guys.) I can't comment today, because I'm swamped. I'll be reading over everybody else's comments at CT and BdL over the weekend. I appreciate all the input. It will certainly make for a better paper.
Oh, and I have no interest in getting into a brawl. It's really not the best use of my time.
Thursday, July 01, 2004
All Things Important
According to this morning's NY1, Thom Felicia has been sacked from the Pier One commericials. Terribly disappointed. I loved the new queer Pier. I hope they don't return back to Kirsty Alley in the taffeta tents. I'm looking around for some links.
Tobey McGuire is cool with or without a six-pack. More on Hollywood's new leading men. Sensitive new-age guys.
According to this morning's NY1, Thom Felicia has been sacked from the Pier One commericials. Terribly disappointed. I loved the new queer Pier. I hope they don't return back to Kirsty Alley in the taffeta tents. I'm looking around for some links.
Tobey McGuire is cool with or without a six-pack. More on Hollywood's new leading men. Sensitive new-age guys.
