- It's the weekend, and the last few days have been GLORIOUS in terms of weather, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures ranging between 26C & 29C (!!)(that's about 79F-84F). Today is supposed to reach 27C (81F). Our balcony door has been open all day, every day, for the past several days.
- At the same time, it's rather unnerving. It's only mid-April, and this is definitely NOT NORMAL weather for us at this time of year. (The 29C high the other day broke the previous record of 27C set in 1977.)
- Still, we're enjoying it while it lasts. Tomorrow's forecasted high is 25C/77F -- but Monday is supposed to be rainy and 11C/52F, while Tuesday is calling for just 7C/45F and rain or even (gulp) snow flurries, with an overnight low of -1C/30F...!
- Elon Musk does it again (eyeroll): "Twitter Takes Aim at Posts That Link to Its Rival Substack." Two days after Substack unveiled a Twitter-like service for its users, Twitter took steps to restrict engagement with Substack links on its platform. As the article points out, "targeting Substack largely affects independent writers, some of whom depend on Twitter to drive readers to their work... The changes by Twitter on Friday meant that Twitter users could still share links to Substack newsletters, but blocked other users from liking or resharing those links."
- I follow several writers on Substack, and support half a dozen wonderful feminist writers' newsletters with paid subscriptions, including Jessica Valenti, Jill Filipovic, Anne Helen Petersen and Lyz Lenz. Their voices are needed right now more than ever. Many of them are understandably up in arms over this move, and have encouraged their readers and subscribers to help them spread the word. Happy to do so here! :)
- And speaking of disappointment with tech companies: I just found out that Spotify -- which purchased the "Name That Tune"-like game Heardle only last July, less than a year ago -- is shutting it down (!!!), as of May 5th (last day to play: May 4th). I'll admit I was not hugely successful with it, since most of the songs it uses are way past my reference eras...! -- but I enjoyed it nevertheless, and I find it incredibly irritating that they're relegating it to the trash heap less than a YEAR after they bought it. :p
- I have, however, had much more success with the knock-off Heardle Decades games (especially the 60s & 70s versions), and I hope these will continue...
- This piece in the Guardian, from Nicola Slawson ("The chasm between mothers and childless women is widening"), has been the subject of much discussion in some of the CNBC forums & social media accounts that I frequent. Some are objecting to her "blame the patriarchy" comment, saying it lets women (i.e., mothers) off the hook for their bad behaviour towards other women (childless women). What do you think?
- (Patriarchy debates aside, there are some great points made here.)
- Some responses/reactions from readers.
- In a similar vein, Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett muses on "fertility privilege" in the Guardian. (She doesn't seem to be a fan of the term.)
- Content warning: The article ends with a couple of blurbs about Cosslett's baby (!)(speaking of fertility privilege...?!). (The column IS titled "The Republic of Parenthood," and this is not the first time she's done this.) I appreciate that she's using her platform to shed a light on the flipside of parenthood, i.e., infertility and childlessness -- but the abrupt shift from infertility & childlessness-related matters to mommy talk seems strangely tone-deaf and inappropriate.
- A few reactions I've read also point out that Cosslett quotes several mothers in her piece, but no childless women (apart from Elizabeth Day, whose own article provided the inspiration for Cosslett's, who remains hopeful of becoming a mother someday).
- Beware the comments!
- Another great article from Carolyn Hax, advice columnist from the Washington Post, on a familiar topic: what Jody Day calls "the friendship apocalype of childlessness," once our friends start having children.
- Lori (Lavender Luz) Holden is mentioned in an extensive article about open adoption in Chatelaine magazine.
- From the New York Times: "Have Eggs, Will Travel. To Freeze Them." Subhead/blurb: "Faced with the high cost of egg-freezing in their home countries, some women are going abroad for a better deal, and a vacation."
- I must admit, I was somewhat taken aback to read one woman's comment: “It was really fun to turn this physical experience into a vacation and an opportunity to celebrate or explore or do something fun." FUN? Vacation?? "Celebrate???" (Personally, I would hold off on the celebration until I had a live, healthy baby to take home with me...)
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I immediately thought of you when I found out about Chatelaine! I wanted to know the scoop on this magazine, that wasn't on my radar much prior to this week.
ReplyDeleteI am going to spend some time with the Guardian article and the reactions to it.
Chatelaine is, I think, Canada's oldest and most successful women's magazine (and probably one of the most successful Canadian magazines, period -- it's celebrating its 95th?? anniversary this year. So the article will have a broad audience here! My mother had a subscription for years, as did I. I stopped my subscription when I lost my job (as I didn't know what my budget going forward was going to be like), and I think they've cut back on the frequency of its print issues recently, but I still pick up a copy now & then (especially at Christmastime when they focus on cookie recipes! lol). The editor in the years when I was growing up, Doris Anderson, was legendary -- she moved the publication in a more serious/feminist direction, covering social issues as well as the usual recipes and domestic stuff. She was very active in the movement to have women's rights included in the new constitution in the 1980s, and later headed the National Action Committee on the Status of Women.
Delete“Some are objecting to her "blame the patriarchy" comment, saying it lets women (i.e., mothers) off the hook for their bad behaviour towards other women (childless women). What do you think?”
ReplyDeleteI personally avoid terms like “patriarchy” because I find it too general to really mean anything. (If you demanded an explanation of the word from me, my best effort would be “whatever men are doing that women don’t like.”)
Having said that, I have my own generalization to share. In my experience the best way to avoid judgment and resentment (on my part and on other people’s) is to avoid social media. Of course people were petty and quarrelsome before but it all seems amplified now. I find when I focus on relationships rather than “influencers” and anonymous squabbles I find the people I’m meant to find: both those that support me and those who challenge me.
torthúil
Good advice re: social media! ;) I think "patriarchy," like "feminism" is a term that gets misinterpreted a lot. I looked up the definition: Patriarchy is a system in which men hold most of the power (and women don't). So I guess "blame the patriarchy" = "blame the system/society." Personally, I think it could be a bit of both (systemic & individual behaviour -- although individual behaviour is often influenced by the system too...?). Hmmm...
DeleteAnother list of great things to read. I've seen snippets of the Guardian article and responses on social media (it has its uses) already, but haven't had time to really address it. I've opened lots of tabs in my browser to go back and read, but have some serious work (travel bookings, and an essay to write) before I get to them.
ReplyDeleteSorry you've lost Heardle. I know you enjoyed it.