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Archives
- November, 2005
Silence –
November 30, 2005
Thanks to everyone who has written wondering why I’ve been neglecting this
space recently. It’s humbling to be reminded of my audience. My
mother is dying – first some strokes, then broken ribs from a fall, two weeks later a broken
hip from another fall, then increased dementia after surgery, now kidney
failure. It’s a long, slow spiral, like her 96-year life. I’m an only
child and she has been a widow for 40 years, so I have been
making difficult decisions...or at least helping her make them. The
ultimate one will probably occur soon. After I send off our two magazines
to the printer this weekend (I hope to make the deadline), I will use some
of that “spare time” to catch up and put into words some
of the musing and assumption challenging that I’ve been doing over the
past month. Do come back....
Posted: 2005/11/30
7:10 AM
Egalitarian Parenting – November 10, 2005
On the
news last night I saw an encouraging item about today’s Canadian
teenagers. According to a piece called “Teen Attitude”, the new
generation of teens is benefiting from increased autonomy and more
“egalitarian parenting”. Featured was an obviously upper middle
class family where the articulate 16-year-old daughter was included in
family decisions about what to eat for meals and what car to buy. Young
people are better informed today, less susceptible to mass media, and
more cynical of consumer culture, according to the reporter, and their
parents more receptive to their input. As a result, the “battle of
wills” is disappearing from families and young people are better
prepared for the “adult world”. (Although at face value this piece
seemed to suggest – intentionally or not – that the adult world is
mostly about consumer decisions!) Near the end of the piece, Gerald
Adams, a professor at the University of Guelph, said today’s teens are also more open to “challenging authority”
than previous generations. Now, that’s a positive trait if done in a
thoughtful context. But in my city, we’re currently seeing the deadly
results of the violent rebellion that happens when challenging authority
occurs in the absence of egalitarian parenting, not to mention poverty
and a coercive school system. So while the CBC
reporters may have identified the beginning of the mainstreaming of
something I and others have been promoting for decades, we still have a
long way to go before young people become equal partners in society.
Posted: 2005/11/10
9:56 AM
How You Define It – November 6, 2005
Lately I’ve been struggling with the definition of the word
“feminism”, which I understand to be about the political, economic
and social equality of men and women. Scholars have apparently described
at least ten different types, based, as far as I can tell, on the
motivation of the person using it. These include core feminism, Amazon
feminism, eco-feminism, natural or maternal feminism, cultural feminism,
moderate feminism, libertarian or individualist feminism, separatist
feminism and radical feminism. And of course, some of these may overlap,
resulting in a bunch more definitions, not to mention arguments among
those who call themselves feminists! After much confusion and thought, I
have decided to define the word in a way that I’m comfortable with.
And I guess that’s what others have done, resulting in such a variety
of definitions.
I’ve also realized that many words have taken on
different shades of meaning, depending on who has been using them. Take
“homeschooling” for example. Some families use it to label an
educational experience that is very linear and school-like, with a
parent teaching a curriculum within an insular home environment. Other
parents eschew teaching, curriculum, text books and anything
school-like, yet consider themselves to be homeschooling. The media,
meanwhile, has its own narrow definition, which includes someone with
strong religious motivation who supports private rather than public
education. Someone asked me the other day when I had stopped promoting
homeschooling and begun talking about children’s learning. I responded
that what I promote used to be considered homeschooling back in the
1970s, but that as the movement has grown and developed, the term has
taken on many new shades of meaning.
The term “home business” is another interesting
one. When I began advocating for the acceptability and legality of home
business back in the mid-80s, I represented the voices of writers,
craftspeople and artists, consultants, publishers, professionals like
therapists, hairdressers and other self-employed individuals who ran
their businesses from their homes, either out of choice or necessity.
Now that working at home is both acceptable and legal in most places,
the term seems to have morphed into a synonym for selling a product via
multi-level or network marketing.
While on one hand I sometimes resent the
redefinition of terms like these, I have come to understand that trying
to find one “right” definition for words that reflect growth and
change in society is not only futile but unproductive. Sure would make
communication simpler though!
Posted: 2005/11/06
11:23 AM
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