Sisters

Former CNN reporter Campbell Brown has a piece in The New York Times in which she says the President is condescending toward women. Her husband (Dan Senor) is a Mitt Romney advisor. While it is entirely possible that has nothing to do with the price of tea in China (as my grandma would say) it does give me cause to pause. Or maybe, there is a job opening at Fox News (where her husband is a contributor) and she's ready to go back to work?

I am thankful I live in a country where the President can be freely and openly criticized, and Brown's high profile gives her a platform from which to do it that most of us other Americans don't have. Go for it. I think the President can handle it.

It's funny how candidates fight over us women like high school kids at the prom, wanting to dance with the homecoming queen. Thinking female people have the same concerns that thinking male people have, and we have some very serious problems in our country that all of us should be working on together.

Yesterday at work a customer, a gentleman old enough to be my father, called me "Sweetheart" and told me I was smart.  I didn't feel patronized, because frankly I am both sweet and smart, and I think he was a very wise man to recognize this right away. Or maybe he was hitting on me, which is concerning because he was 80 if he was a day...

Seriously now. Men sometimes feel like they just can't win with us women, that they have to watch what they say so carefully because we are overly sensitive. All Brown did was reinforce that old stereotype. And while she may have done her husband a favor, and while she may have done Romney a favor, she didn't help a sister out at all.

Susan

The News

My friend's boyfriend crashed her computer by being on the Fox News website. Not really. He was on that website, and her computer just happened to die at that exact time. Her daughter and I had fun with him on that one. He's a nice guy, but pretty conservative.

I think it's important for all of us to keep up with what's going on in the world. How can we change the world when we don't even know what's happening? One of the many wonderful things about the internet is we can choose from different sources. I like the way The Guardian, a UK newspaper, reports on happenings here in the US. It's a unique perspective. Some news sources are more credible than others.

There is a lot of bad stuff and sad stuff out there, and sometimes it seems like that's all we read or see. A lot of journalism has been sensationalized, too. There is much of good in the world, and for every horrible story there are many great stories out there. Every day people like you and I, who in our own small way, make the world a happier place. Imagine the headlines:

"Well-known politician is faithful to his wife"
"Dedicated mother drives straight home from work each night"
"Patient father helps his reluctant daughter with homework"
"Great son puts all his dirty dishes in the dishwasher"
"Tired husband still makes time to rub his wife's feet"
"Honest employee treats business as if it was his own"
"Dedicated teacher treats special needs children with kindness"
"Divorced couple co-parent children with consistency and teamwork"
"Big sister reads to her younger siblings"

Susan