While visiting David Stephenson's excellent Kos diary today I noticed an ad for "Mothertalkers." Intrigued, I clicked.Kos Media, LLC (and who could have predicted that corporatizing, huh?) has set up a diary-driven space in the blogosphere for women who are also moms. Wow. Thanks, Markos. Having built the largest and most popular frathouse on campus, it shows real initiative, and an ear to the ground, to provide a daily Kos for those who are not comfortable with the drunken political orgy celebrated at the main site.
It is way too early to tell how this mothering room on the internet will play itself out. The lead diary today on older dads and autism certainly hit way close to home with Blue Gal, and prompted me to sign up.
(One additional comment to the Mothertalker people. Don't make Kos diarists sign up again to join Mothertalkers. One membership should get you everywhere on the Kos campus. And the Mothertalkers name...sounds like a lightly veiled insult. We get it.)
But then I read the other diaries from the main page. "Your funniest delivery room story"..."tell us all about the tears you shed as Junior left for his first day at kindergarten"? HUH?
Look, Markos, iVillage has been mowing that turf for years. I fry my brain on the internet just Google searching for funny panties images. Thanks but no thanks.
I can't tell you the number of emails I've received thanking me for not writing a mommy blog. There's nothing wrong with mommy blogs, and a few of them actually rock the political/social/parenting world right on its head. I used to love Salon's Mothers Who Think columns, and damn them for hiding that simple, forceful title these days as the lowercase "mwt".
But hey, if Markos thinks his advertising revenue will increase by mimicking the "seven ways moms and tots can stay cozy and look great this fall" set design, well, more power to him, but count this mom out. Again.
Hey Blue Gal,
ReplyDeleteStick around a while! Yes, some of our MotherTalkers posts are goofy and sentimental and iVillage-ish...but we also talk about politics and social issues and feminism. You can skip the goofy posts and contribute to the ones that draw you in. I would love to hear your perspectives...and cool blog, by the way.
Another note...we've been around a while now, and we're bringing in ZERO money for Kos. The site is a labor of love started by his wife. And we, the moms, came up with the name...
The concept of a safe place where mothers can just talk among themselves seems somewhat belied by the fact that it is ON THE INTERNET, y'know... ...and if it doesn't have the advantage of privacy, uh, why segregate?
ReplyDeleteNot sure, here. I love some mommyblogs (and hate some others. Especially ones that make me cringe for various reasons). Not sure why I'd want them all in one place, though.
::walks away, hmmming to herself, about wheter this is sort of self-marginalization or some new trick whose significance eludes me::
Rock frickin' on, BlogMate!
ReplyDeleteHey, I got yer message when I was in town, but now that I'm on me ship, I'm not gettin' a good enough signal t'call ye back. Must be th'clouds, m'Lass.
Forgiveness is begged.
Maybe you could talk Kos into the panty photo line so you wouldn't have to search for them.
ReplyDeleteHey, it's a win-win as they say in the biz world.
Well Here's to Moms-Who-Blog about things NOT-MOM!
ReplyDeleteAnd this
..."tell us all about the tears you shed as Junior left for his first day at kindergarten"?
would have lost me in a heartbeat! I LOVE my kids...but was not about to cry (nor empty-nest-ish) over them growing into the people they can and ought to be one day! That's fer folks who have no other interests in life BUT their kids! *sigh*
And another good reason why I enjoy BlueGal.