Posted on 15. Nov, 2004 by Brian Reid in General
Quickie Magazine Roundup. Fair warning: my life has again taken a turn for the chaotic, so posting this week may be sporadic and brief. But I will be at the At-Home Dad Convention this weekend, and will post (perhaps sporadically and briefly) from that event.
But I wanted to flag three magazine bits worth noting. The first is Caitlin Flanagan’s latest piece in the New Yorker on baby-related overconsumption. This is, I believe, piece number two for the New Yorker, and she seems to have entirely squelched her tendency to use every assignment as a way — backhandly or not — to take a swipe at working women. As I noted in June, Flanagan seems to be ignoring the mommy wars bits altogether. This is major progress: at the Atlantic, she managed to take swipes regardless of topic (nannies, sex and 50s housewives all segued into implicit or explicit working-mom bashing).
I have no idea whether Caitlin has had a change of heart or whether David Remnick is less tolerant of such ranting, but I’ll take it, either way. And I have a new pledge: as long as this new leaf remains turned over, I won’t waste any more space talking about Flanagan. (You can, as always, look to Greg for analysis in the future. Like the good consumer he is, he has listed all the objects of consumption that Flanagan mentions in the piece.)
Second, RebelMom and I had interesting reaction upon reading the “Dads” page in the latest Parents. It covered how to talk to toddlers about football and the appropriate age to stop taking your daughter into men’s rooms. In addition to some slightly weird advice, we agreed that the page read suspiciously like something not conceived of by a dad. Thoughts?
Finally, Best Life — a Men’s Health spinoff — has a story in its December issue about work-life balance … in men. Leaving aside my amazement that a men’s magazine would even touch the subject, it was very well-done, getting not only the stats right, but also pushing the angle that running faster on the corporate treadmill is not the way to balance or happiness. Amen to that.
amy
16. Nov, 2004
Wow, I wonder how they handle that “slow down on that treadmill, pard” idea at Rodale these days. When I worked there from ’91-’92, the Rodale family, sans JR, was committed to profit-centering the hell out of everything. Fiercely anti-union, and the advertising/creative staff was worked so hard they were literally walking around shaking. I remember a perfectly bizarre meeting with higher-ups in which I said I wasn’t going to tell these people to take on any more work, and that the company would have to hire more. Somehow, the message got refined into “Everything is great! Think positive! We just have to want it more!” Etc.
The company was doing quite well, mind, but the philosophy had changed considerably since the old man died. As I recall, Rodale was also famous in the area for its periodic middle-management purges.
Yep. I’d like to see that slowdown working with Maria still at the helm. Still, it’s nice they’re talking about it.