Silicon Valley Moms Blog

Talking Education with Jill Biden

I found out yesterday I would be talking today with Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Senator Joe Biden, who may in two weeks be the wife of the Vice President-Elect. Knowing I would have time for perhaps one question only, it was a tough challenge to know what to ask, how to ask it, and how long it should be. The conference call with other women bloggers - mostly moms - was invitation-only through Women for Obama and it also included Danielle Gray, National Deputy Policy Director for the campaign. I was a little nervous in preparing - mostly because it's difficult to know what to ask with so much at stake in this election and so much going on in the world.

Earlier this week, in another capacity as a representative of the Junior Leagues of California State Public Affairs Committee (SPAC), I met with the Bring Me a Book Foundation about how SPAC could help out their program participants and related families on the statewide and national level, and the discussion turned toward universal preschool and literacy. I learned some dramatic statistics like that 85% of juvenile delinquents are functionally illiterate. If parents read to their children, they increase their chances of success in reading and literacy, but somehow half of American parents don't read to their children - something so simple that costs so little. By the end of that meeting, I was convinced something needs to be done to get more parents aware of how important it is to read every day to their children, so I decided to ask Dr. Biden about that.

The call began with an introduction by Dana Singiser of the Obama campaign and then Dr. Biden spoke briefly about how she's worked as an educator for many years, teaching them to read and write. She was kind and humble in what she said, reading off a prepared statement, and she said that when she's in the classroom, they don't talk about politics, but "this election is about them."

A Letter to My Two Year-Old Daughter

Dear J,

The next month will be a difficult one for us, and although you won't remember it in the coming years, I wanted to write you a letter to explain why I'm not going to be there as much as I'd like, and why it's such a tough choice - one I feel is necessary to make.  I'm going to be mentally distant, constantly wired, in constant meetings, and working like a crazy person and I know you don't understand it all.  In my mind, the justification is that one month of crunch time before one of the biggest national elections in our time could shape your future, the future of the nation and the future of the planet.  I hope the days you miss your mommy will pass quickly and that we can still relish the time we do have together.

News Media in a Toddler's Eyes: Old White Guys

At BlogHer recently, I attended a session on op-ed writing and media training.  Most of it was review, but the piece of the training that really shocked me were stats provided by Catherine Orenstein of the Op-Ed Project.  She said that 85% of op-ed pages are written by men - mostly older white men, 85% of Hollywood producers are men, 84% of books on the New York Times bestseller list were written by men, and only 1/20 of the top politcal blogs are by women.  She also cited stats about the number of women in Congress, which I already knew.  Looking at these numbers, it's tough to argue that women are getting our fair share of exposure in the media.  We have a much longer way to go than I realized.

This lesson didn't really hit home for me until this week, however, when I was sitting literally at home with my daughter.  At age 2 1/2, she's just learning about television and she's like a sponge, learning and repeating everything people say.  As I rarely get the opportunity to read the news, I took a few moments to see what was on one of the news channels one day and so I tried to get her excited about it: "Wanna watch the old guy with mommy?"  This was my non-PC way of describing whoever was anchoring the program.  She said yes at first, but we watched for about ten seconds before she realized it wasn't anything she was interested in viewing.  "I don't wanna watch old guy."

Virtual Hugs to Elizabeth Edwards Who Still Rocks Our World

Elizabeth Edwards took the stage at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York today virtually - via Skype. As her flight was cancelled at the last minute, she was unable to make her in-person slot for us or "Good Morning America" so she did them both from home. As I watched the program - questions from PDF cofounder Andrew Rasiej directed to Elizabeth, who was projected on a huge screen in the theatre at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall - I wanted to go up and give her a big virtual hug from all of us at the MOMocrats and the Silicon Valley Moms Blog & sister sites, but since it was no easier to do from that venue than this one, I decided it was better done from here. (It was the request everyone made when I said I was "going to see Elizabeth Edwards at PDF". They said "give her a hug for me!")

So here, Elizabeth, is a big virtual [**HUG**] from all of us, along with an official invitation to blog here any time you like. One of the apropos questions Rasiej asked of Elizabeth during the program (sorry, I just can't use her last name in this forum - seems too formal) was about what she was going to do next with "her constituency" and she, of course, replied that she would like to liveblog more and cross post more about policy issues important to her. So since I couldn't just stand up and yell to her that she could blog for us any time since she would have caught every third word, we're asking here. Please, pretty please!

PANDAmonium

Yeah, that's my daughter.  The one flirting with the giant panda.  She's two.

Thanks to HP, the Silicon Valley Moms and families were treated to another fun party to celebrate the opening of Kung Fu Panda, the Dreamworks film.  Where does HP fit in?  Well, their servers power the Dreamworks development software and they participate in other ways promoting one film a year with things like make-your-own toy kits out of paper, cool puffy stickers, and printed images of the kids at play with the pandas.

We prepped for the party a few days before, telling our daughter she'd get to go without a nap, go to a party, and meet a big panda.  She didn't know what a panda was, so we showed her pictures.  Turned out she had a panda on one of her many fashionable pairs of sunglasses, so she wore those and everything was OK.

Welcome to the Mom 'Do

Last week, I chopped 7 inches off my hair.  For most people, that would be difficult, but for me, not so much.  At the time, it was 100 degrees and my matted mop of oft complimented auburn locks was just getting to be a) too much to bear and b) sallow from lack of updating the color.  So after showering the evening of the hottest day, I pulled out my trimming shears, bought for $80 several years ago (one of my best investments ever) and began snipping away.

My daughter came in and I became slightly distracted, and although I was attempting to only cut maybe 3-4 inches, it became more.  But that was OK - it was still below my shoulders.  Then she asked me to trim her hair, so I cut her bangs and after a few minutes, we were done.  It took me a few minutes to realize how short mine was.  Then I realized: I'd given myself a mom hairdo.  For the first few days, it was weird to get used to the weight of it.  My hair hasn't been this short since high school.  The real transformation: I went from hippie to housewife.

Wildfires, Technology & Feeling Helpless

My sister's house is 3 miles from the line of the wildfires today and I'm 3000 miles away in the midwest with our parents, safe away from the flames, the smoke, the danger.  But all I can feel is helplessness and concern for her, her husband, their home and the animals they have there.

Late last night, I finally spoke with my sister, who had no power and had spent the day gathering resources in the event of an evacuation.  Then she asked a favor that was as much for me as for her - to track what was going on online, so feeling like perhaps I could still help in some small way, I spent until late researching what was going on and trying to get an accurate picture of the situation.  What I learned is that even with incredible technology, we're still in the dark in these emergencies.

Last fall, we suffered one of the worst quakes we've had in the Bay Area in a long time, and as a result, from my fanatic list making, girl scout history and security experience, I pieced together 3 articles for SVMoms about why we need to be prepared, how to prepare, and what should be in our kits.  That became a part of a Red Cross Ready blogging effort and I think people really benefited from thinking about what we need to do to prepare for emergencies.

How Did My House Get Like This?

Do you ever have those moments where you get home after just being away a few hours and you look around and it's like you're entering someone else's home, a tornado hit, or twelve people were staying as guests on your floor?  Yeah, OK, I know I'm not the only person this happens with but somehow even though my daughter's two, every time I come home and see my house looking like a disaster area, I'm shocked.

Where is this shock coming from?  It's not like I didn't create half the mess.  Really, at least half is from me putting things in a pile that needs to be sorted or leaving something on the table that needs to be put away or not yet getting to the stuff on the floor that was there yesterday but I was just too tired to pick up.  Granted, the rules of the house change significantly when a toddler becomes part of that world, but still I don't understand why I should be so shocked.

Are Legal Nannies a Foreign Concept?

What's the deal? I pick up the phone to interview a potential nanny, regular babysitter, mother's helper, or whatever you want to call her (it's 99.9% of the time a woman), and what I do not understand is how many people out there are not only against - but adamantly against - obeying the law. It's a little more complicated than that, of course, but that's the gist of it. And it's not just the parents doing the hiring; it's also the workers hired. Everybody wants to hold onto as much money as possible, and chances are that they won't get caught, so skirting the system is the trend.

There are many reasons I wanted to make sure to hire a nanny legally. First of all, I like to obey the law. I believe strongly in this. My dad's a lawyer, I was brought up to believe in our system of justice (for better or worse), and to have a sense of responsibility for my community and a commitment to public service. Second, I think it's important to know who you're hiring. Some people are undocumented and there's no history there. Third, I don't want to get into a fight with the government. Not that it isn't possible to win, but I hate all of the hoops you have to go through. Fourth, I wouldn't want to risk getting caught. For some people, it's no big deal - they just pay a fine or whatever and move on, but I occasionally serve on public committees and participate in local government, and we all know what happens to people in office who were found to not have paid their nanny taxes. Mostly though, I just want to do what I think is the right thing.

Full Transcript - Maria Shriver Private Book Signing

Maria Shriver is known for being many things - First Lady of California, award winning journalist (and former NBC news anchor), wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger, daughter of Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy Shriver who were instrumental in founding the Peace Corps and the Special Olympics, and as the niece of JFK. She is the mother of four children, and she recently wrote her sixth book, Just Who Will You Be? as a message to those of high school and college age who are trying to figure out what to do with their lives, their careers, and themselves. She was surprised, she says, to discover that it resonates with people of all ages. Shriver approached the Silicon Valley Moms Blog to have a "combination book-mom-ice cream-neighborhood-girls' night out get together" and tonight, that's what we did. And since I read her book, I feel more comfortable referring to her as 'Maria' henceforth.

Shortly after 6pm at the new Books Inc. in Palo Alto's Town & Country Shopping Center, Maria and the Silicon Valley Moms Blog contributors and friends gathered to meet the First Lady and listen to her thoughts on the book. As we all are active parents who are also writers and active participants in our communities, we felt an instant connection with her. The ice cream - Lovin' Scoopful - is a project she embarked upon with one of her brothers and a couple of friends as a business and fundraiser for the Special Olympics (25% of all proceeds are donated there.) And it was GOOD! (Maria's favorite flavor, she says, is the caramel which I normally would not have tried, but she was right - it was excellent, as was the vanilla, cookies & cream, and "Yummy Cake & Cookie Dough". How can you go wrong with a name like that?)