Friday, April 17, 2009

Mommy Porn


So, I'm sitting here waiting for something like 10 of my sources for three different news articles to call back/reply to an e-mail. Might as well blog, right?

I love women writers. Love, love, love. Whenever I read one that is really good (able to put smart, original ideas on paper in a way that makes you feel, not just hear, what they're saying OR, even better, able to spit-shine a trite idea and make it shiny new again), I actually get goosebumps.

The key to being a good writer, any good writer will tell you, is honesty. Don't be embarrassed or ashamed of what people might think. Censoring yourself not only makes what you've produced contrived, but it also usually makes it...boring.

Which leads me to one of my favorite blogs -- of course written by a woman and a mom -- Penelope Trunk's the Brazen Careerist. Business Week has called her writing "poetic" and I have to agree.

Plus, she played volleyball professionally...hells yeah!

Her blog has 30,000 readers who consume her daily diet of career advice. But, it's so much more than that. She blogs honestly and, yes, poetically about the demise of her marriage, her work-a-holic nature, a past eating disorder, and so much more. Her blog titles include gems like
- Twentysomething: Why it's smart to quit a job after just two weeks of work,
- 5 things to do when you're unemployed. Hint: It's not job hunting,
- 4 weight-loss tips from my month in the mental ward, and
- My First Day of Marriage Counseling.

I laugh, I cry, I learn.

So, while I wait for these phone calls and e-mails, I wanted to share one of my personal favorites -- and of course it's mom-related: The Hardest Part of My Job is That Everyone Lies About Parenting. In this post, Penelope dissects the media's fascination and perpetration of "mommy porn." Not the paaw-chika-paaw-paaw kind of porn (gotcha with the Harlequin Romance picture). Think Jennifer Lopez's spread in People Magazine -- feeding twins wearing a couture gown AND designer heels. Or, Angelina Jolie and her 50 kids looking like THAT.

It's funny, honest, and real. All the things I look for in other writers and strive for in myself.

Enjoy. Oh, and since this is a blog...comment too!

2 comments:

taraneh said...

i just read that blog by penelope and there were some fantastic insights. in my teens and early twenties, i had this strong desire to be a mom and have kids (i wanted 5 - no i was not on crack), and really viewed marriage as a means to an end. looking back, i really don't know who that person was and where that urge came from. i feel guilty at times, counting down the hours till bedtime or the days until the weekend, when my mom will take the kids and i'll get a break. reading that blog entry made me feel like maybe i'm not a deranged, bad mother...that my feelings of wanting to be away from my kids is totally normal and totally necessary.

Rosana V. said...

i agree...it is comforting to know that you are not a freak because you have very real needs and ambitions that have nothing to do with being a mother...