Link-apalooza #7: Of Presidents, Bloggers, and Dads
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It’s time for Lucky Number 7, people!
First, a couple quick notes about goings on in and around Explorations. The whole crew took yet another road trip to North Carolina this past weekend: Drove up Thursday, hung out Friday, attended three family events on Saturday, and drove back Sunday. I feel like it went pretty well. Probably will never do it again, but all in all, can’t complain.
Also on the travel front, the only female, human member of the Explorations crew is traveling this week to attend a friend’s wedding. Where to? I’ll give you 3 hints: (1) It’s one of the top tourist destinations in the world, (2) It’s often equated with paradise, and (3) It’s a long way from our house.
Good guess, but no, it’s not Titusville; I said it was a long way from our house.
I’ll leave that one for you to puzzle over. In the mean time...
Links:
Marc Maron Interviews the President on WTF Podcast
Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast is consistently one of my favorites. It’s a pretty straightforward interview show, but Maron is a uniquely good interviewer with an interesting personality. His guests are usually fellow comics and creative types, but this Monday’s episode featured President Obama. Good stuff, check it out.
How the Presidency Made Me a Better Father
An excellent blog post written by Barack Obama––who is the person that was the guest on the above referenced podcast, President of the United States, and most importantly, fellow Huffington Post blogger. I like everything about this post, but this quote in particular dovetails nicely with my next link:
“After Sasha was born, Michelle was working while juggling our home life. I helped out, and I saw myself as a pretty enlightened guy. But the truth was, I helped on my terms and on my schedule, and the expectations and the burden disproportionately -- and unfairly -- fell on Michelle, as happens to many women.”
State of the World’s Fathers Report
This article from the Guardian highlights a recently released report from the non-profit Mencare on the state of fatherhood around the world. The full report is good reading and contains some interesting statistics and case studies. It is worth the effort. I haven’t quite put my finger on it yet, but I still feel like there’s something missing. There is quite a bit of focus on paternity leave and how it affects both men and women. For example, how paternity leave increases paternal involvement in both child care and household work in the long run. That data is quite interesting and important, but I feel like there remains an unresolved and often unrecognized issue: how we as a society view and prioritize paid work versus unpaid, family “work.” I’ll get back to you if I think of anything.
Wait, I just realized that the reason Huff Post hasn’t used the last post I submitted to them is probably because they had to devote so much attention to the President’s post. Thanks Obama….