Two Great Chronicle Articles: Web to TV & Blogging with Babies

In today's Chronicle, two interesting articles:

First, "Web sites enable campaign TV ads on the cheap" by Joe Garofoli tells about how the web and sites like VoterVoter.com and SpotRunner.com are making video ads easier and cheaper to create and disseminate, and it discusses the ramifications of this in terms of the presidential campaign.

Micah Sifry of techPresident (and the Personal Democracy Forum) is quoted about how technology and "mass participation" is changing the face of politics. Anyone who has worked in a statewide or national campaign knows that the majority of campaign budgets go to TV advertising even now with the Internet gaining speed and digital democracy becoming a more prevalent term.

Still, the majority of voters are reached through television and it's expensive. This is why the Internet staff always takes a back seat in terms of campaign strategy; it's just a fact that television still makes the rules. I see the tides turning, but it will take time. Sites like these will help with the transition to new media as new generations of voters who are online gradually become the majority.

Second, one of my co-contributors at the Silicon Valley Moms Blog Group, Charlene Li is mentioned in Ellen Lee's article, "In parenthood, sometimes a blog is born," which I know from personal experience has many truths. Granted, I wasn't twittering from the delivery room, but blogging helped keep me sane while on bed rest and going through a lengthy postpartum recovery.

The article also quotes Elisa Camahort Page, BlogHer cofounder, and it throws around buzzwords like Web 2.0 as much as possible to get socnet cred. What is most poignant about this piece to me are the stats about how much moms are targeted now in advertising online. It's always been that way on TV, but now mommybloggers are discovering their power with corporations and other sponsors to this effect. Beth Blecherman has a great post up at SVMoms that touches on this, and I think it may be eligible for some kind of "most links in a post" award.

Done Lately?

I'm not writing here much right now, but I have been busy on many many collaborative sites so I wanted to share a brief update about that...

I recently joined the MOMocrats. I've been blogging about politics on and off for a while, and doing it on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog gave a few of us the idea of doing it for our respective presidential candidates. I was frankly too busy to start another collaborative blog myself, so I just blogged about Hillary wherever I could (which has other advantages of reaching a broader audience vs. preaching to the choir), but some of my friends started blogging together about John Edwards and their site was great. We talked early on about working together once a nominee was selected and it was sort-of de facto that we would put our efforts together whenever that point came. When Edwards dropped out of the race, most of them began supporting Obama, but they also opened up the blog for everyone to participate and so I joined. I'm in the minority there as a Hillary supporter, but we have a great dialogue and it's a wonderful group of intelligent people. So I haven't written much yet, but stay tuned, especially toward the election.

For Playborhood, I did some research about preschools and wrote an article about the preschool search pertaining to kids and play. I also put that research to use when interviewed for Bay Area Parent magazine. And I wrote a brief article for Bay Area Parent which I believe will be in the May issue. I still write regularly for the Silicon Valley Moms Blog, including putting up a post last night about meeting Maria Shriver, First Lady of California, which was a real treat - especially after reading her latest book.

I spent last weekend in Sacramento being trained on legislative advocacy in the State of California since I'm now the Junior Representative from the Junior League of Palo Alto/Mid-Peninsula to the State Public Affairs Committee for the Junior Leagues of California. (I know it's a mouth full. Sorry.) What that means is that I get to review proposed bills, research them, meet with legislators, and vote within a committee over the next two years as to any legislation the Junior Leagues will support. As we focus on women and children, our issue areas are education, health, family support, and domestic violence prevention. It's a great learning opportunity and it's a wonderful feeling to know we're helping change lives.

Early last week, I compiled some materials that USACM had written about our positions on national technology policies into a paper that we submitted to the Yale Technology Law Journal for the Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference that supposedly will be submitted to the next presidential administration as recommendations on information technology policy. I like keeping active in the tech policy arena when I can, and as a member now of USACM for over 10 years, I enjoy the people involved immensely. Anyway we'll see if the paper is accepted. I would like to think the next administration could learn from USACM - some incredibly brilliant people are involved.

SFBayStyle is growing strong. With a large group of interesting writers, we're getting some great feedback and we're having a lot of opportunities to cover some fantastic events. What I love about creating our own blog about style and fashion is that we can do whatever we want with it, which to me means emphasizing the nonprofit, philanthropic and community component as often as possible. And we have nearly 300 articles up in under a year.

I recently began blogging for ecofabulous, a great site for finding everything that's beautiful and eco for homes, clothes, dining, travel, etc. I also covered the World Figure Skating Championships for BlogHer (Sports & Fitness) and I look forward to writing more for them in the future.

I'm still writing on occasion for Acceller's Digital Landing site. It's a great place for learning basics about technology - TV, phones, computers, etc. So I know my audience here is above all that, but you can send your parents there.

Looking back at this list, it seems like I'm doing a lot, and I am, but I like participating in a lot of different venues because it means I can write about all sorts of topics that I find interesting while working in the community as well. For anyone who wants to keep tabs on my current endeavors for whatever reason, see grangers.com. Otherwise, please be patient and I'll write more of my own thoughts here soon.

Hillary Hopes to Breathe Life Back into Work-Life Balance

I used to think creating work-life balance was a matter of just taking control over your own life. And to a certain extent, it is. But there are factors in our society as Americans that have really gotten out-of-control. In other countries, new mothers have an opportunity to take real time off to spend with their new babies. New fathers can spend a little time at home too. And without fear of losing their jobs or taking pay cuts for doing it. Here, that's hardly ever the case. After I became a parent, I realized work-life balance is actually very hard to come by here, especially in California where so many families need to have both parents working in order to just pay the mortgage.

Hillary Clinton, in a week of initiatives focused entirely on women, released a proposal to provide greater family leave options. The press release listed key components of the plan as creating a new State Family Leave Innovation Fund that will "expand paid leave across the country". She also proposes extending FMLA to 13 Million more Americans and requiring sick leave of at least 7 days a year. (How does this work with lame PTO programs that lump vacation and sick days all into one, I wonder?) She's promoting model workplaces and a federal telecommuting initiative (woo-hoo!), she has an affordable childcare component (no details here), and she's working to prevent discrimination, particularly in the case of pregnant women.

This week, Hillary Clinton has also spoken on a number of women's issues and for women's organizations. This is a key component of her campaign, of course, since she's the first viable woman candidate for president, but I personally believe it is much more than that. Having read a great deal about her now and having talked with and read stories about people who have known her well, it is clear to me that she has a deeply rooted commitment to women and families. This is a big part of why I support her candidacy.

It's not just about Hillary Clinton being pro-choice, a woman, a mother, or particularly vocal on key issues generally identifiable as women's issues like healthcare. Reading accounts from former staffers, she walks her talk. When she was First Lady, she allowed some of the people who worked for her to take long leaves for medical, pregnancy, post partum and childcare purposes, work flexible hours and in one rare case, bring a child to work.

If someone had told me all of that before I became a mother, perhaps I would have thought it was a weak policy or unprofessional. But now I realize how hard it really is to balance work and family in a way that is both satisfactory in allowing children to be properly nurtured and cared for while allowing parents to develop meaningful careers. Work-life balance is not some pie-in-the-sky idea that can only happen for the uber-wealthy or those who make major sacrifices. Look at Europe - it is possible. Hillary's plan is just a first, much needed major step.

I am lucky to be able to attend a lunch this Monday in California that will be hosted by former California State Senator Jackie Speier, a woman who has been a long-time champion of women and families. I won't go into too much detail here because I've blogged about this before, but Jackie Speier herself is admirable in many respects through all she's been through personally. I worked for her briefly before I had to go on bed rest in my pregnancy and she was so understanding; I never would've expected that, but she knew I made the right choice in resigning my post so I could make sure my pregnancy was sustainable and that my daughter would be born healthy. I think it's very fitting that she is hosting this event for Senator Clinton after a week of women's initiatives. It shows the real commitment that Hillary has to these new proposals and I have no doubt we will make tons of progress in this area if she becomes president.

...
Also posted at BlogHer.

Announcing Playborhood - A Site for Developing Neighborhood Communities Surrounding Play

I'm participating in a new project - Playborhood.com - just launched within the hour, where our goal is to reach out to people who seek better play-based communities and neighborhoods for their children. So many families now have structured play all the time and neighborhoods where they don't feel safe letting their kids just go out and play, we're lucky to find the rare place where they can (I did - I feel lucky anyway). So Playborhood aims to become a great community resource where parents can go to find the right neighborhood for them and engage others in that neighborhood in the process of creating a safe, inviting Playborhood. Please check out the site and send us feedback.

Here are two articles on the Playborhood site about why this issue is important: "Mike's Manifesto" and "What Kids Want Most In a House is Not in the House". Playborhood.com is already full of great resources for parents who want to be proactive and help their children grow up with the same opportunities for free play outside as we had when we were young.

Connecting With Elizabeth Edwards

The Silicon Valley Moms Blog and sister sites (via conference call) Chicago Moms Blog and DC Metro Moms Blog had a unique opportunity to meet with Elizabeth Edwards in San Jose yesterday. As I've been contributing to the blog now for over a year, this was my second chance to meet with this remarkable woman, with whom many of us feel a connection. Except this time was different - she's no longer on a book tour; she's the wife of a presidential candidate. And while the discussion shifted to more specific policy issues than personal, it was still intimate and inviting.

As you can see from my liveblogging, we covered topics from tax brackets to math education to healthcare translators. And Elizabeth Edwards still loves us. (After one of my fellow contributors challenged her parenting choices a few weeks ago, there was some heated exchange that got picked-up by "Good Morning America" and taught our blogger and many others a lesson in taking care of what they post. Eventually Elizabeth and Rebecca made up, but it was an interesting few days for the blog.) And we still love her. Even if some of us won't be voting for her husband.

In my case, as much as I really like Elizabeth and John Edwards, Hillary Clinton's experience and her deep grasp of the issues is holding me strongly in her support. When it comes to national security, our place in the world, healthcare and the economy, I believe Hillary Clinton is our best choice. I like John Edward's proposals and I especially like the fact he's willing to talk about the environment and poverty more than most of the other candidates, but at the end of the day, with terrorists striking, hurricanes flooding and children dying all over the world, I'll sleep better at night knowing Hillary and Bill Clinton are in the White House than John and Elizabeth Edwards. That said, I would still sleep very well knowing John and Elizabeth Edwards were in the White House, and if John Edwards wins the nomination, I will work extremely hard to make sure he wins the election next November.

So what is it about Elizabeth Edwards that makes us all like her so much? As we noticed when we met with her last year during her book tour, she has this down-to-earth quality that shows both her intelligence and her kindness, without any superficial attitude or put-on interest. She genuinely likes to meet new people, she has a wonderfully light way about her, and she sat down with us like we were all old friends. She's also a little bit of a geek, hanging out on the blogs late at night in hotel rooms while traversing the campaign trail, which I find endearing. And she has dealt with major life challenges with the death of her son and her breast cancer, both of which have only added more depth to her persona and more commitment to the causes meaningful to her. I find her both incredibly inspiring and acutely insightful.

Where do we go now? Well, she's promised to meet with the DC Metro Moms Blog and the Chicago Moms Blog as well, so hopefully that will transpire. The SVMoms still seek to meet with other candidates and their spouses, regardless of party, and I hope to help facilitate that. Although I realize it is a long shot because Elizabeth Edwards is unique in her connection to mommybloggers, I think the other candidates could benefit greatly from the discussion with the women in our network - all of whom are highly educated, qualified people in their own right, not just moms, and all of whom represent a key group of women voters.

Some of us from the SVMoms Blog spoke today with various members of the press about our meeting, and one of the points brought up was that this event really has no precedent. The reporter in one case couldn't recall another time where a group of bloggers was given such intimate access to a candidate or candidate's wife. I think this holds great promise for blogs to provide another vehicle for kitchen table and New Hampshire-style living room meet-and-greet democracy. If we can take these small conversations taking place in person and somehow transmit that feeling through the web, we might all feel a little closer to the national political process after all. Thank you Elizabeth.

...
Also posted here on the BlogHer site.

iPhone Guest Blog at TechMamas

I found some great reasons why the iPhone is a fantastic tool for active parents, and Beth Blecherman of TechMamas was kind enough to allow me to post them on her blog. I still have some issues with the iPhone, of course - it's not perfect - but it represents a major leap in technology and should still be lauded as such.

More on Mommybloggers & Media

Looks like the recent parenting controversy is giving candidates media spikes. See the TechPresident Technorati Tracking page where you'll notice all of the candidates received a significant spike from Thursday's posts - particularly John Edwards and Hillary Clinton. (Here again is the SVMoms post that received a ton of traffic). See also: Morra Aarons's take on the action. Mommybloggers aren't quite sure what to think of the attention though, understandably.

Two New Articles at DigitalLanding.com

One of my writing clients is Acceller, recently ranked as one of Inc. magazine's top 500 fastest growing private companies (#54). They just launched their new Digital Landing site, where two of my articles have been published. (More to come.)

My first article, Tips for Installing a Cable Modem, covers the basics of setting up a cable modem in your home. The second article of mine they've published is called Digital Lifestyle Changes and Challenges - Adapting to a New Baby - something I know a little about. ;) It's been fun writing for them and I hope to continue to do so.

SVMoms, Politics, "Good Morning America" and Child Rearing

It's really late here and I've had a long day out, but I wanted to remark about some happenings... I write often about politics both here and on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog. Today, ABC's "Good Morning America", where I was interviewed last fall about Internet privacy, covered a post by one of the other SV Moms, Rebecca Eisenberg. Rebecca wrote a post giving her own opinion about what the New York Times said about candidates taking their kids on the campaign trail and gave her opinion on the matter. I commented on Rebecca's initial post so I won't repeat what I wrote there, but I was trying to bring out points others didn't make.

The comments in general proceeded on a level still quite tame compared to most political blogs aka "you're wrong, but not totally", back and forth, which spurred Rebecca to consider her original post, make some changes, and then write a follow-up post about it. On "Good Morning America", Cokie Roberts spoke about the reality that a lot of candidates have young children and they each have to make decisions about taking them on the campaign trail. I think that's the reality of modern campaigning. Each candidate has to make a decision what's best for his or her child(ren) as it applies, and if what they try first doesn't work so well, then they readjust. I'm fascinated by this discussion because it's so important to many parents (and voters). Follow the discussion at the SVMoms Blog.

Exciting News for Hillary Clinton Supporters

Hillary supporters can be excited about a few things - first, Dianne Feinstein endorsed Hillary Clinton last week. In terms of powerful Democratic women and California, this is very significant. I got a tip a few weeks ago this was going to happen, but it's always inspiring when it hits the news. I met Senator Feinstein once and found her to be both gracious and a good listener. Senator Clinton is fortunate to have her support.

Second, Hillary is actively leading on more issues I care about like disability rights and the environment. According to the ADA agenda on her web site, she believes "we must shift our orientation towards a new approach that helps those with disabilities thrive and reach their potential in the workplace, community and nation." I wrote about this in yesterday's post on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog. Everyone needs a more flexible work place and I believe, based on factual anecdotes presented from former members of Senator Clinton's staff, that she feels strongly about this and will push forward on the issue in office.

On the environment, families, and health, she's reintroduced the Family Asthma Act to "improve our ability to examine the environmental pollutants that are linked to asthma." It's not just asthma that's a problem - lower income families often live near toxic dumps and factories where all kinds of environmental pollutants get into the air and water causing cancer and now there's some proof of links to autism. My father worked on environmental class action lawsuits and saw first hand what Erin Brokovich and others found was affecting hundreds of families. And for those who think this is not a key environmental issue, think again - how do you expect families who can't afford solar power and new appliances to make changes if their needs aren't addressed?

Third, Dana Singiser, Director of Women's Outreach for the Hillary Clinton campaign put up a very nice post on her blog about visiting with us at BlogHer. I recommend everyone interested in women's issues in this campaign - regardless of whether you're a Clinton supporter or not – stay in the loop on this. We must rally women voters in the general election for whoever the Democratic nominee is. The women's vote is so crucial, especially for the general election. And if you want to get involved for the primary and/or the general, drop me email. I'll be providing more information about this on my blog and through an email list in the near future.

Women and Flexible Work Options

I just wrote a long post on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog about the recent series of articles in The Mercury News by columnist Sue Hutchison, discussing various issues relating to work for today's parents. (It focuses on the moms, but to be fair, these issues relate to dads too.) I was quoted in two of the articles and I go on in my post to explain the reasons behind my quotes - there really are a lot of moms who want to work part-time and still be able to spend a significant amount of time with their children, and I think this is an important issue.

BlogHer Update

I'm entering day two of BlogHer - yesterday we launched BlogHers ACT and we'll be focusing on "global health" which encompasses a lot of issues, so we're working on narrowing it down. Two big things that came out of the brainstorm session yesterday were "empowering midwives" and "clean water." Essentially women and children are the most affected around the world in terms of health risks and early deaths - especially childbirth-related - and so things like birthing kits and clean water can make an incredible difference on alll levels. It's tricky to do all of this, of course, but BlogHer has tens of thousands of bloggers (I don't remember the exact figure off the top of my head right now) in their system so if we can even mobilize 1/10th of that online, choose a specific mission, partner with some great organizations, we'll be well on our way to raising awareness and getting something done. I'll be blogging a lot more about specifics over the next few months.

Today the politics track takes place including my Second Life panel at 1:30 Pacific/SL time. We'll be discussing candidates in Second Life and online in general and how these online media like blogs are making a difference in the campaigns. My virtual session overlaps slightly with the end of the GOTV session here so that's a bit of a bummer, but for the most part people can goto both and then the closing keynote will be from Elizabeth Edwards.

Mercury News on Mommy Wars

I was quoted last week in the San Jose Mercury News about the "mommy wars" hype and some follow-up to the discussion on the Merc blog via a series of articles by Sue Hutchison. I wrote a lot more about it than she printed, of course, but essentially my thoughts on the topic are that yes, we have more options than we've had in the past but we still have a long way to go.

Most jobs are full-time in the office and that's the only option. If you want anything other than that, you won't be considered for the position. I understand the employer's perspective, but at the same time, there needs to be a reality check. Jobs are going overseas to people in other countries - why not down the street to someone in his/her home? It's not like moms are the only ones who want more job flexibility - it's just that we have a more obvious reason that allows us to be clumped together into one category which may or may not fully describe who we are or what we want to do with our time.

Kudos to Joan Blades, co-founder of MoveOn and author of The Mothernood Manifesto, for starting Moms Rising, an organization focused on getting this issue the attention it needs.

Recent Posts on SVMoms Blog & SFBayStyle

FWIW, I've been writing a lot of posts other places in the past couple of weeks. Here's a sampling:

On SFBayStyle...



• Closet Obsession - My husband may be one of the few metrosexual males who groked this post but it covers why I find closets fascinating.


• Fall/Winter 2007 Fashion Trends List - Published each season, my list covers all that I've read and viewed in magazines and online about the coming season's fashion trends.


• Wilkes Bashford & SF Symphony Present Fashion Show - I attended a fashion show last week for the SF Symphony and a local high-end retailer that was a lot of fun. Includes photos.



On the Silicon Valley Moms Blog...



• The Dreaded Daycare Dilemma - For those of you not from the Bay Area, you may not understand how hard it is to get kids into pre-school here but I had to get my daughter on a list when I was pregnant to get a spot just now for the coming fall; however, the decision wasn't so easy so I enlisted the help of my fellow mommybloggers while making the decision.


• Four Inspirational Moms on Perserverence - About a book co-written by 4 women, including former California Senator Jackie Speier, this tells a little about my experience with Jackie and what her book covers.


• Confessions of a Sugarholic... - A new shop opened in Menlo Park, the "Sugar Shack" and this post chronicles my own battles with sugar (it always wins) and how I feel about this exciting new business.


• Great Summer Reading - A book review of Momzillas, new well-written, hilarious chick lit.

Back in the Metaphorical Saddle

When I began this blog, I vowed to keep it up as much as possible but not to sweat it if I got behind on occasion. The past few weeks have been that occasion. As a relatively new mom who works part-time, writes part-time, volunteers part-time and recently bought a new house, I'm totally over-committed, so for a few weeks, blogging had to take a back seat. We took a family trip, then I came home and looked at the piles of boxes cluttering our floors and I'd had enough. So I spent last week unpacking the rest of the house.

My friend, Sherri, tagged me over the weekend and I haven't blogged about what's up with me for a while anyway, so for friends and family who visit this site, here's the latest update: we're now mostly moved in, thankfully. We still have a few more things to purchase - rugs, deck furniture, lighting, curtains - but it's looking like a home now. Our daughter is growing fast, but of course we're behind on putting photos up on her site so one of these days that will happen (that's the self-appointed job of el spouse). We've been spending a lot of time researching and visiting preschools since she'll be there the next time we blink.

On the writing side, I have a couple of projects in the works. One is a site about home networks that will launch soon - I'm writing articles for that - and the book proposal I've been working on and off on this past year is going through one more revision for a publisher that's very interested. Yeah, you can say I'm excited about this, but I won't disclose any more until there's a signed contract. I have another potential paid blogging project I'm considering as well.

I'm still consulting - doing work for nonprofits and political organizations helping them with their networks, web sites, online marketing, email processes and content management. I'm taking on fewer clients right now until J is in school - our time together is precious so writing gives me more flexibility to be with her. And then I'm still involved with the Jr. League of Palo Alto/Mid-Peninsula and the Ballet San Jose. We always attend other fundraisers for community organizations but we're slowing down on that for a while. My recovery from J's birth is still moving slowly (nerve damage - supposedly nerves take the longest to heal) so I'm trying to focus on that as much as possible. Next year, we bought Theatreworks season tickets so we're looking forward to trying that out.

That's the news from the personal side of things. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Silicon Valley Moms No Longer In Infancy

In addition to blogging here and a couple of other places, I contribute to the Silicon Valley Moms Blog. The founders of the blog, Jill Asher, Pamela Hornik, Beth Blecherman & Tekla Nee started the blog April 4th, 2006, so yesterday they celebrated their anniversary with a plethora of posts. I wrote one as did many other contributors. (I've been writing for them since early last fall.)

Continuing on with the Silicon Valley theme, I posted another today about The Official Silicon Valley Guy Handbook that I read way back when... very funny book. Anyway, if you haven't yet checked out the Silicon Valley Moms Blog - even if you're not a parent but if you're curious about Silicon Valley life at all, check it out.

Hillary Clinton's Promise

I saw Hillary Clinton speak a couple of weeks ago in San Francisco. She packed a ballroom at the Sheraton Palace Hotel full of people for lunch. Most in the audience were women who heard about the event through word of mouth and womens' political organizations in the area, since the event was organized by Susie Tompkins Buell and Emily's List. I don't know how much money the event raised but it must've been in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I've blogged before about how wonderful it is that a woman is finally a viable candidate both with respect to qualifications and fund raising, but I had no particular knowledge of Hillary Rodham Clinton's skills as an orator or policy maker beyond what I've read in the news before the SF event. What surprised me that afternoon as I sat eating sushi shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the Bay Area's most powerful women, was not what I expected. In fact, I tried very hard to go into the event with no expectations at all, but with an open mind to consider this person as a candidate in her own right - not as the wife of Bill Clinton, but as someone with deep policy experience, a Senator, lawyer, wife, mother, and someone who spent 8 years working closely with the President in the White House. I knew she was savvy politically and I knew she has gained a reputation for working across the aisle in Congress. What I didn't know was how impressed I would be.

First of all, I've seen a lot of candidates speak. She has skills that match the best of them. But more importantly, she did a few things to surprise me. A) She listened to her audience, without just talkinig about her agenda. She spoke about issues that concerned us. B) She responded to questions with detailed answers, not just canned sound bites. She talked for at least ten minutes about how to improve education and gave actual examples and thought-out policy changes. I've never seen a politician give such detail before. She spoke a lot about how important pre-school is, for example. It really made me think more about that issue than I ever had before. C) She admitted her mistakes - particularly regarding her attempts to work on universal healthcare in the past.

As someone who has worked for the government in security, I'm always concerned about any details that relate to security detail and the other thing that interested me about this event was the level of Secret Service attachment Senator Clinton has. I assumed there would be some, but as a Senator, presidential candidate and former first lady, she has a serious security staff and motorcade. This got me thinking about another issue that I don't think most people have considered with respect to her run: she's a huge target. So many people dislike her for a variety of reasons, so she needs that security. And on top of that, she's taking a major additional risk becoming a presidential candidate. People can say what they want about her political agenda and formulating a path to run for president for years, but it takes a lot of courage to put up with the kind of criticism and risk.

The question on everybody's minds, of course, is: Can she WIN? This is an incredibly unique case, so my answer still is that I don't know. Of course Bill Clinton and political pundits with experience say she can, but they have to say that. Hillary herself says: "we won't know until we try." (She was referring to getting a woman elected in general, but since she's the only woman with a chance right now, she's our sample.) I just don't know. It's a numbers game and she has to convince enough moderate and liberal voters to vote for her. Most conservatives detest her and will never consider voting for her and will fight tooth and nail to defeat her. But it is theoretically possible that if she swung enough moderates who see her work across the aisle that she could do it. And if she could capture the majority of the women's vote (which I think she can), that will be huge. That's assuming she can win the Democratic nomination, which I believe she can. I don't know if she will, of course, but she's definitely a strong enough candidate that she's viable in that area - unlike Joe Biden, for example, who just doesn't have a chance at this point. We'll have to see how the debates play out with Barack Obama, the youthful favorite, and Chris Dodd, who I believe is a dark horse.

The bottom line is that Hillary Clinton is worth considering. Take a look at her site. Don't count her out. Read about her policy plans. Go see her speak next time she's in town. The one thing that I took from the event was that day 1 in the White House, she will hit the ground running and make major policy changes to improve the environment, education, health care, and foreign policy. Whether she can lead as well as she can collaborate remains to be seen, but she definitely has promise.

More Women in Politics; Less in High-Tech

It's great that we have a woman as Speaker of the House and finally a financially viable woman candidate for President, but in another area that has always been male-dominated, technology, women are on the decline again, according to a silicon.com article by Steve Ranger (sounds like he should be a relative).

An organization called Intellect conducted research that shows women now fill 16% of tech jobs vs. 18% two years ago. Ouch. I really thought it was higher than that by now. Supposedly a lot of the attrition is at the executive and upper management level. I don't doubt that. Supposedly Intellect is working on an action plan to develop better industry practices that foster things women want like a more flexible workplace.

I'll admit it - I work for myself mostly because I've had a difficult time finding a flexible enough workplace to suit my needs. Some of it is because I've suffered from repetitive strain injuries (carpal tunnel, tendinitis, etc.), but now that I'm a parent, I have other needs that match those of many other women. And although I enjoy being self-employed and choosing clients myself, I can't help but wonder what other avenues my career might have taken had there been more flexible opportunities at larger organizations - in or out of high-tech.

More Politics on the Brain...

The Silicon Valley Moms Blog has been having a "politics week" this past week and I've written several posts. Here are links to them --

"J & K - Not Just Letters of the Alphabet in Menlo Park"
"For Riverbend"
"E-Voting Dilemma? We Have Two Options Left"
"Blogging 101 For Politicians - Tiptoeing Through The Mine Field"
"51% is A Minority"
"Why Politicians Love Kissing Babies"

I may continue posting tomorrow and Wednesday following polls and results. Check my column if you're curious for more...

A Meeting With Elizabeth Edwards

Through the Silicon Valley Moms Blog, I had a unique opportunity to sit down on Tuesday and meet with Elizabeth Edwards, wife of John Edwards (Attorney, Senator, Presidential Candidate, VP Nominee), mom, attorney and breast cancer survivor.

Fifteen of us met with her for an hour and here were our observations: a) she really is as down-to-earth as she seems on TV and in her new book, Saving Graces, b) she is very smart and educated on public policy (no surprise, but comforting), c) she is a genuinely considerate woman and d) she has exquisite penmanship.

A few things she said stuck in my mind. "The Internet is the last real democratic institution." This was in reference to the media and how more often than not, members of the press just take whatever sound bites they can get from quick phone calls to insert into articles already written. She feels that online we can truly say what we want when we want. She said she was glad "citizen journalists" exist. And she really grokked blogging. She says she posts anonymously sometimes, and in other places as herself.

On political topics, she said that her husband is considering running again. He seems (this is my thought here) to be one of those people who is truly compelled to do something to help the world and Mrs. Edwards said that his campaign and his work now at the UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity is all under the same feeling that regular people need a voice. He'll probably run again, but at the same time, he is really happy where he is now.

For my part, I just enjoyed meeting another woman who seems to juggle a lot of things and come out ahead. She has weathered enormous storms only to come out stronger, and for that she deserves a great deal of respect. Whatever your politics, it's easy to admire this woman for her courage, her honesty and her openness. I hope I have the opportunity to meet her again someday.

Press from the meeting...
"Elizabeth Edwards meets with San Francisco area MomBloggers", on Blogging Baby (by Jennifer Scharpen)

Some other bloggers' perspectives...
- "from giggles and mud to loving your home the best - a recap of our meeting with Elizabeth Edwards" on SVMoms, including links to posts by other moms present (by Jill Asher)
- "Mommybloggers in conversation with Elizabeth Edwards" on MomWrites (by Mary Tsao)
- "Silicon Valley Mommybloggers Spend an Inspirational Hour with Elizabeth Edwards" on SVMoms (by Beth Blecherman)

Photos from the meeting can be found here. (The one where she and I have big smiles and are looking at my phone is of me showing her a great video of my daughter, Julia.)