I’ll start off with the disclaimer that this topic is probably a little tired, but this is what I’ve been reading this week and I feature other blogs on Fridays, soooo, yah, that means I’m going to be a little behind the ball.

By now, you might have heard about the New York Times article that has much of the female blogosphere (aka “Mommy bloggers”) in an uproar. There are SO many things wrong with this piece that it made my head spin. Sure, the author makes a few decent points, but the entire tone of the piece was condescending. If you’d just replaced the women at this conference with men, it would have been an entirely different article. I felt particularly frustrated because this was a conference I had wanted to attend; put together by the women who run SITS. I read most of the blogs referenced and chat with their authors on Twitter. These are women whom I respect and admire.

Joanne Bamberger, aka PunditMom, wrote An Open Letter to the New York Times About Mom Bloggers, Women Writers, & the Universe. Joanne is a former lawyer and accomplished writer with an extensive resume. Sure, she writes about motherhood, but her blog focuses on relevant politics and advocacy. The first paragraph of her article says a lot: I’m so weary of your attempts to marginalize women writers online who happen to be mothers that I almost couldn’t write this letter. But I realized that if I didn’t, I would feel guilty about not trying to change things so that if my fourth-grader ever wants to be a mother and a professional, maybe she won’t have to fight this battle. And yes, I think this is still a battle.

In The New York Times Makes Mommy Wars Even Stupider, Rock & Roll Mama addresses another frustration (besides the feeling of not being taken seriously) that many women bloggers had with the NYT article: the author, Jennifer, is a “mommy blogger” herself! How can she simultaneously try to be a part of the group that she marginalizes and mocks? Rock & Roll Mama explains why Jennifer isn’t really part of our community, all the while making us laugh with her light-hearted, conversational writing style. She’s definitely a blogger I intend to read more of!

I’ve been a fan of Liz Gumbinner of Mom-101 for a long time. She’s insightful and witty and yes, I even enjoy reading about her day-to-day parenting activities. Her article Honey, Don’t Bother Mommy. I’m Writing a Mildly Annoyed Letter to the New York Times discusses the positives and negatives of the NYT article in a very balanced manner. She ends her post with a list of links to other blogs, showcasing a small sample of what female bloggers have been able to accomplish recently.

What do you think about all of this? Leave a comment!

I love doing the Friday Favorites series because it gives me an excuse for all the time I spend blogstalking! Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:

Starrymom is a great follow on Twitter. Her blog is full of great pictures, but she’s also a WordPress Pro! She’s spent quite a bit of time helping me with my blog recently. I found her post WordPress Plug-ins I Use and Adore to be very helpful! I haven’t had time to install many plug-ins yet (I have a list just waiting!) but I will be using some of these for sure.

Although I’ve been following Nichol on Twitter for quite some time, I only recently became acquainted with her blog. I could really relate to her post Olympic Memories. Nichol writes of her longtime love affair with the Games. It reminded me of my younger years, when I would race around the living room jump into the air, “sticking” my landing, arms outstretched. I desperately wanted to be a part of the Magnificent Seven.

www.mouthpiecesports.com

I love MamaKat. I read her blog religiously. She doesn’t take herself too seriously and is great about interacting with readers. If you’re a Bachelor fan, check out her weekly synopsis. Her article Geography is Overrated brought a smile to my face, especially her awesome use of Photoshop.

Finally, I came across Allison’s blog just recently, when someone else tweeted this post. A Life More Intentional discusses Allison’s thoughts of motherhood and the blogosphere upon coming across a former classmate’s blog. I totally agree: I find a lot of inspiration in reading other women’s blogs!

Now it’s your turn! What blog posts did YOU love this week? Link up, or leave it in the comments!

The Mama Kat prompt I chose today was based on an email from one of her readers. Basically, the woman has been blogging for a couple of weeks and already received an anonymous comment criticizing her for using her daughter’s name and pictures, although no other personal/traceable information is given. She wanted to know what other bloggers think about this, how we handle privacy.

This was an issue I struggled with when I moved from Blogger to WordPress and changed the title and focus of my blog. On one hand, I’m a public person. I’ll answer just about any question you ask of me. The entire point of my blog is to talk about Marfan and my experience as a mother with Marfan. Because of my work with the National Marfan Foundation, it’s not hard to find out a lot about me, even without me using my last name. But, I felt that using a false name would (and perhaps I’m wrong about this) take away some of my legitimacy, that my technical posts are more believable if you know they’re coming from a real person who volunteers rather than someone with a trite nickname who might not have any real experience with the syndrome.

On the other hand, how much is too much? I’m very open about having Marfan, but I have had it come back to bite me in a job interview, thanks to Google. Illegal? Totally. Much I could do about it? Not really. I decided to forgo using my last name, just to make it a little more difficult in case some future, differently-abled-phobic employer should Google me. I also decided to create a nickname for my son. This blog is my story, not his. At this point, he doesn’t have a say in what I write, what pictures I post. But my story isn’t complete without him. So, I give him a nickname in the hopes this will grant him some privacy down the road. I also consult with my husband about what I plan to write, and sometimes my extended family as well.

I’m probably not perfect in the balance that I try to strike, but I try and will continue to feel my way.

What guidelines do you use? How did you choose those?