Wunder Muther, Trendy Ma, Dancing Daddy-boy . . . everyday my post-office box fills with “cool parenting” books and magazines put out by mainstream publishers. They are memoirs and how-to-be-as-cool-as-me tomes; advice journals and fashion rags. Last month a radio interviewer congratulated me for starting this whole “movement” with my zine, Hip Mama. So, how come my reaction to seeing another pile of parenting lit is to roll my eyes? These parents need to grow up, I think.

Up online now for all to read is Chapter 3 of the Motherhood Manifesto, "O: Open, Flexible Work Options." Then after you read Chapter O, share your thoughts with others on the MomsRising forum . Contrary to what some believe, flexible work options aren't a utopian ideal. In fact, many companies are finding that when they stop managing by the clock, and start managing by work results, as Best Buy did, they see better employee job performance, better employee retention, and lower training and recruitment costs. It can be a win-win situation for all.

The perverse thing about writing and organizing around work/family balance is that it has profoundly messed with my personal work/family balance. Traveling is something I try to avoid except for fun. That said, launching MomsRising is a big deal so, as the saying goes, rules are made to be broken and I’ve been traveling quite a bit of late. I was thrilled when after I spoke at the annual Theatre Communications Group conference in Atlanta, GA some mothers and other theater directors approached me with ideas for a theater project based upon The Motherhood Manifesto. Building awareness about these issues is no small challenge. It is going to require the creativity and passion of many to make these kitchen table issues hit the main stream radar so that we have the ability to organize and supporting real cultural and political change. At The Take Back America Conference “The Men’s Auxiliary” was proposed. Awesome!

Last week MomsRising had a great time at the NetSquared conference . I participated in a lively panel on gender and social networking, and Joan was a big hit at one of the conference plenary sessions. Joan taped an interview that should be airing soon on Link TV - we'll update the broadcast schedule when we have it.