About

I like my politics pragmatic, my houses old, my friends funny, my husbands cooperative and my kids exactly as they are. And I like to write about all of it — and more.

Back when I was a young Kansas City Star reporter, my editor asked about my career aspirations.

At the time I was pretty satisfied. I had finally landed a job at a big metropolitan daily after five years of slaving away at small dailies and, better yet, I had maneuvered my way to the features desk only months after taking a second-string fashion writing job to get my foot in the door.

Still, I knew what I really wanted. “I want to be a social critic,” I told him. “And I want access to everyone.”

And I got it — at least the access part.  My next job was at the Wall Street Journal and those three little words worked better than “open sesame” to convince people to take my calls.

Later, after my marriage, I turned to freelancing for major magazines and newspapers. But it wasn’t until I returned to journalism after several years on the Mommy Track that I began my life as a social critic, a.k.a. columnist, for my small suburban weekly paper.

I’m no longer flaunting Big Time credentials, but how many newspaper reporters are in these days? The blogosphere has changed everything, but my beloved business most of all.  And even old ink-stained wretches have changed accordingly.

Who needs a publisher? An editor? A syndicate? Well, I could probably use an editor, but I’ll have to make do with Spell Check and whatever critical readers I can attract.

The blog is called Social Studies because I plan to write about a wider range of interests and topics than can be contained under the Mommy Blog or Political Blog heading. Because, ever since I can remember, my first choice for processing the events of the day or dreams for the future was to write about them.