I am consistently amazed at how many parents do this for their children. As the director of a non profit, I am besieged each year by friends and friends of friends and friends of board members who are “helping” find jobs or internships for their kids. Not children, but students or graduates over 18. A reference or a well placed call is one thing- as we know, it’s often who you know, but there are many parents who actually seek the jobs for their kids. I always favor the kids who do it themselves, connection or not. I love the kids who call me up, request meetings and proudly lay themselves out there. Understandably, these are also the kids who appear to get the most out of the experience. Moms, et al- you’re not “helping” in the long run.

The older I become the more I believe that adultery should be considered a crime. With the proliferation of cellular phones, online dating sites and the ability to lie (and/or embellish the truth), the incidence of infidelity has skyrocketed — yes, both men and women cheat — but the aftermath it causes is horrendous. Most often, women remain behind to mop up the mess of adultery; oftentimes, women with children to care for and with dire financial consequences. I believe if adultery was treated as a crime as harshly as the government goes after polygamist sects, we might see a tide turn. Adultery often leads to poverty, a spouse losing a place to live, a form of self-reliant transportation and unable to find substantial employment. Where are the upstanding role models for both boys and girls? ‘Respect’ can be disguised as women in porn (in front of and behind the camera). In our quest for ‘freedom of speech’ etc., we are pushing the envelope where everything is fair game. X-rated images ought to include violence as well as lewd behavior. People profess to be good at sex but fail miserably at communication so it seems so easy and common to move onto the next person instead of working at something of value. Are our important relationships becoming disposable commodities? The ramifications of adultery should predispose such behavior as criminal because so much is at stake. It is not only between two consenting adults, sometimes adultery is not a result of informed consent. The fallout from adultery is a serious matter which nary gets a glance — unless it involves the loss of a man’s job (i.e. Eliott Spitzer, and soon Kwame Kilpatrick, mayor of Detroit).

Changing the world seems a daunting task. But, if we all took control of the area we occupy, Changes would happen. Our homes should be energy efficient, we should recycle all things possible, we should conserve water, build with ecofriendly products, consume only what we need. My great-grandparents and grandparents settled a quarter section of land in Nebraska. They lived in a soddy, built the barn in l908, and conserved in everyway possible. They wasted nothing! They grew their food, raised their animals which provided their needs, farmed the land with corn and had dairy cows. My grandfather lived to be 96 and my grandmother lived to be 100. Their constant advice was to be so grateful that we lived in a country like ours, to be proud to pay taxes to pay for the education of our children and support of our government, and to support the Constitution of our United States. That piece of paper was what brought so many of our family and their friends to America. We have become such out of control consumers that resources are becoming limited. And, we are so reckless, we are polluting our beautiful earth. We must rein everything in, take control of our wants and identify our real needs. It is our responsibility to be preserving this earth for our children and grandchildren. We don’t DESERVE what we want, we must earn it. Julie Simpson

Care enough about others to share and make a difference - world-wide.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead Thank you to the women of WOWOWOW… I saw your discussion with Charlie Rose and immediately signed up to be a part of your on-line community. I love, love, love the idea of women sharing thoughts, ideas and information with other women. I believe women have the most remarkable friendships and am lucky enough to be a part of an amazing group of “Girlfriends”. Thank you for creating a forum for all women to experience the love, support, community, and conversation that comes with being a part of such a group.

My son, Mark, was a passenger in a car hit by a drunk driver in July, 1973. Mark and the engine went flying on impact and Mark sustained serious traumatic brain injuries (TBI). It’s been a doozy of a problem to handle. Mark was an early survivor. Before 1972/73, people who sustained serious TBIs simply died, so they weren’t around needing care. Now there are thousands of Marks out there with about another 1.5 million new injuries every year, not to mention the soldiers coming home from Iraq with life altering TBIs. It’s a chronic condition for which the annual cost runs about $60 billion dollars or more per year for just the civilian population. For the first five years after Mark’s injuries, I focused primarily on trying to help him and figure out how best to handle this devastating situaation that had befallen us. Finally, like most TBI family members, I had to quit my job and come home to take care of Mark. There simple were no adequate services available for us. Services in 2008 are still scant despite the efforts many, many family members, including myself, have put into trying to develop services at the community level and make changes in state and national legislation that would include our family members. It’s been almost 35 years now for Mark and I. But yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a bill that authorizes the National Institutes of Health and directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct studies into national traumatic brain injury trends and identify treatments. The Bill also supports grants, through the Health Resources Service Administration, to fund state projects to improve access to rehabilitation. Rehabilitation that could be a real blessing for Mark. Research on the brain today is turning up so much new, astonishing information that could be helpful to us. It has been frustrating for me not to be able to tap into these new possibilities for Mark. Hopefully now that will change. In addition to the House Bill, Senate Bill 793, already passed, closely mirrors the House Bill and it is expected to be forwarded to the president for signature soon. Representative Bill Pascrell, D-NJ, a chief sponsor of the House Bill, said that the House is giving a voice to the millions of brain-injured Americans suffering from this ‘silent epidemic’ with this legislation. We in the TBI community thank Representative Pascrell and all the others who have worked to bring this help to our families. Most of you are not aware of traumatic brain injury, the TBI population and the difficulty getting services for our injured family members as well as some kind of respite for family caregivers. But some of you will know the story all to well from personal experience or through the experience of others you know. I’m posting here on WOWOWOW to tell the women here about TBI and the difficulties we have encountered trying to care for our injured family members. I also want to tell those survivors and family members that help seems on the way. Please pass this word along for all of us. Many thanx.

HelenHelen V MY FRIEND HELEN VENDLER, UNIVERSITY PROFSSSOR A AT HARVARD (AUTHOR OF 16 BOOKS) WOULD BE BE A GREAT ADDITION TO YOUR GROUP IF YOU CAN GEWT CAN GET HER. TELEPHONE IS 617 547 9717 RROBERT ROBERT STEWART

Hello, I just saw the gang on Charlie Rose. Congratulations. I have a suggestion/brainstorm for topics. I am a president of a college club, and one of my jobs right now is to find intelligent, non-politically hostile dialogues about ‘global village’ type issues . Of course there are the obvious ones. Human rights, etc. But I think the ones that come to mind are usually negative. So, my suggestion is not only that you discuss things like child slavery and kidnapping, but also things that are positive and global village-ish. Of course I am biased, and these are the issues which would keep me coming to this site. Thanks and good luck.

What does this mean, ‘you need a caretaker you can trust for your mother’? Are these available? For me …or my mother?

Interested in going green? Here is a good site to stop junk mail, end onslought of unwanted catalogs and save/plant trees: www.GreenDimes.com

My Grandmother’s died a long long time ago and lived out-of-state anyway and my Mom is also gone - I work in a male dominated industry and have mostly brothers and have only sons- so this site is so good for me to have access to and learn from fiesty strong women - role models and mentors to me. Thank you all! I love being able to talk with women - and since I have been a career single mom most of my life I have never been able to develop the female relationships stay at home Moms can develop. This site is filling a void in the career isolated from other female women.

WOWOWOW - your server is slowing way down with the increased hits you are getting.

I applaud your foresight and your idea on opening this network. I have read through most of it, and dare I say, if this is for international women, it doesn’t sound it! Most people on your site, seem to come from the USA. As a European I obviously feel an outsider. If I express my opinions and they don’t suite your nationals, I obviously feel I am insulting them. I assure you, I am not. As a non national of America, it would be a brilliant idea to truly welcome all countries of the world. Yours sincerely “Imminent couch-potato”