Author and activist Alice Walker is still publicly feuding with her daughter, Rebecca. Well, Rebecca keeps talking about it to the press, this time with the Sunday Times of London.

“My mother did a lot of leaving to go to her writing retreat, which was over 100 miles away — so she’d go there and leave me a little bit of money, leave me in the care of a neighbour,” recalls Rebecca, now 38.

“When I was pregnant at 14, I think it was because I was so lonely that I was reaching out through my sexuality. My mother’s a crusader for daughters around the world, but couldn’t see that her own daughter was having a difficult time. It was me having to psycho-emotionally tiptoe around her, rather than her taking care of me.”

Walker is furious with Rebecca for making such sentiments public, and mother and daughter are estranged with little hope of reconciliation. Rebecca has a three-year-old son, Tenzin, whom her mother has never seen. Their last meaningful exchange, during Rebecca’s pregnancy, ended in Walker sending a terse e-mail in which she resigned from “the job” of being her mother, and told her that in any case their relationship had been “inconsequential” for years.

The depth of her anger was such that she refused to budge even when Rebecca had a difficult birth and Tenzin’s life hung in the balance in a special-care baby unit. “My father called her to tell her what was happening. He couldn’t imagine that she wouldn’t run right over . . . In some ways, I wanted her to — but in other ways, I didn’t. I knew she wouldn’t be able to be there for me in the way I wanted. It would be problematic.”

Ouch.

In-Home Care Costs Shoot Through the Roof: The costs of in-home care for an elderly patient has risen by 17 percent since 2004 to $76,460 a year, according to the Alzheimer's Association. As the organization recently pointed out in its newsletter, many Americans are woefully unprepared to deal with skyrocketing costs and a dwindling number of options to care for their elderly family members.

Ford Recalls Pick-Up Trucks: In case you missed it, Ford has recalled its F-150 pickup truck and Lincoln Mark LT because of a faulty hose tied to the trucks' brakes, according to the Associated Press. The recall affects more than 600,000 customers in the United States and another 50,000 in Canada.

Immoral and Unconscionable: The military junta that controls Burma continues to bar foreign aid, including that from nearby Thailand, according to the Associated Press. Yet, the death toll in the country from a vicious cyclone is about to reach 127,000. Sick.

Due to some demand, here is a thread dedicated to the West Virginia primary. Polls close at 7:30 p.m. local time. Political enthusiasts everywhere, rejoice!

As I mentioned in Dana's Mother's Day thread below, Markos and Eli have been in El Salvador with Markos's grandmother who is gravely ill. They spent this weekend with her and will be coming home tonight.

I was reminded how much I miss them when advance copies of Markos's new book, Taking On The System: Rules For Radical Change In A Digital Era, arrived in the mail. Please allow me a hokey moment. I've only read one chapter as I spent too much time reading the acknowledgements and telling people about it. He dedicated the book to me and the kids and gave us two whole paragraphs in the acknowledgements section! Completely unexpected. I love that man.

Thank you for letting me gush. Now onto the serious political stuff: We have six more contests left and Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are expected to win three each. Probably most importantly, the Democratic National Committee is meeting on May 31 to determine the fate of Michigan and Florida's pledged delegates. I am wondering if we want open threads for some or all of these events? I have noticed that they have died somewhat, so I will poll your preferences. Thanks!

What's up with you?

The death toll in Burma after a vicious cyclone hit the country this past weekend could reach 60,000, the number of people reported dead or missing, according to the Washington Post.

Because the country is headed by an incompetent, despotic regime, the people are not easily receiving aid. MoveOn.org passed around a link to donate to Burmese monks, who in turn, have been giving food and shelter to the country's poorest people.

These People Scare Me: I was recently perusing the responses to New York Times Magazine's green edition, when I came across this gem:

(Michael) Pollan asserts as self-evident that a small carbon footprint is always a moral good. But suppose a child is very sick and the nearest hospital is 50 miles away. You can ride a horse and the child might die, or take a helicopter and ensure the child lives. In that case, using more fossil fuel is clearly a moral good. Offering this same sort of choice, if played out less dramatically, is why the green movement may fail.

Pollan is asking for human beings to deliberately make their own lives harsher, duller, perhaps even shorter for the sake of an abstraction. Whatever your belief in the merits of cutting carbon emissions, it’s easy to see why this neo-Romantic argument may not win many converts.

Especially inane, though, is Wendell Berry’s suggestion that “specialization” has been bad for humanity. Division of labor has allowed man to rise from savannas and caves to cities, to feed multitudes and to cure deadly disease. Specialization is precisely what will produce the experts who will ultimately figure out how to make cheap energy without fossil fuels. That process, not some Arcadian fantasy that all humanity will voluntarily regress to a semi-industrial state, is the way to a cleaner world.

HAMPTON STEVENS

Kansas City, Kan.

Okay.

Other Strange Encounters: Here is another one of those quirky Berkeley Parents Network letters, although I bet this woman's situation is not as uncommon as we'd like to think:

My husband recently had a one night stand with a woman with whom he previously (about 2 years ago) had a longer-term affair. The one night stand resulted in a pregnancy, and they've decided to keep the baby. The woman lives in another city so he will be parenting from afar - we also have a child together. We started marriage counseling a couple of weeks ago and, at least right now, we both think we'd like to stay together. We definitely have issues outside of this one that we need to work on, and are both committed to doing so. I'm honestly not that hung up on the affair at this point - it's the realization that there will be another child in his life, with another woman, and that child will likely be incorporated into our family in some way, shape, and form in the future. Plus, the fact that the child will be in another city means he will probably spend time away from us, which is hard to handle. Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? This is all very fresh and new and I know my feelings will change over time (because they already have a million times in about 3 weeks!) but I need a little long-term perspective on how this situation might ever really work...thanks!
anon

Whew. This woman sounded remarkably calm for what her husband did. Can't wait for the responses...

Leaving Foster Care: The Washington Post followed around this remarkable young woman as she was leaving the foster care system. At 21-years-old, Marie Willis is learning to live on her own, and is handling it with such aplomb.

What else is in the news? What is on your minds today? Have a good weekend all!

I went to bed as soon as Indiana was called for Sen. Hillary Clinton at around 11 p.m. west coast time. Here is a CNN roundup of election results from Indiana and North Carolina last night.

Update On Burma: The death toll in Burma after a cyclone hit the southeast Asian country this weekend has climbed to 22,000 people, according to CNN. The already devastated country is facing food shortages.

Census Bureau on Latino Growth: In case you missed it, one in four children younger than 5 in the United States, is Latino, according to U.S. Census Bureau information released by the Washington Post. Here is the breakdown according to state:

Hispanics account for more than half of children younger than 5 in New Mexico and California, where their share of the overall state population is 44 and 36 percent, respectively. In Texas, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado, about one-third or more of children younger than 5 are Hispanic.

The figures are less dramatic but still notable in Virginia and Maryland. In both states, Hispanics account for 11 percent of children younger than 5 -- and 7 and 6 percent of the overall population, respectively.

Peace Corps Boots HIV-Positive Man: The Washington Post ran an editorial condemning the Peace Corps' decision to oust a volunteer for being HIV positive. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the man, Jeremiah S. Johnson:

In his lawsuit, Mr. Johnson said the Ukraine country director for the Peace Corps told him that he had to return to Washington because Ukraine does not allow foreigners with HIV to work there. We will save our quarrel with Ukraine's policies for another day; no matter how misguided and discriminatory, they cannot excuse the U.S. government. After another medical examination in Washington in February, Mr. Johnson's Peace Corps volunteer career came to an end...

A more formal response to the ACLU letter is forthcoming. Peace Corps press director Amanda H. Beck told us yesterday that the agency does not have a policy of "automatically excluding people with HIV." Still, the fact remains that Mr. Johnson, now waiting tables back in Colorado, was booted from the Peace Corps because of his diagnosis. HIV should not be a barrier to public service. Making it so, as in Mr. Johnson's case, is a waste of talent and goodwill. With all of its work in dealing with HIV-AIDS around the world, the agency should know that.

What else is in the news? What's up with you?

What's been on my mind lately? Summer camp. What do I do with my son when school lets out?

His Spanish school offers its own summer program, but I want him to feel like he is getting a break from school. So far, I have signed him up for a two-week-long zoo camp and and a week-long science camp.

We will be in Austin for the Netroots Nation Convention in July and  I will attempt to head to New Hampshire for a couple weeks to see my parents. But what do we do the rest of the time especially since we work?

What are your plans? What do you do with your children the long summer months?

My rant for the day: It's so annoying that these camps are half days, only a week long and cost $300. What's up with that?!

I just watched the first two of a four-part Bill O'Reilly interview with Sen. Hillary Clinton. I must be a masochist, right?

To my pleasant surprise, I did not think it was that bad. If anything, Clinton did a good job differentiating herself -- and the Democratic Party -- from O'Reilly and his ilk. O'Reilly attacked everything she stood for, including her healthcare plan and "socialist" ideas on taxing the rich.

I was proud of her for holding her own and cooly dismissing his effed up ideas like rich people shouldn't pay more in taxes to fund universal healthcare.

But I am unsure what she is to gain from meeting with him. Maybe if she slugged him that would win her some brownie points with the Democratic Party's activist base. LOL! But, O'Reilly took swipes at her like he would any Democrat.

When Junior Flies Solo: A recent Berkeley Parents Network letter recently got me thinking: When are kids old enough to fly solo? Also, what would you do if you were this mom:

This summer, our 11-year-old and 5-year-old may fly with each other (without parents) to visit their grandmother. The trip would last several hours and be nonstop. I think we can cover safety issues (especially since I understand we can get a pass to accompany them to the gate) but am worried about sibling squabbling during the flight. At times they are angelic together (with strangers complementing us on how well they treat each other) and at other times they quarrel (but no hitting). Does anyone have experience in preparing children to travel alone together? We have a portable DVD player we've used to keep them occupied on past trips. What else would help solo child travelers traveling together? How much money should we give our 11-year-old for emergencies on flight day? Any advice is welcome!
Ready to let them stretch their wings

While this isn't an issue for us now, it eventually will be considering my children's grandparents live 3,000 miles away.

The Best Mother's Day E-Card: MomsRising just released this cute mother's day e-card for your favorite activists.

What else is in the news? Have a good weekend all!

While I did not see the original letter, based on the online backlash I can more or less guess what the reader had asked. One of my favorite online forums, Berkeley Parents Network, recently ran a (rightfully) overwhelming visceral reaction to a mother who wanted to send her three-year-old to a boarding school in India. Hands down, a dozen or so readers said a three-year-old was too young to travel across the world alone and be separated from his parents.

I'm going to assume that there are some cultural differences in this question (meaning you are from another country where this does not seem odd). I have know asian couples who have sent their young infants to live w/ grandparents in their home country for long amounts of time and although I personally would never consider this since my personal values are more based in Western norms, it is hard not to pass judgment on your question. If I understand correctly, you want to send a 3 year old overseas by themselves to a boarding school w/ strangers (not family). I'm unclear what kind of fabulous school this may be that a 3 year old would benefit in any way from this experience and to what advantage or need this would serve. I cannot imagine a scenario where this is a good idea for a child this young unless they were an orphan without a loving family to raise them and they need to be in some type of group institution to meet their basic needs like food and shelter. Otherwise I think this is a ridiculous idea. Your child will not understand being sent away. I wouldn't recommend this for a child who was younger than a teen and then only if they really wanted to go.
Not a good idea

Crazy. Then again, I have never understood the concept of boarding school, especially since I grew up in a Latino family where we all lived on top of each other. I couldn't imagine being separated from my parents so young!

Have any of you gone to boarding school? Would you consider it for your own children? Shed some light for this clueless MTer.

What else is on your minds, MotherTalkers?

Remember the silly scandal that was "Bittergate?" Well, Thomas Frank, author of What's the Matter with Kansas?, which has been cited too many times to count in the last month, actually did write an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. It is elegantly written:

"Elitism" is thus a crime not of society's actual elite, but of its intellectuals. Mr. Obama has "a dash of Harvard disease," proclaims the Weekly Standard. Mr. Obama reminds columnist George Will of Adlai Stevenson, rolled together with the sinister historian Richard Hofstadter and the diabolical economist J.K. Galbraith, contemptuous eggheads all. Mr. Obama strikes Bill Kristol as some kind of "supercilious" Marxist. Mr. Obama reminds Maureen Dowd of an . . . anthropologist.

Ah, but Hillary Clinton: Here's a woman who drinks shots of Crown Royal, a luxury brand that at least one confused pundit believes to be another name for Old Prole Rotgut Rye. And when the former first lady talks about her marksmanship as a youth, who cares about the cool hundred million she and her husband have mysteriously piled up since he left office? Or her years of loyal service to Sam Walton, that crusher of small towns and enemy of workers' organizations? And who really cares about Sam Walton's own sins, when these are our standards? Didn't he have a funky Southern accent of some kind? Surely such a mellifluous drawl cancels any possibility of elitism...

If Barack Obama or anyone else really cares to know what I think, I will simplify it all down to this. The landmark political fact of our time is the replacement of our middle-class republic by a plutocracy. If some candidate has a scheme to reverse this trend, they've got my vote, whether they prefer Courvoisier or beer bongs spiked with cough syrup. I don't care whether they enjoy my books, or would rather have every scrap of paper bearing my writing loaded into a C-47 and dumped into Lake Michigan. If it will help restore the land of relative equality I was born in, I'll fly the plane myself.

Amen! You must read this essay in its entirety. I found myself nodding and chuckling throughout it. The cartoon of Obama sipping a latte while everyone else is doing shots is also pretty funny.

Even Sen. Obama doesn't expect to win today. This Obama mama will drink lots of wine in despair.

Congratulations to littlepear, minnmom and SwissClogs on the births of their children this weekend. For details, check out their diaries on the right. ¡Felicidades!

What's up with you?

In case you are interested, Markos will be on the Bill Maher show tonight with professor Cornel West and feminist writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who we recently talked about here.

Long after we had that discussion, I was disappointed to learn that Hirsi Ali is this anti-immigrant, anti-religion -- including protestantism and catholicism -- right wing nut who now works at the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute. Care to bet on who my husband will most clash?

What Is Working Class? Writer Timothy Noah had a fascinating read at Slate about the working class people -- defined as those without college educations -- supposedly abandoning the Democratic Party. I am sure it challenged many people's notions -- like mine! -- on who votes for a certain party and for what reasons. For example, it turns out that that our notion that white working class people are leaving the Democratic Party in droves is limited to the south. He also noted that the number of college educated whites now outnumber those who have none other than a high school diploma -- a complete shift from the 1940s when three-quarters of people did not graduate from high school.

If this is correct, then (Sen. Barack) Obama should apologize to Pennsylvanians not because his gaffe was condescending but because it was inaccurate.

Like everyone else, I thought with the candidates going bowling and shooting down whiskey the electorate was the complete opposite. Then again, these things are not limited to people without college educations. I think amidst all the media and campaign spin, a little perspective is needed.

And who better to offer it than Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed. She wrote a poignant response to "Bittergate" for Slate.

No Rest for the Weary: Nearly half of all full-time employees in the United States do not have a single paid sick day while 86 percent of food and public accommodations workers aren't even entitled to sick days, according to statistics released by MomsRising. The group is currently passing around a petition to urge California legislators to support a bill ensuring paid sick days for workers in the state.

Clipping Coupons: Not surprisingly, the coupon is dying along with newspaper readership, according to MSN Money. The good news is they are going online at Supermarkets' websites while the U.S. is seeing the worst food inflation in the last 17 years, according to the Associated Press.

What else is in the news? Have a good weekend all!