Luncheon Speaker Gail Collins Releases Latest Book

Those of us who came of age in the 1960’s and 70’s are eager to read Gail Collins’ new book, When It All Changed, which just came out.  We are even more eager to hear her comments in person at the DWF October 29 luncheon. 
 
We have been so busy living our lives that we have not had time to reflect on, as one friend put it, “how we all had the rug jerked out from under our feet.”  Some of us felt that life had prepared us to be wives and mothers and, possibly, community volunteers, or maybe teachers or nurses for a brief period of time until we had children.  And we were fine with that.  Others of us yearned for something more—something that used our brains and education to make the world a better place. We became “professional” community volunteers in an attempt to find fulfillment.  Many of us had to go to work to help support our families—not something that we had planned on.  And many of us are still working, with retirement a distant dream.
 
The very fabric of our communities relied on a vast army of community volunteers’ being available to do social work; the fabric of our public schools depended on a vast army of bright, well-educated women teachers.  Neither army exists any more, and nothing has taken their places.  Our communities are the poorer for that.    
 
Were these changes good news or bad news?  How did we adjust? How did we do?   Why have we not figured out how to do child care much, much better during the past 50 years?  As Gail Collins points out, while some things have changed dramatically, societal norms have not adjusted to provide quality child care when both parents are working.  This is a huge and grievous gap.
 
Join me and many other women and men on Thursday, October 29 at the Hilton Anatole as we hear Gail Collins sharp insights on these issues.