Sasha's commnetary for March 18, 2013

Today has been so far been pretty good to me. I accomplished a fair bit that I wanted to accomplish. I have an interview set up with Southwest Airlines (a coincidence as I left my job with Sears on Saturday), I sent my letter out to Autism Speaks, I brought firewood into the basement and put some things in storage. And now my back is annoying me.

While looking through my Facebook news feed, I found an article from The Atlantic that was a response to a Wall Street Journal on unwed mothers. The article seemed like it was bias, but very minimal. Yes, it makes sense. Children do better with two parents, and the research backs up that statement. No, I'm not implying that I'm against same-sex marriage, because I am actually quite in favor of it. I know people who are LGBT and they deserve the same rights as everyone else. But this isn't about that. It's about how the definition of an unwed parent is skewed. Also, many of these unwed parents are only considered working and lower-middle class because of their environment, even while many do hold some post-secondary education.

When I was born, my parents were unmarried. And honestly, I think it's cool that I was present at my mom and dad's wedding (it was in a court house in Queens, New York City, and I was in a baby carrier on my dad's back, probably drooling like any eight or nine-month old infant would). But my mom is a college graduate and my dad had some college education (and could pass for someone with a master's degree on even a semi-good day). But what set my story apart from other unwed parents is that my parents were in a relationship, cohabiting and were eventually going to get married. It was a good thing too, because my dad would later, thanks to a near-death experience from going sober and having a seizure of sorts, rely on my mom's health insurance. I have sworn that I won't have a child unless I'm engaged to the mother (and if not living with her, at least it be in the close future, or some kind of satisfactory arrangement).

And there are people who end up getting married after their kids are born. It's not just a matter of "we'll be in a relationship for a few years, have a child/kids, and then separate" There are some committed couples who do tie the knot, but it's not without a journey to the altar. Some unwed couples with kids are quite happy and show no sign of splitting. Look at Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell: they've been together since God-knows-when and they're not married.

And while I'm at it, I'd like to call for a Moreland Commission on the entire state government, down to even the smallest village government. Turns out New York overpays for Medicare, which is stating the obvious.