Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Back to school resources
Whether you’re heading back to high school, college or grad school, as a student, teaching assistant or professor, wouldn’t you like to be handed something useful, unique, and completely free? Here’s our gift to you!
Statistics and expert commentary: are you gathering comprehensive data for a research report, or looking for one zinger to win a family argument? Turn to AtMP! As always, our goal is to be the most current, relevant, objective and non-judgmental site for information about unmarried Americans on the web. Check out what’s new in the Facts and Fun section of our website and tell us what you think. Then tell your friends – the public debate about un/marriage will only improve when more people have the facts.
Liven up your campus: inspired by our friends at the National Marriage Boycott, we’ve listed lots of resources and some guidelines to help you start a campus chapter. What else can we do to help you? We’re open to your ideas.
Only duds on campus? Meet like-minded people online: AtMP’s Facebook group has nearly 500 members, as does the social network at National Marriage Boycott. Our email listserve has over 500 members (mostly not the same people). And our virtual book club has nearly 50 members. There’s always someone to talk to!
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Aug 28th, 2009 by Nicky
Illegitimacy and advance directives in the news
I keep an eye out for news that affects the cultural context surrounding AtMP’s efforts to reduce singlism and marital status discrimination, as well as news about specific projects we’re working on. This week two aspects of the attacks on President Obama and his health care reform efforts caught my eye.
First, the over-publicized, utterly fabricated stories about the President’s birth certificate. How could that nonsense possibly be relevant to us? I have a Google news alert for “illegitimacy + birth,” and I’m concerned any time I see an increase in the use of that outdated combination of words. It’s worth remembering that the concept of illegitimacy was abandoned just a few decades ago, and that some people (who prefer divisiveness to diversity) keep trying to bring it back. AtMP has consistently spoken out against calling children “illegitimate,” from educating the conservative Washington Times in 2001, to chastising an anti-immigrant group in 2007. The current lies about President Obama don’t call for our intervention. But, it is nice to recall that (after being born in the U.S.) he was raised in perfect picture of family diversity, experiencing a single mother, an extended family household, a step-parent, and half-siblings with a variety of geographic and cultural origins. Just like so many of us!
Second, the mis-representation of a very small, very good element of health care reform – a proposal to help more people write advance directives. AtMP spends a lot of energy informing people that we all have the right to name our medical decision-makers and state our wishes through advance directives, regardless of our marital status. Too few people take advantage of this power, so we’re glad to see that Barack and Michelle Obama have written their advance directives, and that legislation might encourage more people to do so. Here’s how it’s explained at Salon.com:
The legislation would order Medicare to pay for consultations between patients and doctors on end-of-life decisions, which it currently doesn’t cover. But the consultations wouldn’t be mandatory; if your grandmother doesn’t want to go talk to her doctor about end-of-life care, she won’t have to. Because Medicare doesn’t pay for this kind of planning now, only 40 percent of seniors who depend on the government insurance say they have an advance directive that tells healthcare providers what measures they do and don’t want used to prolong their life, even though 75 percent say they think it’s important. The lack of planning actually costs a lot of money. Medicare spends billions and billions of dollars annually on expensive treatment during the last year of a dying patient’s life. Without allowing Medicare to pay for end-of-life consultations, it’s hard to know whether patients even want to go to such expensive lengths.
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Aug 6th, 2009 by Nicky
Seeking judges for media awards
Last year’s Unmarried and Single Americans Week Media Awards were really fun. If you’d like to be a judge on this year’s panel, please apply for a judgeship! AtMP seeks judges who are grammatical, witty (but not snarky), and recognize the importance of fairness and equality for all unmarried people. The application is short and simple:
a) write a one- to three-sentence commentary on the just-released Census Dept. fact sheet for USA Week 2009.
b) confirm that you’ll be available to read, and write one- to three-sentence reviews of, up to a dozen news articles between Sept. 27 – Oct 4.
c) Click here to submit your judgeship application by September 1st.
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Jul 21st, 2009 by Nicky
New Yorkers celebrate Unmarried Pride with AtMP
The party featured a bountiful table of sweets, raffle prizes and books about alternatives to a marriage-based legal system.
Last Sunday, AtMP board member Kevin Maillard and his partner Iris hosted a lovely party for AtMP in their Manhattan apartment. The gathering was an opportunity for them to introduce AtMP to their family and friends, and to meet other New Yorkers who are already members of the AtMP family. Many of the guests were academics like Kevin or lawyers like Iris.
Rose Cuison Villazor and Kevin Maillard are co-editors of a book on race, sex and marriage that is due out in 2010.
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Jul 4th, 2009 by Nicky
Kudos to Rev. Schwalenberg
from the Milwaulkee Journal-Sentinel:
“Society obviously benefits from healthy relationships. But healthy relationships are not limited to marriage,” said the Rev. Craig Schwalenberg, assistant minister at First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee, which recognizes civil unions by same-sex partners.
“Attaching a stigma to those who choose not to marry or to divorce for good reason is not something I’d be interested in promoting,” he said.
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Jun 22nd, 2009 by Nicky
Whoa, what a month!
To all you long-term members, allies and newbies:
April has been so eventful!
Nicky was in the process of helping AtMP move a NEW office in Brooklyn. We are very excited about that! But, our mailing address and phone number are still the same.
We’ve also been hit with the Travel Bug. Jessica (AtMP intern) was in Boston for Spring Break, Nicky heads to DC this Friday and Albany this Tuesday. AtMP is trying to pass a new bill that would provide greater hospital rights for New Yorkers.
We are now back and in the process of updating our blog, so sit tight everyone! New info will be posted on the blog within the next few days, if not hours!
Keep track of our blog. We will not disappoint!
Thank you!
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Apr 22nd, 2009 by Jessica
Blogs We Like
A great way to start the new year is to read informative, interesting and up-to-date blogs! AtMP has compiled two lists of noteworthy blogs that cover issues and topics we care about. Enjoy!
Blogs that are frequently updated and invaluable:
Beyond (Straight And Gay) Marriage: Nancy Polikoff’s blog is a great addition to her book (same title). It covers all of today’s major legislation and court cases that affect both straight and LGBT unmarried people.
Living Single: Bella DePaulo’s blog on Psychology Today is a great resource for information about being single in today’s society. Her posts also help debunk many of the myths about singlism. Also be sure to read her wonderful book, Singled Out.
Onely: This blog also tackles singlism while pointing out that being single does not equal loneliness.
Rachel’s Musings: Rachel Buddeberg is a member of AtMP’s board of directors. Her blog reflects some of her core values: the abandoning of matrimania and the recognition of ALL families, both married and unmarried.
Single File: This advice column by Susan Deitz helps answer individuals’ questions about being single; a very helpful resource!
Blogs that are new and/or less frequently updated, worth keeping an eye on:
Bella DePaulo: This is DePaulo’s other blog available on the Huffington Post website. This blog is yet another worthwhile read.
Kay Trimberger’s Blog: This is a link to Kay’s website which contains a list of blogs she has contributed to these past two years. Her articles also focus on being single.
Kidfree Forum: This international forum is available on KidFree & Lovin’ It. It addresses various elements of being “childfree.”
Open Fidelity: Open Fidelity is a website and blog about non-monogamous relationships. The creator, Ann Sharman, writes various articles about the subject and how to remain faithful while polyamorous.
Singletude: A Positive Blog for Singles: Its contributors truly are proud of being single and discuss topics like family, friends, careers, hobbies and of course, singlism.
The Unmarried Estate :This new blog by a young lawyer promises discusses issues that affect unmarried Americans in regards to estate planning.
Do you have blogs you’d recommend? Let us know so we can add them to this list !
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Jan 25th, 2009 by Jessica
Eye on the Courts
Despite all the hype about the power of the courts to change the course of American law and culture, and all the hype about ‘activist judges,’ many legal experts see the courts as ‘lagging indicators’ of cultural change. In other words, judges (especially the Supreme Court) generally won’t rule in favor of a cultural shift unless they believe the culture has already shifted that direction.
So, one way to guess how close we are getting to fairness and equality for unmarried people is to keep an eye on the courts. Recently, state courts offered us two small steps forward and one step back:
Yesterday, AtMP sent boxes of chocolates to two Iowa judges who ruled that it is “arbitrary and irrational” to assume that an unmarried sex offender is a greater threat than a married sex offender. They wrote the dissenting opinion, so this is only a small step forward.
Despite the new adoption ban, an Arkansas judge has given temporary custody of a child to the child’s unmarried grandmother, who lives with her same-sex partner of nine years and is the only relative able and willing to adopt her grandchild. This is a small step too.
But a Minnesota court ruled that it’s ok for gyms to charge married and unmarried people different membership fees. While not as life-changing as child custody, these fee differentials really bug lots of people.
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Jan 15th, 2009 by Nicky
