New Directions for Men

The old norms so useful for tens of thousands of years had men predominantly as the providers and protectors. The hierarchical structure of dominance supported king of the herd practices that I see documented on the Nature channel. Later humans learned to cooperate later developed social systems that evolved to tribes and today's communities. Tens of thousands of years later the situation is not the same. The dominance pattern or hostility patterns of old is not really useful. Men and women now work together and the world and business has become more relational.

This blog is about family, fathers, sons and comes with a heavy emphasis on being a man in today's world. Over the past six months I have been collecting and reading articles about young males coming of age, young adult men and in general how men operate and change in enjoy life in 2011 and beyond. I'm posting links to them here along. It's been in draft mode for too long.

Where Have All The Good Men Gone?
Wall Street Journal Feb 19, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704409004576146321725889448.html?mod=e2tw

The End Of Men
Atlantic Monthly July 2010
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-end-of-men/8135/

National Center for Educational Statistics
Income levels for men and women age 25-34
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=77

Young People Reach Adulthood Later
Discovery News Feb 16, 2011
http://news.discovery.com/human/young-people-reaching-adulthood-later.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1

Sharing and Passing It On

What do you pass on to your children?
Parents help their children learn skills- personal, professional, and how to be and live in the world. They share their gifts of who they are...and stand to witness the children as unique individuals of their own.

I'm reminded of this as my birthday was last week. Each birthday in our family comes with a special meal- a dinner at a restaurant, at home, or an exotic take out. For the last three years my birthday craving has been Japanese food- particularly sashimi. I enjoy the mix and mystery of both artful presentation and diverse flavors. This time we had take out of tempura, appetizers and a sushi/sashimi tray from Sakura (yelp) in Wyckoff. We added some additional sushi grade tuna steak from Ramsey Farms (yelp).

Afterward we posed for a picture- full of fish

So the amazing thing, the blessing for me- is to see our family enjoy the combo. They're highly interested in experiencing new flavors, textures and enjoying it together.