So, the New York Times has discovered virginity.  In the Sunday magazine article by Randall Patterson, we read about "ivy league virginity" (not to be confused with virginity among less well bred plants).  Question: would this article have been written about a virginity club at LSU or Ohio State?  Or is the core idea of this piece that people at Harvard should be too worldly wise--too smart!!!--to even consider restraint?  

Mind you, abstaining until marriage seems to be beyond rare; fewer than 5 percent of brides are virgins on their wedding day (silence reigns on the grooms, of course--nudge nudge, wink wink).  But is it really newsworthy  that a few young adults at Harvard and other exalted schools see room for taking sex and love a bit more seriously than so much of our culture suggests?  The "wait til marriage" message might be hard for some to stomach, of course, especially given the rising age of marriage and the increase in co-habitation.  But there is a moderate middle in all this.

The real club that I think we need is one that gives voice to a commonsense, centrist view -- that sex has risks and meaning along with real potential for intimacy, and that it belongs in committed relationships not one night stands.  What shall we call this new club at Harvard?  Any nominations?  And once it is formed, will the NYT write about it?    

I love this article from Slate -- simply because it has the temerity to suggest that the well being of a child might be at least as important as the desires of an adult.  When it comes to getting pregnant and having a baby, it's NOT all about me (what I want, me, my life and me), it's all about we (what is best for a family?).  Emily: you are my new hero.  Be strong. 

Richard Russo, the world's greatest living novelist (sorry, it's a measurable fact, not an opinion), recently penned an op-ed piece for The Washington Post.  In the piece Russo imagined what might be in a novel he would write about the Eliot Spitzer train wreck.  In the piece Russo says:

Fictive Eliot will do exactly what the real Eliot has done, only my guy almost never imagines getting caught.  And when he does occasionally consider the possibility, he trusts that there will be ample warning that disaster is imminent.  For the most part, things in his life have happened slowly, especially the good things, and he trusts that bad things will evolve similarly.  He will swerve at the last moment (emphasis mine).  The possibility of a head-on collision, swift and devastating, simply never occurs to him."

There are at least 6 dead trees on my desk as I gear up for my first blog entry.  I am nervous.  I am excited.  I don't know what to write about so...I will tell you why the dead trees -- I mean, the massive reports -- I have in front of me are distressing.  All are from very well regarded groups.  All are scholarly, loaded with graphs, bloviating at full throttle with phrases like "priorities for public policy should be based on the following core principles..."   ALL talk about the problem of poverty in America, especially child poverty, along with some specific parts of the grim picture, including dropping out of high school.

About one-third of teen girls become pregnant at least once by age 20 and fully half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned.  

Not too good.

By posting some intemperate thoughts about sex, love, relationships, pregnancy, childbearing, the media, public policy, our dogs, and other topics, we hope to spark, engender, provoke, stimulate--take your pick--a two-way discussion about the high level of fertility chaos in the United States.  We hope to discover innovative ideas on how best to bring down the high rates of teen and unplanned pregnancy in this country.  We hope to further develop a national movement on these issues.  Who knows, from time to time, we might even offer up a few cogent thoughts that will be helpful.