Her kids have seen their reflections in computer screens more than in mirrors. Her young female counterparts have taken the "male" out of "email." And her husband, well, he's put away the golf clubs and taken up software design. Carol Brady no more: Matriarchs have moved to the Net
It's enough to drive a '90s homemaker back to the days of baking Spam casseroles and organizing neighborhood talent shows. Well, today's housewife is not being left in the digital dust. Forget the laundry, bills and errands. She is creating an electronic bungalow where her sewing room used to be. And when she gossips with Sally down the street or Donna back in Ohio, she has to dial into her server first.
Women like the Mad Housewife are venting, mobilizing, publishing, and, yes, bragging about their kids from all corners of the Internet.
"I'm a mad housewife who only does housework when the laundry crawls out of the basket and into the washing machine on its own. I'm a mad housewife who truly believes that pizza is the perfect food as long as the kids eat some fruit on the side," raves the Mad Housewife, who is really 32-year-old Annie from New Jersey.
She's not just throwing around tips on how to get the best buy at Mervyn's after-school sale. Annie's got links to the Center for Education Reform home page and the Catholic Files. Her bio includes everything from her ancestry to interests, but under her weight she taunts, "nice try."
Annie is linked to some others who make Carol Brady types look like, well, Carol Brady. In "Where have all the stay-at-home moms gone?" Annie's hooked up to women like: Kim Nish, a dancer who still doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up; Karen, a career mom who answers the question, "How can you stay at home all day" and Sue Ann Kendall, who loves pansies and calls herself a "lactating lunatic" and "flaming feminist."
Watch out. Matriarchy has arrived on the Net.
-- Courtney Macavinta, sacbee staff
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