Growing Pains Don’t Last Forever...

Growing pains don’t last forever.

Central Pennsylvania is having them, so it’s only appropriate that MODE Weekly is having them, too. As we complete the transition from publishing biweekly to weekly, we work and work some more …

But that’s a good thing. Because there’s still more work to be done.

After accepting MODE’s offer six months ago to become editor, I had vestiges of reluctance. First of all, I was still hankering (after 16 years in the ‘Burg) to move "home" to Boston, which has its own problems but certainly can’t be accused of being retrograde or non-liberal. In our third e-mail conversation, the publisher and I suffered a communication meltdown. He joked; I reacted with classic feminist lack of humor. (Guy walks into bookstore, asks for Humor Section. Clerk answers, "Sorry, sir, we don’t have a humor section, this is a feminist bookstore.")

It was a weekend. He wanted an 800-word piece in by Sunday at midnight as a "test."

He enforced his request by saying, "None of those ‘mommy’ excuses."

I went berserk. "A test? Look, I’m 41 years old. I have a B.A. from Harvard, a Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr, three children; I’m tired of tests. And furthermore, as a college and high school instructor, I’ve already worked for plenty of arrogant male chauvinist assholes. I don’t need to go there again." He wrote back. "Wait just a minute: I might be an asshole, but I’m not a chauvinist."

The conversation resumed. I trusted that the publisher was speaking the truth, and recently, his behavior has proved that he did.

In April, we devoted an entire issue to the crisis of Domestic Violence.

Then, the publisher set me loose on the highly politicized — and gendered — issue of gun control.

My Letter to the Editor on the Million Mom March sent to The Patriot-News evoked many warm responses. One response was from a MODE freelance writer, a staunch supporter of Second Amendment rights. He pointed out one striking similarity in the goals of the Million Mom March — more effective safety regulations concerning guns — and those of the NRA — the safe and educated handling of guns. This one aspect of policy agreement is routinely overlooked by mainstream media who normally look only for "differences". Our writer also pointed out that lost in the rhetoric is the fact that the illegal weapons flooding our streets and schools — perhaps the worst aspect of the gun imbroglio — has been swept under the rug.

Without dialogue between mainstream media and MODE, this similarity in otherwise feuding organizations would never have become evident.

Now I turn with some trepidation to yet another clash between traditional values and our changing demographic landscape.

About a week ago, I handed our casually dressed MODE intern (who happens to be a woman of color) a $1,000 digital camera and sent her off with an invitation and a business card to photograph visitors to the Harrisburg Symphony Designer Showhome, a worthy fundraiser put together by the Harrisburg Symphony Association. On the event’s opening day, the volunteer who greeted our intern turned her away, saying that the home was "too crowded for the press." Our intern explained that a full house was good because her assignment involved taking photographs of the guests, not just the home, for our Mode @ Large column. Good publicity for the Symphony, right?

She was told to come back the next day at 10 a.m.

The next day, she arrived promptly at 10 a.m. to be greeted with the words, "Oh, you’re back." She was then shunned into the kitchen with the comment, "Come on in here, there aren’t many people in the kitchen." She was hurried through one or two rooms and escorted out — of the home.

A few days later, I arrived with the same camera. Purposefully dressed in black linen, heels, and pearls, I handed out my card and explained I was with the press and requested permission to take photographs.

I was graciously welcomed. I just happen to be Caucasian.

When an effort like the Symphony Association’s, meant to improve cultural offerings in Harrisburg, is — ever — tainted by this type of behavior, we all suffer.

We’ve all had enough of Central PA being thought of as a back woods. We all need to make sure it isn’t.

I don’t think my reaction to our intern’s experience is radical feminist knee-jerking. In York, a liberal religious community was struck by arson (News Clues, page 4). In Harrisburg, a daycare facility has been threatened. In Lancaster, Planned Parenthood can’t do its job because of anti-abortion sentiments (page 10).

Come on, Central PA. Stay with me. Growing pains only hurt at first.

Lisa E. Paige-Stone, Ph.D.