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Two interesting bits on men breaking down gender barriers have popped up in the last couple of days. This piece from Knight-Ridder details a father getting involved with his local PTA. It's a thoughtful story, touching on the historical mom-centric nature of PTAs (the National PTA used to be the National Congress of Mothers, according to the story) and some of the struggles dads face when they join. The dad-in-PTA isn't novel everywhere. My local elementary school and my local middle school both have men as their PTA presidents. But I've had enough conversations with enough guys to know that not everyone is so lucky.

The second story worth reading is this piece from the Clovis (NM) News Journal. It profiles Mark Marius, a stay-at-home father of three, who is the head of what was once called the Officers' Wives' Club at Cannon Air Force Base. Kudos to Mark for bucking stereotypes at a place where I'm sure stereotypes are still in force.