THE big question I get from readers these days is, "What about Tiger Woods?" It is my practice to respond to every e-mail or snail-mailed letter that I receive.

Most folk who've been following my parent missives through the years know pretty much what kind of issues I prefer to comment on. Others, and certainly those who want to hear my take on the golf great, haven't as yet found my rhythm.

Asked one e-mailer, whom I haven't answered yet, "Are you ignoring what you ought to be writing about because you maybe  think it is a bad something for an African-American woman to write about?"

I am not assigned a topic nor am I assigned what point of view to take on the topic, which I have chosen for the week.

In the early days, back to the `70s , when I wrote a column in the Pasadena Star-News the topics would be classified as social issues, which is very broad and might have encompassed a point of view on the current Tiger Woods media nonsense.

For some years I did not have a column, but when I returned about five years ago, the category I pitched to the editors was parenting. My chosen topics in this category are quite often a news story involving families.

Another misnomer about this golden opportunity, I have, of sharing my views in the newspaper , is that I was selected from a pool of talented journalists with fancy degrees from places like USC, where I'm frequently called an alum simply because I've lived in Los Angeles County all my life.

Do not ask me to explain how our members of the public come to make assumptions of this kind.

I have a degree in sociology from UCLA. But how did the newspaper pick me? It didn't. Back in the day I began by writing (constant) letters to the editor. One day, at a luncheon held at Brookside Clubhouse, I sat next to the late Charles Cherniss, the former Star-News editor, and I mentioned I would like to write a column.

His response: "Send me 10 and we'll see about that." I took him 10, within two days, and was told that he gave me his standard response but I was the first to step up to the challenge.

Why have I come back to write about parenting and how do I pick what to write? Parents are pretty much an ignored bunch of people when it comes to their trials, tribulations, faults, successes, dreams and points of view. While I certainly don't represent all of the above, I write to provide my commonsense approach to issues that parents face.

Picking the week's topic is no easy matter. I keep my ear to the wind - listen hard and concentrate steadily on what I hear parents talking about. I depend on the news and develop an angle that hasn't been presented, which usually turns into the commonsense angle. Also, readers make suggestions and I follow up on those.

Let me add, the editors of the paper who run my column (which becomes this blog on my website)  hold the power of rejection!  But thus far, every topic has passed muster - or, more to the point, has passed the current editor's scrutiny. This doesn't mean the paper shares my views.

And, here on the webisite, you've got the instant opportunity to include your reponse.  The newspaper readers have to send in an email and hope and wait for it to be printed.

Here on the website there ain't no oversight and no one who can decide NOT to run what I write!

 his blog can be found in our column section where you can print a copy or e-mail to someone
            http://talkaboutparenting.org/pages/articles.php