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Crunchy-Chewy Mama

Living naturally, most of the time.

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Jessica

Spring Emergence

May 10, 2022 by Jessica Leave a Comment

The past several months, I’ve had my head down focused on freelance writing & editing work, tutoring, and substitute teaching. Like many school districts, ours has a significant shortage of subs, and I felt compelled to take some days so that teachers don’t have to cover other classes during their planning time. It’s a little…

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Filed Under: The Arts Tagged With: writing

Literary Cypher reading 1/19/2022

January 16, 2022 by Jessica Leave a Comment

I’m excited to be reading from my short story, “Under Construction,” on Wednesday, January 19 at 7:00 pm ET in The Literary Cypher with seven other amazing women writers. To join on Zoom, check the event page the day of the event for the Zoom link: https://bit.ly/LiteraryCypherXV. “Under Construction” appears in Gargoyle 74 and is adapted from…

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Filed Under: D.C. Metro, The Arts

Burrowing & Surfacing

June 1, 2021 by Jessica Leave a Comment

In the DC area this spring, the electric buzz of cicadas seems nearly deafening each time someone opens the door. Within a few seconds, we acclimate to the sound, but each time we go outside, we shake our heads at the cacophony created by thousands of small wings and the fat bodies that sit underneath…

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Filed Under: D.C. Metro, Featured, The Arts Tagged With: cicadas, cycles, seasons

Written in Arlington poetry anthology

February 1, 2021 by Jessica Leave a Comment

I was so pleased to have my poem “Eleven One” featured in the new Written in Arlington anthology and on the book’s website just before its November 2020 launch! But it was a true delight to be part of the book’s January 24, 2021 reading organized by 1455, a literary arts organization and writing workspace and retreat…

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Filed Under: Featured, The Arts Tagged With: poetry

Saying goodbye to a soundtrack

October 1, 2020 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Saturday nights have been my solo time since my husband and I separated a year and a half ago. While Sunday nights have often been family dinner at his place, and Friday nights have been about me just settling into my space, Saturday evenings have been about inhabiting that space and exercising my mind, usually…

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Filed Under: The Arts

Who makes a mother’s day successful?

May 13, 2020 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Am I the only one who doesn’t find the efforts of everyone else’s children on Mother’s Day heartwarming? Not gonna happen around these parts, I think. It’s not like I’ve never gotten any appreciation from my children. For the most part they’re good kids. But celebrations are not something we’ve ever done well. And now…

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Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: children, coparenting, mother's day, parenting

View from day 47: pandemic papers

April 29, 2020 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Just as some food allergies can cause delayed reactions that are hard to place, so are all the weirdnesses caused by sheltering in place wreaking havoc on my children’s emotions and their abilities to self-regulate. Take today, for example, when my 9-year-old smashed her iPad down onto the dining table at 10:13 a.m., shattering her…

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Filed Under: The Arts Tagged With: challenges, home, parenting, priorities, schooling

How the Indigo Girls broke Facebook but soothed 60,000 hearts

March 21, 2020 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Less than a week into mass social distancing in response to the novel coronavirus, the Indigo Girls spent 90 minutes the evening of March 19 singing and telling stories to viewers in a generous online concert that brought together many of the people who would no longer be able to see the duo in person…

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Filed Under: The Arts Tagged With: community, connection, Indigo Girls, joy, legacy, music, social distancing

Fall into Winter (again)

December 17, 2019 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Although much has changed since this summer-fall recap post was originally written in December 2019, I’m backdating the post upon belated publication to reflect my reality at that time. —— When I look back on past Novembers when I did NaPoWriMo – National Poetry Writing Month – I love knowing that I found joy in…

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Filed Under: D.C. Metro, Featured, The Arts Tagged With: home, inspiration, nature, parenting, priorities, writing

Bright spots in spring

June 29, 2019 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Yoga on the Mall 2019 polaroid Jessica Claire Haney

Before the long days of summer parenting melt my brain, I want to capture some of the good that happened this spring. I wrote in late April about what life looked like in the first two months of my separation from my husband. Daily journaling for myself has become very important, but time capsules captured…

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Filed Under: D.C. Metro, Featured, Holistic Health, The Arts Tagged With: art, community, mindfulness, music, spring, writing, yoga

EcoAction Author Event May 21

May 11, 2019 by Jessica Leave a Comment

I’m pleased to be a featured reader at the first EcoAction Author Night on May 21 in Arlington, Virginia. EcoAction Arlington, the event organizer, was formerly known as Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment (ACE). The organization celebrated 40 years last fall! I’m honored to be reading with Tara Campbell, author of TreeVolution, from which she…

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Filed Under: Activism & Politics, The Arts Tagged With: author, environment, inspiration, nature, reading, writing

On being recently separated

April 26, 2019 by Jessica 1 Comment

It’s been two and a half months since my husband and I separated and I moved into a nearby townhouse. After my initial sharing and the kind replies of support I received, I’ve since had a handful of “how are you doing?” questions. A few – most of the ones in person – have been…

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: family, priorities, separation

On Saying Yes, No and I Quit

August 16, 2018 by Jessica Leave a Comment

I’m wrong a lot. Sometimes my first instincts against something turn out to be limiting beliefs and my reluctant Yes – to a person, to an event, to an opportunity – was a game-changer, something I can’t imagine not having in my life. Other times, my Yes to something that seems like a natural fit…

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Filed Under: D.C. Metro

What this spring brings

May 1, 2018 by Jessica Leave a Comment

After BlogHer Health, I did lots of thinking about purpose and passion, about time and transition, about mothering and more. The month of January stretched wide, like the mouth of an animal whose jaws seem to magically open to the horizon. I began using The Best Part of My Day Healing Journal and began understanding how…

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Filed Under: D.C. Metro, Featured, Holistic Health, The Arts

Recap: Inspiring BlogHer18 Health conference!

February 6, 2018 by Jessica 1 Comment

BlogHer18 Health, the first health-focused conference produced by BlogHer and SheKnows Media, was a terrific two days full of inspiring speakers, education and connection. To say that I’m glad I went is a profound understatement! It was terrific to be in a space with a shared language of health and wellness being spoken everywhere! I loved it! More…

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Filed Under: Activism & Politics, Featured, Holistic Health, The Arts Tagged With: BlogHer, BlogHer18, community, connection, entrepreneurship, healing, health, inspiration, mental health, wellness

It all comes back to – or starts with – childhood

January 17, 2018 by Jessica 6 Comments

Five years ago, in January 2013, shortly before I was to turn 40, I experienced something of a seismic shift from which I’m still feeling aftershocks. In the space of just a few weeks, I had the opportunity to interview three amazing people and be present to the same message told from three different perspectives:…

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Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: child, childhood, depression, doubt, fatigue, healing, hope, illness, Lyme Disease, mindfulness, parenting, trauma, yoga

On screens, suicide and surviving

November 16, 2017 by Jessica Leave a Comment

It was a year ago that I got clear just how profoundly my brother’s suicide nearly 30 years earlier had affected my life. I’d started to think about its impact on my health when I read Donna Jackson Nakazawa’s The Last Best Cure in 2013 and, in July 2015, Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Biology…

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Filed Under: Holistic Health Tagged With: challenges, confusion, depression, doubt, healing, parenting, priorities, suicide, therapy

Why I feel better… and worse (?!)

November 15, 2017 by Jessica 2 Comments

Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote a post called “Why I feel better” that detailed my supplement regimen and other healing protocols that I thought were helping with my physical and emotional/mental health. I’ve been feeling of late like doing another documenting, given that I feel like I’m made some significant improvements in the…

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Filed Under: Featured

Transformation and vision – big words, small steps

June 15, 2017 by Jessica Leave a Comment

If I had to draw a picture of the past few months, it would be something like a tornado, all swirly and intense with flecks of debris scattered throughout. Edited to add: Curiously, the day after I originally published this post, I found I had accidentally taken a fuzzy swirling photo of my foot during…

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Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: priorities

Busy spring!

May 5, 2017 by Jessica Leave a Comment

The first two weeks of May have been packed. The month started with a Clean Air Awareness event I helped to organize. It was successful and I hope will lead to more awareness about clean air habits, especially people turning off their cars while parked at school. That drives me crazy! The event went well…

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Filed Under: Activism & Politics, D.C. Metro, Holistic Health, The Arts Tagged With: book, fatigue, mental health, novel, priorities, publication, self-care, sharing, volunteering, wellness, writing, writing mama, writing mother

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Welcome to Crunchy-Chewy Mama, where the wilderness meets the sidewalk. Around here, I do my best to live as healthfully as possible. But compromises abound.

I also publish the resource blog Mindful Healthy Life of Metro DC. To learn about my writing and appearances and for details about the writing, editing and consulting services I offer, visit JessicaClaireHaney.com.

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