When I learned from the DC Urban Moms calendar that the documentary Lunch Line was going to be screened downtown at Busboys & Poets last Sunday night, I could hardly contain my excitement. School lunch is an issue I’ve been getting very interested in, especially with the passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act in…
D.C. Metro
More on healthy food in schools!
My visit to Barcroft Elementary school’s Farm to Table celebration (referenced here last week) is now described in more detail on my column at the Washington Times Communities Family Today. Read “Authors, chefs encourage local, healthy food in schools” and tell me what your school is doing — or not doing — to promote healthy…
Grades are not the thing — musings on (Waldorf) education
There it was in this morning’s Washington Post: the same argument against GPAs and SAT scores as a predictor of success that longtime Waldorf educator Jack Petrash had discussed last week at a talk at Potomac Crescent Waldorf School. In his piece in the Outlook section, “To get the real star students, colleges should look…
Book reading as therapy: Monica Lemoine of Knocked Up, Knocked Down
I had the pleasure two weeks ago of hearing Monica Murphy Lemoine read from her book Knocked Up, Knocked Down: Postcards from the Brink of Parenthood while she was in town for a conference on perinatal and infant death. Let me tell you, Monica is no less engaging in person. Her book was already funny…
(Good?) Food in schools
I was so disappointed to miss last weekend’s Wise Traditions conference sponsored by the Weston A. Price Foundation. The topic was “The Politics of Food;” I looked forward to hearing about “The Politics of School Lunches” and in participating in the food activism panel with WAPF publicist and food blogger extraordinaire, Kimberly Harkte of Hartke…
Farm to School Week underway!
As I wrote about last week, November 8-12 is Virginia Farm to School week, as made official by the Virginia General Assembly. Today I share more about the efforts in Alexandria and Arlington public schools in my column at the Washington Times Communities Family Today. Click here for my previous post about Alexandria’s George Mason…
Virginia celebrates Farm to School Week — spotlight on Alexandria’s George Mason Elementary
With my son in currently attending a Waldorf preschool that makes all its own food from scratch (from organic ingredients), it’s been too easy for me to ignore what’s going on in public school cafeterias. Next week, November 8-12, 2010 Virginia will celebrate its second Virginia Farm to School Week, part of the greater Farm…
Author to read on miscarriage, stillbirth, and beyond
Monica Murphy Lemoine earlier this year published a “darkly humorous memoir of miscarriage and stillbirth” called Knocked Up, Knocked Down: Postcards of Miscarriage and Misadventure from the Brink of Parenthood. She’ll be reading from and discussing her book at two local Northern Virginia venues later this week. This woman has such a way with words….
Walking the talk (to slow down)
There’s so much to report on from the Freedom for Family Wellness Summit. But I have hardly had the time to go through my the messy, sketchy notes I took while my baby girl slept in the sling. And as it turns out, I missed a lot of the conference because it was just too…
Peggy O’Mara at Family Wellness Summit
I promised myself I would not stay up late since I have to get up before sunrise to make it back to Reston for the birth panel at the Freedom for Family Wellness summit. But I also will focus better if I can at least share some pearls of wisdom from Mothering magazine editor Peggy…
Freedom for Family Wellness Summit
Reporting here on this exciting event I’m attending tonight and this weekend! Wellness Summit to Address “Vitalism” and “Conscious Choice” Parents are up against a lot of choices these days. Whether the question is about vaccinations or breastfeeding, co-sleeping or where and how to give birth, today’s buzzword is “informed choice.” As International Chiropractic Pediatric…
On the bookshelf… Women and power
A few weeks ago, I went to a wonderful event with Gloria Feldt. She is one inspiring woman! Once a teen mom, Gloria went on to raise three children and to work for 30 years for Planned Parenthood, serving as its national president until 2005. I’ve only made a dent into her book so far…
Happy Midwifery Week!
I just found out that it’s National Midwifery Week! I want to publicly thank the midwives I have worked with who have supported me before, during and after pregnancies. Thanks to the midwives at BirthCare and Women’s Health, to Tammi McKinley, CPM, of Northern Virginia Midwifery, Susan Dodge, formerly of BirthCare, and Marilee Pinkleton, CPM,…
Baby’s first photo shoot
Professional photos are not something I’ve pursued for my family. It took me over a year to redeem a free shoot I won from Holistic Moms Northern Virginia chapter‘s one-year anniversary party for pregnant belly shots. When I connected online just a week later with DC-area newcomer Lisa Hager of Red Thread Photography, I was…
Wellness events in October
October is a crazy-busy month for natural-minded health and wellness junkies in and around Washington, DC. Pathways, the free magazine you see at massage therapy centers, health food stores, and the offices of alternative medicine practitioners is having its Natural Living Expo on Sunday, October 3 in Adelphi, Maryland. Folks who like to teach their…
Performance workshop for cesarean and VBAC mamas
A year ago, at the Kennedy Center’s Page to Stage weekend, I saw a staged reading of Karen Brody’s play Michelle Obama: Taskmaster. Now the author of Birth: The Play is holding what sounds like an amazing workshop for moms who have had cesarean sections and VBACs. If I didn’t have a newborn and live…
“It has gluten.” Escape route from junk food?
Not so long ago, my husband took our son with him to get a haircut, where the boy was offered a lollipop, something he previously didn’t know existed. In my world, we would just say no thank you. It’s just Not. Something. We. Eat. End of story. If he asked, I would have just said…
Consumer confession
Bless me, Earth Mother, for I have sinned. To cut to the chase, I drove a full 22 minutes on a perfectly gorgeous sunny autumn day to buy a bucket of plastic toys. Virgin plastic. $29.99. Lots of petroleum. Bad precedent. I know, it’s not pretty. So why did I fall so hard? It’s complicated….
I had a baby! HBAC story
This is the story of my home waterbirth, a VBAC.
Giveaway for Strathmore’s Backyard Theater July 29
I’m giving away four tickets to one of the July 29 performances at the Backyard Theater for Children at Strathmore. Performances are at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. On July 29, the show will be “Banjo to Beatbox with Cathy Fink, Marcy Marxer and Christylez Bacon.” The description of this act is: “Family folk meets hip…