The hilarious anthology Have Milk, Will Travel: Adventures in Breastfeeding was published in August by Demeter Press (and reviewed glowingly by Literary Mama). The editor is heading up a Humor Blog Carnival this month. Details below! The book contains some 30 essays from mothers sharing the funniest breastfeeding stories you’ve ever heard. Even if the…
The Arts
Jealousy in the face of children’s periodicals
Maybe it’s just because I have a fever or a painful skin issue that came out of nowhere, but I’m feeling sad when I look at the issues of High Five and Highlights that are currently taking up real estate on my bathroom floor. I just for the first time took a glance at the…
So many choices! A blessing and a curse
The same things I love about a day home with my kids are the same things that drive me nuts. I’ve probably said this before, and I’m much more accepting of this contradiction these days, but I still feel it. At least the feeling is more like an ironic chuckle than an internal war that’s…
All I needed to know about myself I learned on Land/Sea
My alma mater, Kalamazoo College, contacted me some weeks back to let me know there would be a commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Land/Sea Program. Patterned after Outward Bound, this was a special orientation program and outdoor adventure experience for about 30 first-year students in an incoming class of around 300. In my…
Day 3 of daily writing: a poem out of season
My goal for NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) will be to write daily: I will aim to write a blog post and also, for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) to do at least 15 minutes of writing on my novel every day before 6:45 a.m. I might not get the blog piece posted with a photo until…
The desire to write: swallow and spit
Some might say if you can’t reflect, then just live instead. I like the concept, but in practice, it drives me crazy. How people live and live and live and manage to be happy only posting about it on Facebook and not writing about it in long form — or to at least have time…
The beginning of some kind of writing: starting NaBloPoMo
The heft of a child against your chest The sitting of a raindrop on a leaf The turning of the calendar on the wall The dirtying of dishes at the table The coming of a holiday or any day without consulting your level of preparation These things are humbling inevitable and all there is…
How to do only one thing at a time: a work in progress
I’m a lucky woman. I get to do a lot of cool things. This morning, I got to take my kids to their great public school, an Expeditionary Learning school, where children start every day Monday through Thursday with a morning meeting and start every Friday with a community meeting. I love that they see…
On blogging and living (simultaneously)
Everything changes, but what is important never does. That is the biggest lesson I’ve learned from parenting, and I think if I work hard enough, I can apply it to blogging as well. When I was a high school English teacher, back before I became a mom, I was constantly busy reading papers, or thinking…
On nostalgia and novels
It was a throwback week. And a week of looking ahead. Nearly three months after we were supposed to get together for coffee but got thwarted by a health issue followed by travel and a book launch (not mine), my high school friend and thriller author Allison Leotta (nee Harnisch) and I finally had lunch,…
Believing in work (and parenting): Femworking conference interview and reflections
What a delightful conversation I had last week with Kelley Sanabria, founder of Femworking, LLC and Nicole Dash, author of Tiny Steps Mommy blog and the co-chair with Kelley of the upcoming Blogger and Small Business Conference taking place in Arlington on October 26. They offered a discount for covering the conference for TheDCMoms.com, and…
Life purpose manifesto: Why I want to start a business
One step forward, two steps back. After yesterday’s post on my health journey and optimism for the future, I hit something of a wall last night that had me questioning myself and the purpose that had seemed so crystal clear just hours earlier. I tearfully emailed my energy work practitioner at 11:30 p.m. when, wide-eyed…
Breastfeeding and birth celebrated in book, film, conferences
Birthing and breastfeeding have been on my mind a lot lately for a woman whose days are normally filled with talk of baseball and potty time. My seven-year-old son weaned four years ago, and my daughter, who just turned three, lost her access to my breasts at 22 months when my health was just struggling…
Allison Leotta – mom, author, high school locker neighbor
Back in the day, thriller author Allison Leotta was Ali Harnish. That’s only a few letters — and one Kelly Hardin locker — away from yours truly, Jessica Haney. These days, Ali and I are both moms living in the DC metro area, and we both like to write. Ahem. Maybe the similarities stop there….
How TV and books influence our thinking about tough subjects
Television may have informed my opinions even more than I previously thought. Sure, I’ve complained for years about how I watched too much TV as a child. How I learned social skills by way of backstabbing wives on “General Hospital.” How the girl and girl and guy of “Three’s Company” were as much a part…
BlogHer arrival day
My computer and my body think it’s 12:22 a.m., but Chicago registers pre-midnight. Regardless of the time, I’m not out partying at #BlogHer13 but am instead doing what I so rarely get a chance to do: sit in front of my computer without interruption. This is what some would call bliss. Couple that with the…
Sharing our stories: a friend documents war rape
There’s been plenty of talk lately about sexual assault in the U.S. military. I have a friend who has been trying for years to share the stories of women who have been the victims of war rape. When she and I were seniors at Kalamazoo College, Ivana Ivkovic helped put on an impressive feminist conference…
Reading is fundamental (and so is writing)
I did not go to my child’s school to read in my pajamas today. Does this make me a bad parent? I’m going to vote no. I did have his dad pick him up some new non-flame-retardant-sprayed pj’s at Hanna Andersson yesterday (for the “it’s organic and in the mall” price far above Costco rates)…
A retreat and a reboot
Parenting really does make you tired. That’s the conclusion I reached after being away from my family for 32 hours and returned full of pep. For someone who’s had one of the toughest emotional months in her adult life recently and some physical challenges, it’s saying a lot to feel so good about the weekend….
What I learned from a month of poetry
December may be halfway over, but just because I haven’t blogged since I ended my month of writing daily poetry for NaBloPoMo doesn’t mean I didn’t learn anything from the process. I learned that setting an intention is powerful. I Did. Not. Miss. A. Day. I learned that I love writing poetry and taking photos….