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…
The Arts
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…
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….
No, I don’t think I’ll become a Bradley instructor
I remember the first time I got a message from the Bradley Method® of Natural Childbirth after my son’s c-section in 2006. The subject heading — “The World Needs More Bradley® Instructors!” — didn’t exactly feel warm and fuzzy to my tender belly and the emotional guts beneath it. But it was the contents of…
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…
If you like my body…let me know!
Being pregnant in the summer is a different experience than having a baby due in March. My body is really out there. And I mean out there. But still, people have been pretty nice. One friend complimented me on how good I looked and then made the analogy: “like an olive on a stick.” I…
Preschooler’s first movie: Babies
Although we are not media-free, I’ve avoided full-length feature films and had not considered taking my son to a movie before the age of six, at least. It just seems like way too much stimulation, not to mention the whole Waldorf thing about media stifling kids’ imaginations. But when I saw the trailer for the…
Elusive instant gratification
I cannot find the USB cable for my camera. It astounds me how annoyed this makes me — the idea that I have to wait and do some searching in order to load onto my computer photos I can perfectly well see on the camera itself. Remember when we used to have to develop pictures?…
Can’t find time to write about not finding time
Well, I keep meaning to blog about the great Enterprising Moms (TEM) event I went to the other day with guest speaker Brigid Schulte who wrote this great article a few months back in the Washington Post Magazine: “The Test of Time: A busy working mother tries to figure out where all her time is…
The buzz around Samantha Bee
When I first heard that Samantha Bee had written a memoir and was coming to a downtown DC Borders, I was both excited to read something by the hilarious Daily Show correspondent and pissed that I had a birthday party in the ‘burbs the same afternoon. As luck would have it, predicted (but unrealized) thunderstorms…
Poetry and motherhood
Last month I attended an amazing session on the politics of writing motherhood at the Split this Rock Poetry Festival. Read more about it here in a piece I wrote for Mothering.com
Parenting anthology deadline 4/15
I thought I’d posted on this, but I must have just sent people emails about it. Write for Charity is seeking submissions for a parenting anthology that will benefit charity. Submissions are due Thursday, 4/15/10. I’m still working on mine! For details, check out http://writeforcharity.wordpress.com/ This page says: “You are welcome to submit any parenting…
New book! Knocked Up, Knocked Down
I was thrilled today to get an email blast from author Monica Murphy LeMoine that her book is now available on Amazon from Catalyst Book Press. Order your copy of Knocked Up, Knocked Down: Postcards of Miscarriage and Other Misadventures from the Brink of Parenthood today! Never one to hold back or bullshit, Monica is…
Dissed for Summer Camp
This post orignally appeared on DC Metro Moms on March 3, 2010 Dissed for Summer Camp Why do I feel like a loser if my four-year-old has no one to go to summer camp with? Last year I’d signed him up for just one week at a French camp, your standard 9:30-12:30 Monday-Friday day camp….
What is a snowstorm good for?
This post originally appeared on DC Metro Moms on February 8, 2010 What is a snowstorm good for? Just what all does one do during a snowed-in weekend like we’ve had here in the DC area? I got an email this morning telling me that DC Metro Moms was low on posts, so I imagine…
I’m a jealous friend
This post originally appeared on DC Metro Moms on December 18, 2009 I am a jealous friend Hey there, Misery. I’ve got some company you haven’t met yet. They’re called my friends. May I introduce you to each other so that you feel so lonely? And so I don’t? Lately I’ve been really making use…
Mom pens children’s book on food allergies
At a recent screening of Fresh, the movie, I met a lot of great folks who care a lot about food and health. One was author and local mom Mary Rand Hess, who just published a children’s book called The Day I Met the Nuts (illustrated by Candice Hartsough McDonald) with Earth Day Press. The…