After a summer of moving and letting the light box run for way too long so I could make food or unpack something or wait on hold on my cellphone trying to get our phone and internet connected, I was really hoping to cut the cord to the TV once school started. For crying out…
The Arts
Art as birth activism
I’ve known artist Jessica Clements for a while, but it was a thrill this week to attend the symposium she organized and to see her MFA thesis exhibit of birth paintings on the campus of George Mason University, right in the middle of the Johnson Student Center. Talk about bringing art and activism to the…
Where are reporters when you want them?
I just attended three (partial) days of an amazing conference where doctors from around the world were presenting fascinating information, including explaining how they came to question practices they’d had for years — even decades — before something caused them to question what they were doing. There were a few camera crews, and I’m told…
Writing mama as citizen journalist
Today Mothering Magazine editor Peggy O’Mara spoke about the “new health journalism” at the National Vaccine Information Center’s Fourth International Public Conference. She contrasted “industrial media” — most of which is owned by only 10 companies — with digital media. I like thinking of myself as one of many “citizen journalists,” a “participant observer” reporting…
Great play about WAHM
This past weekend, I got to see a (free!) reading of a new play by Karen Brody, author of Birth: The Play. At the Kennedy Center, as part of the Page to Stage program, actors read from evolving scripts, including Brody’s one-act “Michelle Obama: Taskmaster”. The play introduced us to Beth, a working-at-home mom of…
Essay published in Exhale
The July issue of Exhale: A Literary Magazine for Intelligent People Who Have Lost a Baby, or Have Trouble Making Babies in the First Place includes a fabulous (and award-winning!) piece by my colleague and friend, Kim O’Connell. “A Feast for What Was Lost” is a must-read. My essay appears as this issue’s featured story….
Joining the profession
Once I got the piece published in the Post, I felt like I could call myself a serious enough writer to join what used to be Washington Independent Writers (now gone national to be “American” I.W.). Though I didn’t register in time to go to any agent pitch sessions (which frankly was a relief after…
TV Blues
Last month PBS Kids hosted a lovely event for us DC Metro Mom bloggers. I ought to have posted something about it, but it was kind of culture shock for me, and I didn’t want to write and sound ungrateful. Before the event, I didn’t know anything about Super Why or any shows for preschoolers….
Mother/Daughter stories
Arena Stage has posted my mother/daughter story and my friend Kim’s story on its blog, Stage Banter.
Mom playwright article
I am just so fascinated with the story of this local mom of three who is a hugely successful playwright. The Washington Post ran a nice piece about Karen Zacarias a few weeks ago. It’s helpful to hear how another mom and her family were able to set priorities for her to be successful as…
Public radio, how I’ve missed you!
I used to love listening to radio on the weekend. Often I’d be cleaning or doing laundry or sorting the schoolwork I had to grade while I listened to Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, This American Life, Studio 360, sometimes From the Top. Back in my grad school days listening to WNKU (across the river…
Whose kid will be the next Adam Lambert in 20 years? (Or Susan Boyle in 40?)
This post originally appeared on DC Metro Moms on May 16, 2009 Whose kid will be the next Adam Lambert in 20 years? (Or Susan Boyle in 40?) My husband and I “aww”-ed in unison when watching a preschooler at Adam Lambert‘s old community theater ask the American Idol finalist how he got so good at…
Moving targets — when your kid can’t count on you
This post originally appeared on DC Metro Moms on April 28, 2009 Moving targets — when your kid can’t count on you “Leave, Mommy,” said my son when I walked over to where he was enjoying a friend’s toys. And upon leaving another playmate’s house, he protested: “No, I want to stay here. I don’t…
It’s a writing conference, and I’ll cry if I want to
I didn’t want to. I just did. Cry, that is. I was actually having a lovely time at the “Conversations and Connections” writing conference until we hit the moment of speed dating with editors. I froze. Choked. Lost it. Whatever negative verb you want to pick, it probably fits. The problem was partly that I’d…
Mama meets with other writers
“Mommy’s going to work all day tomorrow,” I told my son. “To work with your student?” Usually I leave for work only in the evenings, to tutor. When the sitter is here on Wednesday mornings, I say I’m working in the basement, usually for my “meeting” (new chapter of Holistic Moms Network). But tomorrow I’m…
A bra costs WHAT?
This post originally appeared on DC Metro Moms on April 7, 2009 A bra costs WHAT? I feel like Sleeping Boobie. In 2006, I had a baby. Three years later, he weans and I find out that a nice bra costs as much as a good massage. I’m sure you can get a decent bra…
Wanna take pretty pictures
I’ve been saying lately that I want to take a photography class before I turn 40. Well, I’ve got less than four years to do that now. I’m not sure how it will fit in to everything else I want to do, but I do want to learn how to capture things that I think…
My friend, a prize-winning author!
I just got back from a great meeting with my writing group — women who consistently challenge me and teach me, as a writer and as a mother. One of our members had to stay home with a sick child tonight, but it was great to see that she recently won the Silver prize at…
Bye Bye, Book World
The Washington Post is going to stop printing its Sunday Book World insert. I know a lot of extra expense items are going by the wayside these days. I also understand that there are a lot of other publications out there that fit this bill, and I should be reading those. But this was my…
The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had – a novel for middle school aged readers
A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend Hooray for Books‘ book release party for The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had, a novel for middle grade readers by first-time novelist Kristin Levine. I did, however have with me my son (just a month younger than the author’s daughter), and keeping him from…