All posts in culture

pooh piglet burn patriarchy to the ground

Election Day 2016, summed up before lunch

November 8, 2016

6:17 am, pre dawn chat with my 10-year-old

Psst. Good morning. I’m going to go vote. Do you want to come with me?

…… 

Ok. Let me rephrase, it would mean a lot if you came with me to vote today. And someday, I think it will mean a lot to you too.

(mmmpht) ok.

Honey, I’m already feeling a little weepy. This is a big deal and I want to share it with you. I’m probably going to be sobbing tonight when she wins, too.

What if she doesn’t win?

“…. I’m probably going to be sobbing then, too. That’s why we vote.” More

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A road in the countryside, Latvia

Construction Season

November 14, 2015

“Depression scoops out your insides and tosses them to the winds. Realizing you are depressed is, in and of itself, depressing. Especially since I have been evading this particular diagnostic destiny since I was a child.

It seems ridiculous now, claiming health through diagnostic omission. Lacking a chart in a shrink’s office with my name, I was therefore safe and healthy? I suffered for a lot longer than necessary, and told myself that life was just this hard. That maybe I needed to build a capacity for happy. In darker moments, I shrugged off happy as something that I simply didn’t deserve.”

The Manifest Station, November 2015

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people of color are a global majority, not a minority

Minority = global majority

November 5, 2015

If you ever get a chance to blow an 8th grader’s mind, seize it.

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Gordie is wondering why The Huffington Post doesn't pay bloggers

Writers die of “exposure”

October 28, 2015

The Huffington Post, combing the web for trending pieces, curates a lot of solid content. Good stuff. Stuff I am willing to miss.

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Easy A hug MaryAnn

Give rejection the awkward hug it deserves

October 18, 2015

Think about the time we spend engaged in debate: pleading, proving or otherwise bargaining for ourselves and our perspectives. At work. At home. In the classroom. In our own minds. On social media, especially. Sometimes we offer a point of view rooted in our most cherished beliefs, our deepest convictions. More often, though, we might find ourselves frothily insisting that, yes, we are sure we refilled the goddamn printer paper.

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another round

Eavesdropping my way toward becoming a better racial ally

June 23, 2015

*I know now that ‘racial ally’ is a loaded word and concept that some people of color would rather, just, not. Plenty still to learn on this topic, obviously; our best intentions are not enough.

“White people are responsible for our own race education. Problem is, we haven’t exactly proven trustworthy with this task. We tend to hide out inside the vacuum, seeking voices that validate our experiences and don’t challenge us or make us uncomfortable.

Podcasting is a one-way medium. There is no chance for monopolized conversation, no my-black-friend bloviating, no #notallwhitepeople qualifiers. On Another Round Heben’s and Tracy’s voices resonate without interruption, speak the truth, and force us to shut up and, just, listen.”

The Broad Side, June 2015

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mommy wars thumbnail

The bloodiest front in the Mommy Wars is within

June 9, 2015

“Balance stumped me. I rarely drew boundaries to protect and care for myself. I did not neglect my child, but practiced abandonment every single day until I found that I had transitioned seamlessly from neglected child to neglected mother. More isn’t always better, time with children included. Staying at home meant that my child had me all to herself. But it also meant I was left with no self to myself. The sad irony is, if I had kept more for me, I might have had more for her.”

The Broad Side, June 2015

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your fear is boring

Elizabeth Gilbert on creativity and fear

March 11, 2015

After Elizabeth Gilbert’s Cleveland appearance this winter as part of the Cuyahoga County Library Writer’s Center Stage series, I had pages of notes demanding full-on essay treatment.

That was November.

In the little notebook I carry in my purse, there are four scrawled pages crammed between cabinet measurements for our kitchen renovation and notes from an early morning school levy campaign meeting. No essay. No grand reflections. A few stolen moments documented from a folding chair.

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Facebook is the id of our culture...nothing but fear and impulse and immediate gratification. The id is unresponsive to the demands of reality. Just like Facebook.

pondering Freud on social media
watts and her red gloves

What d’ya do with your hands?

January 21, 2015

I open with the best kissing scene in all of John Hughes history. Better than Sixteen Candles [snooze]. Better than the passionless pecks in The Breakfast Club. Better than any Brat Pack liplock involving Andrew McCarthy. Is it the soundtrack? The juxtaposition of sex and oil pans? Is it the badassery of Mary Stuart Masterson as Watts? No matter. It’s a cocktail of PG-sexy awesomeness.

Behold…the Kissing Lesson from Some Kind of Wonderful.

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