Virginia Woolf takes the second spot in my series of quotes by famous lesbians about motherhood. I offer these quotes for thought and reflection, and hope they demonstrate a variety of attitudes and viewpoints. There are no yard measures, neatly divided into the fractions of an inch, that one can lay against the qualities of […]
Akeelah and the Bee is a gem of a movie for middle-school and late-elementary school children. Eleven-year-old Akeelah lives with her overworked mother in South Central LA and mourns the death of her father. Her two older brothers have their own paths, one in the Air Force and the other hanging with gangbangers. Akeelah struggles
Today my son and I saw the first episode of Sesame Street to feature the new character Abby Cadabby. Most people concede it’s nice to have another female Muppet on the show, although many criticize the fairy Abby for being too stereotypically girly, pink, and sparkly. Frankly, I don’t see her as so much more
My three-year-old son and I have long been fans of Don Freeman’s Corduroy and A Pocket for Corduroy books. Corduroy is an inquisitive teddy bear whose understated adventures are charming and funny without sliding into cutesiness. More than anything else, the books are about the power of the friendship between the bear and his human
Tomorrow, September 30, is Museum Day, and that means museums across the U. S. will be offering free admission. Simply print a pass from the Smithsonian Web site and you and a guest can get in free to participating museums. (Special exhibits may not qualify.) The Smithsonian organizes the yearly event, but this is the
Before You Were Born: Our Wish for a Baby is a book series by registered nurse Janice Grimes, who works in an IVF (in vitro fertilization) clinic and is an IVF mom herself. The series is intended to help parents explain genetic origins to children conceived by assisted reproduction. Each of the sixteen volumes explains
The chat is now over. Thanks to those of you who participated, and to Rosanna for joining us. Welcome to those of you coming here for tonight’s chat with Rosanna Hertz, author of Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice. The chat will begin at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. At 8:45, this link will become live, and
To pique your interest in the online chat with sociologist Rosanna Hertz I’m hosting tomorrow night, I wanted to share some statistics she sent me about the changing shape of the American family. Less than 25% of all families consist of a married, opposite-sex couple living with their own (biological or adopted) children—down from 40%
Tomorrow begins the 25th annual Banned Books Week (BBW), which “celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them.” Despite the
I will be hosting an online chat with Rosanna Hertz, author of Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice: How Women are Choosing Parenthood without Marriage and Creating the New American Family, on Tuesday, September 26, 2006, from 9-10 p.m. EDT. You can read my review of the book here. Even if you’re not a single
