My second column for Bay Windows, Of Dinosaurs and Monsters, is now online. If you live in Massachusetts, you can also find a paper copy, suitable for reading on the T, in the doctor’s office, or whenever your cable modem goes out.
Thanksgiving and the pending winter holidays are for most of us a time to be with family. As we enter into this season of love and light and kinship, it seems appropriate to reflect on the changes propagating through society’s traditional view of families.
A recent study from Washington University in St. Louis found that firstborn children who had many siblings, close in age, and of the opposite sex tended to have more creative ideas than their latter-born siblings. I’m not sure the study has any daily relevance to parents—I’m for encouraging creativity in all children. Still, one passage
LesbianDad has a thought-provoking Father’s Day post on fatherhood in lesbian families, and her chosen role as Baba, a “parent midway between Mother and Father.” This brings to mind some of Kwynne’s earlier postings on Butch Baby Makin’ in which she talks about parenthood and butch identity. These are important views that don’t get a
Is it just me, or do the Fisher Price “Rescue Heroes” remind anyone else of the Village People? Every time I see them in a toy store, I keep wanting to line them up in “YMCA” poses. According to Fisher-Price, sometime before age four my son is supposed to graduate from toys like the Little
There’s been a lot in the media recently about how boys are struggling in the U. S. educational system. Newsweek ran a cover story in its January 30 issue titled “The Trouble With Boys,” and PBS this month aired the documentary “Raising Cain: Boys in Focus,” based on the book of the same name. Some
(Or should that be “Lesbianism, Identity, and Being a Mother”?) There’s a great dialogue about identity going on right now on two other lesbian moms’ blogs. Both Renee and Kwynne offer different perspectives on how being a mother can raise questions about and change one’s sense of self. How true. Losing my own identity–as a
This weekend marked the 18th annual “Creating Change” conference sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Among other things, the conference included a screening of “In My Shoes,” a half-hour movie produced by middle and high school-aged members of COLAGE, about their experiences as children of same-sex parents. I haven’t seen the film
The idea of “life hacks” is a growing phenomenon right now, especially in the geek community. A computer hack, in the non-malicious sense, is a small script or shortcut to facilitate common tasks. A “life hack” is any tip or trick to help cut through the clutter of our everyday lives. Several prominent blogs, notably
