Month: February 2018

My daughter recently read ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry’ for a third-grade book report. It’s a Newbury-award-winning novel that is truly exceptional. It is beautifully written and very moving. And hard. Really hard. It is set in 1930s Mississippi and, although narrated through the eyes of a nine-year-old girl, it doesn’t flinch from the… Continue reading Hard Conversations

Valentine’s Day is a balancing act. There’s a razor-thin tightrope all Type A parents must walk to succeed. On one side lurks the chasm of high expectations. On the other is the pit of broken dreams. How do you make this a holiday that proclaims your love and devotion for your offspring without accidentally setting… Continue reading Slime and Scones and Saying ‘I Love You’

My uncle died last month. Lung cancer sucks. All cancer sucks. The whole thing is wildly and brutally unfair. Nobody deserves that crap, but especially not kind and generous people who spend their lives making the world a better place. But this isn’t a piece about the hideousness of cancer. This is a piece about… Continue reading Grief and Love and (Yes) Fun

On a whim – and under the auspices of new year’s self-improvement – I installed an app on my phone that purports to painlessly teach the user to speak Spanish with just the investment of a few minutes each day. Several weeks later, I’m totally hooked. Certainly some of my interest can be attributed to… Continue reading Bears Don’t Eat Penguins, and Other Useful Spanish Phrases