because gender in our society is not superficial, installment 2

Kathy Sierra recently cancelled an appearance at the O’Reilly’s Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego and “suspended her blog because of death threats she received on her blog and threats of violence posted on other blogs, she said.”
It’s the latest variation on a theme, showing how misogyny manifests itself in our culture. I really And [...]

“Jan, you’re a feminist with a capital ‘femme’”

This assessment came from a supportive colleague back in my start-up days when I closed a rant about the webgrrls on staff who believed Feminism equalled nose-piercings, liberal use of blue nail polish and quoting Camille Paglia as brilliance incarnate, with a stomp, a deskslap and “No, that is not feminism. That’s the [...]

recent remarks from the toddler

“Now I feel very, very better.” – immediately following a dose of Children’s Motrin
“The doctor has a lot of bushes!” – his response to the landscaping next to the parking lot for the medical building
“Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep little mommy” – his first lullaby to me :)

heartsick, inspired

Some thoughts on the Edwards’ press conference yesterday, which left me somber and not a little heartsick.
A counselor mentioned the unusual, strange public-ness of the announcement. I agreed with her, but took exception from the perspective of media – that in the current media climate, they made the best decision they could, to be proactive [...]

soy and rice alternatives to dairy – summaries, updated

Upon discovering Ben’s allergy to milk protein (casein), I began a search for non-dairy foods including milks, “cheeses”, “yogurts” and frozen desserts.
Milks were the easiest to find; Ben is not fussy and will drink any soy or rice milk put before him. Even if it is not “vanilla” flavored. We like Silk, but usually buy [...]

hailstorm

A short hailstorm pelted the skylights, sounding more like gravel shooting out of a lawnmower. The rapid shower of tink tik tink tink led me to hit the mute button on my phone, sparing my colleagues the background noise and my commentary.

smackage! (v., Jadish)

In college, a friend gave name to a decade-old practice of mine to coin my own expressions and use them in regular conversation. (I had recently explained how I characterized guys who were unappealing, explaining the degrees of undesirability, and the factors that made one worse than the other. Clearly the outputs of a young [...]

Why I (heart) Pat Leahy

He appeals to all of my innate “Cut the crap!” tendencies, and he wields a big old scimitar. And sometimes, like today on the Senate floor while explaining a newly discovered verb tense, he almost cracks himself up.

why I look forward to the end of the day

Ben had been a co-sleeper from 90 minutes after his birth until 18 months. Those early hours were blissful -  7 in fact, lying on Mama, who was riding a tidal wave of oxytocin. Throughout the 60 hours of my hospital stay (yes, 60 hours from admission to discharge with a c-section in between), he [...]

Earning votes, one blog at a time

A few days ago, I posted about the woman who ran for the House in my district in 2006. During her campaign, I had supported her here at the table, with money, and chimed in on our NPR affiliate when a columnist for the Seattle Times made some condescending remarks about what she perceived was [...]