Read
- MAMA: Mother Against More Activities, via BrainChild Magazine, a recap of a fascinating PBS documentary (linked below) and how it made the writer feel about her own parenting.
- Roxane Gay is as generous as I’ve come to know her in this tweet-list of essay tips.
- The Washington Post reported that in terms of time spent with our kids, quality is more important than quantity. Although I’m not sure I needed more permission to ignore the girls on occasion, I’ll take it.
- It is worth going back and reading this Chookooloonks post from 2011. It was the first time I can recall someone referring to “curating” her life, and though I’ve heard it said many times since, it’s never been better put than by Karen.
- This post on a Harvard blog came along just as I was in the middle of writing an essay on my experience of race in Boston. It’s a worthwhile read (and discussion) that I hope you’ll share.
Hear
- I finally got around to listening to the Snap Judgment best of 2014 podcast, and it was well worth the listen. “Creep” and “Heart Failure” both touched me, just lovely.
- The New Yorker Fiction Podcast is excellent. A place to begin is Nabokov’s Pnin.
- Sufjan Stevens’ new album was released this week, and the Atlantic ran an article about its source of inspiration, his grief after his mother’s death. Pitchfork published a lengthier interview as well. Local friends, he’ll be in Boston in May.
Say
- Have you ever thought of or participated in Toastmasters? It’s on my list of things to look into this year.
See
- Wednesday night was the first Arlington Author Salon, and it was heaps of fun. So fun, so so many people. It ended up being standing room only! I rarely make proclamations, but here goes nothing: this author reading thing is something that will become a permanent part of my life now because I can’t imagine not getting another chance at absorbing the energy from that many positive, smiling people. I daresay that café was full of the most smiles I’ve seen since moving to Massachusetts. Maybe it’s a little strange for my hobby to be promoting other people’s writing, but if it gets me to more of these events, I’m willing to be called weird. That was way more fun than should be allowed. I embraced my status as a supreme nerd and delighted in buying all three authors’ books and having them signed.
- I enjoyed this PBS documentary, Twin Sisters, about identical twins from China who are being raised in Sacramento and Norway (mentioned in the Brain, Child article linked above).
- This Save the Children video to bring home the cost of war in Syria is breathtaking (Warning: cry potential is high, hankie recommended).
- Because now you could use a smile, meet Pearl the pig. And because there can never be too many videos of cute animals, here’s one of her running around the room.
- To lighten the mood, here’s a Stephen Colbert banana bunker “tutorial.” (p.s. Groupon sold banana bunkers and then responded hilariously to people’s comments on Facebook.)
Eat
- The Hamgiving Sandwich, via Epicurious. “Because Easter is only one day, but Hamgiving lasts a week.” Amen.
- If that doesn’t gild your Easter lily enough, try this Cadbury cream egg chocolate ice cream on for size.
Heirloom Mothering 