What the mail brought today
Mar 6, 2009 Book work, Writing
There it is! I really like what Rebecca said about my piece in the front, too (naming me with another Columbus writer and now maybe I have an excuse to introduce myself to her!):
Paula Penn-Nabrit and Dawn Friedman say that whether exhausting or heartbreaking, the decisions we make should benefit our families not just today or tomorrow, but two, three or even six decades from now.
Also, while I haven’t read Ms. Penn-Nabrit’s essay yet (seeing as how I did just get the book two seconds ago) I did read her book, which is about homescooling as an African American family so I especially like being listed with her in the intro. And I am so freaking excited to be in a book that Z.Z. Packer is in because her short stories BLOW ME AWAY.
Tags: Columbus, essay, Homeschooling, rebecca walker
Girls Rock
Dec 4, 2008 Parenting
We’re seeing a bunch of movies playing at the Wexner Center family film festival. Four of them we’re seeing as part of an in-school (for us, homeschool) program but tonight Kristen got us member tickets to Girls Rock. It was fab. I cried off and on through it and I’m sending Madison straight to Rock Camp when she’s eight (quick note: Susie Simpson, local camp founder, was also a HighBall Volunteer and works at Stonewall Columbus –obviously she rocks, too).
Besides making me think of my own growing up and my ex-boyfriend who is apparently dating a founding member of Bikini Kill, (which makes me wonder how he’s changed since he was no feminist back when I knew him), and about Madison’s future especially given her small tantrum before we left because none of her dresses have BOWS and she likes her dresses to be FANCY and have BOWS, it also made me think about Noah.
See, it’s not just girls who get screwed by gender roles and even though boys have the power and the privilege, as the mother of a boy I have to worry about the cost for my son who is currently sweet and kind and gentle (like his father). After all, I’ve seen the hits his dad has taken and my own brother and even that jerk of a boyfriend who may or may not be a nice guy now.
I wish there was a camp for boys that would be less about learning to be loud and take up space (since boys don’t need to be told they can do that) and more about having feelings and owning feelings (since that gets kicked right out of them.) Although I think there’s more leeway for boys to be who they are (and not diet, pluck, shape or cinch themselves into something else), I do think they get wedged into other roles that can feel if not as dangerous certainly stultifying.
I feel an urgency for both my kids. This stuff is pretty easy when they’re little but as the teen years loom, I can sense how much trickier it gets to be. But the movie made me feel hopeful. I feel like there’s a lot we can do as parents if we keep our eyes (and our minds) open.
Tags: boyfriend, Columbus, feminist, gender, homeschool, Madison, Noah, Wexner
Knocked out
Sep 16, 2008 The Story of My Life
Hurricane Ike knocked out Columbus. Like many of my neighbors, we’re without power and have been since Sunday when gale-force winds (gusting up to 65 mph) came through and threw down trees and powerlines. We sat on the front porch and watched the trees in the field behind the houses across the street whip up then slow as the trees closer in whipped up and slowed until finally our own trees were whipped into the wild frenzy. We watched it over and over and Madison, caught up in the energy of the storm, danced and sang and spun.
I’m at my mom’s trying to catch up on work on her computer. She doesn’t have wifi so my laptop (with all my needed passwords) is useless. I’m trying not to panic about all I have to do and can’t do. I’m trying (and not succeeding) in being zen. I mean, there’s not much I can do about it right?
Even though I’m frustrated, I’m grateful, too. Grateful that the weather is cool and sunny. That our water is clean. That reports say we’ll have power back by midnight Sunday at the latest. That my mom has power, a full ‘fridge and an open door policy for her kids. We’re luckier than most people in Ike’s (or Gustav’s) path and don’t I know it!! (Pennie hasn’t heard from her mom yet — she got her own power back last night.)
The kids think it’s a madcap adventure with M&Ms (Grandma has a full bubblegum machine and a tin of pennies at the ready) and unlimited wii. They’ll remember it fondly just like they remember the blizzard that took our electricity and sent us to spend Madison’s first Christmas at Brett’s parents and the way Noah remembers the ice storm a couple years back because we toasted marshmallows in the fireplace.
And the work, lord knows, will still be there when the power comes back. A week late maybe but folks understand especially the folks here in central Ohio with me.
Life happens. What can you do?
Tags: Brett, Central Ohio, Columbus, frustrated, Gustav, Hurricane, Ike, Madison, my mom, Noah, weather
