February 2008
24 posts
Administrative: I’m now responding to your... →
As silly as it may seem to have to make an announcement, for reasons I can’t articulate in as short of a space as I want to take up with this post, I have generally responded to the comments here through e-mail. But as I attempt to move the writing I do here from being strictly centered on last year’s trauma, I’m going to work on continuing the conversation here in the comments. While my...
January 2008
69 posts
“The Oprah Winfrey show was talking about breast cancer during breast cancer...”
– FCC Complaints found via kottke.org
The Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience →
The text of the Howard Schultz memo mentioned in the NY Times article.
Overhaul, Make It a Venti →
I am just obsessed with stories about the Seattle coffee business. What’s happening with Starbucks is intriguing on many levels: as a narrative of the great wave of Seattle success stories that signaled the rise of the dot-com era a case study in the corporitization of America (and the world) the limitation of brand when your product declines the diminished returns when efficiency wins over...
Challengers and Georgio Girls →
It’s 1986 and I’ve just transfered to the gifted class at then new school. I have just turned ten. Two days later three girls from my class would get to spend the entire day watching television footage of the Challenger disaster, while the rest of us worked on assignments. I didn’t know why these girls were special, I accepted their status as fact. Their apparent worth only confirms for me my...
“The way the Prodisc was tested and approved provides a stark example of...”
– Financial Ties Are Cited as Issue in Spine Study - New York Times
The Claim: Never Drink Hot Water From the Tap →
“The claim has the ring of a myth. But environmental scientists say it is real.”
Cliche →
If you have taken courses entitled Feminist Philosophy and Studies in Gender and Literature, eventually you will look at yourself dressed in comfortable–but not stylish–clothes, festooned in a knee-length apron, peeling your rubber gloved-hands out of a sink of soapy water, with the thunder of your baby slapping her palm against the wood of the kitchen table; and you will be making your mental...
Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler - New York Times →
“Certainly, Bill Clinton lost no opportunity to inject race, alluding to Jesse...”
– Obama’s Youth-Driven Movement - New York Times
Two simple and sweet heart crafts →
Hanging Hearts Kid-friendly Recycled Heart
A tale of romance in three simple photographs
Parsnip Triptych
WatchThis is not the most brilliantly-animated lecture you will ever see, but it is illuminating. Garrett tried to get me to watch this movie for a week, but I resisted. You probably will, too. It’s long (47 minutes), but I have never had money and monetary policy explained to me in such clear terms, before. Unless you are a hardcore capitalist, there is much to appreciate here. You can also...
“Money can’t buy happiness.” It’s not that simple!... →
We’ve been thinking (talking, reading, heatedly discussing) a lot about money and wealth and the financial future of this family and this country. Then I noticed I hadn’t read any of the posts from The Happiness Project since the year began. This one jumped out at me. Here’s a poignant quote: I realized an analogy: money doesn’t buy happiness the way good health doesn’t buy...
The expectant ones →
I’ve been thinking about you and what it must be like when you get here. A search term entered here. A series of clicks there, and suddenly you find yourself immersed in this story.
I know, because I was once you.
You’re safely beyond that unpredictable First Trimester. Or not. Your doctor has smirked when you’ve used words like “natural” and “birth plan.” Or not. Your belly it itching. You...
Chore Wars :: Earning Experience Points for... →
An RPG that women can get excited about.
“Many people would shun a book if it were titled “How Not to Look Jewish” or “How...”
– Nice Résumé. Have You Considered Botox? - New York Times
At Sundance, a Second Life Sweatshop Is Art →
“But no matter how realistically rendered and lovingly framed in slow-mo, guts...”
– Rambo reviewed. - By Dana Stevens - Slate Magazine
Birth, The American Way →
My favorite and most chilling quote: “Normal labor, Block says, isn’t profitable (according to “The Business of Being Born,” a Caesarean can cost three times as much as a normal birth). If something does go wrong, in the eyes of the courts “a normal birth is a risk. The courts reward action,” Block says.”
The Tiger Woods Effect →
By Joel Waldfogel - Slate Magazine
Catalog Choice - Eliminate unwanted catalogs you... →
At Last, a $20,000 Cup of Coffee →
Happy birthday, my darling →
There are only two days each year where Garrett and I are not the same age: today and tomorrow. He likes to remind me all the time that he’s older and wiser than I am.
I let him have the older part.
Sex and the Teenage Girl →
“…There was a girls’ bathroom next to my classroom, which was more convenient for me than the faculty one on the other side of campus. In the last stall, carved deeply into the metal box reserved for used sanitary napkins, was the single word “Please.” Whoever had written it had taken a long time; the word was etched so deeply into the metal that she must have worked on it over several...
“You’re forced into, kind of, respecting yourself more,” he said. “You learn more...”
– —Heath Ledger Sad, yet profoundly prophetic. I suppose I am so struck by his death because I spent so much of my pregnancy reading Celebrity Baby Blog and seeing almost daily pictures of him, his wife, and his daughter. Becoming a parent changes everything. It’s such a cliche, but I...
The Procrastinator's Clock →
I would pay so much for a working, portable version of this.
Actor Heath Ledger found dead - CNN.com →
The image of him dead and alone in his apartment makes me think of the Innis Del Mar, the character he played in Brokeback Mountain. The image saddens me, deeply.
“We won’t do cosmetic surgery on fetuses right away,” said Dr....”
– An article from 1988. Looks like that prediction was way off. Surgery on Fetuses Reveals They Heal Without Scars - New York Times
Educating Eric →
Oddly, through some mechanics of automatic web crawling this article from May 2007 linked to one of my latest blog posts. It’s interesting, nonetheless, and raises some good questions about the blanket policy of mainstreaming. (From the Wall Street Journal Online)
A Video Interview with a Potential Suicide Bomber →
You know him better as Tom Cruise. All religious zealots are terrifying, regardless of which deity they pray to.
“Moderation in all things is still an excellent rule,” Dr. Westhoff said. “I...”
– Pregnancy Problems Tied to Caffeine - New York Times
“Good samaritan studies lonely jacket hanging from chair, then runs outside with...”
– An entire short story in two sentences. From: Maggie Mason
“If recent American history is ever going to be discussed with the necessary...”
– Taxi to the Dark Side - Movie - Review - New York Times
Love this project idea →
Not left behind →
This started as comment on Julie’s post, but it quickly devolved into a dissertation on my elementary education and why I believe in gifted and talented education. I’m not certain if I actually get to a clear point, but at a minimum it gives you a full vision of my elementary experience.
I went to a multi-track year round school and was in multi-grade team-taught classes from K-3. This is...
Retired grocery executive named Tully's president... →
This is interesting news to no one other than me, because Tully’s still stands as the one company where I lived and breathed the product and the mission. Needless to say, I’m still emotionally invested in its success (and I still drink their coffee every day).
“There are a lot of African-American single moms around, and some commentators...”
– Excerpts from Tim Harford’s new book, The Logic of Life. - By Tim Harford - Slate Magazine
WatchHillary Clinton is Tracy Flick from Slate
“…the blare of condemnation that drowns out so much of civil discourse on...”
– Why the Bad-Mommy Brigade Loves to Hate Britney Spears — New York Magazine
“Wesley Snipes, who is scheduled to go on trial Monday in Ocala, Fla., has become...”
– Wesley Snipes to Go on Trial in Tax Case - New York Times
random act of kindness →
Another feel-good story. I keep running into these, today.
Everything We Needed: A Story about Vince, Me &... →
A beautiful and thought-provoking story about human connection.
“…We—-culture, society and parent—-can unintentionally teach...”
– From When it comes to sexual harassment, it’s the little things that bleed you to death by Julie Pippert A chilling and powerful post about the subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways that a culture of sexual harassment can spread through an office and the ways that even “small incidents”...
Inheritance →
There are mornings (many mornings) when I have slept a full eight hours (or nine, or ten…), yet I awaken tired and sleep-deprived. Some sound awakens me. In the past, always the voice on the radio. Howard. Bob Edwards. Traffic report. Weather forecast. The glow of the numbers warning me that I’m going to be late. Again.
Now, it is usually a squawk from down the hall. An urgent screech,...
Honey May be Superior to Over-the-Counter... →
Honey and lemon was my most successful cold remedy while I was pregnant. It seems everything old is new again, even in cough medicine.
“To deny the frequent connection between combat trauma and subsequent criminal...”
– A painful and revealing article about a hidden cost of war that we are beginning to pay and will continue to pay, unless out country collectively makes better choices. Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles - New York Times