I have, in fact, met a whole lot of girls like you before. Only better.

Just got back from the movie version of Bachelorette, which stars Kirsten Dunst. I reviewed the play version here. Some notes follow, but the most important note is: Don’t see this movie. Seriously, just do not. I don’t believe in advice and I rarely give it but in this case I will make an exception. [...]

In which MarriageDebate molts.

Doesn’t that sound awful? But yes, my old snake has shed her skin, and I will now be posting the things I used to put here on the First Thoughts blog under the label “Kinship and Culture.” You can see the first post, which explains the blog’s purpose, here. Enjoy!

Featuring Melissa McCarthy, as Life Itself

I rang in my 34th birthday watching Bridesmaids with my best friend, and I really can’t think of a better form of celebration. It is a very crude movie (it opens with a graphic bad-sex scene, which is cringingly, eyes-coveringly funny and painful), hilarious and poignant, with a real generosity of spirit. None of the [...]

In which I look at ten years at a crisis pregnancy center (with extra links!)

First, my new article: For the past 10 years I’ve volunteered at the Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center, a pro-life Christian ministry in the troubled heart of Washington, D.C. Over this decade of listening to women in crisis, talking with them, helping them find the resources they need, praying with them, hugging them, sometimes inviting them [...]

“Three Kinds of Argument on Family Structure”

in which I say that sociology is not the queen of the sciences.

“Hope Away from Home”

In which I write up Laurence Yep’s terrific children’s book, The Serpent’s Children. Review is spoilerous; book is highly recommended. With bonus resilience-and-sensitivity reference….

“Resilience and Sensitivity”

In which those who can’t do teach, at AmCon! (And btw you really, really should read this piece by Michael Brendan Dougherty on growing up with a single mother.)

Also, apparently his eyes fire lasers. Like a shark, you know?

John Cheese is a writer for Cracked whom I have praised to you people many times. I linked to this piece in my AmCon piece about the problems with the “divorce counterrevolution” and I’ve linked several of his other marriage/parenting/family/uh… other stuff-related articles at MarriageDebate (which by the way you should all be following). Plus [...]

Kathryn Edin has a new book coming out!

about unwed fathers. This is my opportunity to tell you guys that 2008′s Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage, by Edin and Maria Kefalas, is probably the best book I’ve read on contemporary marriage and family life. It’s been incredibly illuminating for my work at the pregnancy center. It’s also [...]

“The Girl with the Most Wedding Cake”

I review a play, at AmCon.