Remember last year, when we got a puppy? In case you’ve forgotten, this is what I wrote about Folly way back in 2013: The mess, the smell, the training, the chewing, the barking…all that pales in comparison to what a dog can bring to family, if she’s loved and trained properly. Oh, last year me, that was adorable. And absurdly idealistic. Here, let me just fix that sentence for you: The mess, the smell, the training, the chewing, the barking…all... Read more
Me: “Linc, why? Why? Why do you do things like eat Expo markers and shove Legos up your nose? Look at this, child! Look at what I just pulled out of your nose!” Tank: “Linky naughty-pants. I sowwy, Mama. Kiss?” Read more
A delightful comment on my post about sewing on buttons spawned a rather, uh, interesting facebook debate the other night. It began with an observation about this seeming trend for younger, millennial moms to act as though the domestic arts are an unattainable fantasy, yet at the same time unworthy of our brain power. Instead of attempting to learn them, we do things like blog about hiding in the bathroom and checking facebook while our kids destroy the house around... Read more
This week the Vatican hosted Humanum, an international, interfaith colloquium on the complementarity of man and woman. The first keynote address was given by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, and it is absolutely stunning. I found his descriptions of the biological evolution of sexual reproduction and the anthropological evolution of monogamy particularly compelling, but it was the way he ended the speech that make me cry into my coffee. Since this is a religious gathering, let me, if I may, end... Read more
Remember that one time I tried to learn to sew? That dress is still sitting in a box in the closet, as half-finished as it was when I wrote that post. Clothes are not really my area of expertise. I’ve only just begun learning how to wear them properly. Until last year, I owned a pair of cargo pants, which I wore — unironically. My favorite item of clothing as a teenager was a pair of JNCOs. My entire sense... Read more
And they totally meant to: Showing a rather shocking disregard for the long-term safety of human civilization, Microsoft has become one of the first companies to deploy autonomous robot security guards. Dubbed the K5, Microsoft’s Silicon Valley campus was being policed last week by five of these roughly human-sized 300-pound (136 kg) robots, each equipped with enough cameras, sensors, artificial intelligence, and alarms that they can replace most human security patrols. Fortunately, despite looking like uncomfortably like a Dalek from the... Read more
Charlotte: “Liam, I’m going to tell you a story. Once there were 99 sheep, and one got lost. So the shepherd left the boy to watch the 99, while he went to find the lost sheep. While he was gone a wolf came, but the boy had cried wolf so many times that nobody believed him anymore, and a wolf came and ate the 99 sheep all up. And that’s because God is the shepherd, and you’re the naughty boy.”... Read more
Here’s the thing about Eve Tushnet — she’s Catholic through and through, in a way that I only long (and sometimes pretend) to be. When I read her posts about sublimation and obedience, I am equal parts inspired and ashamed. I’m inspired because she’s taken her faith and woven a life of such beauty with it that it seems transcendent, otherworldy — saintly, even. I’m ashamed because her cross is so much heavier to bear than mine is, yet she... Read more
(I found this recently, and thought its historical truths were worth sharing.) Tonight marks the 4th night of enemy aggression. We are exhausted to the point of delirium, yet the enemy shows no sign of fatigue. If anything they seem energized by our lackluster return fire and the involuntary drooping of our eyelids. Even as we write these words, they are passing a conch shell and menacingly holding eyeglasses over dry tinder. At every turn, they confound us.... Read more
Barefoot and Pregnant
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In