Here’s one of many hard lessons I’ve learned as a writer publishing primarily online: You can pen a gorgeous piece about some timeless topic—parenting or faith or health or grief. And if your piece doesn’t have a news hook—if it doesn’t mention some hot topic in the news up front and then go on to make some point about said news item—many (most?) editors aren’t interested. I get it. It’s a loud, nonstop world out there, information flying at us... Read more
Yes, I know American Idol is passe. The audience numbers are way down. The show hasn’t produced a true superstar for years now. It has become utterly predictable. Every year, contestants make the same mistakes (singing ballads week after week, refusing expert advice on song choices), engage in the same inane banter with the host, and hear the same phrases of criticism or acclaim from the judges. But I still watch Idol faithfully every Wednesday and Thursday night—for reasons that... Read more
by Stacie Longwell Hill, guest blogger Editorial note from Ellen: I was thrilled to recently make the acquaintance of Stacie Longwell Hill, who has experience in both bioethics and as an embryologist in a fertility clinic. She shares my Christian faith, and has worked alongside Christian physicians treating couples for infertility. Stacie currently works in marketing for Conceivex, a company that has developed a “Conception Kit” to help couples perform insemination treatments at home to overcome some common causes of... Read more
Golly, things get heavy around here sometimes, don’t they? They do. I’m feeling the weight this week, of tackling these difficult, emotional, intimate, provocative, divisive concerns. So when my son’s teacher e-mailed me with his latest poem, I decided to share it, to lighten the mood a bit. My kids go to this fabulous, amazing public school with a huge emphasis on the arts, and especially creative writing. The result is that all three kids have been churning out poetry... Read more
Every Friday, I post a link to a blog post written by one of my fellow bloggers at Patheos, a web portal devoted to religion and spirituality. I encourage my blog readers to click through to read these posts, comment, and if you like what you read, follow these bloggers as well. On Patheos’s Emergent Village communal blog, Jana Riess (who also happens to be my book editor at Westminster John Knox) wrote this week about how Facebook can comfort... Read more
Several years ago, as I was just beginning to blog about reproductive ethics, I asked my editor whether I should proactively write about my pro-choice leanings on abortion, or just let the topic arise naturally. I decided on the latter course, in part because I feared that if I wrote explicitly about abortion, the divisive and incendiary nature of the issue would distract from everything else I was writing about in reproductive ethics. Our cultural preoccupation with abortion, and tendency... Read more
As a lifelong Protestant, I’m always surprised to find myself defending Catholic positions on reproductive ethics when others criticize them. Often, people’s criticisms of Catholic teachings about reproduction and sex are based on laughably inaccurate assumptions. These are some of the most egregious criticisms I’ve heard: – Catholic leaders just want people to have more Catholic babies. – The Pope thinks that children conceived via reproductive technology are “undignified.” (This one arose from a misunderstanding of what Catholic theology means... Read more
A few weeks ago, a blogger friend sent me a link to something he wrote, saying he thinks it’s the best think he’s ever written. That got me thinking. I too have a “best thing,” a blog post that practically wrote itself and that I am particularly proud of. (Long-time readers probably know which post I’m referring to, and I’m sorry guys, but you’re going to have to read it one more time.) I figure most bloggers probably have a... Read more
Hartford Courant columnist Rick Green featured me and my book, No Easy Choice: A Story of Disability, Parenthood, and Faith in an Age of Advanced Reproduction, in a column in today’s paper. He and I had a long and far-ranging conversation last week; I am grateful for his time and attention, and the way he brought in larger questions about the increasingly difficult choices that parents-to-be face as prenatal testing grows. In the hope that some Courant readers will find... Read more
Every Friday, I post a link to a blog post written by one of my fellow bloggers at Patheos, a web portal devoted to religion and spirituality. I encourage my blog readers to click through to read these posts, comment, and if you like what you read, follow these bloggers as well. I am 43 years old (44 in a few months), but when I first arise from my bed each morning, I look and feel more like I’m about... Read more
Ellen Painter Dollar
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