I got a little upset the other day after I wrote a blog post about the Steubenville rape trial.  I wrote a pretty long post.  I felt that I set out my opinion clearly, and I put responsibility where it lay:  The boys should not have raped, the girl should not have been drinking and flirting with guys at a party, and parents should not have been letting their kids running around without supervision.  Go read it; it’s the blog... Read more

I don’t know how many of you have followed the rape case in Steubenville, Ohio.  The basics of the story are that two high school boys were accused of raping a sixteen year old girl at a party.  This morning they were convicted.  This is graphic so I’m warning you beforehand. The girl was drunk.  Blackout drunk.  Beyond falling-down drunk.  Evidently the young men digitally penetrated her vagina, inserting fingers.  That’s more than I wanted to write but that’s the... Read more

My son has decided to join the Civil Air Patrol.  I have the membership form ready to go.  Just have to pop it into an envelope with a check for the fee and we’ll be on our way. The Civil Air Patrol is a civilian “club” associated with the United States Air Force.  I was in it for a while when I was a teenager.  As a military brat already in ROTC in high school, the addition of CAP to... Read more

So, we live in a roomy suburban house in Virginia.  We have a big yard, albeit one that has sandy rocky soil that can only support moss and anthills.  One one side we have a small forest.  On the other,  a sloping hollow that gathers leaves and children’s toys.  The house needs some work, and this year we may be in a position to be able to do some stuff.  But as we talk about adding on a few bedrooms,... Read more

My husband is Arab.  He’s Egyptian, to be precise.  He has many good characteristics, but being on time is not one of them.  Over the years he has eaten many meals that were old and cold because he told he he’d be home for dinner at early o’clock and then he actually arrived at half past wife ticked off.  Even calling him to remind him doesn’t always work.  I’m sure many of my friends who are married to Arab guys... Read more

So, it’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post. Life has been keeping me busy. Most of my input into the online world has been in the form of quick Facebook status updates. Drive-by posting on the way downstairs to work or in the evenings after the kids are in bed, with guilty stops in during the day when I’m supposed to be doing my ebay stuff. My mind has been full of the trivia of daily life,... Read more

My husband and I recently took a short vacation, our first time away from the kids together in almost fourteen years of marriage. He’s gone overseas several times and I’ve been away from the kids from time to time while birthing siblings, but we’ve never had the chance to unplug, turn off the Mommy and Daddy radar, and just enjoy ourselves. We don’t trust our kids with many people, but his sister was down for a visit and we knew... Read more

I have been banging my head against the wall to write about this latest massacre in the US, the murder of 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  I feel like whatever I write will be either very sad and depressing or so “this is a test and if we succeed we’ll all get into heaven” trite that it is an insult to the grief of the families who lost their loved ones.  In a moment of... Read more

I have so much I want to write about, but I can’t seem to put together enough coherent sentences.  I have part of a blog entry written but I’m not satisfied with it.  I feel like I’m not focused and I don’t want to come across as trite or self-righteous or like some bloviating idiot.  I mean, what do you say to a parent whose child has been shot to death?  To a school that lost twenty students and six... Read more

Hey, you, yeah, you. The lady with the tattoos. The gal with the eyebrow piercings The chick with the blue hair. There is room for you in Islam. How can I say that?  How can I say that you can be a part of my faith as I stand here in my all-enveloping robes and my hair – do I even have hair? – hidden under flowing fabric? How can I even approach you, think we have anything in common?... Read more