From about age 15 or so, Audrey Hepburn was my idol. I worshiped the iconic film star, watching her movies again and again, poring over books about her life, and searching for images of her online. I could have done worse. Hepburn was, by most accounts, an extraordinarily lovely person, both inside and out. In Roman Holiday–my favorite Audrey movie–she’s lovely without trying to be, and the beauty and dignity of her character is apparent even as she portrays a... Read more
I have a new post up at Christianity Today’s women’s blog, her.meneutics, on birthing videos and whether or not they are ‘modest.’ My answer? Of course they’re not modest, but they may serve an important purpose. Here’s a taste: Candice, a regular Her.meneutics reader, wrote to me recently in response to this post, asking what I thought about women sharing their photos and videos of giving birth. Another Christian website had called this practice “immodest”; Candice, who is pregnant and... Read more
I’m going to be away for a few days welcoming some new life into the world, and not in any sort of professional capacity. Wheee! New Baby Smell, coming up! In the meantime, can I give you a little seasonal advice? Bit of Advice #1– Bit of Advice #2– ‘Tis the season to carpe donut. Read more
The blogger Tony Jones (“Theoblogy”) as had a series of posts on why homeschooling is terrible and awful and bad for society and you’re a bad Christian who doesn’t really love Jesus or your neighbor if you do it. My friend Helen Lee (author of The Missional Mom) wrote an excellent response at Scot McKnight’s blog, Jesus Creed. I don’t really have any desire to enter into this particular debate. (If you want to get some idea of part of... Read more
I have a review in this week’s issue of The Christian Century, taking a look at this book: Here’s how it begins: Last year a furor erupted when Alix Spiegel’s story “Can Therapy Help Change Sexual Orientation?” aired on NPR’s Morning Edition. Spiegel talked to two men who had undergone what is sometimes called conversion therapy, briefly exploring the ethical questions raised by the controversial practice, which the vast majority of health practitioners regard as not only ineffective but harmful. For... Read more
Come on. Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte does not get to redefine the scope of the seasons. I am not ready to strip over (has this typo really been up all day? Oy. I meant TRIP over) those plastic pumpkin buckets and bags of orange-and-black wrapped candies at the end of the grocery aisle. It’s still time for reveling in the bounty of summer. But now that it’s cooling off, it’s also not awful to think of roasting things. Like food.... Read more
Some weeks (months?) ago, I told you that I was aiming for a regret-free summer, and that, for me, that means a lot of beach-going. Since we live 15 minutes away from, oh, 15 or so beaches. I’m never going to not have some regrets, alas, but it has been a beautiful summer. We’ve eaten *whatever* for dinner so that we could go to the beach. I’ve said, “it can wait” to writing, to laundry, to cleaning, to home-schooling so... Read more
There’s a joke that nurses like to tell about doctors: a doctor will hear a rumbling noise in the hallway and, tapping his pen on his pad, goes over the various theories as to what it might be. Meanwhile, the nurse will just go and see. {Just keep that joke in mind, okay?} One of my favorite animated films is the poorly-titled How to Train Your Dragon. I first saw it in Germany (the cinema had one or two showings... Read more
yes, us people are just poems we’re 90% metaphor with a leanness of meaning approaching hyper-distillation and once upon a time we were moonshine rushing down the throat of a giraffe yes, rushing down the long hallway despite what the p.a. announcement says yes, rushing down the long stairs with the whiskey of eternity fermented and distilled to eighteen minutes burning down our throats down the hall down the stairs in a building so tall that it will always be... Read more
…lazy Monday. I hope you’ll excuse me as I take a day off from posting! Happy Monday! Read more
Rachel Marie Stone
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