One hundred years ago, people in Europe and North America were waking up to this headline: and sadly mistaken ones, like this: My history-geek dad tells me that the survival rate among the third-class ticket holders was 25%, while the survival; for first-class passengers, the survival rate was closer to 65%–‘women and children first’ was more like ‘first class first,’ an elitism that would be less painful to contemplate if it weren’t still true today. If you’re born, say, in... Read more
A few days ago, I came across this great post at The Power of Moms: it’s about how your children want and need you–not Pinterest-perfect meals, home decor, and crafts: “Can we remind each other that it is our uniqueness and love that our children long for? It is our voices. Our smiles. Our jiggly tummies. Of course we want to learn, improve, exercise, cook better, make our homes lovelier, and provide beautiful experiences for our children, but at the... Read more
I have a new essay up at Flourish, a wonderful organization that “inspires and equips churches to better love God by reviving human lives and the landscapes on which they depend.” Although I had hoped that this essay would be about my experience observing a goat giving birth at our local Catapano Dairy Farm, it didn’t work out that way; goats, like people, refuse to birth on schedule. But you can find goat births on YouTube! Here’s some of what I... Read more
Yes, a book called Vegetables: A Biography sounds like it could be a real snooze; the French title, The Fabulous Story of Vegetables is a little better but sounds as if it could be a little tongue-in-cheek: aren’t vegetables, well, vegetative? Boring and dull, what could be said of them that might come close to being called a story? As it turns out, plenty. Because while it’s tempting to regard vegetables as products of nature (which, in a sense, they... Read more
Happy Easter Monday! Today I’m participating in Ellen Painter Dollar’s“Best Thing Blog Hop,” a chance for bloggers to shine new light on older blog posts that we consider to be among our best work. Visit Ellen’s blog to see a list of other participants, with links to their “Best Thing” blog posts, and click through to read a few. This event is designed not only to give bloggers an opportunity to dust off old work, but also to introduce readers... Read more
Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here; he is risen. A blessed Easter to you, dear readers! +peace+ ~Rachel Read more
Recently I was pleased to learn that the Moravian church continues to practice lovefeasts, and that they traditionally do so on Good Friday. A lovefeast service is dedicated to the ideal of Christian love, and is based on the agape feasts of the early church–you know, where the early Christians had all things in common and had their meals together every day. The Moravian Church in North America describes the lovefeast this way: The lovefeast of Apostolic times was resuscitated... Read more
Yesterday, the Christianity Today women’s blog ran my fuller response to Dara-Lynn Weiss’ tiger-mom approach to her daughter’s weight loss. In further exploring the Vogue story, I found the following telling quotations indicating Weiss’ own ‘issues’ with food: I have not ingested any food, looked at a restaurant menu, or been sick to the point of vomiting without silently launching a complicated mental algorithm about how it will affect my weight. She also notes that she has been on and... Read more
I’ve never had the privilege of meeting Kendra Langdon Juskus in person, but I think of her as a friend. She was the managing editor at Flourish, where I did some of my first-ever writing for an audience wider than my immediate family. Kendra’s wisdom and guidance helped me refine my writing and to find the courage to submit articles (and book proposals!) to various magazines and publishers. Thank you, Kendra! I’m so very grateful. Kendra recently won an important... Read more
So I have a thing about last meals. There is something about them that moves me deeply, grips me with a sadness that I can almost, well, taste. And so I can’t stop thinking about the bright-dull sweetness of Arizona Iced Tea and the crisp-chewy-juicy pops! that are Skittles. And it makes me feel ill. Not because I have anything against Skittles or Arizona Iced Tea. But this? This is not a last meal. It’s a snack, a child’s snack,... Read more
Rachel Marie Stone
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