I wasn’t always a stay-at-home parent. Once upon four children ago — well, once upon three and-a-half children ago, pregnancy considered —I got a “real” job. A job for which somebody paid me in U.S. dollars rather than fully-funded trips to Safeway and ill-placed loads of semen. No, I was not a sex worker — at least … Read more
Being a #Tradwife [external link] is an old thing that’s new again. The idea that a modern partnership consists of one breadwinning partner and one bread-baking partner is back, courtesy of TikTok. And it’s not all wrong to live that way. But golly gee willickers, the subjugation that goes along with it is creepy as shit. For me, the … Read more
“Mama is her only epithet and synonym for God and the Government and the one force of majesty and intelligence obeying the call of pity, hunger, pain, cold, dark — MAMA, MAMA, MAMA.” -Carl Sandburg, in: “Seventeen Months” If you want to wound your daughter — or your son or nonbinary child — into one day becoming … Read more
Yup, we’re those parents. You know the ones. They tag along with their high-school senior on spring break. It’s pathetic. It’s also a great way to fly. In our defense, we were killing two birds with one jet engine (sorry). We have two seniors —our “Irish twins” John (18) and Wes (17). It wasn’t so … Read more