There is beauty and terror in every aspect of life worth pursuing, says Emily Rapp. never thinking this would cost you anything, never imagining the sound of my voice as anything but part of you— you won’t hear it in the other world, not clearly again, not in birdcall or human cry, not […]
You don’t have to share DNA to be a family. It is a typical Saturday morning. I struggle through the grocery store, the toddler threatening to jump from the cart to find the fish, the 10-year-old reminding me we’re out of grape juice and asking if can we please get a new kind of ice […]
Why does outrage about sexual objectification coming from a conservative woman have to be labeled as censorship? Yesterday a story spread across the Internet about a mother who was so offended by the explicit nature of a new line of T-shirts at popular retailer PacSun that she bought every inappropriate T-shirt in the store to […]
Think pot is just for tree-hugging hippies and deadbeat stoners? Think again. Even before the tests came back, I knew it was lupus. I’d been meeting the textbook and Internet criteria for months. In sunlight, my exposed skin broke out into pink and painful sores. Nausea and stomach cramps made even the thought of food […]
This originally appeared on Everyday Feminism. Republished here with permission. I do not want to have children. When it comes up in conversation, people are shocked by my choice. People who have or want children sometimes seem offended by it. Others brush it off, saying I’ll change my mind someday. Maybe it’s surprising that I […]
This originally appeared on The Daily Life. Republished here with permission. On a recent visit to her grandparents, my 4-year-old daughter Violet decided to wear her favorite skirt. It’s also the most stained, torn, and tattered skirt she owns. But I let her. Same goes for when she opts to wear to kindergarten a bedazzled […]
This originally appeared on Mommy Man: Adventures Of A Gay Superdad. Republished here with permission. I forget sometimes what outdated attitudes still linger outside of this nice little gay-friendly bubble in which I spend most of my life. Last month, I recorded a podcast called Dadsaster. The topic was Gay Dads, and I was the […]
This originally appeared on Alternet.org. Republished here with permission. Some people feel their kids are their greatest achievement. For a long time I thought mine was not having any. “What’s your greatest achievement?” That’s such a good question. It lets you dwell for a moment on the things you’ve got in the plus column of […]
This originally appeared on Alternet.org. Republished here with permission. A growing body of research finds that procreating can be a bit of a downer. We’re often told that procreating will make our lives happier, and that not having kids will be an empty, bleak experience. Nonsense, says a growing body of research. From Nobel […]
I knew it was the right decision, but that didn’t make it easy. My back was in knots and my body trembled from the nausea; I knew, immediately and without question, that I was pregnant. The mother of a 2-year-old, I didn’t need to pee on any stick to remember the heavy and persistent sickness […]
Why are we so uncomfortable with bodies that we see as different in any way, and what makes people feel entitled to engage with them in such intimate ways, and in public? Imagine that wherever you go—to the grocery store, to work, to the mall, to the bank—people touched you without asking your permission and […]
I yell at my kids, I let them eat junk food (sometimes), do scary things, and watch TV. But I’m a good mom. And so are you. When you think about what it means to be a good mom, some may picture the attachment parent who’s baby-wearing and co-sleeping and making her own organic baby […]
