To my high school graduate, Here we are, nearing the end of your senior year. This is not how I imagined this year for you. It’s not even close to what I’d hoped it would be. I know you have watched class after class of seniors celebrate, make memories and launch into adulthood together. You […]
Immigration, Foster Care and Tenacious Motherly Love: A Conversation With Gena Thomas & Leslie Verner
by on December 5, 2019 Leave a Comment
Email subscribers, please click through to the website to watch the video. In Gena Thomas’ new book Separated by the Border: A Birth Mother, a Foster Mother, and a Migrant Child’s 3,000-Mile Journey, she tells the harrowing story of Julia, the 5-year-old girl who traveled from Honduras to the United States with her mother. After […]
Why I Read Controversial Books With My Kid
by on September 30, 2019 Leave a Comment
My seven-year-old daughter and I just finished reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. It took us all summer with stops and starts because of camping trips and visits with family. I was amazed at how engaged Bea was in the story since this was the first “capital L” piece of literature we tried. About halfway […]
As One Holds the World
by on June 27, 2019 Leave a Comment
You are all eagerness and joy when you grab me by the hand and pull me onto the front porch The sun has just passed the barn and now spills around its edges, gilding the tips of the mimosa and bathing us in buttery light Our shadows are long Our faces alive We sit side […]
Sisters in Mental Illness: Shaley Hoogendoorn Talks to Jessica Birak of Mint & Birch
by on June 26, 2019 Leave a Comment
[ Trigger Warning: Mention of abuse, as well as an eating disorder.] This month, Shaley Hoogendoorn talks to Jessica Birak, founder of the jewelry company Mint & Birch, who is also a vulnerable and honest advocate for mental health. They talk about topics related to anxiety, depression, postpartum, hypochondria, eating disorders and healing from childhood […]
