After I read this poem that came to my inbox yesterday, I wanted to stand up on the subway and shout, “ATTENTION, EVERYONE. YOU WILL LOVE THIS POEM! You just might feel the same. It was published on the site American Life in Poetry, which bills itself as “A project for newspapers by by Ted Kooser, Poet Laureate of the United States 2004-2006.” The poem is by Carrie Shipers of Wisconsin, author of Family Resemblances: Poems (University of New Mexico Press). Mother Talks Back to the Monster by Carrie Shipers Tonight, I dressed my son in astronaut pajamas, kissed…
Author: lskenazy
In the morning, I like to take a walk with my friend, the mom of a 4-year-old. Lately, thanks to the terrible stories from Baton Rouge, Minnesota and Dallas, she says she has been feeling overwhelmed. Who hasn’t? And yet…and yet… The narrative of chaos and despair obscures and even discounts a different narrative that does not make it to the nightly news. (Which is morning-ly and noon-ly news now, as well.) It’s a narrative you’ll find in the “Crime Stats” tab at the top of my blog. And I was excited to also find it today in this perspective-granting…
The tale below comes to us from Alisha, a former paramedic who says she is “very safety conscious but sick of trying to raise a child in a 100% risk-free environment! Its not even possible.” I was actually talking about the TSA just this morning with a journalist who was asking when and how do we decide to expose our kids to “risk.” “Risk,” however, is a strange word. Everything contains a modicum of risk, including walking downstairs to breakfast. But once we focus on any risk, however slight, it starts to loom larger. And when we decide that we…
. Only in death, it seems, can a sex offender on the registry be considered a human worthy of love and sympathy. . Alton Sterling, the 37-year-old Baton Rouge man who was peddling CDs when he was shot by two police officers on Tuesday, was described by his friends quoted in this Reuters report as “a fun-loving guy” who was also a hardworking dad “who scraped together a living selling music recorded on compact discs.” . “He was a very nice guy, always smiling and laughing,” said Abdullah Muflahi, the owner of the store Sterling worked in front of. .…
Here are the admission rules for Toronto’s LEGOLAND: Please note: Children 17 and under must be accompanied by an adult supervisor 18 years of age or older. Adults (18+) will not be admitted without a child, with the exception of Adult Only Nights. So when you are 17 and 364 days old, you need an adult with you, because you are still a baby. But the day you turn 18, you need a kid with you, because otherwise you are a pervert. Nice.
If you had a sneaking suspicion that our sex offender laws have gone overboard, here’s the naked proof: A British man found not guilty of rape must nonetheless give the authorities 24 hour notice before he engages in sex. I’ll type that again: The guy must let the cops know when, where, and with whom he is going to engage in intimate relations. This notification rule goes into effect in August and The Mirror reports that the police are going to ask that it become permanent. Now the man, who is single, is threatening to go on a hunger strike.…
Great piece in The Calgary Sun by Michael Platt about the problem with anonymous complaints, like the one that forced a local family to take down its beloved tree swing a week or so ago (boldface mine): The mind boggles to think of the kind of pucker-lipped sourpuss who’d call the city to squeal on two kids having a little fun outside, using the city’s largely-anonymous 311 application to avoid actually confronting the neighbour in person. The anonymous caller system was, of course, birthed with the best of intentions: To keep citizens safe. Instead, it has turned into the easiest…
If you’re wondering why our country seems so bizarrely fearful, here’s the answer: We absolutely cannot understand that risk is inherent in everything, even things that are outrageously safe, like eating cookie dough. Recently, thanks to an off-batch of General Mills flour that sickened 42 people nationwide (none of whom died), the Food & Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control have warned us, yet again, not to eat raw cookie dough. They did not just say, “Get rid of that General Mills flour.” They said, basically: Don’t eat raw dough, because dough contains raw flour, flour comes from…
My husband has been loving “The Friedkin Connection: A Memoir,” by William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, The French Connection and more. The excerpt below is an incredibly stark reminder of how we used to trust — even expect — young people to be part of the real world. (It’s also a stark reminder of how Chicago worked, but that’s another story.) Trusting our kids to rise to the occasion is the opposite of “learned helplessness.” It’s learned competence, something we deprive our children of when we, out of love and fear, do everything with or for them (boldface mine):…
Worst-first thinking is sometimes hard to distinguish from “sensible precautions.” I guess it makes sense to make sure that kids are not born with dangerous drugs in their systems, but it also seems to assume that all moms-to-be are drug addicts unless proven otherwise. And does this test extend to other substances, too, like nicotine or marijuana? Who decides when a mom is “good enough” to raise her child? (And who is “good enough” to replace her?) Big questions. Anyway, here’s what happened to one mama named Maggie Downs: It’s the birth of my first child, and I’m seven, maybe…