When Big Little Lies premiered as a limited series on HBO in February 2017, it seemed to promise little more than a sophisticated version of ABC’s Desperate Housewives, full of rich feuding moms, steamy affairs and maybe a catfight or two. Instead, week after week, Big Little Lies delivered nuanced stories of motherhood, female identity... Continue Reading →
Is blogging dead? Has social media jumped the shark? Hell if I know, but I do know I love newsletters! I subscribe to lots of them, and they're *almost* as good as getting real mail (because who gets real mail anymore?). I'm moving away from social media as much as I can (hard to quit... Continue Reading →
The moon has long been compared to humanity’s feminine side––the ancient Greeks worshipped the moon goddess Selene, and later Saint Francis addressed her as “Sister Moon” in his most famous prayer. She is familiar yet foreign, ever changing but predictable, cycling through her phases each month, rotating around our self-important planet. Her selfless nature does... Continue Reading →
Originally posted on RELEVANT. At the heart of of NBC’s Emmy-nominated drama This Is Us is a saint. Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) may not be holier than the next man, but Ventimiglia plays the part with such unvarnished tenderness, viewers either wish they could be Jack, marry him, or have a father like him. His... Continue Reading →
Originally published on No Sidebar We didn’t mean to move to one of the hottest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. A mixture of chance and necessity pushed us there––we had moved back home to LA from a stint in Colorado and found we could no longer afford to live in our old neighborhood in Pasadena. We... Continue Reading →
Originally published on RELEVANT. Netflix’s show The Letdown, an import from Australia, offers viewers a seat in such a support group, providing an inside look at the raw, early days of motherhood through a comedic lens. Audrey (Allison Bell) is two months into motherhood, still in that surreal, sleep-deprived state that looks a lot like survival... Continue Reading →
Originally posted on Sojourners The most common reaction to Netflix’s Queer Eye is tears. Twitter is full of comments such as, “I cry half a dozen times every episode!” and Instagram users post stories of their teary faces as they watch. For season two, Netflix leverages this emotive response on their promo poster with the header, “I’m... Continue Reading →
Jo March, the protagonist in Little Women, has long been a sort of patron saint of writing for me. Ever since my first introduction to Little Women with a screening of the 1994 movie starring Winona Ryder as Jo when I was 10 years old, I found myself identifying with Jo: her drive to tell... Continue Reading →
Originally published on the MOPS International blog. Like many churchgoing couples who become parents, we stopped attending services after the birth of our first daughter. We couldn’t figure out how to make it work while our infant was taking four naps a day; and any time we did go, I ended up listening to the... Continue Reading →
