“Get up!” I holler to (or, I should say, at) my kids. “WHY?” they retort. “Nona and Great-Gramie are going to be here this morning and I need your help getting this house cleaned. Why is it that we can’t keep it clean for more than an hour? I swear, as fast as I… Keep Reading
Worthy of a Pass
Every year I have the great privilege of spending a long weekend in the majestic Yosemite with nine of my nearest and dearest personal mentors. We started out as professional colleagues almost 15 years ago when this annual retreat began; over the years we’ve evolved into a safety net of strength and courage and laughter… Keep Reading
A Lesson Learned in Raising Boys by Teaching Women’s Studies
I am exceptionally fortunate to not only work in a profession I love with kids I adore, but also to work with easily some of the most amazing people on earth. One of them was Dana Rosenberg, a powerful figure on our campus for her high standards of teaching and also for living. This was… Keep Reading
“My liberation as a man is tied to your liberation as a woman.”
I am deeply tied to my work as a Woman’s Studies teacher for many reasons, most of which center on the fact I empower my students by helping them find a more full and authentic sense of themselves. While I know I educate the handful of young men in my room every year about how… Keep Reading
The Ethic of Care
“Is it a law that I can’t hit my brother?” my son asks. “No, of course not,” I answered, “but in our family we take care of each other, we don’t hurt each other.” “But, I won’t go to jail, right? I’ll just go on time out?” he prods. “No, you won’t go to jail…. Keep Reading
“That Mother”
You know the one: pulling her hair out stressed, yelling at her children as they climb the shelves and pull down fruit in a way that makes it all come tumbling down. The one who lectures them in the car all they way home; the one who sends them to their room until “their father… Keep Reading
Ignoring My Way to Peace
In my high school psychology class I teach my students about a game almost all of us play called, “See What You Made Me Do?” It goes like this: you do something I hate, I shout at you, you ask me why I’m shouting and I respond with the all-encompassing and oft-used, “Because you make… Keep Reading
Receive and Release
I’ve spent the last two years focusing on releasing, surrendering, and letting go of fear, expectations, putting other’s feelings before my own–all the normal things the average person with a healthy dose of anxiety and a well-honed type A personality carries in life. My goal in my pushing-40 time-of-life is to put all of that… Keep Reading
Thank You
It was any normal Sunday afternoon at the zoo: the sun shone brilliantly, the birds chirped relentlessly, and the animals basked in the glory of people’s admiration. Usually my husband and sons and I go on our own, but this time we had the boys’ Godparents and their two children with us—an unusual occurrence given… Keep Reading
Has it Really Been 20 Years?
I attended my 20-year high school reunion last weekend; as a good friend said, it really was more like a family reunion than anything else—a tribute to the special kind of group we were, a group we still are. I never doubted the fact that I wanted to attend this reunion; high school was an… Keep Reading