Op-Ed

I never voted for Sarah Palin. Politically, we don’t get along. She wants drilling where I’d like to leave tundra. She doesn’t want kids to hear about condoms, I don’t mind them having accurate information about their own health. She wants one big cathedral ceiling covering schools and churches, while I prefer Christianity to stay […]

On the third night of the Republican National Convention, Sarah Palin finally spoke up. The next morning I woke up to a front-page article in The Boston Globe, announcing that Sarah Palin has reignited the mommy wars. No kidding. Birth plans, breastfeeding, working moms, teenagers and sex: it’s like the national conversation has become one […]

In late July I watched a C-SPAN re-broadcast of a House of Representatives Oversight Committee hearing. I was initially struck by the testimony of Lindsay Huckabee of Kiln, Mississippi. She admitted she sometimes wondered if she was overreacting to her five kids’ seemingly endless illnesses. That was something I could relate to. In the past […]

Recently, a friend wrote to say that she had spent another sleepless night mourning the loss of her 18-month-old granddaughter. I know my friend would sell her soul for one more glimpse of that innocent face or to hear one more peal of her toddler’s belly laugh. Just a little over a year ago, this […]

I was a fan of Don Imus’ morning show. It was an edgy alternative to the banal network morning shows where hosts spend half their time mingling with sign-waving fans. For me, watching the Imus show was like walking into a locker room where five crude-mouthed men didn’t stop talking when they saw me. I […]

When my middle son Avery was diagnosed with Down syndrome at five days old, my Dad said, “Ah, well. He’ll be one of the better ones. He’ll be the best.” It felt like a kindness, and I remember being buoyed by the thought. He may have Down syndrome, but by God, he’ll still be the […]

Andy Garcia is the perfect man for me. He is charming, handsome, intelligent, sexy as all hell, and completely unavailable. Though I once saw him walk past as I sat drinking coffee in Café Trieste in San Francisco, I know that is the closest he will ever get to me. And I have to admit, […]

Not long ago, I was discussing the DaiShin WolfHawk case with some friends, most of whom, like me, are mothers of young children. All of them applauded Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania for removing Melissa and DaiShin’s child a mere 24 hours after he was born. They felt that the father’s 20-year-old rape conviction and presence on […]

There are few people for whom writing, singing, or drinking to “Peace on Earth” during the holiday season will mean very much. But after nearly four years in a sticky war, it should. So here’s a suggestion: spend one hour thinking about War and Peace (not the book). Think about being American. Think about moms […]

So here I am again, standing in a small group of mothers ten to fifteen years younger than me, smiling and nodding and going “Oooh,” and “Ouch!” and “Oh my god” at appropriate times as they swap stories of pregnancy, labor, and childbirth. The five of us mothers have children in nursery school together; we […]

Linda Hirshman’s argument that mothers betray feminist ideals when they leave the workforce to raise their children is far from true or accurate, but as someone whose life path was a target of her criticism, I was surprised to find how much I agreed with some of her insights. Unfortunately, Hirshman buries the kernels of […]