Thoughts on motherhood, identity, and living an examined life
What do we tell young women entering adulthood, perhaps finishing college, thinking about their future, about what life choices to make and how to make those choices? What do we tell young women who’ve grown up with “girl boss” memes and mom blogs portraying maternal perfection? What do we tell young who’ve grown up in …
I’m a huge fan of podcasts and audiobooks. I’m an auditory learner, and soaking up some new knowledge or hearing others’ ideas while sorting laundry or vacuuming or making beds or doing any of the otherwise banal chores of everyday life is an oasis of sorts. I do love reading a good old-fashioned bound paper …
I have limited time today as I write and speed toward my deadline marked by the time when I need to go pick up my kiddos from daycare and preschool. Maybe I need to employ some time-saving mom advice, which leads me to my point today…. Why is it that so much advice for moms …
I think my previous posts make it clear that, by nature, I am a scientist who likes to investigate and understand things based on evidence. But I don’t just like investigating things because I enjoy knowing how they work. I like gathering data to understand things when I think there is a problem that needs …
I devoured the book “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead” by Sheryl Sandberg as soon as it came out in 2013. As a woman in the tail end of Gen x, my childhood environment was one in which I felt utterly free to do, be, or pursue whatever I chose. Permitted I …
Im writing this as I paw through a fog in my mind. I’ve always hated the term “brain fog” but that is in fact the best description of what Im experiencing among a handful of side effects of a second covid vaccine. I am grateful to have been granted access to the vaccine and looking …
There I was at transition point in my life, trying to make thoughtful choices about my future that would be driven by my true goals and desires, and digging out of a long stretch of intense anxiety and constant feelings of inadequacy, punctuated by having been denied tenure. Though there was a part of my …
While tending to, entertaining, and wrangling two kids under age 5 can feel like being in the crosshairs of multiple tornados while juggling flaming swords. But for me, for the last several years, it has also felt like a relief, like standing in the calm before, or in my case, between storms. There are so …
Subtitle: Why the time I first used my “Mommy Fuel” travel mug in a work meeting felt like a tiny act of rebellion. I have had many wonderful opportunities, experiences, and challenges on my path to, and time as, a tenure-track professor at a university. Working with colleagues who are doing truly inspiring, innovative research, …
I’ve been struggling with internal resistance to write the pieces I want to write and thanks to the wisdom of Liz Gilbert and others inspiring teachers, it has become all too evident the resistance is a result of fear. My toddlers grow louder in their “Mommy!” cries and all the more ardent in their volume …