The Good, The Bad, and the Curious (Links)

Things that made me smile, cry (for real), and think. What have you read this week?

The Good

• Mommy Repeat has a wonderful post about raising boys.

"I want to raise boys who are nurturing, who work hard to figure out what others need and to care for them in the ways they require. I want to raise boys who are gentle and loving, who think deeply and who strive to articulate their thoughts and feelings clearly. I want to teach my children empathy and kindness, regardless of their gender."

• Birthing Beautiful Ideas has some words of encouragement for everyone who feels like it's all falling apart (and, let's face it, isn't that all of us at least some of the time?) And it starts with this description of putting an edited version of yourself online, and I completely get this:

"Someone then suggested that I deserved this sort of admiration.  I believe the exact words were, “Yes, you are rockin’ it with three!” 

I immediately dismissed this statement with the following response: “No, not rocking it.  That’s only my internet persona rocking it with three.” 

This wasn’t just a matter of modesty.  I meant what I said.  Because the snarky, funny, rainbows-and-unicorns blogging me?  She might seem like she’s rockin’ it. 

But that “me” is an edited me.  And on most days, the unedited me doesn’t feel like she’s rockin’ it at all. 

Not.  At.  All. 

In fact, I sometimes feel like I’m only hanging by a thread."

• (Some of) The Rest of Us over at Mamafesto is a list of feminist mom bloggers. It includes some of my favorites like blue milk and PhD in Parenting, and it gave me some new writers to follow.

• Offbeat Mama has a beautiful reflection on her planned c-section.

"It was an awesome experience. I was never scared, I was never suffering, I was never angry with myself for not being able to push out my baby. Choosing surgery was absolutely a wonderful way for me to heal my emotional wounds from my last unwanted c-section, which left me feeling like a failure" 

• Sonja Sohn (the actress who played Kima from The Wire) has co-founded a nonprofit called ReWired for Change. It helps young people on parole straighten out their lives, and I love how she reflects on her experiences (both in real life in her childhood and on the set of the show as an actress) that led her to this decision.

The Bad

• I'm sure you've already heard about Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old boy who was gunned down by a vigilante neighborhood watch patrolman (after police told the patrolman to back off) for doing nothing more than walking back from the store with Skittles in his pocket. Trayvon was black, and the racial tension in this case is mounting as signatures appear on the circulating petition and the shooter (George Zimmerman) has still not been arrested, despite testimony from witnesses and 911 calls he made to the dispatcher before getting out of his car and approaching Martin. This story makes me sick. Every day I check the news thinking "Surely he's been arrested today" and every day I see that he hasn't. The facade of justice and safety is growing thinner with each passing moment. My heart aches for Trayvon's family, for that community, and for all of us.

The Curious

• Over at The New Yorker Margaret Talbot takes a look at the Republican Party's recent attacks on birth control and tries to analyze what it all means. Curious indeed.