Monday, December 3, 2012

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

These are the things I read this week that made me smile (The Good), cringe (The Bad), and think (The Curious). Feel free to add anything you've read/written in the comments.

The Good

Hobo Mama has a great post on motivating kids to take long walks. It made me gleefully remember my own childhood spent in the woods like a feral child (I mean that in the best way possible). It also made me look forward to all the things yet to come in my parenting of a little girl who--to my complete amazement--turned two this weekend. 

Kelly from How I Learned to Wear a Dress had a great post over at Welcome Baby Care about how she chose to space out her children. She also has a lovely post about silence and speaking up that includes the line "Sometimes I don’t even know what I think until I say it out loud." What could be truer than that?

I know Thanksgiving is over, but this xoJane post on "8 Reasons I'm Thankful for My Body" is still relevant. 

There's been a lot of conversation surrounding Andrew Sullivan's new book Far From the Tree, which looks at people who parent children very different from themselves, including children with developmental disabilities. In response, Christina Nehring wrote this thoughtful piece, with a few passages that really spoke to me in particular:
Am I “cheerily generalizing” as Solomon says of other Down syndrome parents, “from a few accomplishments” of my child? Perhaps I am. But one thing I’ve learned these last four years that possibly Solomon has not: All of our accomplishments are few. All of our accomplishments are minor: my scribblings, his book, the best lines of the best living poets. We embroider away at our tiny tatters of insight as though the world hung on them, when it is chiefly we ourselves who hang on them. Often a dog or cat with none of our advanced skills can offer more comfort to our neighbor than we can. (Think: Would you rather live with Shakespeare or a cute puppy?) Each of us has the ability to give only a little bit of joy to those around us. I would wager Eurydice gives as much as any person alive.
The Grey Album remastered? Yes, please. 

Lindy West talks about being a fat gym goer and dealing with the fact that all of the people around her are motivated by the sole objective of not becoming her. It is honest and frank. 

This:


The Bad

India-Jewel writes about her experiences in changing her name (and nothing else) on her resume to get more call-backs. On some others, she refused to fill in her race. The results reiterate just how far we have to come in terms of equality. 

An 11-year-old was gang raped by 20 men (some nearly 30 years old) and yet she's being called a seductress who was asking for it in some media reports. 

The Curious

Food Babe's post on eating organic away from home is inspiring and made me think about what changes I can make to our diet when we're traveling. 

Musing Mama writes about how her family's Elf on the Shelf had to be recalled to the North Pole to best complete his duties. I think people should get their holiday kicks however works for them, but the entire Elf on the Shelf concept fills me with dread. This post made me feel like less of a Scrooge for thinking that. 

Deb's post on how teaching her daughter positive body image has made her re-think her own perspective on beauty is lovely. 

If you don't click anything else I link to today, click on this link from The Chronicle--an interactive graph of articles published by women through various disciplines. It is fascinating. Did you know that fewer than 10% of the articles published in philosophy are written by women? 

This Racilicious post about paying a premium to avoid racist cab service is interesting . . . and sad. 

Jessica Valenti reminds us that being "liked" isn't always all it's cracked up to be

Clarissa's students provide a wide variety of responses to a hypothetical question about which parent should get custody. Be sure to check out the comments, too. 

Amy West's post about why she can't watch The Walking Dead is super interesting. I won't be cutting it (or a lot of the other disturbing media I consume) out of my life, but I do get her point. 

That's what I've been reading (sorry it's so long; I skipped a week). How about you?

3 comments:

  1. Enjoyed these links! Thanks for always sharing such interesting material!

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  2. Thanks for the shout out. I'll be checking out the other links right now.

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  3. that video is mesmerizing! also, the stats on academic papers really interesting too. and thanks so much for the link up. i appreciate it! :)

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