Archives › 2007 › April
Fun for Kids with Online Maps
A few new online map applications could be great fun for older kids as well as adults: Wikisky is a detailed sky map with constellations, astronomical photos, and more. Try clicking the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) button (the leftmost blue button) to see galaxies galore, or click “Astro Photo” or “The Collection” to see [...]
Moving Tips
I’m writing to you today as an official resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where the clams are tasty, the gays can marry, and the Red Sox . . . well, ask me again at the end of the season. Thanks to the scheduling savvy of my sweetie and the heroic efforts of John the [...]
Online Activism in Parent Time
(Originally published with slight variation in Bay Windows, April 5, 2007.) If there’s one thing almost all parents will agree on, it’s that parenting takes time. No matter how well-behaved our children, and how accommodating our partners, there is hardly a mom or dad around who would say she or he has more time now [...]
Taking Time for YOU
Today’s guest post comes from Paula Gregorowicz of The Paula G Company. As a life coach, her goal is to help each of her clients “design a successful life that works without the burnout and compromise.” This sounded like advice that would benefit moms (and thus our children), and so I asked if she would [...]
A Poem for National Poetry Month
It’s National Poetry Month. (Thanks, Robin!) I wanted, therefore, to share part of a poem by Adrienne Rich that captures a little of my philosophy about blogging: North American Time I When my dreams showed signs of becoming politically correct no unruly images escaping beyond border when walking in the street I found my themes [...]
What Do You Care About?
Comedian Roseanne Barr said yesterday that: Never once in my 54 years have I ever once heard a gay or lesbian person who’s politically active say one thing about anything that was not about them. They don’t care about minimum wage, they don’t care about any other group other than their own self because you [...]
LGBT Families Roll Eggs, Go Home
Sometimes the best news is no news. The party of LGBT families attending the White House Egg Roll yesterday showed up, rolled eggs, took photos, and went home. No one protested their attendance. The Politico has an interview with Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director of Family Pride, in which she says the lack of protest is [...]
An Answer from Abigail about Biological Fathers
I’m very pleased to bring you a guest post today from Abigail Garner, a writer, speaker, and educator who has long been an advocate for LGBT families and the LGBT community as a whole. As her Web site states: Abigail Garner . . . speaks from her own experience of having a gay dad who [...]
Make a Cookie-Sheet Play Tablet
A quick idea for preschool amusement and learning: Take a metal cookie sheet or pizza pan, preferably with a small rim around the entire edge, and stick a number of fridge-magnet letters and numbers to it. It makes a great “tablet” for spelling and counting, especially during dinner prep when the fridge is unavailable for [...]
Happy Birthday to Cynthia Nixon
The diligent women at After Ellen have pointed out that today is the birthday of actor and lesbian mom Cynthia Nixon. She’s one of the women on my Most Powerful Lesbian Moms in America list, so I wanted to acknowledge the joyous occasion with a virtual cake. (Don’t worry, I’ll spare you the .wav file [...]
Blog Against Theocracy
Today is the last day of the three-day Blog Against Theocracy event, for which we are asked to post about the separation of church and state. As a sometime graduate student in medieval history, I know me some theocracy. I also know that what worked in Western Europe 800 years ago might not be the [...]
Non-Bio Lesbian Mom Wins Visitation Rights
Some good news for the holiday weekend: A Vermont court has given non-bio mom Janet Miller-Jenkins the right to visit her five-year-old daughter Isabella, whom she hasn’t been able to see or contact in over two years. Her former partner, Lisa Miller-Jenkins, kept their daughter from her in a headline case that bounced between the [...]
Mombian Is a Top 100 Mom Blog
[Update: Joan Conde at Mamacita has pointed out that this award is in all likelihood a scam to encourage links to the Mother's Day Central site for purely commercial purposes. I'm not against making a buck, but Mother's Day Central seems to be employing duplicitous means to do so. The lack of contact information on [...]
Weekly Political Roundup
Presidential candidate and Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd told students in New Hampshire that people debating gay marriage should ask themselves what they would do if their child was gay. He added that if his daughters were lesbians he would want them to have “marriage-like rights” through civil unions. He stopped short of supporting same-sex marriage, [...]
Most Powerful Lesbian Moms in America
[I've updated this post based on reader comments. Thanks to all, and keep the ideas coming. It's good to see so many lesbian moms who have achieved such success—though I'll quickly add that this is a personal choice. It's just as acceptable to choose to stay home with one's children, or forgo career advancement for [...]
Mary Cheney Is Having a Boy
Mary Cheney will be having a boy when she gives birth next month, said her father, Vice President Dick Cheney. He also said he’s “delighted” to be a grandparent for the sixth time, but reiterated that he thought same-sex relationship recognition should remain a state matter. “I obviously think it’s important for us as a [...]
Riding to Boston
It’s just my luck that we had a sleet storm here in the Hudson Valley yesterday, when the movers packed all our stuff onto a truck. Yes, the move to the Boston area that I mentioned back in October has finally arrived, despite the vagaries of the housing market and New York real-estate laws, which [...]
Mombian Resource Directory Has 500th Link
I’m pleased to announce that the Mombian Resource Directory for LGBT Parents now has over 500 links on starting a family, raising children (both LGBT-specific sites and general, but LGBT-friendly, sites), LGBT politics and law, online and offline groups, blogs, and forums for LGBT parents, and much more. It covers the entire LGBT spectrum, not [...]
Bacon and Eggs: Update from the Family Pride Coalition
Over the last week or so, I asked you to help the Family Pride Coalition meet a charity challenge from actor Kevin Bacon. I’m pleased to report they met the challenge, and will receive $10,000 from Bacon’s Sixdegrees organization. They also exceeded their goal of 1,138 donations, racking up $30,000 on top of Bacon’s $10,000. [...]
“Considering Parenting?” Workshop in San Francisco
Passing along information about a workshop in San Francisco for prospective parents. I don’t know the facilitator personally, but her topic seems relevant: Considering Parenthood? This may be the biggest decision of your life. Considering Parenthood is designed to help individuals, couples and co-parents to make the decision about whether they really want to parent [...]
Children of LGBT Parents Speak Up
As a lesbian mom, I’m always interested in stories by adult children of LGBT parents. Writers such as Abigail Garner have reminded us how important it is for “queerspawn” to have a voice of their own, not filtered through our naturally biased lens of parenthood, however well intentioned. I was delighted, therefore, to see that [...]
Health Roundup
A few items from round and about: Überblog BoingBoing reports that the “non-dairy” smoothie additive used by popular chain Jamba Juice in fact contains non-fat dried milk. Something to keep in mind if you have food restrictions in your family. Scientists at the University of Toronto are are using a combination of ultrasound and blood [...]
Are Lesbians Draft Dodgers in the Mommy Wars?
Is leaving a paying job to stay home with your kids “the worst mistake [you] ever made”? That’s what author Leslie Bennetts says older women have been telling her. She’s thus written The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much? in order to “warn a new generation about the hidden costs of financial dependency,” [...]
April Fool’s Debriefing
No, Mary Cheney is not going to appear on the next season of The L Word. You should, however, be aware of the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide, as Blogging Baby reports. In fact, a new study shows that everything is harmful to children—except, perhaps, Vanilla Chai Spice Similac. Babble’s Strollerderby has more.
Mary Cheney to Appear on Season Five of The L Word
Mary Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, will make a guest appearance on Season Five of The L Word, Showtime has announced. The out lesbian and soon-to-be mom will play the women’s basketball coach at California University, the institution where Jennifer Beals’ Bette Porter works. “We feel Mary has a look that’s just right [...]
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