Who I am…
I am a lawyer, former mother of teenagers, and a quixotic seeker after and champion of factual truth.
I make the best damn brownies you have ever had that are not regulated by the federal government.
I love movies, Broadway, and intelligent conversation.
I think in song lyrics and movie and television quotes.
I believe in the use of proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar even in text messages. I am willing to debate the use of the Oxford comma, if you know what the Oxford comma is. It also makes me very happy if people use the subjunctive mood when appropriate.
I have been told I intimidate people. I am really just a fluffy-centered teddy bear. Really.
- It's all my fault. No, really. The views expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone and in no way whatsoever represent the views of anyone else, including any past, present, or future employer.
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Words to live by ….
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8.
“Pray for the dead, fight like hell for the living.” Mary Harris (“Mother Jones”).
“Don’t boo. Vote.” Barack Obama.
“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” Reinhold Niebuhr.
“No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do the bad things.” Sir Terry Pratchett.
“Damning facts are still facts.” Steven C. Holtzman.
“If you don’t stick to your values when they’re tested, they’re not values — they’re hobbies.” Jon Stewart.
“Darkness never sustains, even though it sometimes seems it will.” Doctor Who.
“Writing is a form of mischief.” Stephen Sondheim.
“An idea is not responsible for the people who believe it.” Don Marquis.
“If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path.” Joseph Campbell.
“Truth is our strongest ally, our biggest weapon, and our best defense.” Me.
“Reality has a well-known liberal bias.” Stephen Colbert.
“The opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation.” Jonathan Larson.
“We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger.
We rise and fall, and light from dying embers
Remembrances that hope and love last longer.
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love;
Cannot be killed or swept aside.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda.“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” Emma Goldman.
“No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Samuel Beckett.
“I believe that the God who made (among other things) light, and space, and number, and time, and the spiral curve of Fibonacci numbers, must be acknowledged to understand more than I do about why there’s pain in the world.” Teresa Neilsen Hayden.
“No, it’s not fair. You’re in the wrong universe for fair.” John Scalzi.
“Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.” Lawrence O’Donnell
“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.” Molly Ivins.
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Category Archives: Kids in all their glory
That’s what I get for signing him up for that philosophy class at the community college last summer.
According to The Red-Headed Menace, “hipsterism is the bastard child of transcendentalism and existentialism.”* *He made sort of a cogent argument for this position, but I was too bemused by the fact that he was trying to determine the philosophical … Continue reading
I struggle with my kids getting older. Partly it is a sense of my own aging, and my changing and uncertain role both in their lives and in the world at large. It can be hard coming to terms with … Continue reading
Railfan graduated this evening. Both of us are in shock. I just want to take this opportunity to say how very proud I am of him. Love you, kid.
More Conversation…
Echidna Boy: So, Mom, what do you think the weaknesses of the Census databases are? Me: a) I don’t know, and b) if I did, I certainly would not tell you. In the subsequent conversation, I learned, among other enlightening … Continue reading
Perspective
Tonight, Echidna Boy and I were playing (what else?) MarioKart. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll choose the exact same Kart as you, so we’ll be identical.” “Oh, so you can say ‘we were exactly alike and I still pwned you?’,” … Continue reading
Note to kid
Dear Echidna Boy: You learned a valuable lesson tonight, to wit: it is extremely inadvisable to take a picture of a young woman playing Twister when she has her butt up in the air. She is likely to react badly. … Continue reading
My secret weapon…
Echidna Boy is a night owl. Getting him to go to bed before 1 a.m. is very difficult, especially that we don’t currently have the threat of school looming. (He comes by it naturally: my first week of work I … Continue reading
Just a normal family viewing television…
We were watching the Dr. Who episode about Vincent Van Gogh. After grousing about the fictional museum curator anointing Vincent “the greatest artist that ever lived,”* I seriously geeked out over the cinematography of the scene where the Doctor wakes … Continue reading
Conversations …
Middle Son, putting away groceries: “There’s no room!” Me: “Fridge Tetris. Learn it.” MS: “I don’t want to learn it. It’s a boring game with no bonuses.”
Well, he finally did it. Echidna boy broke one of our rules for his continued use of the computer. Fortunately, not the one involving the FBI. He downloaded Blender, an open source 3D graphics software package. He was teaching himself … Continue reading
Who Am I?
I have been rereading this blog lately, from the beginning. And I keep running smack dab against an overwhelming question: Who is this woman? I have changed so much in the past two years that in many ways the woman … Continue reading
Questions…
While I was trying to make dinner last night, on a day when I was in the midst of amassing more miles than a Boston cab driver on a good night, I kept getting bombarded with questions by my offspring, … Continue reading
Proof that my youngest child is, in fact, forty-five: He likes goat cheese and discussing politics. He enjoys tea and wants to start collecting handmade teacups. He loves showtunes, and knows the words to nearly as many of them as … Continue reading
Parental evaluation.
Parenting is a bitch. There is no instruction manual, and no exams or performance evaluations to tell you how you’re doing, so you can fix your mistakes. The worst part? You’re trying to mold young minds into growing up to … Continue reading
View from the stands, part II.
Whoever had the bright idea to create a mash-up of “Rhapsody in Blue” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” for that field show should be forced to mark time in 95 degree heat until they drop. The fact that the kids in the … Continue reading
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