Author: Jocelyn

  • A Time to Every Purpose

    In the last weeks of his life, I would talk to my dad on the phone frequently. He was in Montana. I was in Minnesota. It was January, and at the same time his heart and lungs were deteriorating, my body was busy helping those same organs grow inside the baby I’d been carrying for […]

  • Feel Like Whistling Even With a Shoe Full of Slush

    Didn’t February last about seventeen weeks? And then Daylight Savings slammed into our bodies–which were already trying to figure out how to get through a day without drooping. What’s more, we’re in the midst of a snowstorm here today, currently racking up 6-10″ new inches on top of the existing white mounds. Spring is approaching, […]

  • My Rider Demands No Brown M & Ms, Imported Versace Towels, and Awesome Entrees

    This will be overkill for those of you with whom I’m friended on Facebook. Apologies. Feel free to shift into Long-Suffering Mode here. However, since there are still twelve people on the planet who don’t have Facebook accounts, I thought I’d share one of my recent happinesses here, too. A few weeks ago, I received […]

  • Do Not Embellish Your Temple

    Apparently, it’s International Women’s Day, which means I should be posting pre-packaged sentiments on Facebook that urge the world to treat dames better. I get that. Let me assure you I am made legitimately irate by the ongoing, centuries-old maltreatment of women. See how I made a sign, even? Feel free to make that viral […]

  • As God Is My Witness, Each Individual Shall Tote His Own Weary Load

    Behind our house, across the alley, there lives a cohort of quasi-charming renters. Moving in after several disastrous previous occupancies, this group of young men demonstrates that young folk renting a house together don’t have to be feral beasts lacking even the most basic notion of boundaries. I mean, seriously, there’s a reason I regularly […]

  • Hope All Your Tricks Are Good Ones

    In line with my dislike of holidays and “planned happiness” is my aversion to greeting cards. For me, a pre-packaged sentiment drummed up for pay by someone who hates her job isn’t heartwarming. Nor is the fact that the sender found himself so unable to frame an original thought that he willingly shelled out $3.00 […]

  • Ode an die Freude

    By the time I finished my first decade of life, I had learned to walk, run, ride a bike; play piano and flute; jeté like a big-boned ballerina possessed; babysit; and play Boggle. Also, I had boobies and was on the cusp of menstruation. By the time I finished my second decade of life, I had held […]

  • You Asked for It (Well, Two of You Did): How to Achieve a Style Equaled Only By Its Substance

    Women too often lead with apology. I have vowed to break that culturally inculcated habit and not apologize for my behaviors unless I’ve just vomited in your daisies or hit the reset button on your Furby. Thus, I will not lead with apology here. Instead, I will celebrate my inner She-Ra by boldly stating, with […]

  • Over the River and Through the Tunnel

    We aren’t fans of resolutions around here, nor are we particularly go-getters. However, as it turns out, we each have something we’d like to achieve in 2013. Allegra’s goal for this year is to learn to skate ski. We got her outfitted with rental equipment yesterday; she’ll use it the next six Sundays with the […]

  • A Night Like Any Other

    In 2000, when our first child was born, my dad bought us a video camera to aid in documenting the special moments. Although YouTube and America’s Funniest Home Videos intimate otherwise, video cameras are rarely present during the truly special moments. It was extremely lovely, however, to be able to point that big, clunky camera at […]