I remember reading Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery when I was ten or twelve years old. It’s a great story that cleverly foreshadows danger, building to the unexpected climax and conclusion: the “winner” of the lottery is stoned to death in a small town ritual to ensure a good harvest.
In Boston, we have our own annual ritual [...]
From the category archives:
Parenting
I watched the documentary Race to Nowhere Sunday morning at the Dedham Community Theatre with a crowd of parents and educators concerned about the direction of K-12 education. Through the stories of students and parents, the movie makes a compelling case that we are headed in the wrong direction.
Race to Nowhere profiles students, teachers, and [...]
We bought a house in Rozzie, and we finally move this Friday. It was not an easy choice to leave the town of Westwood where I’ve been active in several town boards, developed many friendships, and started our oldest daughter in the school system. (And authored the Westwood Blog for the past 3 years.) It [...]
The iPhone 4 is out and while mobile and tech gadget gurus will analyze its features, this 2-minute video describing the “Facetime” feature deserves the Oscar. The video pulls all the right heartstrings and makes the case for why you just have to buy your grandparents one of these NOW. From the Apple website:
People have [...]
Today is International Walk to School Day–but not for some communities where walking and biking have been banned. Two recent news stories are discouraging on many levels, but do not represent the norm as more and more communities are, in fact, adopting alternatives to driving.
In Saratoga Springs, NY, a woman and her 12-year old son [...]
Plans change. But it can be powerful to work out a long term theme for your life as a way of grounding your current choices. Last week, I spoke with Pam Slim from Escape from Cubicle Nation about how to navigate my own situation–where my “escape” is involuntary–and came away with some great ideas.
Pam writes [...]
I could not resist taking a photo of half my garage this weekend as I realized we are seriously into cycling and running and taking our kids along.
Our latest addition to this collection is the blue dual baby jogger in the back which allows all 5 of us to go out at the same time.
We have a set of magnetic toys my kids play with–animals with interchangeable torsos, heads, and legs. Today we could not find the legs to the giraffe. Before I could begin searching for the missing pieces, my daughter simply placed the existing pieces on the train table in the “water” area and said, “the giraffe [...]
The transplanted shrub that bloomed when Sharon was born…blooms a month late this year and with a spectacularly colorful flower:
On Friday, we’re planning to load up the minivan and drive 600 miles to visit the grandparents. My Mom was going to come up to Boston in February, right after Marshall was born, but she fell and broke her hip and hasn’t had a chance to meet Marshall yet.
Planning a drive from Boston to Virginia [...]