You want to be a downer at any party? Bring up the issue of suffering and ask what it’s purpose is in the world. This, I can guarantee, will make your party circle dissipate. That, or a LOT of people will suddenly excuse themselves, muttering their need to use the rest room or half empty […]
Author: Lisa
Letter #16
Dear Isaiah, I know I missed your 13th month birthday and I sit here not really sure which is more unthinkable: that I missed it or that you’re 13 months old. You are growing by leaps and bounds. Last week, you climbed up the stairs by yourself, looking for me. I was in the bathroom, […]
Guns, Feminism, and Catholic Social Teaching
There was outdated brown, squishy carpet underneath my feet when I first heard about the Columbine shooting. It’s odd the details that stay with you after a decade of processing. I was in college, a bright eyed resident assistant in my resident director’s office, complaining how my overly scheduled academic life was taking over my […]
A Catholic Feminist’s Notebook
One of the things that I’ve been trying to do more is write about my spirituality. Since writing, for me, is an intensely spiritual and often cathartic experience, writing about my spiritual journey should be a seamless task. *Should* is a funny word. Because it’s not easy. What *should* be easy is not. Quite the […]
Embarrassingly Understanding the Hype…
of Jersey Shore. It is, by far, the most ridiculous waste of television space that has ever burned on the screen…which is why I can’t take my eyes away. I watched 2.5 episodes and the only reason I didn’t watch more because Nick was throwing me out the door so we could run family errands […]
The Other Planet of Reading
Yesterday I woke up with the strangest and extremely powerful urge: to read a print book. Yes, that’s right. I woke up with an urge to pick up a book. So I did. I walked to our huge Ikea shelf, the one that looks like 24 tiny boxes smooshed together to form one big grid. […]
Snowflakes
The conversations of my life…like snowflakes breezing over my face are hard to catch all at once and are equally unique and memorable…Here are a few gems. Gems for different reasons… Nick: I don’t think every conversation has to have the answer. I think sometimes even just talking about the uncertainty for the sake of […]
There is No Grind
There is no greater falsehood that is perpetuated in the new year more than the cliche, “It’s back to the grind.” Grind. Is that the way, is that the best descriptor we can come up with to summarize how we live our lives? Ah, yes, the catch — that’s assuming that we are, indeed, living […]
The Shhhh World of Doubtful Mamas
What is the ideal family? I took a short walk with a neighbor – a mother of two girls – and we started talking about the “reality” of motherhood. Not too far into the walk, I felt like we were using each other as priests: confessing our shortcomings as mothers, the moments that we feel […]
Love & the Body
There’s never been a time when I never thought about my body. For as long as I can remember, dating back to 1986 when I was seven years old and someone commented that my belly was cute and my lisp was cuter, I remember having a third eye. Two eyes on the world, and one […]