A BLOG TO SPARK UNEXPECTED CONVERSATIONS
Table Talk
Opinion: Mainers are sensible enough to want gun safety measures
Grandparents as Civics Teachers
How Families Can Talk About World Events
26, 36, 66, 86…..If Not Now, When?
Narrative Design by Kit Hinrichs, More Than a Book About Narrative Design
Ruth, Barbie, & Families; Not just Another Spin-Off…
Readying Future Generations, An Interview between Joline Godfrey and Peter Moustakerski
From Kingdom to Kingdom Evolving
When Taylor Swift Tickets are $3000+
Women as Wealth Holders: What Will We Do?
The Birthday Eve Dinner: A New Rite of Passage for Children 5-15+
Your message is simple: the privileges that come with each birthday (gifts, fun, celebration) are balanced (not negated) by attention to new responsibilities.
Advice
Rarely is ‘advice’ applicable to everyone; and like beauty ‘good advice’ is often in the eyes of the beholder. But this piece, by Michael Grothaus, is a real exception.
Voice, Money, Power
The philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has exercised both voice and power by giving away $12.5 billion to more than 1,250 organizations in less than two years.
“What’s the use of crying?”
"During Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing, listening to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford give her testimony about him, I remember sitting in the Chicago airport, between flights, and watching it on my phone. I cried.”
Join the Conversation: Women, Impact, & the Year 2030
Life just plows forward. Plans, intentions, hopes-- all have impact but control of life is an aspiration; not a thing; no matter how willful I am. In January 2020 I joined a bank to help launch a new Institute to support the development of human capital in families; that’s a story of its own which will wait for another day. But six weeks after starting, life was disrupted as the world shut down in the face of the coronavirus. I spent the next 18 months working remotely; reimagining the original job, and completed that assignment this summer. During that time, I was MIA on this site.
2012, John Cusack, and Heather Cox Richardson; An Unexpected Table Musing
I made the mistake of watching (again) the movie 2012 (with John Cusack) recently. It triggered high anxiety up til the final moments of the film. But coming off 2020, with two shots in my arm, I feel the possibility that, like Cusack fixing he hydraulics in the ship of the future, we have a shot at a new day.
How Shingles Helped Me Understand the Limits of the Covid Virus Vaccine
Even if, post vaccine, you get just a mild version of COVID, you're vulnerable. For now, the substitutes are vigilance, masking, rest, keeping our stress levels down, our veggie loads up, and mutuality: caring for one another and not putting each other at risk.
Tooth Fairy Foe
Earlier this evening one of my favorite little guys showed off the hole in his mouth where a tooth use to be. I wanted to hug him, a normal pre-Covid act I’m robbed of right now…but that very cute gap reminded me that I am the Tooth Fairy Foe.
The Unexpected Hits the Unexpected Table How to Pivot—and Persist.
How can any of us make sense of what feels like the choking sounds of a dying democracy, the seeming intractability of institutionalized racism, reinforced in the highest office in the land, and the unfathomable randomness of nature to inflict pain and destruction?
The Financial Perils (& Creative Possibilities) of Summer Boredom
Keeping children (3-15) entertained over long summer breaks is the bane of parents. As one reminded me recently, it’s not just the challenge of keeping boredom at bay; it’s doing it in a way that isn’t a non-stop spending spree.