My first widely-read essay was last May, for CNN, on my daughter’s “best-dressed” award. I argued: Our culture constantly projects the message that only appearances matter, and this message is aimed squarely at our children. We can fight this only by working against the grain, resisting gendered language and emphasizing the internal over the external….
Here is a complete list of the foods my son eats: Preferred foods: Pretzels, Cottage Cheese, , Craisins, Fig newtons and similar cookies, noodles (penne and rotini), blueberries (his favorite thing!), cheerios (honey nut), applesauce, oatmeal, yogurt Emerging foods: Saltines, Graham crackers, cereal bars, melon. Of those, only oatmeal and noodles are “hot” foods. And…
This is my 100th blog post. Thank you for reading and all your comments and ideas and criticisms. Today, I need your help. I want some good news. I am looking for stories about interactions between law enforcement and people with disabilities that go well. They are hard to find, because such stories, by definition,…
In Canada, a few weeks ago, a girl opened a bottle of Vitamin Water (owned by Coca-Cola). The cap had two words on it, reading: “You Retard.” She took a picture of it and showed to her father, who immediately contacted the media and wrote to the company. The girl has two younger sisters (age…
I am an academic. When I write scholarship, I use footnotes. When I write op-eds, I use links. Links make me feel more confident as a writer as they leave my sources transparent. Sites like CNN use the links for fact-check, but then the editors often remove some or all of them. This is fine…
Over the last week, news and reaction about the Ethan Saylor case continued to unfold. I want to use my Monday morning blog to highlight an especially important response from http://kimchilatkes.com/. The author is also a parent of a child with Down syndrome and wrote in response to this story from Maryland. In the story,…
Every time I write about Catholicism, a certain set of commentators immediately invoke the child sex abuse scandals regardless of the issue at hand. This is particularly true if you say something positive about any aspect of the church. Given Pope Francis’ well-publicized and generally well-received comments, especially by people generally opposed to the church…
This week I wrote blogs on parenting, disability, Miss America, police violence, pole-sitting (and Byzantine saints), and the secrets of my writing process. I also published an essay on Pope Francis for CNN and re-wrote a blog entry for the Good Men Project. Thank you new readers, friends, twitter followers, and whoever else you are….
Have opinion. See if anyone else has that opinion. Oh, someone does. Go back to work. Have a different opinion. Test it on facebook. Realize it’s an IMPORTANT opinion. Start drafting. Writing is hard. Go back to work. Realize that you also write for work Well, you could grade some papers. Or do committee work….
I’d like to welcome all my new readers and sincerely thank you for your interest. The last two posts – on the tasering of a deaf boy and the bullying to prevent bullying – have been among the most read ever on this blog or in re-postings. I like to write about parenting, disability, and…