Browsing all posts in July, 2009.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Mead
Because no movie with witches, warlocks and hexes should go unpunished, no matter how beloved, the latest Harry Potter movie is under fire for–teenage drinking.
Here’s the scoop. There is a scene in the Hogsmead pub where the three young friends order butter beers. Hermoine, apparently, acts “tipsy” later (did NOT notice that when I saw [...]
Laundry Day
Laundry is the unavoidable consequence of living in an era of hygiene. Once upon a time, people had only one or maybe two sets of clothes, they wore them until a needle and thread had nothing left to pass through, and then they took a dip in the river and put on a new set.
Now [...]
Cleanliness, Godliness, and Allergies
“Cleanliness is next to godliness.”
How many times have you heard that? Do you have any idea where it comes from?
Turns out that it appears to be the grand wisdom of a 2nd century rabbi.
If you are at all familiar with the wisdom of the ancient rabbis, you are probably rolling your eyes about now.
These are [...]
How Old is Too Old?
I am taking a break from ancient Greece (which deserves much more time than I have had to devote to it recently) to cover some breaking history of motherhood from our own time. Hey–it’s still history. In the making.
The world’s oldest mother, having given birth at the tender, young age of 66, died last week [...]
Swine Flu 1, The Mother 0
The last time we talked about the H1N1 flu (the flu originally known as “swine flu”), I was telling you all not to panic. I said it was mild, that the deaths in Mexico were probably statistical freakishness, and that, while I supported the draconian measures taken by some public health departments and the CDC, [...]
Just Say No
I’m not talking about drugs or alcohol. I’m fine with that.
I’m talking about something far more insidious. Something that threatens families, daily. Something that leads to marital disharmony, kids going hungry (or being forced to eat fast food), and husbands left alone to watch action movies on TV for the fortieth time. Something that stresses [...]
Decompensation
To decompensate, according to Wiktionary, is “To deteriorate in function due to an inability to invoke normal defensive mechanisms that compensate for ailments and other stresses.” Even better is the example sentence:
1983, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, “A Proposal for the Aftercare of Chronic Psychiatric Patients,” Medical Anthropology Quarterly, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 11-12,
In some cases, the [...]
Hippocrates and the Hodos
Hippocrates was, in fact, not one guy. There was a physician named Hippocrates, about the time of Plato, practicing in Athens in the Golden Age of Greece, during the late 5th and early 4th century BCE.
But the writings that we attribute to this one person are undoubtedly a collection of works from the Golden Age [...]
How Not to Send Your Kids to Camp
Since it’s summer camp season, and I have done a whole lot of those, I have a few suggestions. But as usual, mine might not be the same as most of the other ones out there.
How NOT to send your kids to camp:
1) Don’t pack for them. What do they learn if you pack for [...]
Passive Aggressive Snots
According to Wikipedia, passive aggressive behavior is “passive, sometimes obstructionist resistance to following through with expectations in interpersonal or occupational situations. It can manifest itself as learned helplessness, procrastination, stubbornness, resentment, sullenness, or deliberate/repeated failure to accomplish requested tasks for which one is (often explicitly) responsible.”
According to the Mother, the definition is much simpler. Passive [...]
