Sometimes people ask me why I am so weirdly persnickety about my eldest daughter’s food intake. Why can’t I just let the poor kid have a piece of birthday cake? It’s one thing to cut back on sugar, but why don’t I lighten up on my Sherman-through-Georgia attitude toward wheat and artificial food colors? Why… Read more Asperger’s, Microbiota, and Food
I have a good friend in great distress. Her sister’s ex-husband and his new wife, whom I shall call Nimrod and Bandersnatch, have decided to fat-shame and torment my friend’s niece because they think she is ‘out of shape’. The little girl is only ten years old. Although she is not overweight or obese in… Read more Fat Shaming Preteen Girls Harms Them For Life
My eldest daughter, Bubbles, will be entering the 5th grade this August and we have been reading up on social interaction and Asperger’s syndrome in preparation for preteen ‘drama’, conflict, or bullying. It has led me to some fascinating information. People with Asperger’s syndrome are typically very direct. We don’t do (or even know how… Read more Conflict Aversion, Assertion, Aggression and Asperger’s
I had this conversation with my 10 year old daughter the other day. Her: Mom, when will I be old enough to have a phone? Me: When you are 30. Her: Mooooooooommmmmm! Be serious! Me: How old do you think you should be? Her: *ponders* I think I should get a phone when I am… Read more Now, I feel old
My eldest daughter, Blossom, loves me to tell her stories of things I did when I was a little girl her age. When she turned ten years old yesterday, she asked me to tell her stories of what SHE was like as a little girl, since she was now a mature pre-woman in the double… Read more Back in the Day
Sorry I’ve not been posting on Facebook or my blog, but I’ve been unable to access the internet (other than sporadically) for more than a week. It was for a good cause; we took out little girls to Disney World and between the hectic activities and my non-functional tablet computer I wasn’t able to get… Read more Involuntary Hiatus
Obviously, The Jezebel Effect contains historical and cultural analysis of the ancient Israelite queen Jezebel. She is the epitome of a slut shamed queen. Even though other queens are reviled as harlots, only Jezebel has a place in major religions as a uber-harlot. In fact, Jezebel has been upgraded from a strumpet to a demon… Read more Would Jezebel like Thin Mints or Samoas the best?
Let me start off by pointing out that I am not one to follow the “party line” vis-à-vis healthy and safety. I was trained as a medical anthropologist and I know plenty about paradigm shifting, assumptions, and authoritative knowledge. I don’t eat GMO foods because no one has proved they are safe and several European… Read more The vaccination debate
Doctors were expensive and hard to come by for the average person in the Tudor era. Most of the nitty-gritty healthcare and healing came from women. Armed only with herbs and folklore, women – especially older married women — acted as de facto nurse practioners for their communities. These skills were taught via informal apprenticeship… Read more Ollie Petite Morgan Blakely, Wise Woman
One of the hardest thing about studying the life of Henry VIII is the enormous amount of infant/child deaths I have had to read about. It is a horrible thing to contemplate. Contrary to what some people believe, people in eras of high child mortality grieved with the same intensity as modern parents. Just as… Read more The Human Continuum