Clips
A few recent clips on other sites and publications.
The Daily Jeffersonian, October 11, 2010:
A feature photo for the Monday newspaper after a local soccer team sponsored a Shoot for the Cure event during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Nationally Syndicated in newspapers in February 2010, originally posted on the Ohio Moms Blog:
“With warmer temperatures in our forecast and the month of March upon us, I am hoping against hope that Spring is just around the corner. However, all over the state of Ohio parents, educators and law-makers alike are just really beginning to understand the true force of this past (and still present) Winter. Due to outrageous amounts of snow, (30.1 inches in Columbus in just February alone, the snowiest Winter in 200 years) most school districts have not only used all of their Calamity Days, they have surpassed them.”
“Similar to the life I seem to be accidentally living, her story is one that, hopefully, is educating people. I don’t see her as a hero. I am not going to give her a big award for what she has done. I do hope, however, that society is learning something by hearing her story.”
“My foray into motherhood didn’t quite go as expected. When I was 22, I placed my firstborn for adoption. One reason I relinquished her was the fear that I wouldn’t know how to be a mother. No one explained that you learn all the mysterious secrets of motherhood the minute you become a mom. It took the birth of my first parented son two years later for me to realize that you just know how to wake up in the middle of the night, change a diaper with your eyes half shut, and half sleep your way through a feeding.”
One of my most popular posts for AdoptionBlogs.com, My Belated Thoughts on the 16 & Pregnant Finale:
“Despite the negative comments left on the page by what I hope to be teenagers without an inkling of real life experience or knowledge of grammar, I thought the two parents portrayed themselves as rather responsible, thoughtful teenagers. Yes, they were a pair of pregnant teenagers which some argue places them in the irresponsible category immediately. However, when I was feeling as if I was an irresponsible human being for the one act (getting pregnant), someone reminded me that one irresponsible act does not make someone an irresponsible human being. These two really embodied that point. Yes, they got pregnant. No, they weren’t going to let that define who they were or how people treated them on their journey.”
My most popular personally blogged writings:
Why Can’t Boys Wear (Insert Color Here), published at Stop, Drop & Blog on :
“This whole concept makes me just as mad as when girls are told that they can’t “be” something when they grow up because it is a “man’s job.” Or how my friend’s daughter was made fun of for always wearing shirts with dinosaurs. Since when did dinosaurs become solely a boy’s toy and topic of interest? Why do we feel the need to tell boys and girls what they can and cannot like, can and cannot wear and can and cannot be? Why can’t we just let them make those decisions for themselves?”
The Woman Upstairs, published at The Chronicles of Munchkin Land on August 27, 2009:
“It wasn’t yet snowing that day, the snow set to fall that evening as I made the trek to Ohio, but it was cold. As the adult males in my life trudged boxes and bags and furniture to the truck, their effort was visible in the white puff of visible air, every breath they exhaled hanging just above their heads. The woman upstairs came down to see what the fuss was about, making sure someone wasn’t stealing all of my stuff. I’ll be honest when I say that I don’t remember too much of what she asked me. I was likely still in some form of shock from the labor and delivery of my firstborn child just six days earlier. Combine that with the shock of grief and loss that comes from leaving the hospital alone and subsequently signing my name to a piece of paper that, basically, says that the labor and delivery never took place and, well, I’d venture to guess the details of the conversation were blurry for many a reason.”