My younger son C is nothing if not persistent. This trait was apparent very early on, well before words – if he wanted something, he let you know it again and again and again. So, when he started asking for a pet about a year ago, I knew deferral wasn’t going to cut it for … Continue reading A Tale of Two Woolys
Category: culture
really, anything under the sun, but specifically the interactions among humans and between humans and their environment; the organizing rituals and practices that make up a culture; the systems of hierarchy and their intersections (race, class, gender, orientation, ability)
Inventing Traditions
Last Christmas Eve, I wrote the following Facebook post: “Reading Eric Hobsbawm’s The Invention of Tradition helped me understand that all traditions are invented out of specific historic, cultural, economic, and political needs. And later, in preparing to teach a course, I read The Battle for Christmas, about the pagan roots of what became both … Continue reading Inventing Traditions
Invisible Milestones
This was the second year in a row that our kids didn’t trick-or-treat together. Up until last year, we’d had a tradition of trick-or-treating in the neighborhood just south of us, three long streets of single family homes, fully decorated, and abundantly supplied with candy. We’d meet up with my older son’s friends and their … Continue reading Invisible Milestones
The Making of a Queens Girl
When I tell people I’m from New York and they ask me whereabouts, I say, “Queens and Long Island.” I had spent six years in each locale before heading off to college out of state, so it somehow seemed important to acknowledge both places as where I’m from. But lately, I’ve come to embrace my … Continue reading The Making of a Queens Girl
The Waiting Room of American Healthcare
We noticed the minor skin blemish on my son, but didn’t think much of it at first. I was thinking it’d go away on its own. But when it didn’t, and over the course of a few months seemed to change and then seemed slightly infected, my husband finally took him to the newly opened … Continue reading The Waiting Room of American Healthcare
Interracial
Recently, I was out to dinner at a local pan-Asian restaurant with my husband and kids when I observed the following: A young mixed race couple, a black woman and a white man, entered and were seated at a table for two. I would have guessed their age as mid-twenties. Just a few minutes later, … Continue reading Interracial
Rethinking Tiger Parenting
It’s easy to focus on play and creativity when your kids are young. I was sure I wasn’t going to be a stereotypical tiger parent, signing my kids up for every academic opportunity and expecting 110% effort at all times. But now that my older child is heading to middle school, the stakes feel a … Continue reading Rethinking Tiger Parenting
“When They See Us”: An American Tragedy
I hardly know what to say about this series. And yet, I feel compelled to write about it. It is so painful to watch and then to imagine how incalculably more painful, harrowing, soul-crushing it must have been for the five boys and their families to live through. There are not enough words. It’s a … Continue reading “When They See Us”: An American Tragedy
Qatar Travelogue
These were originally written as a series of Facebook posts when I traveled to Doha, Qatar with the Dean of my school to discuss a joint venture with a satellite campus there. Lightly edited for the blog. September 6-11, 2018 DepartureArrival Entry #1: Holy shit, I’m in Qatar! Never expected to have an opportunity to … Continue reading Qatar Travelogue
Welcome to Contrary Frog
Image credit: “Another "Neighbor” by Usonian is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 There's a Korean folktale about a young frog who never listens to his mother, always doing the opposite of what he's told. Then his mother falls ill and before she dies, knowing her son, she asks him to bury her by the river … Continue reading Welcome to Contrary Frog
Contrary Frog 