Ain’t I a Woman?

Ain’t I a Woman?

Today I slugged it out with the last two and a half hours of bell hooks book Ain’t I A Woman on audio. The heat and humidity were oppressive, as was the overwhelming feeling of defensiveness every time I pressed play.

Then, on one of my breaks, I read this article from the Washington Post, “Germany faced its horrible past. Can we do the same?” by Michele L. Norris. The article described in great detail the way Germany has faced its painful history, with small reminders of it everywhere.

Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine

We have just a few days left of homeschool. The past eighteen months long ago bled out any desire anyone has to do schoolwork (or in my case, enforce it – see, I’m not even calling it teaching anymore). We still plod on, but I feel like I spend the vast majority of my waking hours doing things I’d rather not.

New York State requires us to finish 80% of our curriculum, and at this point in the year, we’ve certainly achieved that. It would be completely reasonable to call it quits. But to a fault, I am not a quitter. I can see how close we are to the end of the books we’re reading, and I’m determined to finish. I want to get my money’s worth from our online math curriculum. I don’t want my kids’ brains to turn to sludge until at least July.

An LDN Update

An LDN Update

A while back I told you about starting low dose naltrexone (LDN) to see if I could get some relief from rheumatoid arthritis pain (Ok, I said psoriatic arthritis, but that was a false alarm). It’s been two months since I started taking LDN, so I wanted to check in on what has changed (and what hasn’t).

The Julien Chore Jacket

The Julien Chore Jacket

I don’t have a lot of memories with my grandpas because both of them passed away when I was small, but I think the photos I have of them are why I didn’t need a lot of convincing to add a chore jacket to my sewing projects list. A chore jacket just seems like a grandpa uniform.I don’t remember what exactly made the Julien Chore Jacket stand out over the many other chore jacket patterns – the Ilford jacket and a Japanese mens’ jacket were also in the running.

I picked a luminous chartreuse linen for the outer fabric (warp and weft are an electric yellow-green and a rich gold), and picked a batik cotton from my stash for a lining. I wanted a lining so it could be a three-season jacket.

How to be a Good Neighbor

How to be a Good Neighbor

Most people have heard the line from the Bible about loving your neighbor as yourself. If you don’t know the rest of the story, in the biblical context, everyone is your neighbor.

Here are three good books unified around a theme of neighbors and how we treat ours. These books contain big T truth – the Truth that comes through in any medium where there is space for it to dwell.