I took Teddy downtown last week for a work party at a bar. He did pretty well, despite the fact that it was near his bedtime and the place was loud and crowded with unfamiliar people. His little pacifier helped him cope, but as usual, he spit it out at one point and it rolled […]
Posted inPluck
Breastfeeding! For real!
What a breath of fresh air from Colorlines! After so much aggressive media stupidity concerning breastfeeding lately (sure … let’s just go with “lately”), finally something that’s actually about breastfeeding! For real! When bona fide experts discuss this “hot topic” the tone is decidedly down-to-earth and relatable, with images that are a far cry from the media’s salacious chimera of […]
Posted inReviews
Prometheus: Better than your average summer blockbuster
“Prometheus” stands somewhere at the border between the kind of science fiction that uses a fantastical construct to ask big, important questions about humanity and the kind of sci-fi that wants to pick off space ship crew members one by one in inventively gruesome ways. We know going into this movie, even those of us […]
Posted inPluck
Five ways you’re awesome (probably without even noticing)
One of the things that sucks moldy kumquats about being a mom is that you often work really hard without any quantifiable accomplishments to celebrate at the end of the day. I sometimes find myself pining for something as simple as the feeling I used to get as a barista from making a latte. The […]
Posted inMusic
Fiona Apple’s ‘The Idler Wheel’ a balm for the broken-hearted
Fiona Apple—The Idler Wheel is Wiser Than the Drive of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (Epic Records) The last time I even thought about Fiona Apple was when she accepted a MTV Music Award in 1997 and declared that “this world is bullshit.” I thought she […]
Posted inMusic
Best Coast’s ‘The Only Place’ is the sound of summer
When I was in high school, I drove an old Datsun but paid to have a pricey CD changer installed. Not practical, but critical as music could make you forget things you wanted to forget, such as the fact that you drove an old Datsun. Ritually, I would change the CDs according to season, and, […]
Posted inPluck
My big-ass stroller
Those who like to complain about children in public also love to loathe strollers. Liz encountered one of these people on the train a few weeks back, a lady who was not embarrassed to tell her just why her stroller was such a terrible imposition on her and everyone else on the CTA. But it’s […]
Posted inPluck
Storytime for Chicago parents: Adam Mansbach reads “Go the Fuck to Sleep” live
The other night, Jeff and I were trying to get Teddy down to sleep. We’d rock him and cuddle him, and he’d drift happily off to dreamland. But the moment we put him down — slowly, carefully, like we were strategically placing a nuclear warhead — he’d pop awake, like a cruel baby jack-in-the-box. The […]
Posted inPluck
Don’t I know you from somewhere?
Let me start off by saying that I totally get it. Before my daughter was born, I admit that I thought people with their gigantic strollers on the train/bus were clueless and entitled. I mean, they’re the ones who chose to have the kids right? So why is my shin sporting a bruise for the cause?! Don’t these people understand […]
Posted inReviews
‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ is goofy but beautiful
“Snow White and the Huntsman” is not good, exactly, but it’s not terrible. The movie, ambitious and prosaic by turns, benefits from director Rupert Sanders’ eye for beauty and compelling images, like the moment when a group of crows dissolves into Charlize Theron, or the melting pile of gold that is the mirror. The story […]