On the eve of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the congregation forms a Jewish beth din (court) and, among other things, declares that it is permitted to pray with sinners. This point never struck me as significant, try as Hebrew-school teachers might, until recently. That’s because I’ve been thinking…
Last post, I wrote about some things, big and small, serious and not, that I learned later than I should have in life. Sometimes, that “should” meant that I wish cultural norms had been different and supportive; sometimes that “should” just meant I’m aware I didn’t follow typical timelines for…
Hindsight is 20/20. It’s easy to look back and think “I should have known that sooner!” while forgetting what it was like to actually be your younger self. Sure, older you would have put that knowledge/skill/perspective together much faster… but older you has different resources and experiences. This is why…
If I were choosing based entirely on the impact on my life, this list would be full of diapers and bottles and so forth, but I’m sticking with my plan of not including baby-centric things. Still, you can tell that baby life has been getting easier to manage, because I’ve…
I am struggling to maintain a dayenu mindset. On Passover, one of the highlights of the telling of the story of the Exodus is the song Dayenu. One by one, singers list each of the miraculous things God did for B’nai Yisroel–aka the kin group that became us, the Jewish…
If you’ve read my other recent posts, you know that one very important thing made my life better these past months (and hopefully will continue to do so long into the future): a new baby! But I’m not including major life stuff like that in this or other posts because,…
The first thing I remember trying to memorize was “What a Wonderful World.” I was about four. My preschool had us kids perform occasional parent-impressing concerts, and my classmates and I surely must have learned more songs off by heart. But I liked “What a Wonderful World” so much that…
The astute observers among you may have noticed that it is, in fact, no longer 2023, and, moreover, it hasn’t been for over a month. You are correct. However, for all of that time, I’ve either been heavily pregnant or had a newborn to take care of. (Hooray! We’re all…
There are relatively limited resources on pregnancy overall, and, of those sources, even fewer address the specific experiences of masc-of-centre folks like me. When I searched for “what to wear to work when pregnant,” I got a lot of femme recommendations reassuring me that I could still find cute dresses…
It’s been a while! I’ve been working with and around health challenges which have made it tough for me to get things done on the schedule I’d prefer. So here’s what was making my life better these past (gasp!) two quarters. Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention-And How To…