Stuff We Like :: 4.14.17

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You can tell that I’ve just wrapped up an issue because I’m suddenly very chatty! Pretend we're drinking wine instead of coffee.

around the web

I can’t decide whether I should be secretly proud or secretly embarrassed that I have read more than half of the most ridiculous Sweet Valley High plotlines. (That punch-spiking/drunk driving/evil twin drama, though!)

The internet has done many wonderful things, but perpetuating wrongly attributed quotes is definitely not one of them. (I do love the story about how Anne Rice accidentally attributed one of her own quotes to Kafka. I thank the internet for that.)

And since we’re talking about the internet, “what fresh hell” has become the jargon of our lives—which may actually be a coping mechanism. (This totally makes sense to me. And am I the only one who feels like she has to check the news just-really-quickly before bed just because if there is really bad news I don’t feel like I can deal with it emotionally before I have coffee? Even though I also probably really can’t deal with it right before I go to sleep. So it’s just basically touring myself.)

I mean, if you can resist the title, I don’t know if we can be friends: Toni Morrison is more Hemingway than Hemingway Himself

at home/school/life

for subscribers: A few brave souls have ventured into our new forum. You can join us by requesting your invite on the subscribers only page.

on the blog: File under not even a little a bit surprising: Wearing pajamas all day is the MOST HOMESCHOOLERY THING EVER. (The voting was really fun, though—thanks for playing!)

one year ago: Oh, I loved The Goblin’s Puzzle. Maybe I can convince my son to read it again.

two years ago: Resources for young entrepreneurs

reading list

My daughter and I are taking a brain break this week and not really doing any work, but we are having so much fun reading the first pages of books and analyzing them a la How to Read Novels Like a Professor. (If you’re not familiar with the book, it’s a fun read—he theorizes that you can tell most of what you need to know about a book from the first page, which you may or may not agree with but which is a fun way to spend a sunny front porch kind of afternoon.)

My best friend lent me a copy of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About Race—it’s ultimately destined for Jason’s school library, but I get to read it first. (The perks of being a volunteer librarian!) I feel like racism is one of those things that I always thought “oh, yeah, that’s bad” about without ever really digging into the reality or how culturally pervasive it is—which is ironic, kind of, because I get so annoyed when people do that with women’s issues. Now I’m reading everything I can get my hands on and trying to help my kids navigate the world in a way that’s respectful and inclusive and aware.

I have recently discovered Barbara Comyns in my never-ending quest to find women writers I’d never heard of (see also Isabel Colegate, Mariama Bâ). I started with The Vet’s Daughter, which is like—what? Sort of suburban Gothic/British Flannery O’Connor with magical realism woven through it? I feel like that comes close but doesn’t really do it justice. 

in the kitchen

Jas and I went out to brunch with the kids to celebrate our anniversary, and I had these amazing lemon-blueberry-goat cheese pancakes that I want to recreate at home. (Maybe I’ll start with this recipe.)

We have been experimenting with matzoh toast. So far, scrambled eggs have been the only universal hit, but I really like the avocado toast version, and my daughter is a fan of peanut butter and banana with just a little chocolate-hazelnut spread.

Cookie of the week: Passover chocolate chip cookies

at home

My daughter and I have had so much fun with our Studio Ghibli movie/book combo class that I’m toying with the idea of writing a comparative literature high school curriculum along those lines. You know, because I have so much free time. (Or maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to give up laundry forever? Though I have kind of fallen hard for this honeysuckle laundry soap. Does having a favorite laundry product make you a real grown-up?)

Having a dog is possibly the greatest thing ever. While I write this, my son is reading Encyclopedia Brown aloud to the dog and pausing at the end of each story just in case the dog decides he wants to solve it before he hears the solution. 

My district happens to be one with a spring election, and it felt so good to (early) vote after everything that’s happened in the past few months. 

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