Jun 13

This Moment: June 13

by Stacey

“A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities.”

-William Arthur Ward

Jun 09

The Weekend Papers: Third Edition

by Stacey

Every so often, I write a post about the pieces that struck me in the Sunday papers.

Here are a few articles that I thought were worth discussing…

Katherine has a very discerning palate (insert the p word here) so I am always looking for ways to expand her repertoire. Therefore, I was thrilled to read Matt Tichtel’s piece in the NYT titled “In Pitching Veggies to Kids, Less is More”. Turns out that research shows that kids who are told nothing (not “It’s so yummy!” or “It’s going to make you so strong!” about the foods they are going to try or eat, will eat more of them. This certainly is not what I have been doing so I suppose it’s worth a try!

This week’s New York Times Great Divide article was written by Robert Balfanz and titled Stop Holding Us Back. The article studies the shocking facts of high school drop out rates among poor children and examines the ways that are known, but not applied, to help the problem. He writes, “It is not news that the students who don’t make it out of high school largely come from our poorest neighborhoods, but the degree to which they are hyper-concentrated in a small set of schools is alarming. In fact, according to new research I conducted at Johns Hopkins University, half of the African American boys who veer off the path to high school graduation do so in just 660 of more than 12,600 regular and vocational schools.” Wow.

Patricia Volk authors, “The T.M.I. Pregnancy” in which she tells the story of her daughter-in-law’s pregnancy as she accompanies her to visit after visit where one more test is run and one more ‘warning sign’ is discovered. In the end, the baby is born healthy and happy but the family has spent nine months worrying. I wonder about this a lot and know about all the babies and families saved by our excellent pre-natal care but sometimes I do wonder….

As a person who went to and loved sleep away camp, I was fascinated by Pamela Paul’s article Not a Happy Camper in which she discussed her hate of camp but the fact that her daughter is leaving soon and will love it. She believes that the world is divided into camp lovers and camp haters, with good personality based reasons. I always believed that my girls would go to camp just as I did and even sent Caroline one summer. I worry that I sent her too young because she was not a happy camper but this article made me wonder if maybe she is just not a camp person.

Jun 06

This Moment: June 6

by Stacey

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.”

-John Weasley

Jun 04

Dear World: Be Present

by Stacey

A few weeks ago, I traveled to New Orleans with Rob on a work trip. Hands down the best part of the trip (aside from catching up with friends, of course!) was the experience that we had learning about Dear World.

Our first night there, we walked in to a welcome party to discover a photographer set up with all his equipment, ready to take our pictures. At first, I was ready to walk right on by but fortunately, we stopped to hear what Robert Fogerty had to say.

Robert describes Dear World in this way”

“I started this project in 2009, when people across New Orleans wrote their “love notes to the city.”

We learned that you can never lose your voice and over the past three years, I’ve looked into the eyes of thousands. They’ve shared the hopes and fears, their losses and joy with me regardless of their religion, race or language.

I ask people to share one meaningful message with family, friends and strangers.”

Rob and I struggled with what to say as suddenly it felt really important. I got on my iPhone and began searching for all of my favorite quotes. As I read, I realized that they each had the same message. Be Present. So we decided to be just that simple and took the picture above.

On the last day of the conference, we were able to attend a presentation highlighting all of the work that Dear World has done over the past five years. Since 2009, Robert has traveled around the world photographing people who have things to say.

He has been to the Zaatari refugee camp where he photographed hundreds of Syrian children, one of whose messages read, “I want the life I had to come back.”

He has been to Breezy Point after Hurricane Sandy. There he photographed messages like the following, “The reason why we fail is so we can get up again.”

He has been to 2014 Boston Marathon where he photographed Celeste Cochran, a double amputee following the bombings who ran the last 100 yards of this year’s marathon with the message, “Still standing. Still beautiful.”

What an amazing man and what an amazing project. Please take the time to click through to the Dear World website. You can’t help but be inspired.

Jun 02

Last But Not Least: Take 2

by Stacey

Awhile back I wrote a post titled Last but Not Least. It was fun so I am doing it again.

Here goes…

The Last…

book I read: I just finished Still Alice by Lisa Genova which was recommended to me by the founder of Great New Books, Jennifer King. I always know I will enjoy a Jennifer recommendation and I did.

place I visited: A few weeks ago, Rob and I went to New Orleans.

TV show I watched: Friday Night Lights and True Detective. I could easily dissolve in to the couch and not come out until I had finished both series (especially Friday Night Lights) but I am fighting the good fight and watching only in small doses.

meal I prepared: We had pizza for dinner last night after a long afternoon of soccer and softball but if lunch counts, we had one of our typical lunches. Grilled cheese for Katherine, turkey and swiss cheese sandwiches for Rob and Caroline and egg salad and green salad for me.

person I called: My friend Nicky to chat about food, books and kids activities.

person on my camera: Katherine. We had a fun but busy weekend with soccer tryouts, soccer games and softball games and then the event that Katherine looks forward to all year. Her dance recital. We still don’t know where in the world Katherine’s dancing talent has come from but the child really does look more happy and confident on the stage than just about anywhere else.

thing I Googled: When Stacey London (from What Not to Wear) went grey. Caroline is totally obsessed with the show and was asking countless questions about Stacey.

May 30

This Moment: May 30

by Stacey

“This is a very important practice. Live your daily life in a way that you never lose yourself. When you are carried away with your worries, fears, cravings, anger and desire, you run away from yourself and you lose yourself. The practice is always to go back to oneself.”

-Thich Nhat Hanh

May 27

A Photo Walk: New Orleans

by Stacey

Last week, I joined Rob on a work trip to New Orleans. It had been two years since we had traveled without the girls so it was an exciting adventure for us, for the girls and for my in-laws who graciously spent the week at our house.

Being that it was a work trip, we did not have a ton of control over where we stayed, what we ate or what we did. Because of this, I’m not sure I truly experienced the New Orleans that so many people claim to be one of their favorite places on earth. I left feeling a bit like I needed a ‘do-over.’

That said though, when I looked back through my pictures I realized I certainly saw a different and new part of the world and that is always exciting. Below are a few of the sites we saw…

Our trip started at Mardi Gras World, a museum of all things New Orleans. We entered a warehouse full of Mardi Gras floats. I didn’t have my ‘big camera’ with me so it was hard to capture the scope of this place. We were also able to participate in the Dear World project the night that we arrived. More to come on this amazing experience soon.

I wondered why our Garden District tour began in a cemetery but soon learned that due to the water level in New Orleans, burial is quite a process that results in these massive tomb stones.

We were lucky enough to be toured around this mansion with one of it’s owners. We got lots of fun information that way.

The Garden District was definitely my favorite. Everything was green, green, green.

And then there was Bourbon Street. I have really never seen anything like it. We had dinner at a great restaurant on the third floor. Being able to watch the goings on below was a great way to experience the madness. And to escape the smell that we found when we were on street level.

And of course there were beads everywhere we turned. On tree branches, on electrical wires and on porches. Wherever you looked, there were beads…

May 21

Book of the Week: Thank you, Octupus

by Stacey

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a Book of the Week post. I do feel sad that I’ve let this column go a bit but I am glad that when I first introduced it, I was wise enough to call it a ‘weekly-ish’ column. Looks like I knew myself pretty well on this one!

Recently though, I was in the Curious Reader looking for more early chapter books for Katherine. Hello, hard to find genre but that is a post for another day. The point here is that while I was there, Sally introduced me to our new favorite picture book, Thank you, Octopus by Darren Farrell. In this hilarious tale, an octopus is in charge of putting a little boy to bed and things go pretty much as you would expect.

What I love about this story is that it makes as great a read aloud as it does a Read Together as it does as early reader. If your child is not yet reading, they will laugh along with you as you read. They can make great predictions using the illustrations when you re-read and they will maybe even draw similarities between this duo and some other favorites like Elephant and Piggie. If your child is just learning to read, the phrases ‘No thank you Octopus’ and ‘Thank you Octopus’ are repeated throughout the book giving your early reader a chance to feel a great sense of independence and confidence when reading along with you. And if you child is a bit further along on their reading adventure, they will enjoy reading this book on their own given it’s large print, short sentences and predicable text.

If you have a chance to enjoy this book, do come back and tell us your favorite part. Our has to do with egg salad….

May 19

What Should I Read Next?

by Stacey

I love my Kindle for reading fiction but for some reason, I can’t seem to make the leap with nonfiction. I need to be able to look ahead and look back. I need to flip the pages and look at charts and graphs. I need to look and see the book lists that authors so often add at the end of the book to help my to be read pile to grow.

As a result of reading fiction on my Kindle, I don’t really have a physical fiction to be read list anymore. I keep track of these books by getting free samples on my Kindle or adding them to my Goodreads to be read shelf.

Non-fiction titles though are piling up around my house. I have a list of books that are all clamoring to the front of the line and I’m not sure where to start. I thought an informal poll might be helpful.

If you have read any of the books below, please let me know what you thought. On the flip side, if you haven’t read any of these titles, let me know which one you would like to know about and I will read and review the most requested title.

Here are my top three choices…

It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens by Danah Boyd