Talking About Violence and Relationships
Eggs, toast, and a side of emergency contraception. Not exactly like that but pretty close. My girls and I were listening to a morning radio story about a pharmacist who refused to sell EC to a man whose condom broke while having sex with his girlfriend (who happened to be a law student). The pharmacist … Continue reading “Emergency Contraception is the breakfast rush conversation”
It’s 6:45 am and the morning hilarity is on. My back is to my teenage daughters as I scramble eggs, yell out reminders about packing up homework, and try to listen to the morning news on NPR. Wait a minute, what are they talking about? Who is a prostitute, who is a slut? My girls … Continue reading “Rush – you’re really making my job as a mom hard!”
I got stuck in the elevator last week. I got in, pressed 7 and rode up. The doors opened, maybe 4-5 inches, slammed shut, then everything froze. I pressed every button on the panel, including the alarm. Nothing. I’ve never been stuck in an elevator before. I know a lot of people say this is … Continue reading “Stuck”
When I was a little kid, my friend Jan and I beat a path through the tangle of brush in the vacant lot that separated our two homes. We were always so desperate to be with one another that we did this to cut 23 seconds off the time it took to get to each … Continue reading “A path to your door”
I’ve got a problem. My little girl needs to go to preschool next September and after weeks of research and help from fellow parent friends I’ve found one―ONE!―school in my neighborhood that I can afford that might work when pieced together with, literally, four other childcare options like drop-in daycare and kind friends. And only … Continue reading “Preschool problems”
You may wonder why I’m always blogging about emergency contraception (EC) and birth control. What does it have to do with domestic violence? Why would an advocate need to talk about this with a survivor of abuse? And why should domestic violence programs have EC, pregnancy tests, and condoms available on site? If you have … Continue reading “Living in a state of freedom”
August is typically a very slow, quiet month for me. Everyone is out on their summer vacation, the office is nearly empty, and my work load is low. But this August was different and by the time my own vacation approached, I felt overwhelmed and overloaded. There was a lot of work I didn’t have … Continue reading “Taking a time out”
I don’t usually, but I went to church for the last three Sundays in a row. Not to a sermon. But to a facilitated conversation designed to bring community members together to talk about race. Seriously, it was great. At each meeting we watched an episode of the PBS series Race – The Power of … Continue reading “I’d help but I can’t get around the road block”
Arguably one of the perks of being a dad is the constant stream of opportunities to give fatherly advice. Advice columns are one of my favorite guilty pleasures. The best ones are like miniature ethical treatises—perfect for a lapsed philosophy major with a short attention span. And who doesn’t like giving advice? To be human … Continue reading “Why I’m not giving my son advice on how to talk to girls”
Two years before Ray Rice pushed the league’s “domestic violence problem” into the headlines, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell testified to a Congressional committee: “We are changing the culture of our game for the better.” He wasn’t talking about the culture in which officials brushed off “hundreds and hundreds” of reports of domestic violence assaults by … Continue reading “Culture of violence”
