The only thing that should surprise me, really, was how surprised I was at the displays of racism I encountered yesterday in small-town Vermont. But I was surprised. It shook me out of my little progressive bubble that is my accidental hiding place from the rest of the world. I don’t mean to hide, and believe […]
Category Archives: Fear
What “Inside Out” Has to Say About Gender Roles
Warning: Once you get past this intro paragraph there will be plenty of spoilery talk about the new Pixar movie “Inside Out.” We saw it on Friday and I can’t stop thinking about it, and specifically how it presents the emotions with regards to gender. So I’m going to write about it and talk about […]
If You’re Not Scared, It’s Not an Adventure
Last weekend I was walking in the middle of a frozen lake with ice audibly cracking under my gigantic body. I survived. A few weeks before that I was hit by a car. I survived that as well. I plunged down an icy cliff onto somebody’s second story deck with my son on my lap. […]
There is No Terror Like a Lost Child
There a lot of things to be afraid of in life. Some things are good, healthy fears, like the fear of fire or speeding cars. Most of our fears are stupid though, and we know this. We are lied to, tricked, and manipulated every day by businesses, politicians, the media, and whomever else has something […]
The Diminishing Returns of Repeated Scare Tactics
Every night after we read stories and take medicine and put jammies on, we send my daughter up to brush her teeth and then one of us parents goes up to tuck her in. One day, as I was walking up the darkened stairs to her bedroom, she jumped out and yelled “Boo!” at me, […]
The 9/11 Memorial Museum: Why? (A New York City Family Adventure – Part 1)
When my mother, Toy Grammy, turned 60 this year, we wanted to do something big for her. Since she had never been to New York City, and had been slightly envious of my daughter’s birthday trip there I think, I had the idea to take her there for the weekend. I also decided that anyone […]
The Aftermath of Terror
For many people on this day 13 years ago, terror reigned supreme; for many of them it also ended that day. Lives were cut short in a terrible, fearsome way, and the United States of America suddenly got to deal with a reality that much of the rest of the world lives with on a […]
Terrifying Swimsuit Face
I am trying to write a good post for today. I swear that I am. But I can’t. I’m too creeped out by the terrifying swimsuit face. It keeps staring at me from across the room and I can’t concentrate. I was going to write something about how the whole family went to Kids Day […]
Things That Used to Be Scary
Do you remember when things used to be scary? Halloween was full of nasty creatures that terrified us, and stories used our hidden fears to create monsters that spoke to things we couldn’t even put into words. Our fear of the unknown drove us to imagine horrible bloodsucking vampires, monstrous werewolves, eerie ghosts, and wicked […]