You probably need this book, either for yourself, or for a dear friend. The hilarious, empathetic and sweary Emily Writes has followed up her first essay collection Rants in the Dark with a second collection, Is It Bedtime Yet? This time, with typical generosity, and an eye to telling more people’s stories than just […]
I know the title is a big call, but I’ll eat a suitcase of carrots if you can beat these 🙂 As I said in a post last Christmas, partly about the differences between Southern and Northern Hemisphere Christmas celebrations: St Paul’s Anglican Church in central Auckland is blessed to have some very artistically and […]
Oh, the shame! I love the days when my 2.5 year old son gets mistaken for a girl (Yus! No arbitrary gendered fashion advice for us, thanks!), when he plays with a tea-set, or when he says his favourite colour is pink (just the once, and I’ve seen no actual evidence of this, but it’s […]
Alex, mother of two, possessor of a doctorate in literature and an extensive music collection, and my main source of mix-tapes, is also a regular reader and commenter here. This is her first post (of many, I hope!), introducing us to a band you need to know about. Welcome, Alex! I first encountered the music […]
Sadness and little children are a funny mix. Literally, I guess. You can’t spend a day with a toddler without cracking a few smiles, so even on a hard day, having a small comedian in the house means the black cloud sits alongside some sunbursts. Or maybe it’s like a two-lane road, where you can […]
What if Barbie dolls had the same proportions as normal women? This: Nickolay Lamm has recreated a typical blonde Barbie, but at the average proportions of a 19-year-old American woman (he took the measurements from the Centre for Disease Control). And you know what? Real-girl Barbie looks amazing. The project was at first an experiment […]
Indulge me in a little linky celebrating. This is the 200th post on Sacraparental, and I’m sitting in Bristol feeling pretty good about that. Thank you, all. A gaggle of guest writers, a civility of commenters and a quietness of readers (like my collective nouns?) combine to make a welcoming lounge conversation. If you’re a […]
I was thinking about our discussions on beauty and remembered this awesome bathroom mirror: I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to live in a society without mirrors. Imagine not really knowing your own face. Of course, mirrors aren’t necessary for a society to be obsessed with beauty. But are they part of […]
Thanks to A Mighty Girl’s Facebook feed for this contribution to the saga of retailers insisting on labelling toys for girls or for boys: Update I’ve since spotted this prettier version from Kristen Myers, and done one of my own, since the above one (the earliest I’ve located) is now offline entirely. And […]
She’s a Mighty Girl and Mighty Commenter and Alex is also one of the patron saints of music for SBJ. She very kindly put together a couple of compilations of songs for his christening in England last year, and they’ve been on high rotate in our house (though SBJ has now learned how to turn […]