Thursday, December 16, 2010
Book recommends
Sorry to inundate you all with two whole blog posts in one day, but just wanted to point out that I posted new books that we've read lately, down here on the right side of the blog. Raising Boys and The Culture of Make Believe are particularly notable. Craig is half way done with Raising Boys, but he has read some parts to me that were good. The Culture of Make Believe is truly eye opening, but is a large book. However, I read through it pretty quickly because, in my opinion, Jensen is a excellent writer. Just click on the links to read more about the books.
Interesting article about interracial dating
I just read this article from the Atlantic about interracial dating that focuses on the black/white variety and how blacks have historically responded to it. Honestly, it's just not on my radar how deep it is for blacks, especially some black women, who even to this day are truly affronted when they see a black man with a non-black woman. My personal opinion has always been that unless you are THE most attractive person in the world, with the most perfect personality known to man, you need to be happy to find love where ever you can find it.
Another aspect I found interesting was that the reasons, past and present, for some black people's antipathy for interracial pairings. The reasons and feelings attached are, frankly, almost the same as white racists. A strange contradiction, but I think it's just one of many undesirable effects of our (the U.S.) racial past.
Another aspect I found interesting was that the reasons, past and present, for some black people's antipathy for interracial pairings. The reasons and feelings attached are, frankly, almost the same as white racists. A strange contradiction, but I think it's just one of many undesirable effects of our (the U.S.) racial past.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
New Cafe´Post
Just wrote a post on my Cafe´blog about weaning. I really need to post to that blog at least once a week! Especially if I am going to be freelancing.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
First freelance assignment: DONE
I turned in my article to Portland Family Magazine on Tuesday. It was kind of stressful. I had everything ready and prepped, emailed the article and it didn't get sent! It took an hour of me trying to figure out if there was something wrong with my gmail account, or something wrong on their end. Turned out, the editor had moved on, and the publisher was supposed have those emails forwarded to her. But it did not work. So she sent a email out to all the freelancers letting them know to send their stories directly to her email…*wipes brow*. I was actually more concerned about Gabe needing some attention while I was in the midst of all that…fortunately, he was okay.
The article will be in the January issue. I'll let you all know if it can accessed online, too.
In other news, I think most of you know that we are having another baby! We had our ultrasound yesterday and we're having another boy. We were kind of hoping for a girl, but you just get what you get when it comes to babies. He moved around a lot, opening his mouth, stretching, and gave the "hang loose" sign with his hand! Maybe this means he will be ultra laid back? Who knows.
I'm 18 weeks and right now he is breech, which concerned me. But the midwife said that at this stage they have plenty of time to turn. She outlined the steps they take if the baby is still breech at 37 weeks, but stressed for me not to worry about it because most babies end up turning by that time. I actually saw another midwife at the practice because mine was off that day. She was really nice. Their policy is for people to see all 7 midwives, just in case your regular one is not available at the time of delivery, so that you are not faced with a total stranger.
So, that's about it for now. Hope everyone is having a good week.
The article will be in the January issue. I'll let you all know if it can accessed online, too.
In other news, I think most of you know that we are having another baby! We had our ultrasound yesterday and we're having another boy. We were kind of hoping for a girl, but you just get what you get when it comes to babies. He moved around a lot, opening his mouth, stretching, and gave the "hang loose" sign with his hand! Maybe this means he will be ultra laid back? Who knows.
I'm 18 weeks and right now he is breech, which concerned me. But the midwife said that at this stage they have plenty of time to turn. She outlined the steps they take if the baby is still breech at 37 weeks, but stressed for me not to worry about it because most babies end up turning by that time. I actually saw another midwife at the practice because mine was off that day. She was really nice. Their policy is for people to see all 7 midwives, just in case your regular one is not available at the time of delivery, so that you are not faced with a total stranger.
So, that's about it for now. Hope everyone is having a good week.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Busy first November weekend
Gabe had a full weekend. There was the play date that I mentioned in the last post, a birthday party on Saturday and another play date on Sunday. Whew!
The party on Saturday was for a two brothers, 3 years and 1 year. Their mom is Nigerian/white and their dad is Indian. The party was a place called Pump it up, where they have inflatable slides for kids 6 and under. Gabe wasn't too sure about these weird inflatable contraptions at first, but warmed up a little when Craig and I got in with him. When it was time for pizza, Gabe did really well sitting at the little kids table eating. I just watched him from a distance. Gabe and another little girl from our mom's group, who is half black, half Hispanic, really favor one another. Like they could be brother and sister. She is about 1.5 years old and don't you know she starts feeding Gabe his drink? And he accepts it like he is the King, and then she starts rubbing his ear, and he's like, no that's going overboard. It was so funny. Craig and I and her parents got a big laugh out of that.
Yesterday we went over to our friends Steve and Amy to have a play date with their son Silas who is the same age as Gabe (we met them in our pregnancy class). I made some chocolate flax muffins that I brought over, and they ordered pizza from Pizza Fino that had caramelized onions, mushrooms, mozzarella and fontina cheese and Gabe actually ate it, mushrooms, onions and all! We were surprised. He didn't eat my muffins though. Hmph. However, Silas loved them, but he eats almost anything, lol.
Other news: I got a freelance assignment for a local family magazine last week. I sent them a query about writing an article on black moms and breastfeeding. Some recent studies have come out this year, so it's a fairly current topic (we have the lowest rates of BF out of all ethnicities).
So, I emailed the query letter to them thinking it would be a few weeks before I'd hear one way or another because it says on their site that it could be like six weeks. So I was really surprised to not only hear from them the next day, but an expression of interest in the story and acceptance of the pitch. I'm, like wow! Also, I expected them to pay a certain amount in my mind, which was rather low and it turns out they are able to pay a little more than I thought. Now, don't get it twisted; that amount is still NOT a lot, but just more than I expected.
So I have until the end of the month to do interviews and write and submit the story. Fortunately, I started a little bit of legwork before sending off the query, so I am not scrambling for to do stuff: I will be interviewing a lady who blogs about black women and breastfeeding, a local lactation consultant I will be meeting with this week, two local moms (one older with grown kids who breastfed and one younger who is currently breastfeeding) to interview, and I will insert a little bit about my own experience.
It feels really good to have an assignment and to actually be getting paid for it. If all goes well, I'd like to write for them regularly (dependent on me having good ideas for stories, that is; they could also like me well enough to give me assignments) for a year and then I'd like to branch out and try writing for larger magazines, which means higher pay. It is all very slow going, patience is key. We'll see how it goes!
The party on Saturday was for a two brothers, 3 years and 1 year. Their mom is Nigerian/white and their dad is Indian. The party was a place called Pump it up, where they have inflatable slides for kids 6 and under. Gabe wasn't too sure about these weird inflatable contraptions at first, but warmed up a little when Craig and I got in with him. When it was time for pizza, Gabe did really well sitting at the little kids table eating. I just watched him from a distance. Gabe and another little girl from our mom's group, who is half black, half Hispanic, really favor one another. Like they could be brother and sister. She is about 1.5 years old and don't you know she starts feeding Gabe his drink? And he accepts it like he is the King, and then she starts rubbing his ear, and he's like, no that's going overboard. It was so funny. Craig and I and her parents got a big laugh out of that.
Yesterday we went over to our friends Steve and Amy to have a play date with their son Silas who is the same age as Gabe (we met them in our pregnancy class). I made some chocolate flax muffins that I brought over, and they ordered pizza from Pizza Fino that had caramelized onions, mushrooms, mozzarella and fontina cheese and Gabe actually ate it, mushrooms, onions and all! We were surprised. He didn't eat my muffins though. Hmph. However, Silas loved them, but he eats almost anything, lol.
Other news: I got a freelance assignment for a local family magazine last week. I sent them a query about writing an article on black moms and breastfeeding. Some recent studies have come out this year, so it's a fairly current topic (we have the lowest rates of BF out of all ethnicities).
So, I emailed the query letter to them thinking it would be a few weeks before I'd hear one way or another because it says on their site that it could be like six weeks. So I was really surprised to not only hear from them the next day, but an expression of interest in the story and acceptance of the pitch. I'm, like wow! Also, I expected them to pay a certain amount in my mind, which was rather low and it turns out they are able to pay a little more than I thought. Now, don't get it twisted; that amount is still NOT a lot, but just more than I expected.
So I have until the end of the month to do interviews and write and submit the story. Fortunately, I started a little bit of legwork before sending off the query, so I am not scrambling for to do stuff: I will be interviewing a lady who blogs about black women and breastfeeding, a local lactation consultant I will be meeting with this week, two local moms (one older with grown kids who breastfed and one younger who is currently breastfeeding) to interview, and I will insert a little bit about my own experience.
It feels really good to have an assignment and to actually be getting paid for it. If all goes well, I'd like to write for them regularly (dependent on me having good ideas for stories, that is; they could also like me well enough to give me assignments) for a year and then I'd like to branch out and try writing for larger magazines, which means higher pay. It is all very slow going, patience is key. We'll see how it goes!
Friday, November 5, 2010
Multi-Cultural Mamas
Gabe had a great time today at a play date. There were five moms there, including the hostess, and 7 kiddos. What I realized after I left was the diversity of everyone: I'm black (as you all know, lol), the hostess is biracial (black/white, her husband is Indian), the other 3 moms were white, Hispanic (her husband is black) and Indian. It was cool to have all the moms from different ethnicities and backgrounds (in fact, the Indian mom is Catholic, not Hindu, while the hostess' hubby is a practicing Hindu).
Anyway, it was nice to notice and appreciate differences.
Anyway, it was nice to notice and appreciate differences.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Lee Farms
Wednesday, I took Gabe to Lee Farms in Tualatin, Ore. We went with two moms I know that live in Northeast Portland. Gabe looked at baby chickens, a goat (although he didn't really like the goats walking up to him) ran around a pumpkin patch, and towards the end of the trip we got some apple cider donuts. These donuts are sooooo good, and they apparently make them all year around. I didn't get any apple cider (which they make fresh) but Craig wants to go back and get some.
We're still dealing with house stuff. We are a little bit closer to solving our drainage problems. Without getting into boring details, we need to divert the water that gets into our downspouts after the rain and the discharge line connected to our sump pump to another source other than the drywall. In fact, it may not even be going into a drywall, but a trench. Ugh, it is all very convoluted.
Last week, Gabe and I also went to lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory with a mom's group I am a member of. One of the little girls there, who is Hispanic, is very cute and looks exactly like a girl version of Gabe. I thought it was funny, because I have always felt Gabe looked kind of looked Hispanic.
We're still dealing with house stuff. We are a little bit closer to solving our drainage problems. Without getting into boring details, we need to divert the water that gets into our downspouts after the rain and the discharge line connected to our sump pump to another source other than the drywall. In fact, it may not even be going into a drywall, but a trench. Ugh, it is all very convoluted.
Last week, Gabe and I also went to lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory with a mom's group I am a member of. One of the little girls there, who is Hispanic, is very cute and looks exactly like a girl version of Gabe. I thought it was funny, because I have always felt Gabe looked kind of looked Hispanic.
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