Put Books in Their Basket

I have a three-year-old daughter, and like any three-year-old, she loves the holidays. We decorate, watch holiday themed videos, and participate in holiday themed parties at her daycare and her favorite local attractions. However, as a mother who is concerned about creating healthy eating habits, the holidays can pose a problem. Many of them encourage the consumption of dubious amounts of candy.

Oh, I’m not one of those moms that completely bans sugar from the house, but I do restrict it quite a bit. I also look for ways to limit the amount of candy received during these highly commercialized holidays. We all remember that bag of Halloween candy that lasted until Christmas. By over indulging during the holidays, that stocking full of Christmas candy might last until Valentine’s Day, and that Valentine’s Day candy could last until Easter. It’s no wonder our country struggles with obesity, diabetes, and hyperactive children. We might as well give them a sugar IV and send them out into the world.

The public schools are finally catching on to the detrimental effects of sugar and systematically eradicating it from the lunchroom and vending machines. As an educator myself, I can tell you we have enough challenges without the sugar induced buzz distracting our students (not to mention the post sugar comatose).

As another holiday draws upon us, look for some alternatives for that Easter basket. Perhaps forgoing the candy all together is a bit drastic. Who wants to receive a fruit basket when everyone else is getting Cadbury eggs? We can cut back the amount of candy they receive, however, by adding small, inexpensive gifts that encourage learning and physical activity.

Here’s a suggestion I’m partial to . . . BOOKS! If you encourage your child to read while they’ re young, you will help them develop a life-long habit. In an effort to encourage children’s literacy, I will feature a number of children’s book reviews this week. With the plethora of options out there this spring, I will be posting more than once a day, so check back often, or subscribe to the Modern Matriarch feed to catch them all.

Happy Holidays and good reading!

Oh Shut Up Already!

Have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone but found it impossible because they just wouldn’t listen? Every time you opened your mouth to say something, they just had to interrupt. It’s impossible to talk and listen at the same time.

You may have noticed that this blog has been conspicuously silent lately. That’s because I am listening. I believe in the vastness of universal potential and the depth of life’s lessons and sometimes you just need to shut up to hear them.

I am adding links to three programs I am currently participating in—all courtesy of Oprah.com. I will refrain from commenting on them for now because I feel as though I would be interrupting the lesson I need to learn. I simply want to share the blessing of inspiration and fellowship they have provided.

A New Earth Oprah’s current Book Club selection addresses humanity’s ego-based thinking. Oprah and author Eckhart Tolle are committed to discussing the book chapter by chapter in a 90 minute live web event every Monday night starting March 3rd. (Discussions archived)

A Course in Miracles Marianne Williamson takes you through the complete Course in Miracles. Everyday in 2008, Williamson covers one of the 365 lessons. Although this program began in January, the complete program is archived and you can go at your own pace.

Oprah and Bob’s Million Viewer Challenge The body is the temple of the spirit. Learn how to make better health and fitness choices, because you deserve to live your best life.

Connecting with Patry Francis

My three-year-old daughter smells like soap and toothpaste as she crawls into bed next to me. It’s ten o’clock at night and I’ve just returned from the Intensive Care Unit where I kissed my husband goodnight on the forehead. My daughter knows daddy is sick, but in her mind he’s suffering from the flu.

It’s not the flu, though. It’s a rare but reoccurring blood disease. So rare, in fact, it has yet to be diagnosed.

In 1982, his father walked for miles—from an apartment in Havanah to the church of Saint Lazaro in the Cuban countryside. He went there to pray for his two-year-old son, who was dying from a mysterious blood disease. He would make the trip again two years later, when my husband was only four, and again at six. During each episode, doctors would begin a barrage of tests, ruling out one disease after another. Every member of the extended family went in for genetic testing. Still, his condition remained unexplained

This is his sixth stay in the hospital. His symptoms are not as severe as when he was a child, but his condition is still critical. But through it all, we are grateful. This rare blood condition is very similar to so many others, other diseases that are fatal, diseases that create lethal toxins and destroy organs. Yet, my husband continues to recover.

He also hopes doctors will be able to discover something new during this episode, something that may help others with the same condition. Perhaps they can learn something about how his body manages to self correct, why this disease goes into complete remission. Perhaps it could lead to a cure for similar diseases that are fatal.

Facing mortality can be frightening, but it can also be liberating. It reminds you what’s truly important. You also learn the importance of community, as you are forced to rely on others for help. It is in this spirit that I send out my prayers to a fellow writer Patry Francis. Patry Francis is the author of Liar’s Diary, a colorful murder mystery that has filled in the drab hours of waiting in uncomfortable hospital chairs. Patry is facing her own medical ordeal right now, diagnosed with an aggressive cancer just a few weeks before Liar’s Diary was due for its paper back release. In her blog Simply Wait, there is a glimmer of the awe and insight that mortal awareness brings. I hope her recovery is successful, and in the spirit of community I extend my support, for her health and her creative vision.

I will continue to carry my copy of Liar’s Diary with me, and as soon as I finish it, I will post again with a detailed review. But now I must get some sleep, an hour has slipped by since I started this post and my snuggly bundle of soap scented love has just fallen into a deep sleep.

Deadlines, Deadlines Everywhere and not a Drop of Ink

Thank God for electronic submissions! I’ll soon be updating my online portfolio to reflect some new publications (including book reviews in Mslexia and the Wow! Women on Writing blog, as well as an article in the new literary journal Alors et toi?). I’m proud to announce that I am now officially a member of the National Book Critics Circle, and I look forward to all I will learn from my more experienced peers. In the meantime, I’ll be publishing another book review/author interview right here at Modern Matriarch.

This time we will be joining Laura Zigman and discussing her new novel Piece of Work. Ms. Zigman spent ten years in the publishing industry before releasing her first novel, Animal Husbandry. We’ll see if we can pick her brain for a little insider information.

While doing a little background research for the interview, I came across this tongue and cheek, third person quote on her website:

Writing [freelance] pieces on the side (always makes her really nervous because the minute she accepts the assignment she becomes convinced that she won’t be able to complete it, or that even if she somehow manages to complete it the copy she turns in will be so bad and so embarrassing and so sub-par that the piece will be rejected and word will spread that she is a fraud and an imposter and a fake writer) is really fun.

What a relief to discover I’m not the only who feels that way.

Feminism and SF: Reading with a Critical Eye

When I first started blogging back in May, my meanderings across the web lead me to Feminist SF—The Blog, a blog that questions the representation of women in Science Fiction.

Sci-Fi (or perhaps its now being called Speculative Fiction) is one of my guilty pleasures. Why is it my ‘guilty’ pleasure? Well as an English major, not many SF titles fall into academic reading, so anytime I read SF it’s purely self-indulgence. Since I often approach SF with an escapist frame of mind, I’ve never really looked at it with a critical eye before; much less explore the representation of women within the genre.

I have the ladies over at Feminist SF for raising my awareness. Armed with this new perspective, I was intrigued by excerpts of Nina Munteanu’s new novel, Darwin’s Paradox.

I discovered Ms. Munteanu’s blog, The Alien Next Door, about the same time I discovered Feminist SF. Her blog demonstrates a passion for science, the environment, and for the evolution of a cooperative coexistence, a combination I found quite captivating.

Munteanu’s most recent SF book, Darwin’s Paradox, incorporates all of these elements along with strong female characters, as the excerpts found on darwinsparadox.com illustrate.

Having just finished Darwin’s Paradox, I would be interested in hearing what the women over at Feminist SF think of it. Tomorrow (Monday, November 19), I will be posting my review of the book, followed by an interview with the author on Tuesday.

Podcasts: Literary News and Publication Buzz

 

Ooops. Sorry I fell into the black hole of my master’s thesis again. Right now I’m on a grueling reading schedule that is making it difficult to find a little writing time. All of this academic reading also makes it difficult to keep up with current literary news. If it wasn’t for the occasional tidbits I glean from wordsy.com, I’d have no idea what was going on in the publishing world.

 

In fact, listening to the weekly Wordsy podcast really opened my eyes to everything I’m missing. While downloading their recent podcast on iTunes, I decided to search for other book related podcasts. What I discovered was a bibliophiles dream.

Almost everyone is podcasting, from Havard University Press to The New Yorker. (Well, now I’m really glad Hans gave me the chance to get that first interview under my belt.) Even iTunes produces a “Meet the Author” podcast.  

Since I have an iPod, I download my favorite podcasts through the iTunes store and I can take them with me. Subscribing is not only easy, it’s free. Now I can stay on top of all of the latest reviews and interviews without adding to my already over-taxed reading list. Don’t worry, you don’t need an iTunes account or an MP3 player, you can also access the podcasts directly from the producer’s website.

 

As always, I wanted to share this little discovery with my readers. Perhaps many of you already know about them, but if you’re as clueless as I was, well then, I present some of my favorites with a little bow on top. Yes, they are that good:

 

Harvard University Press: Off the Page with . . .

The New Yorker: Fiction

NPR: Book Tour

Princeton University Press Podcasts

Washington Post Book World

BBC World Book Club

 

Enjoy!

Site Revisions–Disregard feeds Nov 3-4

Due to upgrades in the WordPress tagging system, I will be updating all of the former posts in order to enhance SEO and make Modern Matriarch more user friendly. I apologize to our regular subscribers if these revisions should cause mass emailings. I will work around the clock in an attempt to complete the project this weekend. Thank you for your patience while we grow.