Grasshopper New Media Presents...

I think the answer to that question would probably depend on the family. I’m sure that larger families are better able to play the games that I remember from public school gym class, like kickball, softball and volleyball. Most physical games require at least two players, usually more. I would imagine that families whose parents […]

A friend told me last week about a web site called Chore Wars. It’s set up like one of those online character games, but you set the quests and the points for your particular group. Each family member can have a character that earns experience points based on the chores done. The […]

When my best friend E. and I were in the ninth grade, her mother underwent a hysterectomy. We had only the sketchiest notion of the purpose of a hysterectomy, and this was a time long before “googling” had entered the lexicon. The truth was that we didn’t really care to investigate the medical […]

Well, my extraordinary friend, Patti, has done it again. She has taken a group of middle school kids with their own stresses and angst and hormones and quirks and turned them into a phenomenal musical cast. She’s been doing this for about seven years, in a suburban school just outside of Atlanta, and each year […]

18 years and a husband and 3 kids ago I explored Boston as a college freshman. I wore Doc Martins with tattoo tights and a biker jacket. I rode the T and smoked cigarettes and hung out in Harvard Square listening to street musicians. I created things. I drew and cut […]

I am a working mom. Does that define who I am? I am a school counselor. Does that define my character? I get to be a stay at home mom in the summers, on Winter Break, on Spring Break. Does this define my commitment to my family? I am a […]

There’s an article in Time Magazine entitled “How to Make it Great Teachers“, talking about the effort to get great teachers into the classroom, and keep them there. There’s 3.2 million people teaching in classrooms in US public schools, with another 2.8 million needed in the next eight years. Good teachers are necessary […]

One person or another in our household has been laid up since Thanksgiving.
I’m beginning to think that we’ve offended the universe in some very serious way, bringing upon us plague after plague. My plague, of course, is of a different sort, with morning sickness that lasts all the livelong day.
We’re a barrel of laughs, I […]

Today, February 25, our Andrew turns 21. On this day 21 years ago, we didn’t know that we were having a son. That was before everything and everyone was tested.
I wasn’t sure I wanted a son, wasn’t sure I could do that. A daughter would have been fine (I thought then), but a son? I […]

Last week, I wrote an essay about the choice of becoming a stay-at-home parent. This week, I’d like to take some of your time to tell the tale of the moment of my choice.
A long time ago, in my own personal galaxy, I fell in love. She was captivatingly, breathtakingly beautiful, soulful, artistic, and deeply […]