to read: essays, articles
The Case for One More Child — Ross Douthat, Plough — “Certainly you can see the possible limits of policy tweaks and cultural nudges in the experience of other countries… many societies, European and Asian, do much more to support parents than the United States. And their results are not overwhelming.”
Leah Libresco mentions this long but poignant piece in her newsletter Other Feminisms: “Instead of a focus on what you are accomplishing, Douthat and Ruhl both focus on who you are becoming…”
Dependence: Toward an Illiberalism of the Weak — Leah Libresco, Plough — In that same newsletter, she segues from Douthat’s piece to her own:
“The trouble is, babies don’t annihilate enough. If children, to an extent, remake their parents around the shape of their need and their trust, they are less able to remake all of society to respond to their vulnerability. My essay in Plough’s family issue was “Dependence,” a meditation on what a politics centered on weakness, not autonomy, would look like.
Singles in the Pew: What the Unmarried Know about Church as Family — Gina Dalfonzo, Plough — “…we cannot fall back on the natural family bonds that sustain others. We must be forever busy building, strengthening, reinforcing the bonds with those outside our family – and most importantly, with fellow members of the church.”
Why Housing Policy Feels Like Generational Warfare — Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic — “But it is an ironic twist that residential property, which once served as the bedrock for American capitalism, has become the most obvious sign for young people that something is deeply wrong with the markets.”
Markets and the Strangulation of the American Family — Gracy Olmstead, Mere Orthodoxy — This will be my go-to piece for convincing people (especially conservatives) of the need to spend money on what we are convicted is worth conserving or promoting.
This piece took me like 3 days to read, but it was worth it.
“One difficulty… would likely lie in convincing people on the right that we ought to value life with our monetary policy, not just with our rhetoric. It would also require determining the proper means to institute such a program: the left might suggest greater taxation in order to put it together, and I personally think that’s a possibility pro-lifers should be okay with. But as Bruenig points out, we could also probably pay for (or come close to paying for) such a program by reconsidering and refiguring our fiscal spending in other sectors of the economy. There’s plenty of crony capitalism that we could replace with proper spending on behalf of families.”
to read: books
Piranesi, Susanna Clarke — kindle/audio — If you’re interested, read this gorgeous review by Joy Clarkson.
The Possibility of Prayer, John Starke — audio — Helpful, gentle, and encouraging.
(Let’s be friends on GoodReads)
to watch
The New World — movie — If you need a reminder to watch a Terrence Malick film.
The Hill Family — youtube — Myriah and I have had a few overlapping, similar life events in recent years (getting married, having a baby soon after, moving cross-country right after baby, new mothers in a pandemic, now both expecting 2 kids under 2 in the next few months.) We’ve followed each other for a while (thanks internet), but now she has a family YouTube channel. Love & identify with her thoughts on lessons learned in 2020.
to listen: music
Grey Fidelity — Tow’rs — String-filled, melodic beauty.
If You Feel — Xavier Omar — Grown up R&B.
Sing: Creation Songs & Sing: Remembering Songs — Ellie Holcomb — For the tiny people, and yourself.
to listen: audio
Susanna Clarke on ‘Piranesi’, illness, and faith — The Church Times podcast
to cook
Chicken soup, with rice
Garlic butter salmon, with oven roasted rosemary potatoes
Trader joe’s beef & broccoli (be easy on yourself sometimes)
Breakfast egg & sausage casserole
Chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin bread
to celebrate
My sister had a birthday, Jakob’s parents celebrated 37 years married, my friend Vasti got a speech language pathology job and will now be able to finish her certification, and Jakob is perfecting the art of toddler forts and semi-dangerous, fun activities.
to remember, reflect
A year ago this week, our family had completed a cross-country trip from Columbia, Missouri to Long Island, New York. With a newborn. We were in a hotel for a week an a half while waiting for movers to arrive with all our belongings. Tired in more ways than one, it was still a fun bonding experience for us all. And 3 week-old Ezra got to sleep in a laundry basket.
This week was the first regular week back home, post-holiday, post-traveling. We needed those rhythms again.
A strider balance bike coming in the mail for Ezra, his first big Christmas gift.
Play dates with friends and their daughters. Grateful for Vasti and Gittel, who are also New York transplants and figuring out motherhood.
Talking on the phone with my uncle, who is incarcerated. A gracious, appreciative, attentive, and kind man.
Getting to hear 30-week-old Lukas’ heartbeat yet again, and also getting new contacts. Grateful for insurance.
A Sunday sermon from Matthew 6:1-4. May our giving be consistently, sacrificially generous — and yet in secret, not for the applause of man. We should be the most free with our money.
Ezra walking with his hands behind his back, like a retired man making the rounds around his neighborhood.
Talking with Jakob about all the dumb jokes and also the big events of the day.
Christians who will have no part of the idolatry of power, politics, or race. Christians who exude the fruit of the Spirit over the spirit of this age. Christians who believe the Beatitudes are wildly upside down and yet good. It would be laughable to look at the events of this week’s attack on the Capitol and see it as something any follower of Christ should emulate or defend….. if it weren’t so tragic.
“Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
Mark 5:19
What a breath of fresh air these posts are in my life. Thank you <3