The Mama Bear by Chairman Mom

TODAY my favorite course we do starts: New Media Mastery.  

Everyone thinks I say that about every course, and I do love all of them, but New Media Mastery is absolutely my favorite. 

Exactly two things have ever come naturally to me: Being a mom and being a journalist. I was one of those people who thought I’d always stay a journalist as my peers peeled off for higher-paying, easier jobs one by one. I was a lifer. Finding stories and telling them was the greatest rush, and it was a superpower of mine.  Read more...

Newsletter editor Lily here.

I’ve been an emo puddle for the past 15 hours. Why, you ask?

Because I finally had a little time to sit down and watch season one of Heartstopper, the Netflix adaptation of Alice Oseman’s beloved graphic novel series. As an ace person (and more specifically, an ace writer who loves romance novels and love stories), I’ve always adored Oseman’s work and their commitment to tell authentic queer stories. This adaptation is no different.

Hearstopper (as in the books) is currently a four-volume series of comics following Charlie, a teenager who recently came out and is the only openly queer guy at his all-boys school, and Nick, the externally straight-passing star rugby player who begins to slowly question his own sexuality. Read more...

In my early twenties, I listened to Exile in Guyville by Liz Phair at least several times a week, if not per day. For years. 

My ex-husband (then-boyfriend) begged me to wear headphones. Friends of ours asked if I owned any other albums. 

I listened to it when I was feeling victorious. I listened to it when I was feeling furious. I listened to it when I was feeling heartbroken. I even listened to it when I was cleaning the house. 

I had never felt such a connection to an album. It spoke to all the double binds women are in at that age, at that stage in life. I felt seen at a time the word “feminist” was out of favor.  Read more...

Newsletter editor Lily here.

In the midst of doing my different gigs, recording a major podcast project, and trying to, you know, live my life, I’m also continuing my side hobby of seeing a ton of live theater at heavily discounted prices when I can. (I’ve become the queen of the rear mezzanine!)

This week was a mixed bag, but I saw a show that I still can’t believe was as funny to me as it was: POTUS. (The subtitle is “Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” to give you a better indication of what the tone of this play is.) Read more...

Newsletter editor Lily here.

I start recording a major podcasting project today in a studio (more details in a few weeks!), and I’m both more and less nervous that I should be.

For one thing, my co-host on this show is a professional comedian. There’s both less pressure on me (since he’s legally contracted to be the funny one) and more pressure on me given that I need to hold my own against this guy generally speaking.

Both my co-producer and my boss are telling me not to worry and that I’ll do great, but I don’t think they really understand that even with a comedian in the room, if there’s not a good dynamic between the two people speaking, it doesn’t really matter. A comedian telling jokes to a proverbial wall just doesn’t have the same effect. It’s an understandable concern! Read more...

I had a moment of JOY the other day. 

I don’t know that I really had distinguished joy as an emotion separate from happy, content, or excited before that day. But I guess, like love, you know it when you feel it. 

At 46, was it my first feeling of distinct joy? Or have we just come through so much sh*t in recent years that it seemed so distinct? 

My daily hiking practice has been more of a challenge the last few days. (I think I’m about a month in?) I had allergies, and I don’t know, maybe the early enthusiasm was wearing off. Today I really didn’t feel like it, but I was awake and I’d already set everything out, so I hauled myself out of bed, telling myself what we talked about a lot in our Finding Flow class: Do you ever regret working out?  Read more...

Newsletter editor Lily here.

Last night, I got to see Jamie Lloyd’s adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and all I can see is wow. This particular show was lauded pre-pandemic across the pond and stars actor James McAvoy.

For those who don’t know, Cyrano was first written in 1897 and follows a man of the same name. He’s a military guy who has a penchant for prose and is secretly in love with a woman named Roxane. However, he has a massive nose, and he spends his life being wildly insecure about it, to the point where he feels like no woman will ever love him. Eventually, he ends up in a scheme writing love letters to Roxane on behalf of a handsome (but not all that bright) fellow soldier named Christian, with whom Roxane is smitten. Read more...

Eli gives the best advice. Sometimes it’s about what I’m wearing, the color combo for our kitchen, when I need to take a break, or simply “No, mom, you can’t adopt a bunny. We already have too many pets.” She delivers it like a grown-up, which makes it sound even more wise. 

Before I left for the gala to support her new school, she took me aside and said, “Mom, just try to make friends.” 

This wasn’t just an ask for me, but for us all. Me making friends pays dividends for the family. Their dad and Paul are never gonna be the playdate planners or social invite rainmakers. And Eli has always relied on me being her wingwoman. It’s why I started volunteering at her schools in pre-school. Parents will frequently invite parents they like, whether their kids are friends or not.  Read more...

I’ve got a week. 

It’s been a good few weeks but a busy few weeks. The return of non-pandemic birthdays was exhausting. Jumping into a two week renovation to list my SF house on Airbnb was exhausting. Running a startup in crunch time is perennially exhausting. 

But my ongoing efforts to remove donkeys is paying dividends. 

Paul left town after this weekend’s birthday extravaganza, and I made mommy pasta for the girls, then we snuggled and watched Despicable Me 2. We stayed up a little late, and I tried not to stress about the utter sh*t show the house had become over the course of the weekend’s chaos and the pile of work I needed to do once they went to bed.  Read more...

Isn’t it nice when you suddenly get a karma deposit after years of karma withdrawals? 

I cannot believe the two-week renovation sprint we just did on my San Francisco house. It took us seven months and way too much money to redo our kitchen after a minor flood in Palm Springs. But we just did a swat, reality-TV-style scrappy makeover in SF that was cheap, fast, and high quality. Typically you gotta pick two of those. In San Francisco you are LUCKY to have two…

It was truly uncanny how it all came together. My contractor, Isaac, happened to have two weeks free and I happened to call at the right time. Because he’s the best, he gave us a staggeringly affordable price for a laundry list of must-do things.  Read more...