I Want to Love You Like the Night We Met

After 10 years, how do we grow together, and not apart?

Published in P. S. I Love You on Medium.

Holding out my hand to you, my love. Photo by JoelValve on Unsplash

The Dangerous Idea That Art Can Be Good or Bad - Losing our Artistic Innocence

The Dangerous Idea That Art Can Be Good or Bad

My daughter was 2-and-a-half when she lost her artistic innocence.

Published in Home Sweet Home on Medium.

Photo by Dani Aláez on Unsplash

Who’s Afraid of a Children’s Book?

I am. But my kid isn’t.

"These images certainly make me feel something. They make me feel anxiety in my whole body, the exact feeling the kid in the book is feeling. So, I believe the art is impressive; it speaks to me. But does it belong in a children’s book?"
Click to read the rest on Medium.

Who's afraid of a children's book? Photo by Alice Alinari on Unsplash

If You Speak Your Wish, Will it Come True? - Carmela Full of Wishes...

If You Speak Your Wish, Will it Come True?

Carmela Full of Wishes, and the power and limitations of a wish

Published in The Ascent on Medium

“WISH FOR PEACE” mural from the Nashville Walls Project — Photo by Ben Wilkins on Unsplash

Are Disney Movies Still Problematic?

"So you other parents are like, Ummm, yeah, we know. We’ve known for — literally — years." 


Are Disney Movies Still Problematic?
Why did I wait so long to watch Frozen with my family?
Published in Art & Parenting on Medium.

Cinderella’s Castle, Disney, Photo by Park Troopers on Unsplash

Teach Your Kids About Badass Black Women

Teach Your Kids About Badass Black Women

Beyoncé videos and children’s books to teach intersectional feminism

I just self-published this on Medium.

Beyoncé Art — Cropped Photo by Brianna Santellan on Unsplash

"We need to teach our kids about slavery and civil rights, but we also need to help them see the rest of the picture: People of color are beautiful, powerful, smart, talented, and accomplished."

 

My Kid Gave Herself a Haircut

My Kid Gave Herself a Haircut
Preschoolers and Body Autonomy
Published in Art & Parenting on Medium

My 4-year-old, post-haircut. Photo Credit: Author

A Lookback at My Favorite Writing on Medium This Year

Year-in-Review 2018
See it here (with all friends links, so you don't need to be a Medium member to read any of it).

Balloons. Photo by Sagar Patil on Unsplash

Are You Letting Your Child Be Creative?

Or Just Teaching Them to Follow Directions?

My new piece published in Art and Parenting on Medium.

Helping Your Kid Create Diverse Art

My third piece published in Art & Parenting is called Helping Your Kid Create Diverse Art.
I write about representation in children's books as well as drawing time with my kiddo.
Snippet:
"I picture children of color (and, in this case, every kid who isn’t a white girl with longish straight hair) seeing this picture and fearing that the magic isn’t for them. The unicorn is dreaming of little white girls. The unicorn isn’t dreaming of them."

Amazing marker drawing Tzivia drew of me, her mama!

Read it here!

My First Published Piece in The Writing Cooperative

The Writing Cooperative just published this quick piece about the anxiety of waiting on a publisher when the story you're trying to share is your #metoo story.

A snippet:

The hope was that publishing my story would help others with their own #MeToo stories, untold or otherwise. I wanted to empower others. I wanted to feel more empowered myself.

Maybe I didn’t think this through, though, submitting to a publication: I literally gave a man the power to accept or reject my #MeToo story.

You can read the whole thing in The Writing Cooperative publication on Medium.

art by my kiddo

Losing--and Finding--Your Artistic Innocence

This is my first piece written for a specific publication on Medium! The publication is called Art & Parenting and is about "How to balance your creative work and your children. How to make both thrive." That's the central question of my life right now, so I'm so excited to contribute to this publication!

My focus here is how we're born with a natural love to create, but at a very young age, judgment and commodification sneak in to rob us of our artistic innocence. I explore this with Tzivia and with myself.

So here it is: Losing--and Finding--Your Artistic Innocence

Tzivia's Art!

I am so freaking amazed by this. Librarian Martha asked the kids to draw a picture (and narrate the words to their parents) about what they wanted to do this summer, and Tzivia stayed late working intently on this triptych.

 

Part of what whoas me about it is how much she responded to a topic rather than just randomly drawing. 

 

The Ferris wheel is something she's saved up for in her piggy bank to do in Seattle, and she said she drew Dada being on it because she wants to make sure he's there too (instead of just me and her going to Seattle while Dada works at his new job). 

 

Tree-climbing is a new passion of hers, especially since her new 5-year-old friend tried to teach her a few weeks back. She's not very good at it yet, but she's very enthusiastic about it. I love the way she drew the tree. First, she just drew a tall, straight line and said it was done, but then she said, "Wait, one more thing," and drew all the branches.

The last picture is her learning to put on her shoes all by herself, which is something I'd just suggested we should work on, as I was putting her shoes on her at home, before rushing off to Library Time.