I was going to write about the aspect of parenthood/household management most reliably responsible for draining the life force out of my soul—and I still will—but not today because we are experiencing a gigantic snowfall that was totally missed by our local forecasts. 6 inches was predicted; we got something like…..2 feet? More?
The very first time I published this newsletter, I wrote about how much I love exhausting my children, and for that purpose, there is nothing better than a blizzard. Today is our third consecutive snow day. I am looking forward to watching the girls hurl themselves into four-foot drifts and high-knee it back and forth across the yard in a workout that adults would pay a personal trainer $50/hour to endure—and looking even more forward to pouring them into bed half an hour early tonight.
If you like reading Extra Credit, would you consider sharing it somewhere, or with someone? Parenting can be hard and isolating even in non-pandemic times, and lately…..well, you know. It helps to connect!
Ask A Teacher
I didn’t answer a letter in the column this week, but the lead letter addressed a topic on which The Discourse has made me so mad that I haven’t looked at Twitter for a week: why don’t teachers want to return to in-person school?
Recommendations
I really enjoy serialized podcasts, exploring one complex story told in parts, and I’ve listened to two great ones recently: Last Seen and Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen. Last Seen tells the story and examines multiple suspects in the as-yet-unsolved 1990 art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and Chameleon recaps a bizarre, elaborate, ongoing scam targeting low-level industry workers in Hollywood. I can’t get into most true crime podcasts—the gore and suffering and general depravity inherent to the topic is not for me—but both of these feature the mystery and puzzle-solving of the genre without the nightmare fodder.
I absolutely loved Anne Theriault’s exploration of motherhood in the middle grade books Juniper and Wise Child, both of which I also treasured as a kid and which I also thought I maybe imagined because no one else seemed to have heard of them.
I have been trying to spend more time on Instagram, talking about books! Come say hi.
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Twitter: @carrie_AB_