I cannot think of Karen Armstrong without then mentally reciting the opening to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: And then, on Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, a girl sitting on […]
Continue ReadingEvery girl wants to be a princess, right? No. No, no. Nope. If that hasn’t been made clear on GeekMom thus far, you’ve been skipping posts again. I never wanted to be a princess. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some ball gowns (mostly worn to Wal-Mart) and I would not be opposed to […]
Continue ReadingI know a lot of moms hate Disney, and specifically the Disney Princesses, for feminist reasons. The lack of strong female role models. The helpless girl who needs to be rescued by a big, strong man. But my Disney problems started before Andy Mooney launched the Princess franchise, increasing both his consumer products division’s sales […]
Continue ReadingI have two boys. I didn’t have to worry (like some of my friends with daughters did) that reading or watching movies about princesses saved from peril by handsome princesses would inspire a “rescue me” attitude. Even so, I did want my boys to grow up knowing that women are just as capable as men. […]
Continue ReadingI’m thrilled to be introducing you to a new children’s book author/illustrator who just happens to be a friend of mine. I was lucky enough to find him and see his portfolio at a writer’s group in my area. I was so struck by his talent that I couldn’t wait for him to get a […]
Continue ReadingI’m celebrating Princess Week at GeekMom by putting my favorite kids’ song from last year on endless repeat, “The Princess Who Saved Herself” by the fabulous and geeky Jonathan Coulton. (The poster above is by the fabulous and geeky Len Peralta, of Geek a Week fame.) On his blog, Coulton describes his reasons for writing this […]
Continue ReadingJonathan Liu, a Core Contributor to our companion blog GeekDad, offered to share his thoughts with GeekMom readers about a topic that hit close to home for him: Over the weekend, I was pointed to an article from the Wall Street Journal titled “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior.” And over the course of the […]
Continue ReadingAll day long I’ve been reading about my online friends gearing up for a snow day – or more than one – as a result of the storm that’s expected to slam the East Coast. Supplies at retailers have been wiped out in anticipation of days on end of being housebound. And parents (especially those […]
Continue ReadingPrincess Week got me to thinking, which Disney Princess is the geekiest? All the princesses have their little quirks. Cinderella is a clean freak who has trouble keeping track of time. Sleeping Beauty wants to marry a guy she met in the woods and seems upset to find out she is a princess. Pocahontas can talk […]
Continue ReadingThese days, much of my geekery trends towards gastronomy. I’m a kitchen witch, a recipe tweaker, a whip-it-together-in-thirty-minutes-and-it’s-divine gourmet, but such was not always the case. Just ten years ago, before I met my husband, I had a fear of cooking, and a distinct lack of kitchen confidence. My meals of choice were often bought-in […]
Continue ReadingThis year, 2011, marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. It was the first of her six novels to be published, so this year starts the several-year celebration of the 200th anniversary of all of her novel publications (two novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, were published posthumously, in 1818). […]
Continue ReadingOn one of our trips to the library last summer my daughter was pulling books off the shelf willy nilly and asking to take each and every one home. She loves to read and in her mind there was no reason that she couldn’t read all those books. I limited her to 10 books because that was how […]
Continue ReadingSnacking at kids’ activities has gotten out of hand.
Continue ReadingOn a recent blizzardy day, the kids on our floor had an impromptu playdate in the hall. Once everyone was exhausted from the obstacle course, someone brought out the card game Sleeping Queens. The kids plunked down on the floor in two teams: a 4-year-old and a 5-year-old versus a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old. The […]
Continue ReadingAt the end of last year, just before the holidays, Disney announced that they would cease making princess movies. Women around the world took in a collective gasp, some of relief and others of horror. The era of the Disney princess was drawing to a close. The actual statement made by Disney executives says fairy […]
Continue ReadingTake one wildly talented ‘ukulele player, add chopsticks and a comb and you’ve got some amazing music. Just before the holidays, my son attended the Kahumoku ‘Ohana Music and Lifestyle Workshop on the Big Island of Hawai’i. Lucky him, he got to take several lessons from James Hill. Lucky me, I got to attend the […]
Continue ReadingIf you haven’t already bought the Star Wars movies in enough formats and versions, you’ve got another chance in September. All six movies will finally be released on Blu-Ray, retailing for $139.99. If you like your trilogies to not touch each other, you can buy them separately for $69.99 each. Or you can preorder the […]
Continue ReadingFinally, overcome those Oregon Trail flashbacks.
Continue ReadingThe geek solidarity of Katie’s story continues, thanks to Epbot! If you remember, Katie was being bullied about her spectacular choice in water bottles. There was an outpouring of geek support and even a Star Wars day was held. The wonderful Geekgirl at Epbot took it a step further. She and some cohorts put a […]
Continue Reading“Mathematics is the gate and key of the sciences. …Neglect of mathematics works injury to all knowledge, since he who is ignorant of it cannot know the other sciences or the things of this world.” –Roger Bacon Math is one of those quintessentially geeky things that are often taught so badly that even some of […]
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