This weekend I came across my old copy of Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe. I love the way he can make a topic like string theory and its relevance to everything from quarks to supernovas accessible to the average person.

One thing I don't understand, though, is why he seems to think that string theory tells us something definitive about the existence or nonexistence of the supernatural. He writes:

Many find it fatuous and downright repugnant to claim that the wonders of life and the universe are mere reflections of microscopic particles engaged in a pointless dance fully choreographed by the laws of physics. Is it really the case that feelings of joy, sorrow, or boredom are...READ MORE

I must have been first in line when God was handing out mothers-in-law. I managed to get one who can make creative children's toys using only a live scorpion and a ziplock bag; who gets so excited about her grandkids' pictures that she flags down people at Wal Mart to demand that they admire them; and who even manages to produce the occasional revolutionary theological insight.

On top of all this, she's always been a great mother-in-law. My husband and I recently celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary, and as I was reflecting on our first couple of years of marriage, it occurred to me that I must have been a kind of annoying daughter-in-law for a while there. Knowing little about the...READ MORE

I have a bad habit of biting off more than I can chew. I don't know whether it's due more to a gross overestimation of my capacity to multitask, or an utter lack of comprehension of how many hours are in a day, but I've started many conversations with spiritual directors with the words, "Help! I'm totally overwhelmed!"

I've come to accept that I'll probably never cure this tendency once and for all. I recently got things back on track after a crazy start to Fall, but I'm sure that I'll find myself in over my head again at some point in the future (read: I'll be lucky to survive the holiday season). The one nice thing is that I have a lot of experience under my belt in the skill of...READ MORE

A study was released last week that claims to show that giving women free contraception drastically reduces unplanned pregnancy rates, and therefore abortion rates. The results are based on the Contraceptive Choice Project, in which researchers from the Washington School of Medicine offered over 9,000 women in St. Louis (some as young as 14) free contraception of their choosing. The story is making the rounds among many of the big media outlets, often cited as a triumph for the ideas behind the Health and Human Services mandate. The Huffington Post writes:

The findings of the study are significant at a time when a number of conservatives in politics and public policy are pushing back...READ MORE

The other day I was leafing through some old family papers, and I came across a document that showed that one of my distant ancestors owned a slave.

It was an unsettling moment, for reasons which you can probably guess. I felt sadness. Embarrassment. Shame at having that kind of mark on our family tree. I looked through more records and, fortunately, didn't find anything else like that. However, I wondered about my other ancestors who lived during that same time. Maybe they didn't own slaves themselves, but how did they go about their daily lives knowing that the enslavement of their fellow human beings was going on all around them? Why aren't their names in the history books as vocal...READ MORE

Finally, October is here! For many of us, it's the month of trying to get our acts together: We cut corners during the long days of summer; in September we just try to survive the shock to the system of all the activities and schoolwork that Fall has dropped on us; we know that November and December will be packed with holiday activities...so that leaves October for getting things in order.

Along these lines, a big topic of conversation among my mom friends has been the issue of self-discipline:

I've come up with a great schedule for my family, but how can I work up the self-discipline to implement it?, one homeschooling friend remarked recently. I was hoping that with the kids gone...READ MORE

Earlier this week, I stumbled across a blog post that makes the case that abortion can be a compassionate solution in the case of unborn children with disabilities. The author states that "having an abortion to prevent a child from being born with Down syndrome or another disability can be a positive moral choice," and goes on to say:

When you argue that children with Down syndrome are "special gifts" or that raising them is a "rewarding experience" for parents, you are appropriating their difficulties and fetishizing their difference. That is the opposite of respecting a disabled person. I get that who we are is shaped by experience and that many disabled people consider disability...READ MORE

On some random weekday last month I found myself driving in circles around our neighborhood. Most of the kids had fallen asleep in the car, and since our family does not seem to have that gene that allows some parents to transfer sleeping children from cars to beds without waking them, I decided to cruise around for a while to let them get a nap.

It was one of the last days of summer before the public schools began their Fall sessions, and kids were everywhere, enjoying their last few moments of summer. Three girls walked down the street toward the park. The pool was ringed with teens bronzed from the blazing sun. Down the street, boys took turns on a skateboard ramp in the cul de sac....READ MORE