family relationships

  • Dysfunctional Holidays

    I don’t know about you, but for me this has been a very, very long year.  Between Covid-19, the election, and the Black Lives Matter Movement there has been a lot of family tension.  With the holidays coming up it makes it even harder to think of those family dynamics coming into play.  While quarantine… Continue reading

  • Comic book memoirs and family secrets

    Several talented cartoonists have used comics memoir (also called graphic memoir) to chronicle their family stories. Alison Bechdel has rightly received much acclaim for her books Fun Home and Are You My Mother? which closely examine her relationships with her father and mother respectively. Below are several more comics which deftly explore complex familial relationships.… Continue reading

  • What’s Funny, Part 2: Dysfunction — how bad is it?

    The time for labeling and loving books about “dysfunctional” families is past. Readers have moved on, having acknowledged that no family is actually “functional” and that’s okay. Now we want to read more exciting dysfunction stories: we need more drama, more humor, and more action. We might throw in a little horror and suspense like… Continue reading

  • The Women

    “Anger and resentment can stop you in your tracks. That’s what I know now. It needs nothing to burn but the air and the life that it swallows and smothers. It’s real, though – the fury, even when it isn’t. It can change you… turn you… mold you and shape you into something you’re not.… Continue reading

  • Parenting in the Wired Age

    Parents today have so many networks and resources available to them. It can be daunting, but it can also be reassuring. There are so many decisions to make, so many styles to choose from. Do you breastfeed or bottle-feed, or both? What bottles should you use? Cloth or disposable? Co-sleeping or crib? Those first months… Continue reading

  • Daddy’s Little Girl: Extreme Edition

    Being a daddy’s girl myself, I find the dynamics between fathers and daughters very fascinating. We rely so heavily on them to help mold us into the women we will become, and when they are not there or depend on us too much it can affect us for the rest of our lives. These are… Continue reading