Hey, friends! I hope you’ve had a really good week. As you read this, I’m hopefully resting and reading and hanging with a friend in Santa Barbara. As I write it, though, I’m at my dining room table in Fairbanks. There’s snow. Anyway. Here we go! Kid quote: (Lilly is crying after she’s been put […]
Author Archives: robininalaska
redefining racism
The last time I wrote about race, I got some pushback, kind but stubborn, against the idea that I would call myself racist under any circumstances. “Surely you don’t believe other races are inferior,” went the reply. “You can’t possibly be racist.” Webster’s defines racism like so: a person who shows or feels discrimination or […]
community in family
“Yeah, I’ve meant to talk to you about her,” read the text. “She doesn’t listen to instruction in any context.” Well. I mean, yes, I know this to be true of this particular child, of course. But so often our children behave better for non-mom adults. I had hoped this might be the case. Evidently […]
in praise of irresponsibility
I had a slumber party with a Sarah on Friday night. We ate Thai food, drank a reasonable(ish) amount of wine, ate too many Oreos, did face masks. We watched all three Pitch Perfect movies. We talked until it was closer to get-up time than bedtime and laughed until our faces hurt. Basically, I decided, […]
grace at the register
Jenn* was rude to me that morning. Gruff. She had a disdainful tone that I recognize from my kids. She’s only a little older than they are, really. Closer to their ages than mine, for sure. I walked up to her register with a smile and hello as I have dozens of times before, fully […]
the reckless wastefulness of God
Why do the leaves turn gold, orange, red, and purple in the fall? Spare the biological explanation involving chlorophyll. Why does the slow end of the food-making process of trees create a kind of beauty I can’t describe, that I can only try (feebly) to capture? The leaves are dying and as their life wanes, […]
on legitimacy
Last night, a friend mentioned a book available on Amazon by someone I’ve met. As I read the preview, I felt all sorts of ugliness surface. It wasn’t just that I had my grammar-nerd editor glasses on and couldn’t remove them—I couldn’t see beyond the grammar errors and the way it was written at all […]
five for friday, volume 1
I made a new friend this week. I mean, sorta. We’re both writing daily this month, despite #write31days not really being a thing anymore. She stumbled upon someone else who did “Monday Five” and then she tweaked it to be “Wednesday Five” and I thought, “well, that seems like a fun and easy post to […]
spirit and discipline, part 2
“Think of routines like an insurance policy. You pay into them over time, and they’re there for you when something goes wrong.” I’ve been trying to learn to adult better (always), and was listening to a woman who teaches homemaking—cleaning routines, time management, etc. But this idea hit me as true in a lot of […]
spirit and discipline, part 1
“Follow me as I follow Christ.” Gutsy words. I’ve always written them off as something that Paul could say because he was, well, Paul. As I think about other things Paul said, though, I’m less and less convinced he was speaking as a superchristian. I think he was just speaking as one actively following. I […]
