“Wild Strawberries,” Cold Mothers, and Embryos on Ice
Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 film “Wild Strawberries” (“Smultronstället” in Swedish) is a portrait of a man whose mother was cold. The protagonist, a […]
Amy Chua’s “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”: Is “Chinese Parenting” Really Better?
When J.D. Vance was announced as the GOP candidate for vice-president, I, like many people, was reminded of his mystifying memoir of […]
Teddy Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts…”
In a speech in Paris in 1910, Teddy Roosevelt said: “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points […]
Margaret Kennedy’s “The Feast”: A Perfect Beach Read?
Reading on the beach is a careful art, made all the more perilous when you have children to keep track of. Books […]
Freedom in Full
Earlier this month, in honor of the anniversary of our nation’s founding, I wrote about the meaning of freedom at Crisis Magazine. […]
Effortless: The Complex Art of Soft Life
It’s another year of “Soft Girl Summer,” a season of relishing feminine pursuits and the finer side of life. I enthusiastically proclaimed […]
“JustPearlyThings”: Pearl Davis and the Problem of the “Modern Woman”
People love to hate Pearl Davis. Like Nara Smith and Hilaria Baldwin, Pearl attracts no end of ire on the internet but […]
Mindy Pelz’s “Fast Like a Girl”: A Valuable Resource for Women
After writing about fasting a few years ago, I had the unpleasant experience of not being able to fast. There are, as […]
The Wonder Babies Evolve: Leaving Daycare
Last year, I was intrigued by a line in an article about the superhuman wonder babies of a “pronatalist” couple of almost […]
In the Marital Debt as in Life: Joy Can Be Compatible with Suffering
My email exchange on the marital debt continues under the auspices of anonymity. The emailer insists that therapy is the answer. This […]