quitting

Cry, baby

Thumbnail image for Cry, baby September 7, 2010

My first semester in grad school for journalism, more than a decade ago, was a shock. Boom! Right from the beginning we had daily story deadlines. Each of us desperately wanted to prove ourselves to be the next Edward R. Murrow. None of us knew what we were doing. We were awestruck by our professors, [...]

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Thank you

April 20, 2010

Exactly one year ago today, I went home sick from work and I never went back….Every mother I know has the same fear. Every one of us is haunted, at one time or another, by the burden we carry and believe we carry alone. If we had to stop, it seems like the world would stop…

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Living a slow, rich life Tues. 4/20

Thumbnail image for Living a slow, rich life Tues. 4/20 April 14, 2010

If you’re looking for inspiration how to get off that treadmill and live a slow, rich life, check out the talk my friend Andy is giving on Tuesday at the San Francisco Commonwealth Club.

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If you give a mouse a Prozac…

Thumbnail image for If you give a mouse a Prozac… April 8, 2010

It is crazy to put women in impossible situations where they actually go crazy, and then act like there’s something wrong with them for going crazy.

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Coming out of the mommy closet

April 8, 2010

Have you ever felt you had to hide the fact that you have kids when you’re at work? I’ve been thinking about a comment Lily left on the blog about a week ago. Lily works in academia, where it sounds like it’s an open secret that being a parent is a professional liability. She wrote [...]

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What would you call it?

March 29, 2010

I did not feel suicidal or psychotic. I did not get strung out on heroin, walk around downtown Berkeley yelling at garbage cans, or act outwardly crazy in any way. I simply stopped, the way a watch stops when the battery dies.

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Mommy doesn’t have a “job”

Thumbnail image for Mommy doesn’t have a “job” March 17, 2010

When it was time for me to leave, Ruby ran up to her teacher and said, “Mrs. Thomas, can my mom stay until snack?”

“Sure…but I don’t know if she has time. She might have to get to work.” Very diplomatic, that Mrs. Thomas.

“Oh, she doesn’t have to go to work,” Ruby beamed mischievously. “My mommy doesn’t have a job!”

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Why are we here?

March 8, 2010

I was a 37-year-old mother of three* and somehow, my kids, my marriage, and my career were all thriving. Then, one sunny Saturday in the spring of 2009, while driving to Target to buy diapers, I broke down. Not my car. Me.

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