Stephanie Insley Hershinow

5yo dressed in rainbow colors, holding a book with a color wheel

5yo has been reading her c18 it-narratives and has chosen to be “the color wheel” for character day.

No, I understood. I agree!

Thanks for sending! No, I’d truly never heard of it. Now I’m seeing it everywhere!

Both recommended. That one by Patricia Williams and Replaceable You by Mary Roach. (Very different, both excellent.)

I’m reading two books right now that reference the Miracle of the Black Leg, which I’d never heard of before. Two! And only one of them is called The Miracle of the Black Leg.

Feels pretty magical to manage to get a kid to read this book before “Dickon” is a particularly funny name.

Report on today’s meeting: we decided that context clues point to Mary really liking gardens. It’s going to be huge when she actually finds the secret garden.

Highly recommend listing to Mary Roach read her own audiobooks if only for the moments when she cracks herself up and has to pause. Writer goals.

I was Mrs. Medlock in the school play!

They read at home and discuss. A leader has emerged (she proposed it). There are now copycat groups! And they’ve already identified their next title. (The Wild Robot.)

I will share!

No, The Secret Garden!

8yo is preparing discussion questions for the first meeting. Question one: “Do you think cholera could spread further and that we could get it?”

They are meeting every day at lunch and recess. Though we’ve talked about a special meeting at our house when they’re done to watch the movie and eat “featured foods.”

Well, time will tell!

The Secret Garden!

8yo came home and is in a newly-formed book club. They are reading two chapters *every day.* Puts grownup book clubs to shame. (And they won’t even have wine!)

I will fully admit to being too blasé which is why Dave and I should always work as a team.

I don’t even know where she learned that phrase.

We just got an enormous (erroneous?) bill from when I was out of town 3 years ago and Dave took our youngest to the ER. The kids asked what we were talking about.

Me: Well, the thing is, your dad is…

5yo: A *medical doctor*.

Me:…the kind of person who thinks it’s a good idea to go to the ER.

St. John’s University stops recognizing faculty unions under religious schools exemption The unions — the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Faculty Association — and school administration had been negotiating a new contract for about a year but talks came to …

Theology Prof. Christopher Denny pushed back against the idea that pulling recognition of the unions was part of St. John’s Catholic mission, quoting Pope Francis: “There are no free workers without a union.'”

He called the union busting "cafeteria Catholicism"

@caylabam.bsky.social in NYDN

UT Head of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Speaks Out • The Austin Chronicle On Monday, the Chronicle spoke with Lisa Moore, who has served since 2023 as the chair of UT-Austin’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department – a department that is now being collapsed with ...

We have not yet begun to fight, part 1

www.austinchronicle.com/news/ut-head...

Completely thrilled by that crowd! Everything went better than I could have dreamed.

Excellent!

Definitely Roxana! My favorite.

It’s a wonderful run, but I always have to add Defoe’s miraculous five years. (And I think Woolf would agree!)

At least you’re not in a sitcom or it would also be mandatory drug test day.

I'll be at the CUNY Grad Center on Friday, Feb 20 to give a little talk and lead a workshop on close reading. Thank you to @sinsleyh.bsky.social for hosting it, and you can RSVP to her below.