Rachel Marie Stone's Blog, page 24

It’s Not Selfish of You to Feel Traumatized By the Birth of Your Baby.

Did you know that one in every twenty new mothers is diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress following childbirth? In her book Birth Crisis, anthropologist and birth activist Sheila Kitzinger argues that many cases of postpartum depression are attributed to “hormonal fluctuations” but that, in fact, a good many women are traumatized by the way they’re [...]

I am 99.999% Sure That You’ll Never Look Like Audrey Hepburn and Also That it Doesn’t Matter

One of the most consistently popular posts on this blog has been one called ‘My Audrey Hepburn Problem,’ mostly thanks to Internet searches like “Audrey Hepburn skinny,” “Audrey Hepburn eating disorder,” “how to look like Audrey Hepburn,” etc. The post itself, of course, was on how, as a teenager, I conflated Hepburn’s talent and humanitarian [...]

Carpe Hieme! Seize the Winter! Easy Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

From all that I’m hearing from Facebook and Twitter and, you know, good old fashioned e-mail, it’s a pretty cold winter there in the Northern Hemisphere, which to me means perfect for hot chocolate, cookies, and curling up with books. I know, I know; there’s work and school to be attended, intractable cars to get [...]

Sometimes In Spite of Your Best Preparations, The Thing You Hope Doesn’t Happen Happens.

We have the best sort of bed nets, treated with insecticide that’s harmful to bugs but not humans. We have the best sort of malaria-prevention drugs, the kind with few side effects, and we take it every day. We have treated our clothing with the spray that’s harmful to bugs but not humans (see above.) [...]

Why ‘Modesty’ in 1 Timothy Has Nothing To Do With Showing Off Skin

I have a piece up on “Rethinking Modesty” at Catapult magazine’s CLOTHE YOURSELF issue. Don’t worry, I’m not advocating showing off more skin… Here’s the beginning: When I was growing up, the only thing that could be said about clothing was that it should be “modest,” and ideally not too “worldly.” “Modesty” was proof-texted from [...]

The Problem With “Unreal” Candy and Nutrition Facts Labels

I have a new post up at Huffington Post Food, about this crazy new “healthy” candy called “Unreal” candy. Here’s the heart of what annoys me about the candy, and about the marketing of processed products more generally: Unreal candy is probably better than most of the garbage that kids get on Halloween, but it’s [...]

Beer-Batter Your Vegetables

If you can believe it, there’s a pretty decent little Italian restaurant here in Zomba. Not, like New York Italian, but Italian-from-Italy-Italian, which means there’s no deep-fried chicken cutlet smothered in mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce and served with spaghetti and called “Chicken Parmesan,” and, alas, no New York-style pizza, but which means that all [...]

Why Play-Fighting Is Actually Good For Kids

I’ll admit it: I’m a pacifist mom who doesn’t freak out (anymore) when her boys play with Nerf (and other) toy weapons. Here’s why, explained in my most recent Her.meneutics post: Early this month, a six-year-old in Silver Spring, Maryland, was suspended from school after he pointed his finger like a gun and said, “pow.” [...]

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

This book is just remarkable. Its title and subtitle didn’t really grab me, I’ll admit, but I was hooked almost from the beginning, almost as if I were reading a suspenseful novel instead of a work of journalistic nonfiction. “I have always felt that the action most worth watching is not at the center of [...]

A Call for Childbirth Stories

I’m working on a writing project in which I’m collecting as many anonymous childbirth stories as possible. Below are the questions I have been using as prompts just to get people thinking along certain lines. I’m also interested in what fathers have to say about their experiences of seeing (or not seeing) their children come into [...]