Warning: Don’t read this post if you’re interested in fertility and haven’t yet read 21 Miles, Swimming in Search of the Meaning of Motherhood by Jessica Hepburn. I wouldn’t want to ruin what could be a beautiful experience for you.
This is not so much as a review, as 21 reasons why Jessica Hepburn should step onto the stage and take a bow. Continue reading “Review: 21 Miles, Swimming in search of the meaning of motherhood” →
Sometimes it really was a run – down School Road once the morning bell had gone, up School Road as you raced back with your friends.
Other times it was a walk, a scoot, a dwardle and a climb.
Many of the conversations I have at the school gates, on football touchlines or in cricket pavilions are really conversations about identity.
We think we’re talking about the 11+ or goalies or whether it’s better to learn classical piano or bass guitar – but what we’re actually talking about is who with think we are. Continue reading “Parenting raises deep questions about who we really are” →
A very good question is going to be asked in Birmingham on Saturday, 28 May 2016. If one in six couples experience some form of infertility, why do they feel so alone? Continue reading “Fertility Fest: Why do one in six couples feel alone?” →
Every so often, I am invited to talk about work, motherhood, work-life balance – that kind of thing.
My response is that I’m the last person to claim that I “have it all”. On the contrary, my life feels very precarious. Continue reading “Hanging by a thread – work, motherhood and the path of life” →
Looking back over my work in the past five years, there are two projects that stand out as the most enjoyable. The jobs that have made me happiest have been designing the content for: Continue reading “Children are the best clients” →
Mother’s Day has become that day each year when I hold in my heart all those who long to be mothers and who are waiting…. Here is a poem for you. Continue reading “For those waiting to be mothers” →
I will be doing two gigs in Birmingham in the last week of February 2015.
On Tuesday, 24 February at 7.30pm, I will be leading a workshop on sexuality for Birmingham Changing Attitude. We will be trying to find constructive ways of talking about sexuality in churches. Continue reading “First sex, then babies” →
A word of advice on reading Jay Griffiths’ Kith, The Riddle of the Childscape – suspend your rational faculties. Surrender to the lyricism. Let nostalgia woo you. Be carried on the wings of your imagination. Allow yourself to spiral into your childhood (either the one you really had or the one about which you fantasise) and go with Griffiths into a secret garden of faerie, forests, daemon and metaphor. Roam free. Continue reading “Suspend your rational faculties” →
“Have you had a good summer?” That’s something people tend to ask around this time of year and for the past 20 years I have scowled in response.
“They don’t ask ‘Have you had a good autumn?’ Or ‘Have you had a good spring?'” I would mutter as I sat at my desk working all through July and August. “What is this ‘summer’ thing?” Continue reading “Now that’s what I call a summer” →