The Annual Summer Sibling Skirmishes

(Squabbling kittehs from ICHC?) This morning began with the Tiger waking the Bear by pelting him with stuffed animals. An hour later, he rammed him with a desk chair – “accidentally,” of course. By 11 they were fighting over a toy. I was calculating the days until school begins. And wallowing in self-pity. (More intransigent [...]

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Cat Contra Vuvuzela

I’m glad that South Africa is hosting the World Cup. I’ve read a few posts (most notably this one by Melissa at Shakesville) criticizing South Africa’s selection on the basis of its record on human rights and women’s rights (which are human rights, after all!). I’m all for calling out misogyny. Overall, though, I think [...]

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Camille Paglia’s Nostalgia for Ye Bad Olde Days of Sex

It’s one thing to be contrarian; it’s another to be just plain ignorant. Or, as Nigel Tufnel says in This Is Spinal Tap, “There’s a fine line between clever and stupid.” Camille Paglia had an op-ed on sex in Sunday’s New York Times. Guess on which side of the line she fell? Paglia’s pretext for [...]

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The View of Germany-England from Walhalla (or, Winning Is Only Fun When It’s Fair)

I watched the Germany-England match at the corner pub, which is called – I kid you not – Walhalla. It’s not a hotspot for German nationalists, nor do Wagner enthusiasts hang out there. I don’t even think there’s anyone named Siegfried or Brunhilde on the staff (though I couldn’t swear it). Anyway, it was an [...]

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Two Soccer Cultures – and Why I Still Love the US-American Team

How do you know when you’ve arrived in a land that’s passionate about soccer? Unfortunately, when you see it used as a projection screen for people’s prejudices. Exhibit A: Already in the jetway at Tegel Airport, we’re greeted by posters featuring a wistful little boy and the caption: “A trip to South Africa – every [...]

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Caturday: Kittehs Outgrowing the Playground Stage

We arrived in Berlin Thursday (I think that’s two days ago now, but I’m more than a little befuddled from jet lag). As we settle in, I’m trying to envision what will keep the Bear happy this summer, apart from “big” but occasional outings like the science museum. In the past, I could schlep both [...]

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Why, Some of My Best Friends Are Scientists! (And Some Are Even Girls, Too)

And I might have become one myself, had I not blown up some chemicals in a high school lab. (My best-friend-cum-lab-partner took that incident as a signal from teh Ceiling Cat to pursue a Ph. D. in microbiology, so go figger.) Throughout college, at least half my friends were in STEM fields, maybe because Stanford [...]

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Why I’ll Never Be a Husband Whisperer

(Slacker husband kitteh from ICHC?) While looking at pictures of sexy soccer players, I accidentally ran across a Woman’s Day article titled “The Husband Whisperer: 4 Tricks to Communicating with Your Man.” Besides reminding me why I’ve never bought a copy of Woman’s Day, it also convinced me I’ll never make a good husband whisperer. [...]

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Caturday: Birthday Cubs and Kittens

Today is my Tiger’s birthday. He’s turning seven. (Seven! How is that possible?) He adores Maru, so this clip made by Maru’s human in honor of his birthday seems like a fitting Caturday celebration. Go here if you can’t see the video.

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School’s out for Kittehs

I’ve officially finished with the academic year – finally, finally, in mid-June. I’m hoping to get back to more regular blogging now that teaching the history of Nazi Germany isn’t dogging me nearly every waking moment (and a few nighttime ones, as well). Kittehs do not appreciate being dogged. Or then again, I might just [...]

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The Perils of Abby Sunderland: The Problem Isn’t Lax Parenting, It’s the Romance of Risk

I’m glad Abby Sunderland has been found, adrift but safe in the Indian Ocean. As a parent and a sister, I empathized with her family and worried that they’d never see her again. I will admit that I also had a moment or two of wondering: “What were they thinking? How could her parents let [...]

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There’s Nothing Funny about Dying Seabirds …

… Or about any other aspect of the BP oiltastrophy, from the eleven men who died to the thousands whose lives are wrecked. I haven’t written about it because all I’ve got is a rant and a howl. The administration has bungled the response. If you’re inclined to defend Obama, you might first pay a [...]

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Deutsche Fussball Philosophie … Where Fun Is a New Virtue!

Traditionally, German soccer teams have purportedly embodied “German virtues” (die deutsche Tugenden): a tough work ethic, discipline, organization. They’ve been made to sound much like a Mercedez-Benz. At their best, their performance indeed resembled German engineering. Otherwise? As Swiss National Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld recently described the German virtues: “Not necessarily play well, but win anyway.” If [...]

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Google’s World-Cup Race-Fail

In the throes of World Cup fever, I was tickled that Google marked yesterday – the opening day – with a nifty soccer logo. Then I looked a little closer. Honestly, I don’t see too well at the moment, because my glasses broke in a weird, melting-metal, Salvador-Dali way, and my old specs are, well, [...]

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Caturday: World Cup Edition

The 2010 World Cup got off to a grand start yesterday, with host South Africa tying Mexico 1:1 in a game marked by two gorgeous goals. The keepers did a fine job too, but they’ve been working hard at it all their lives. They can only envy Otto the Goalie Kitteh’s natural abilities. Go here [...]

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A “Well-Rounded” Approach to Religion?

I just loved this post from Holly of Self-Portrait As, in which she dissects the circular logic of the Mormon faith in which she grew up. You really ought to go read the whole thing if you’re interested in the riddles of theology and belief. Here’s my favorite part: But the entirity of Mormon theology [...]

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The Boy Crisis, Again

The “boy crisis” has made the news, yet again, though it’s unclear whether much is new or different about it. This time, it’s Hanna Rosin in New York Magazine, asking where “the boy genius” has gone. (For an earlier iteration of the “boy crisis” meme, see Ann Hulbert’s smart takedown of it in Slate a [...]

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On the Comforts of Retaining a Lawyer

Last August, my husband and I applied to refinance our home mortgage. At the end of last week – about ten months later – we finally closed on it. Why did it take so long? In a nutshell: legal trouble. And so a straightforward, dry financial transaction turned into a mini-drama. Back in 2005, we [...]

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