Lately, I’ve been fretting a bit about the name of this blog. When I started Pop Discourse, the name was perfect, given my original intention of musing about pop culture in my nerdy, academic sort of way. But eventually I found myself writing more on topics centered on my everyday life — family, self-care, blogging, etc. . . . → Read More: What’s In A Name?

The conferences I now attend as a blogger are way different than the conferences I attended as an academic, but a state of overwhelm appears to be a commonality. As does, apparently, a primordial predilection towards longing, whether it be for connections, access to events, or material goods. For the most part, I had a fantastic . . . → Read More: A Less is More Approach to BlogHer

We’ve been struggling with a very emotional Laurel of late, and our departure from her on Saturday was pretty gnarly — complete with screaming, crying, clutching, and trying to escape from my mother’s car. And while it may seem callous to some, I know Laurel loves my mother and I was pretty confident that she would . . . → Read More: Brief But Blissful Retreat

When I was in first grade, I cried a lot. As in, every day. Save the month I managed to convince my mother that I was horribly sick and needed to stay home.

The etiology of my malaise is a little hazy, but one thing that stands out clearly is that I hated my first grade . . . → Read More: Ghost of First Grade Past