Revelry Reverie

I have said this every year, but fifteen seems too real. They’re real teenagers now. My babies! When we sing happy birthday to them, they sing to each other. Here’s some history from past years… This year, Eleanor had two friends stay over on Halloween (Mia and Rachel); Eleanor was Hatsune Miku, and Mia and…

My 10-year-old asked me this morning, “mom, how do I know how to chew? Is it my brain, me, or my body?” This is almost as philosophically daunting as the time he asked me where Spirit Halloween goes the rest of the year. It seems to be the most natural thing in the world to…

At work, I’ve been reading the Basecamp book Getting Real, I just read this blog post by Paul Graham on solving the right problem, and I also read this memo from a turbulent period in Yahoo!’s history. And all three are the same thing. Design thinking. Several years ago, I took a course at Stanford’s…

Coincidentally, as my mom began it get sicker, or less able I suppose, my husband began reading Slaughterhouse Five. It’s a book that has captivated me since I first read it, and every time I pick it up, I get something new from it. I can’t really explain it well, though I’ve tried to Bob,…

While this is a sad time with mom’s passing, Grant still turned 10, and we made sure to have a nice day for him. We postponed the wake by a day to make sure his birthday wasn’t associated with that. Here’s a look back on his prior year.

My mom passed away on Saturday. We sat bedside in the hospital for a week and a half, and watched her drain away. We were all able to put a hand on her when she left us. A few months ago, my dad said, “everyday, she’s a little bit less.” And that was how it…

In December, I took Eleanor to audition for a play, Our Town. While there, the director asked me to audition too, since they needed adults. So Eleanor and I were in Our Town together which was a lot of fun. She played Professor Willard (and various children), and I played various townfolk. Then, right when…

You’d never know his cheeks are stuffed with cheesecake.

Today I am 45 years old. That is a sturdy number. Makes me think of records and VE Day (which is actually coming up on May 8). I’m going to count my blessings. I’ll just go back to the beginning of this year, as there are almost too many to count. My neighbor made me…

Moderating open platforms at scale On Tuesday, March 24th, I gave a presentation at the London Trust & Safety Summit on the topic of holding the tension between free expression (something that Automattic is deeply invested in defending) and proactive safety (something that is necessary for healthy platforms). The presentation received a lot of wonderful…