By Sheana Ochoa Recently, I picked up a book on the subject of biography. I’ve been writing a biography on Stella Adler, the first lady of modern day acting, for over a decade and was reminded how men have by and large been the writer’s of history (history). As far back as Xenophon writing about […]
By Sheana Ochoa Last night, my friend and her boyfriend came over for dinner. They brought his five-year-old, which presented me with the opportunity to talk to an “expert” of sorts since he is also raising a boy and the boy is a year ahead of Noah. Specifically I wanted to ask him about his experience […]
By Sheana Ochoa As my four-year-old, Noah, and I were browsing Netflix for a kid-adult movie, I found “The Red Balloon.” I didn’t remember the plot so well, but I did remember that it was gripping, and that it had remained in my visual memory-library all these years.As the movie was loading from Netflix, I […]
By Sheana Ochoa Last week a married acquaintance shared with me that she was finding marriage boring. She remembered the “good ole days” when she made all the decisions, could spontaneously take a trip if she wanted, buy the big priced item without having to discuss it first, go out with friends and not […]
By: Sheana Ochoa Marriage. I don’t know where to begin. Years ago after attending a friend’s wedding I wrote an essay on the origin of marriage and the subjugation of women. I didn’t think I’d ever get married. In my culture even the language reflects a misogynistic attitude toward the institution. Esposa is wife. […]
By: Sheana Ochoa As I accompany my mother to her doctor’s visit, I hear her telling the nurse that I have become the mother and she the daughter. Everyone laughs as if this is funny. It is what happens. The kids have to take care of their parents when they get older. I get it, […]
By Sheana Ochoa There have been studies indicating that kids that go to preschool are more successful fiscally and emotionally as adults. I can see the benefits of preschool in terms of socialization as well as keeping my son physically and mentally occupied, but, what I didn’t expect was Noah’s interest (at not quite three-and-half-years […]
By: Sheana Ochoa “Where’s Christmas?” my three-year-old keeps asking. Since Thanksgiving ended, he sees signs of it everywhere. There’s another house with its lights up and more tree-lit avenues with elaborate wreaths or even Santa and the reindeer soaring across the intersection. “Look at the one in the front with the red nose,” I point […]
By: Sheana Ochoa My son started preschool last Wednesday. It wasn’t pretty. We entered the school and because I was concerned about him wetting his pants (my last two blogs were about my struggle with potty training), the first thing I did was show him the bathroom. Next we went to the cubby area where […]
By: Sheana Ochoa We took Noah out of daycare in order to potty train him so he would be able to start preschool next week. It was a long, frustrating, and ultimately rewarding month in which I learned: 1) It’s impossible to potty train a kid if he is still wearing a diaper all day. […]