Archive for October 2015

To Mary Poppins, to the Supernanny: I need you!!!

*This post was written during ChicagoNow’s Blogapalooz-Hour for September 2015. During Blogapalooz we are given a prompt and we have one hour to post. This is today’s prompt: “Write a letter to a celebrity (rock star, politician, athlete, movie star, etc.) convincing them you should become best friends” Dear Mary Poppins and Supernanny: I should add... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
October 28, 2015 at 10:01 pm • 

My (hopefully) ever growing list of "deaf" movies

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MBIIKCaK5PM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br><b>FourWeddings and a funeral:</b> As much as I love independent, weird, dramatic movies in Norwegian (or so says my husband), I believe that every woman needs a stack of feel good movies, for gloomy days. This is one of my favorites for that purpose. Released in 1994, with a very young Hugh Grant as Charles, the main character, it is funny, and witty, and visually pleasant. The deaf character here is David, Charles' brother, played by the actor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bower">David Bower</a> <br>
More than twenty years before I gave birth to a deaf son, something called my attention in one of my favorite movies, Four Weddings and a Funeral: the brother of the main character was deaf, and signing was a big part of the plot. Back then, I was attracted to signing because a boy from... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
October 28, 2015 at 12:18 am • 

A foreigner's approach to Halloween and her quest for trick-or-treaters

The first time I ever heard about Halloween was in 1987. I was eight, and I watched E.T. in a Spanish theater, in some summer re-release on a stormy afternoon. To me those kids dressed up in costumes, walking in groups to ask for candy at neighbor’s houses were as alien as E.T. himself.  It... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
October 27, 2015 at 12:37 am • 
Advertisement:

In defense of the multitasking, smartphone toting moms

Heidi Stevens published a column on the Tribune the other day about why using her cell phone while she walks is OK. I am not going to condone her behavior. People who use their phones while walking on the street drive me crazy, especially if I am the one doing it. She run another column... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
October 21, 2015 at 8:23 pm • 

Why it is imperative we keep kids away from guns

It has happened again. Today an 8 year old girl died after an accidental shooting in Atlanta. Yesterday a 3 year old boy died after his brother found a loaded gun in the house and shot him while playing “cops and robbers”. Even if these were the only two, that should be more than enough.... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
October 19, 2015 at 11:34 pm • 

When did buying airline tickets become an odyssey?

I just spent two hours and a half on the phone in order to purchase our tickets to Spain for Christmas. I’m not kidding. I’m not exaggerating. I have pictures and all. In the time of online shopping, Amazon Hour, and the demise of (to my dismay) the mortar and brick shop, I had no other... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
October 18, 2015 at 12:47 am • 
Advertisement:

When your baby goes under

I just held my baby while he went under general anesthesia. And that is one of the hardest things I have had to experience. Let’s set the record straight first. The baby is not such at 4 years of age. But when you hold them in your arms while they are administered anesthesia, they are... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
October 13, 2015 at 9:29 am • 

You still have a chance to catch the Midnight Circus in the Park

When you have kids you want to start traditions that ground you as a family. This feels even more necessary if you are raising your kids in a country other than your own, where customs, holidays and traditions often feel foreign, even weird, when in reality the foreign one is you. Fall is a season... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
October 13, 2015 at 1:04 am • 

"Another" is 45 too many: The nonsense of gun violence through the eyes of a foreigner.

I am not American. Not yet, at least. I know that this, automatically, will make my opinion on this matter unworthy to anyone on the NRA’s side. But I don’t care. I don’t care, because I may not be American yet, but I teach in American universities. My sons are American and attend American schools.... Read more »
By Ana Martin Sagredo,
October 2, 2015 at 12:23 pm • 
Advertisement: