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jen parker
jen parker

220 Followers

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Aug 25, 2021

Counting

“The number will not be high. It is going to be pretty low.” I find it funny this has to be stated both ways, as if my own personal IQ is not high, and pretty low, and I wouldn’t understand this news said only once; or, as if this news…

MWC

7 min read

MWC

7 min read


Jun 22, 2021

Back On The Grid

I keep a paper calendar. I like the layout where you can see the whole month at one time, the kind that gives you two square inches dedicated to any one day. Every November, I’d buy my refill in person at Staples. Cashiers often assumed I was a teacher, asking…

Writer

7 min read

Back On The Grid
Back On The Grid
Writer

7 min read


Published in Be Open

·May 9, 2021

A Returning Student

I enrolled in an online writing class recently. I’d signed up for a real world one last winter and considered its cancelation a gift of the pandemic. I’d been brave enough to sign up but never had to be brave enough to go. But as the months of homeschooling ticked…

Writing Life

9 min read

A Returning Student
A Returning Student
Writing Life

9 min read


Jan 30, 2021

I Am Still Me

A few weeks ago, my youngest probably flushed a toy down the toilet. It all happened fast — he had a clutch of PJ Mask figurines as he ran toward the bathroom, singing the theme song of same at top volume for the uncountable time of the day. …

Parenting

7 min read

I am Still Me
I am Still Me
Parenting

7 min read


Nov 27, 2020

As Boring as It Should Be

I’ve come to be a big fan of the uneventful. I’ve already lived a highly eventful life for a block of many years. It wasn’t great — because it wasn’t the shiny, glamorous kind where the events were big parties or celebrations. It was the downtrodden and stressful kind, where…

Parenting

10 min read

As Boring as It Should Be
As Boring as It Should Be
Parenting

10 min read


Oct 23, 2020

Gone to Hawaii in His Mind

We’re packing for Hawaii today. Again. We have been for days. Make that weeks. And we’re pretty busy with it. We’ve gathered everything one could need in a tropical setting: toy cars, a lovey, a calculator my son’s bestowed with magical remote control powers (he can make you age backwards(!)…

Pandemic

10 min read

Gone to Hawaii in His Mind
Gone to Hawaii in His Mind
Pandemic

10 min read


Published in Pandemic Diaries

·Sep 9, 2020

The Give and Take of the 2020 College Drop off

It’s 3am and she’s screaming for the third time of the night. I wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong as a new mom, but whatever I was doing was creating a real monster of a sleep outlier. Everyone in the mom’s groups I dabbled-in-but-wouldn’t-officially-join had a bedtime-book-tuck-in-and-not-a-peep-til-7am kind of…

Parenting

16 min read

The Give and Take of the 2020 College Drop off
The Give and Take of the 2020 College Drop off
Parenting

16 min read


Jul 28, 2020

A Virus by Any Other Name

When a bunch of random adults start calling me Mom, I know I’m somewhere I don’t want to be — namely, the hospital. It’s funny because the first time this happened to me was during the birth of our first child. Mom, it’s time to push. Mom, she’s beautiful. Mom…

Covid-19

23 min read

A Virus by Any Other Name
A Virus by Any Other Name
Covid-19

23 min read


Published in Pandemic Diaries

·Jun 16, 2020

A Peek Hole to Unabstracted Fear

“Oh, my dog has seizures too.” More than one person, upon learning my youngest has severe epilepsy, has shared this with me. To say this attempt to relate has landed poorly with me would be a gross understatement. At the time this was often enough offered in conversation, my son…

Parenting

11 min read

“A Peek Hole to Unabstracted Fear”
“A Peek Hole to Unabstracted Fear”
Parenting

11 min read


May 20, 2020

The Stockholm Syndrome of Sheltering in Place

“LET’S GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” It’s the summer of 2019 and this sudden yelling rips me out of sleep at 2:11am. It takes me a minute of sweaty panic to get my bearings and realize there isn’t an actual emergency, the kind I’ve had a decade-long career waking up to with my younger…

Parenting

15 min read

The Stockholm Syndrome of Sheltering in Place
The Stockholm Syndrome of Sheltering in Place
Parenting

15 min read

jen parker

jen parker

220 Followers

For my latest every-thought-with-a-whole-host-of-asides, check out my newsletter: jenmparker.substack.com

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