GNMParent’s Staff
The folks who Give New Meaning to Parenting
Community Developer
Megin lives in Maine with her husband and 3 Punks (shortened form of Punkinheads, not to be confused by the “young ruffian” dictionary definition), Aidan, Clay and Lucy.
Megin worked full time until her oldest was 4 and she was expecting her 3rd. She then uprooted her family, lived in 4 places in 2 states within a year, and finally settled into her current home, where she now “stays home” with her Punks. Her perfect day is spent on the Maine coast playing in the water with her family.
Megin started Maine-ly Megin in 2006 largely to journal the progress of her quest to become a triathlete. Since (barely) accomplishing that goal she has become very involved in GNM Parents and neglects Maine-ly Megin (as well as exercise) on a daily basis. She does harbor a deep dark goal to one day actually exercise again at which point she may actually have a post of consequence at MM.
Megin sees her role within GNM Parents primarily as a community developer. She is passionate about supporting and being supported by and connecting with other parents. She is always excited to find talented writers parents who want to add their voice to the growing GNMParents community through blogging, podcasting and/or vlogging.
You may contact Megin at hatchew at hotmail dot com.
Editor / Co-Conspirator
Stu Mark
A long time ago, when I was very little, I was born. This was way back in 1967, before cell phones, but after butter churns.
I grew up in a tiny suburb of central New Jersey, where I attended an elementary school named after an astronaut. Guess the astronaut and you’ll win the opportunity to send me some chocolate!.
I was barely a teenager when MTV first hit the airwaves, and as we had just gotten cable tv, this was an awesome time to be alive. I fell in love with Nena and her 99 Luftballons. I fell in love with Madonna, as I burned up for her love. I fell in love with Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go’s, dreaming of the day I could seal her lips with my kiss.
Eventually I moved on to other hobbies, like cross-country running and Pink Floyd and, eventually, an intense relationship with Bruce Springsteen. He, along with Berke Breathed and Garry Trudeau, made me truly fall in love with words.
In the fall of 1985 I enrolled in college, where I proceeded to ignore at least half my classes, in favor of working at the campus newspaper and radio station. These two areas caused my love of words to explode and gel at the same time, like a supernova.
After college (no, I didn’t graduate, I just up and left after my fiancé broke it off to date my friends), I moved (read: Fled) to Northern Virginia, where my brother and sister-in-law lived. I got a job as tech weenie for a small business, and spent the next 13 years hopping from job to job, learning more than I cared to about the realities of customer service from the other side of the phone. Disgusted with the apathy of employers and co-workers, and unable to keep my trap shut about it, I took the opportunity to convince a special someone to give me a shot as a copywriter. Fortunate for some, unfortunate for others, this job was in Los Angeles. But I was so done with snow and getting fired a lot, so I left my family behind and sought out the life of paid writer. As the kids say, Wh00t!1!!
After a few writing gigs, including both copywriting and feature writing for a real magazine, I noticed my then girlfriend’s kids were unhappy in daycare. So I thought about it for about 45 seconds, realized that they were being raised by strangers at daycare (and that daycare costs were almost as much as I was bringing in), so I raised my hand up very gently and said, “Uh, hey, why don’t I quit my magazine gig and raise the kidlets myself?”
It’s been quite a few years since that fateful moment, and I couldn’t be happier. That girlfriend became my wife, those kids became *my* kids, and I am now a stay-at-home dad who happily does the groceries, the laundry, the everything-my-family-needs-in-order-to-do-their-job.
Oh, and, because I’m such a strident feminist, when certain people ask what I do for a living, I say “I’m a housewife”. Proudest job title I’ve ever held.
Meet The Champion Contributors!!
The mis-buttoned vest says it all. After working as a speech researcher, women’s health advocate, freelance writer, college professor, and software engineer, Debbie settled down in 2004 to write some books. In July 2006, she had just finished the proposal for her memoir about volunteering on a medical project in the Amazon when she and her husband received their adoption referral from Russia. It was three months early. And it was for two preschoolers, not one baby. You can read about Debbie, her husband Peter, and their son and daughter “M” and “K” at Debbie’s blog, Two Adopt Two.
Karly Campbell is a wife of one handsome man and mother of two gorgeous, rambunctious children, ages 2 and 7. She quit her job of 5 years to stay home and watch daytime television raise her children. Karly just started homeschooling her 7 year old, so if you have any tips for her, please email them straight away. You can reach her here. Or you could just say hi. She’s a real friendly type of lady, contrary to what many of the posts on her blog, Wiping Up Snot, may suggest.
You should also know that Karly considers her laptop her first love, her children second, her husband third and s’mores fourth. (If this wasn’t posted all over the internet for her husband and children to read, she may list the s’mores in a different position.)
Karly also has a very difficult time speaking in the third person so she is going to end this bio right…now.
Nick Chance, 13, is the founding author of KidReviewer.com, a blog that gives a “kids-eye-view†of movies, books, video games, and websites. Nick has been interested in a writing career since he was 8, and keeps a world map by his bed where he plots the cities he will write from some day. This summer he will attend his second I.C.E Young Writer’s Camp, an outgrowth of the Tampa Bay Area Writing Project.
Nick also plans to add video blogging to his resume soon. For that initiative, he will build on confidence he earned on his way to Citrus County Public Speaking Champion when he was nine. His winning speech, titled “Where Do Cooties Come Fromâ€, helped him develop timing and dry wit to communicate.
Nick also enjoys practicing his electric guitar, reading, drawing, and carving hills on his longboard skateboard. Nick’s influences include standard kid fare, such as Lemony Snicket or Spiderman 3, but he’s also fond of Shakespeare, Jimi Hendrix, and Monty Python. He hopes to build bridges with other kid blogs and kid bloggers, to fuel a generation of writers that have years of experience under their belt before they hit 18. If you know of a kid blog, please send a tip to nick@kidreviewer.com.
Annie Dameron is writer/artist based in Charlotte, North Carolina. When she isn’t chasing around her two children (Michael, 3 and Christina, 1), she is writing, painting and drinking way too much coffee. Visit her blog at The Frantic Scribe and her art website at Black Hawke Arts.
Doodaddy is the anonymous and eponymous author of Doodaddy.net, a blog about his emerging experiences as a stay-at-home father to a delightful new toddler, Boobaby. Before entering into this hardest of all jobs, he worked as a naturalist, leading young kids on outdoor adventures along the coast. He’s also been a mentor to youth at a wildlife hospital. Doodaddy is particularly interested in how stay-at-home dad families aren’t exact mirror images of stay-at-home mom families; the social aspects of being a stay-at-home dad; and how to get his baby outdoors as often as possible. He also likes bugs and crabs and clouds, and so on. Doodaddy lives in San Francisco with his wife, often referred to as Working Mom.
Ginger Emas
Ginger is a single working mother to a son who is 12 going on 20. Any day that both of them survive with their innards intact is considered a huge success! Now that she has entered the teenage years from the other side, Ginger spends much of her time calling her own parents to alternately give thanks and apologize. As a project manager and writer for the past 20 years, Ginger loves to read and learn about any and all topics, as well as mix her own musings into the conversation. Her clients include Alien Music, CWK Network, IBM Corporation, Home Depot, Macy’s, and several Atlanta agencies. Ginger enjoys giving her time to non-profit organizations, especially those she and her friends are passionate about, including AMIT (a program for children with special learning situations), Autism Speaks! and The Bridge, a unique residence school for highly at-risk children. One of Ginger’s long-term clients is Connect with Kids, a news and television network that focuses solely on children’s and teen issues. Yes, this means her son is often a “guinea pig†for watching the Emmy award-winning programs about bullying, drinking and driving, addiction, the teenage brain, dating and more. (He’s thrilled about this.) Ginger also contributes to several blogs and print publications in and around Atlanta, most recently including Parents & Company and Skirt! Magazine. She is the co-author of a few books, including So You Wanna Sing Rock ‘n Roll?, Modern Food Gifts, The Gift of Taking, IBM Multimedia Handbook, and is currently working on a slightly irreverent book about dating. Ginger considers herself incredibly lucky and is most grateful for her brain, which often runs by itself. She has an unusual and delightful divorce with her “was-band†and the fact that they are very good friends who are often seen hanging out together with or without their son and/or their significant others is a source of bewilderment for many, but joy and amusement for them. Her favorite thing in the whole world is hearing the laughter of her son.
My name is Lara Gallagher and I live with my husband on a farm in the country where we’re raising 21 acres of alfalfa, 3 country bumpkins, 2 chickens, and more mud and bugs that we can suck up the central vac.
I spent my entire life in constant chaos until 7 years ago when I began my mission to become what others seemed to be naturally, ORGANIZED! Contrary to what I had always believed, I learned that there was hope, even for lazy ol’ me. Not only that but I soon discovered a way to combine my talent for sewing with my love of organizing and that’s when my Lazy Organizing Bags were born.
Whether it’s speaking for an event, sharing ideas at a meeting for the Lazy Organizer’s Club or writing on my blog, I want to inspire others to get more organized in their lives. I want them to enjoy the freedom that comes with being able to locate their car key, unearth their cell phone, and maybe even stumble upon their sanity!
While my kids and I spend our days plowing through the mess and learning how to get along, I work hard not to let my laziness interfere with my pursuit of a peaceful organized life. I know it’s out there somewhere, maybe we can find it together!
A.L. Hatch is a freelance writer and SAHM to a spirited two-year-old, The Poo. She lives in Illinois with her husband, who is pursuing a doctorate at a certain Large Midwestern University. You can read more about her adventures as an East Coast girl adjusting to life on the prairie at Chicken And Cheese, where she blogs with dreadful regularity. Hatch is also a frequent contributor to parentbloggers.com.
Whitney Hoffman, producer of the LD Podcast and upcoming Partners In Education podcasts, wears many hats. While she is an attorney by trade, at home, she reports that her worth is often determined, by the children, purely by the quality of the last peanut butter sandwich.(Was it cut properly? Were the pieces symmetrical? - It’s worse than Top Chef!) When asked where she lives, she is often heard to remark, “In a tan minivan on I-95.” When people ask her what she does at a cocktail party, she responds “I’m a pediatric logistics specialist when I’m not working my job in dispute resolution for minors.” (Of course, we all know this means driving kids to and from everywhere, while maintaining peace between siblings in the backseat, but don’t tell everyone.)In addition to podcasting and blogging, Whitney has a few part-time “real” jobs to keep her amused, which her husband jokes will eventually add into a full time job, where Whitney merely looks at them as ways to keep her occupied and as a way to keep from going crazy at home. Whitney has had several careers, including consulting for Madden & Patton LLC., helping to design the NFL’s ADA compliance program for the Super Bowl, and providing on site disability services for the event for eight years. She contributed chapters to Public Assembly Facility Law, a book on the legal aspects of public assembly facility management.
Whitney and her husband, Dr. Matthew Hoffman, (an obstetrician who does a considerable amount of clinical research and has an MPH from Johns Hopkins) have 2 children, both of whom have learning disabilities. She loves being part of Grasshopper New Media Parents, and would like to thank Obi Wan for having faith in her.
Whitney can be reached by email at LDpodcast@gmail.com, or by voicemail at (206) 666-2343.
Chantal Hubert is your average Canadian stay-at-home-Mom; frazzled, always on the move and constantly tired. All in a good way, of course. She is Mom to four children, three girls and one boy, ranging in age from ten to four years old.
In her ten years of parenting, Chantal has pretty much seen it all. Having birthed in hospital and at home, used disposable and cloth diapers and seen her share of breastfeeding challenges, Chantal was a birth doula and childbirth advocate from 1999-2006.
An avid soccer player and coach, Chantal also co-owns a catering and event planning business called Apple Ridge Catering And Events. Her passions include running/sports, writing, reading and driving her kids to and fro (does that count?).
Chantal is also passionate about her own blog Bread Crumbs In The Butter , where she has a list of her favourite posts. Those posts and her archives are a great place to learn more about a Mom who probably uses more sarcasm than she should.
In The Fast Lane grew up in sunny Southern California, and now lives in Indiana with her husband, three children (Violet - 12, Dash - 8, Jack Jack - 2) and a chocolate lab, who has been affectionately nick-named “Double D” for “Dumb Dog.” InTheFastLane is currently a Middle School Counselor. She was a stay at home mom and high school cross country coach until her older two kids were both in school, earning her master’s degree in School Counseling at the same time. She began working, when Dash started Kindergarten, only to have the wonderful “surprise” of being pregnant again, one month into her new job. She now works hard at balancing work and family, but enjoys the fact that her job gives her the summers off to go on adventures with her family. InTheFastLane also loves to run and recently completed her third Chicago Marathon. She started blogging a few years ago because she never could keep a journal, but loves technology, so the mix of writing and the internet was a great fit. Along the way she has found a wonderfully rich community of parents. Her personal blog, That’s Life v. 2.0, is an introspective look at herself and her family as they navigate through as many developmental issues at the same time as possible (think potty training and pre-teens). In her spare time (what is that again?), InTheFastLane can be found daydreaming about living in the mountains or planning her life goal of backpacking the entire Pacific Crest Trail (Mexico to Canada).
AmyL.
Earnest Parent is AmyL, a late 30-something mother of 2 sets of twin boys. A former public school teacher, Amy now home schools the boys; this has not always been easy but life improves regularly as the boys (and-ahem-Amy) mature. In the year 2007, the entire family drove to both the East and West coast of the US in 2 separate trips. It was a great learning experience, and wonderful family time as well. Back at home in the Mid West, Amy keeps busy with the boys, bookkeeping activities for church and a few local non-profit organizations, quilting, and organizing. Amy’s blog is EarnestParenting, and she’s been writing for it since the summer of 2007.
MC Milker
MC Milker lives in Southern California with her husband and 5-year-old, The Hamster. After a long career as a single, workaholic, marketing executive, she now enjoys nothing more than “playing space ships” with her son.
Her tendency to over-intellectualize the parenting processes has led her to adopt far too many different philosophies and styles as she struggles to parent in the middle. She writes about her adventures at The Not Quite Crunchy Parent.
When not, blogging or wondering how to answer another question about something she must have missed in school, she can be found teaching at a local college or tackling the occasional consulting gig.
Memo’s Mama is the woman behind MeMo, or is it the other way around? The mom of one year-old daughter, Merrik (lovingly dubbed “MeMo” or “The Meemers”), Robyn is a Cambridge, MA-based stay-at-home mom. After devoting many years to the marketing and advertising world, Robyn became a tad antsy during The Meemers’ long daily naps. Hence the launch of MeMoBaby.com, an earth-friendly company offering an exclusive line of high quality infant onesies boasting unique and humorous slogans.
MeMoBaby.com operates as an environmentally conscientious company and donates a portion of its monthly proceeds to a variety of children’s charities. (Additional company and product information can be found at www.MeMoBaby.com.)
Robyn shares her Cambridge 840 square foot Cambridge estate with husband Joe, MeMo, three cats and lots and lots of plants.
Amy Nathan is a freelance writer, divorced mom of a teen and a tween, and her family’s healthy-eating cheerleader, except on alternate Tuesdays. That’s when she insists her kids eat junk food just for balance. She believes that “do as I say, not as I do” is a highly underrated parenting tool.
Amy’s writing has been published in The Chicago Tribune, The Huffington Post, Chicago Parent, and various regional parenting magazines around the country. She contributes to The Imperfect Parent website with her monthly column, The View From Here, and to Chicago Moms Blog. She edits and writes for Your Jewish Mother and is the no-longer-anonymous author of Kvetch Blog.
Andrea Ross is co-creator of the children’s book podcast Just One More Book! Through this podcast and its website, Andrea and co-creator Mark Blevis are building a lively, interactive community that links children’s book authors, illustrators, readers, educators, librarians and publishers. Andrea lives in the heart of Canada’s capital with her husband, two daughters and a ridiculously large number of children’s books.
Slouching Mom is a freelance writer and SAHM to two sons, Ben, who will turn ten this year, and Jack, who is five. She is currently suffering from a bit of culture shock, having grown up in New York City but now living (happily!) in a town of 100,000, albeit one still in the Mid-Atlantic region. She is an avid photographer and a diehard liberal who would be thrilled if Barack Obama became our next president. Slouching Mom turned 40 this year and started blogging at Slouching Past 40 in January as a way to come to terms with this sad but inevitable fact.
Tere was born, raised, and currently lives in Miami, FL (obviously, she’s quite the adventurer). She is the daughter of Cuban exiles, an experience that has defined – for better or worse – the way she sees the world and the way she parents.
She is wife to Ben, a pediatric ER/trauma nurse, and mother to Max, a toddler who’s equal parts mischief and charm; these two roles alone keep her busy and exhausted at all times.
Alas, the bills have to get paid, so Tere works full time in public relations, a career she fell into by chance and can’t seem to escape, no matter how hard she tries. Her lifelong passion for writing began with bad poetry and even worse speeches and essays at age 11 (but she hopes she’s improved considerably since then). She began blogging in 2000 under a pseudonym she refuses to disclose, and ended up at her current spot, A Mom, a Blog and the Life In-Between, in April 2006. Her decision to write as herself and about her life was based on a desire to challenge herself as a writer as well as to explore this new, thrilling, overwhelming, heartbreaking territory called motherhood.
And just for reading this far along, you get some bonus Tere info: she’s an inveterate list-maker, pop-culture junkie, knower of an endless amount of useless information, and a newly minted mango grower.
Thordora is the anonymous hands and more rarely, the brains behind Spin Me I Pulsate. A devoted and happy Canadian, she whiles away her time working, raising two daughters, Vivian and Rosalyn with her husband, petting Velcro the cat and attempting to get the compost to, you know, compost.
Thordora’s experiences with motherloss and her recent bipolar diagnosis have made her into a fervent believer in the power of words to help and to heal. Helping others find the answers, or at the very least someone who shares in the experiences has helped her find a least a little peace.
When she’s not wasting valuable work time blogging, she’s usually reading, knitting, or gleefully rubbing her hands in anticipation of tearing up more of her lawn for her herb garden. Feel free to contact her at thordora@gmail.com
A. Tucker is a smart-mouthed freelance writer who stays home with her infant daughter, Caroline. She is originally from Arkansas and attended a four year university there with plans of becoming a Radiologist. When her (then) boyfriend joined the Navy, they married and moved to Florida. A. Tucker can also be found at TasteLikeCrazy, where she writes about her daily life as a sarcastic wife and mom. When she is not writing, she can usually be found chasing Cara, her two dogs and the cat.
Wacky Mommy is Nancy, a writer and editor from Portland, Ore., who lives with her husband, Hockey God (who blogs his version of things at More Hockey, Less War), Wacky Girl, an almost-eight year-old, and Wacky Boy, age five. The children have recently demanded editorial control over her writing about domestic matters, ie — funny stories about the kids.
This could pose a problem.
She loves to garden, drink coffee, blog obsessively, read obsessively and go swimming. Her writing (recipes, sex tips, rants and more) can be found daily at www.wackymommy.org Bon appetit!
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The News… | Wiping Up Snot // Aug 7, 2008 at 8:20 pm
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