The Warren & the World is Story Warren’s weekly newsletter, providing a round-up of our favorite things from around the web as well as a review of what was on our site over the past week. We’re glad you’re here!
Around the Web
Boys will be Boaz.
Rachael Starke writes of raising boys in our current cultural context.
- For the past few weeks, my social media feed has been awash in wave after wave of stories of women suffering heinous sexual exploitation.
African refugee women are fleeing their country to break free of sexual violence in their own homes, only to be raped by immigration workers or sold into slavery in countries where they’re seeking asylum.
Processing the tragedy of school shootings
In light of the tragedy of this week in Florida, Kara Powell gives solid advice on processing school shootings with your kids.
- In the midst of our team’s agony over yesterday’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, we are struck by the fact that this is the 18th school shooting in 2018. And it’s only mid-February. From watching Parkland teenagers process their shock and fear on the news this morning to talking with my own 11-year-old about what happened during our short drive to her school, I am experiencing my own emotional roller coaster this morning as a mom and as someone who cares deeply about young people nationwide.
In a culture desensitized toward violence, it can become too easy to look the other way. Teenagers are often the ones who keep us more honest. They ask tough questions. They want better answers. Our words sometimes ring hollow, unable to fill the void left in the aftermath of tragedy after tragedy.
Black History Month Nonfiction Book List
February is Black History Month, and a great time to explore new books. The folks at Redeemed Reader have some suggestions for us.
- It’s a month full of book lists here at Redeemed Reader! We hope you enjoyed our Love and Laughter Book List on Valentine’s Day. Today, we’re offering a Black History Month Nonfiction Book List in honor of Black History Month!
Dads Hurt Too: A Father’s Memoir of Miscarriage
Eric Shumacher powerfully shares the pain of miscarriage from the perspective of a father.
- My wife and I have nine children, but if you meet us, we’ll only say we have five. That’s because we’ve only ever named five—the five we’ve met, the five who took breaths, the five we brought home. Four of our children died by “miscarriage.”
Medically speaking, miscarriage is the spontaneous loss of a pregnancy within the first 20 weeks of gestation; it is the death of a baby in the womb. As with most suffering, I did not expect to experience it personally; miscarriage happened to other people. I certainly never considered it from the father’s perspective. Miscarriage seemed to be—before it happened to us—solely a woman’s experience, a mother’s sorrow. Now I know differently. Moms hurt, and dads hurt too.
Around the Warren
Welcoming the Wandering Son
Last week I misattributed Scott James’ piece. So sorry, Scott! Thanks for sharing your piece with us.
Target Trip
Sarah Hohner tells of the time she was “that mom.”
- So I had that day, and I was that woman.
Our eldest child, a girl, was 2, and our son was less than a month old. It was Christmastime in Arizona, and I hadn’t left the house, aside from going to church (I’m not trying to sound like holy Hannah here, we had only one car and Max, my husband, was gone most days with it) since our boy was born. But this was the day: I was going to Target. I was going to walk amongst the Clean People — I was going to smell popcorn in the air and be seen by other humans and get to enjoy all the Target-y holiday things we couldn’t afford, and it was going to restore some sad part of me that had been withering away in the shade of our blackout curtains at home.
The Good Old Discipline of the Audio Book
Rebecca Reynolds explores the discipline of story listening.
- The lesson was forced upon me. As a working mother, I couldn’t read like I wanted to read.
Awake by four-thirty or five, my day began with a mad rush to collect lunches and afterschool supplies. From eight to five, I was teaching and grading papers. From five to seven, I was carting kids around town. From seven until bedtime, I was making dinner, running the laundry, tying up loose ends. I barely had time to sleep, let alone sit down with a book.
Sunny and Eve – Part Two
Thanks for joining us for part one of “Sunny and Eve” last week. Here’s the next part of Isabel Chenot’s story, accompanied by Will Kelly’s illustrations.
- “S’that yer daughter, Jakob?” someone asked.
Eve stood a little tremulously in her solidly soled shoes on a street spread with awnings and carpets, jumbled with multi-colored, many textured, differingly dense and angled objects. Around these, the street was confused with motion and cries.
Something to Do with Your Kids
Over at What Do We Do All Day, Erika introduces us to topology in the Impossible Paper Puzzle.
And Something to Watch
I think I may have shared this video four years ago, but it’s worth bringing up again. Torvill and Dean’s Olympic ice dance performance from 1984 is famous for earning a perfect score, and it’s always a great watch.
Thank you for reading. We’re on your side.
Carolyn Clare Givens is displaced Northerner exploring the foreign ways of the South. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her two literary cats, Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. She's the author of The King's Messenger and Rosefire and in her free time helps run Bandersnatch Books.
You can find her at carolyncgivens.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @carolyncgivens.
You can find her at carolyncgivens.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @carolyncgivens.
Latest posts by Carolyn Clare Givens (see all)
- The Warren & The World Vol 11, Issue 32 - September 30, 2023
- The Warren & The World Vol 11, Issue 31 - September 23, 2023
- The Warren & The World Vol 11, Issue 30 - September 16, 2023
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