Introduce yourself!

I'm bringing back threads because we all need COMMUNITY right now

As many of you may remember, I used to run discussion threads every week. Then, several months ago, I stopped. Why? Good question. I’m not totally sure. I think I worried that I was inserting myself into everyone’s inboxes too frequently. I’m one of those people who would much rather be too little than too much, although as I get older, that’s (thankfully) shifting.

Here’s the thing: I realized recently that I really miss the discussion threads. I really miss YOU. Every week I got to hear from so many of you, and I got to know you, and you became, well, my friends! I appreciated that you shared the same worries and beliefs I did, that we often made the same kinds of mistakes, that our kids faced many of the same kinds of struggles. I found reassurance in the familiarity, and I found kinship in the community. And don’t we all really need community right now?

So…. I’m bringing threads back! I’ll start by doing them the traditional way, as posts, but I may experiment more with the chat function in the future.

Since I haven’t hosted a thread in so long, let’s start today with introductions and updates! If you’re new here, tell us a bit about yourself and your family. If you’ve been here a while, tell us what’s new! Feel free to vent or ask about any parenting issues you’re dealing with right now, too — I love a good crowdsource.

I’ll start.

Hi, I’m Melinda Wenner Moyer. I’m a science journalist based in New York’s Hudson Valley, and I write about the intersection of science and everyday life. I mostly write for The New York Times, and I have also written a lot for Scientific American magazine, where I am a contributing editor. (A Scientific American editor actually interviewed me about my upcoming book yesterday; so weird to be on the other side of those phone calls!) I have been writing this newsletter since 2020; my mission is to normalize the messiness of parenting and bring science and nuance to parenting advice and culture so that we all feel less guilt and stress.

I love singing. I’m in a classical choir and I also sing tons of karaoke (cheesy 80s ballads are my fave). I am also becoming semi-obsessed with plants and gardening, although I have no idea what I’m doing. I recently separated from my husband of 15 years and have two kids: a daughter who’s 10 and a son who’s about to turn 14. My daughter loves singing, acting, writing and reading. My son loves soccer and movies. We are all impressive consumers of guacamole. We also have a rescue pup named Ozzy, who recently got a haircut and would like to say hi:

Now it’s your turn! Please share a bit about yourself and/or your family in the comments!