Category Archive

People

“Homeowner”, “renter” or “squatter” – whatever the label, these occupants take the Offbeat wherever they go.

Unexpected polyamory and what it taught me about myself

Polyamory isn’t something that I thought I’d ever be interested in. My husband and I were together for three years before I met someone who changed that. I struggled in the beginning with what to do. I couldn’t ignore my feelings for this new man, and cheating on my husband was out of the question. I knew I had to talk with him about these new feelings I was developing and what to do with them…

I’m Mrs. Breadwinner, he’s Mr Stay at Home Dad, and in 2017 that shouldn’t feel weird

My husband stays at home all day to care for our daughter. He’s also responsible for most of the cooking and cleaning. While I make the big bucks. Even around Boston, stay at home dads are rare. And it’s sad that stay at home dads are rare.

The scarcity trap: How sugarcane farmers helped me understand my obsession with becoming a parent

I’ve found some relevance in articles and incredibly personal accounts of pregnancy loss, infertility, grief, and/or anxiety. But it wasn’t until listening to this Hidden Brain podcast from NPR — The Scarcity Trap, Why We Keep Digging When We’re Stuck in Hole — that I found an unlikely solidarity with the experience of sugar cane farmers in India.

How I gently eased into a joint bank account with my partner

How I gently eased into sharing expenses with my partner

I moved in with my partner of two years about seven months ago. It’s my first time living with someone, at the not-so-tender age of in-my-thirties. When we started to share rent and utilities responsibilities, we had to figure out a way to make things equitable, while also easing into the whole finance sharing idea in general. Here’s how we do it…

Kids and cultural appropriation v. cultural appreciation: Where’s the line?

After my three-year-old son watched Disney’s Moana and decided he would be Maui when he grows up (be still my heart), I started thinking about cultural appropriation and how to properly frame that for my son as he grows…

Help me out. When does cultural appreciation cross the line into culture appropriation?

I’m a father and I want to talk about parenting with depression

I’m sure other parents have gone through this, and it’s not a topic we talk about a lot. Postpartum depression has gotten a lot of press in recent years (as it should), but depression impacts dads as well. As men, we tend to avoid these kinds of topics by and large; which is foolish, but that doesn’t make it any less the case.

So let’s talk about parenting with depression…

How do you handle money and debt in a relationship?

My partner and I are cool with a lot of things, but in certain arenas we just don’t line up. How do you reconcile it when one person in a relationship feels that debt is a sad reality of this modern life, and accepts debt as “just something that happens,” and the other person is more in line with the “DEBT IS AN EMERGENCY” kinda deal?

I’m just curious how people reconcile different attitudes toward saving money.

Hey “bad moms,” let’s give ourselves permission to feel competent

Since the birth of my daughter, I’ve found myself using the phrase “I’m a bad mom” a lot. It horrifies my husband, who associates bad moms with criminals, not ordinary women with ordinary flaws.

Think about your best girlfriend who is also a mom. Now imagine someone called her a bad parent. How would you feel?

Somebody said it to my face once. He didn’t really know me, had never met my daughter, he was just a drunken dick in the bar where I work, but he said it, he looked me in the eye and said: “You’re a bad mother.” Let me tell you, it’s one hell of a fucking insult, and we should never, never, say it to ourselves.