Lisa Morguess

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Fuck the Patriarchy

Well, the country’s gone to hell in a handbasket since I last wrote!

I just finished watching the many hours of the recorded hearing regarding Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s sexual assault allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

I will say, first, that while the #metoo movement has brought memories to the surface for me of my own varied instances of mistreatment – sexual and otherwise – at the…

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Are There No Good Men?

In the wake of the flood of recent outings of high profile men for sexual misconduct, I have begun to ask myself if all men are bad.  The truth is, I truly wonder if there is a man alive who has not, at some point in time, committed some transgression, either in word or deed, towards a woman.  So how do we, as a society, grapple with this without becoming completely cynical and repulsed by all…

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Thinking About Disability

I’m still here.  Life has been incredibly full and busy.  Several people have contacted me to ask why my blog was set to private.  In a nutshell, a couple of bored teenagers found it and were using it for immature ends, so I put it on the down low for awhile. So.  We are all settled in our new home, starting to meet people and get to know some of our neighbors.  We absolutely love it here – this…

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An Open Letter to the Woman in the Pink Shirt at the Craft Store

An Open Letter to the Woman in the Pink Shirt at the Craft Store

Dear Woman in the Pink Shirt at the Craft Store, Forgive me, but I don’t know your name.  I don’t know anything about you, in fact, except that you and I happened to be in the same Michael’s store at the same time today, that you witnessed me speak sharply to my twelve-year-old daughter, and that you felt compelled to pull up behind me in the parking lot while I was buckling my four-year-old in,…

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Home Sweet Home

It’s been a little over three weeks since we moved into our new house in Washington.  Every day I pinch myself because it all seems slightly unreal.  When we started house hunting, I knew that when we walked into OUR house, I would just know, and that’s what happened back in December – the minute we saw this house, I knew it was our house, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be here.  Not only is…

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Grief

I watched President Obama’s farewell address last night, and it brought me to tears.  His eloquence, wisdom, grace, humility, and integrity run in sharp contrast to the man who spoke this morning, which brought me to tears for very different reasons.  This whole thing is unfathomable to me; it’s like we are living in some alternate reality. Then I go on social media and see people expressing glee…

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Christmas Without Christ

A Christian friend posted a meme on social media recently that said something about living dangerously by saying “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays,” and it got me thinking. Obviously, the implication is that by saying “Merry Christmas,” Christians face the risk of backlash from the heathens of the world.  As far as I know, this is a non-existent risk.  I’ve never witnessed, read about,…

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Rolling Stones

Life’s been a whirlwind.  The biggest news is that we found a house way sooner than we had expected to – in Washington, actually, which is just on the other side of the Columbia River from where we are now.  We hadn’t planned on even looking in Washington (although a lot of people do live in Washington and work and/or shop in Oregon, as there is no state income tax in WA and no sales tax in OR),…

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Blue

I wonder how many people are grappling with some sort of emotional fallout from the election last week.  This isn’t just disappointment that one’s preferred candidate didn’t win – this feels much different.  Speaking for myself, it feels like we as a country have been plunged into a time of great uncertainty and instability, and it’s scary as fuck.  And that’s compounded by the fact that the…

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Dark Times

It’s not that I was some great fan of Hillary Clinton, at least not before the Democratic National Convention.  I was surprised to find myself crying when she gave her speech accepting the Presidential nomination for the Democratic party.  It hit me that this was a historic moment: my daughters and I might actually see a woman in the White House.  That it’s 2016 and we are America – so smug and…

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Oregon Is Home Now

Oregon Is Home Now

We’ve been here a week now, and the flurry of unpacking and getting settled is beginning to die down a bit. Our drive up here went pretty smoothly.  Four days of driving two cars (Michael drove my truck, hauling a small U-Haul, and I drove his car), and we never got separated.  Four nights in crappy motels (me in one room with half the kids, him in another room with half the kids and a dog).  I…

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#solongsocal

Well, it’s been a little over a year since Michael and I started talking about it, and now it’s really happening: we are moving to Oregon this week.  The movers are coming on Tuesday to load up all of our stuff, and we will hit the road on Wednesday, arriving in Portland next Saturday. We talked about moving away from California several years ago, but it just seemed too daunting – and we had…

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Fade to Black

In the process of packing up the house in anticipation of our move, I’ve unearthed boxes that have been stowed in the July 1, 1999 blurb in the local paper farthest, darkest corners of the garage.  Boxes that haven’t been opened in more than 17 years.  The boxes contained things that belonged to my first husband – who, as I’ve written before, died of a drug overdose in a stranger’s front yard in…

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Homeschooling Curricula: Try, Ditch, Repeat

Homeschooling Curricula: Try, Ditch, Repeat

So, I’ve been wanting to document our progression through various homeschooling curricula, thinking it might be useful to someone out there.  The biggest thing I’ve learned about homeschooling, by far, is that it is such a process of trial and error.  If there’s any family out there who began with a certain method or program or curriculum and stuck with it year after year, then I’d say they’re…

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Colin Kaepernick, Racism, and the Nature of Protest

Colin Kaepernick, Racism, and the Nature of Protest

I don’t give a shit about football, and I never even heard of Colin Kaepernick before a few days ago when Facebook exploded with posts and links to articles about his sitting out the national anthem preceding a game last week.  Much of what I’ve read has been couched in outrage and hostility towards Kaepernick.  Words and phrases like “inappropriate,” “offensive,” and “disrespectful” pepper these…

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Homeschooling: Lessons From the Trenches

Homeschooling: Lessons From the Trenches

It’s hard to believe, but we are already embarking on our fourth week of the school year.  This is my third year homeschooling, but only my first year homeschooling five kids (counting Scarlett, which I do since she follows me around all day saying, “Mommy, will you do school with me now?  Mommy, can we do school now?”).  I remember back when I was new to this homeschooling gig and only…

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Summer Intensive

Summer break was a flurry of activity, and my head is still spinning. Joey finished his final season of Little League, which was very bittersweet.  I am already suffering from acute nostalgia about that, knowing that Fall Ball starts up soon, and we won’t be out there in the bleachers watching him play. Joey and Annabelle also took part in their final show (The Music Man) with the local…

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