Two!
a random list of things in twos to celebrate Jack turning 2/two full years of motherhood
Jack turned two yesterday, so TWO is on my mind. Two years is both so long (he went from weighing 8lbs 2oz and needing to be woken up to eat to 30+lbs, more than half my height, and clearing out our fridge like a teenager! People get engaged within two years! People stay at jobs for two years and get promoted! Two years is halfway through a presidency (hopefully…)! You can get a Masters in two years or less!) and so short (in due time, God willing, he will learn to use the potty, no longer say hi and bye to every creature and beloved inanimate object he meets, go to real school, have homework, be on a sports team, drive a real car…you get the gist 🥺).
But two, as in dualities or pairs, is also a very sociological thing. Structure vs agency. Race and gender. Urban vs rural. Income bracket and religion. The sociological imagination is constantly batting around the various ands(intersectionality) and ors (comparison).
So today’s Friday post will be a celebration of all things that can come in “twos.” Like most of the Friday posts, it’ll be a bit chaotic but full of heart — if you’re up for it, read on.
Two sociological scholars I admire
purposefully leaving out anyone on my committee (because hopefully they — especially my advisor — know that my admiration and appreciation run deep):
Jessica Calarco — the way Jessica can write for a general audience, translating her rigorous (predominantly) qualitative research for mass consumption, is a model I hope to emulate some day.
Jennifer Candipan — Jennifer does incredible, super interesting work in the quantitative neighborhood (and sometimes education) space. Plus I met her when she visited Cornell for a talk and she was just a warm, normal person, which I really value.
Two things Jack loves
hard to narrow down because this kid loves so deeply and widely, but
Daddy’s car — aka my grandma’s 1999 green Honda Civic with roll-down windows, no working radio, and a travel carseat that at first we did not have in correctly so it rocked a bit more than the American Pediatrics Association would have recommended (we have since corrected that error).
Wally — now that Jack helps with giving Wally his dinner, his love for this silly dog has only doubled from its already obsessive state.
Two things Jack does not love
not assigning “hate” on his behalf butttttt this kid does not love
Coming inside from a walk and being told we cannot go out for another walk — what do you meeeeaaaannnnnn (Jennifer Lawerence voice) that after we went for a 30 minute walk before dinner we now cannot do *another* walk and somehow food will just magically appear for us to eat exactly when I want it??!!!
Being told he cannot eat a fourth full banana in a single day.
Two nonfiction books I’d recommend to anyone
Ghosts in the Schoolyard by Eve L. Ewing — if you’ve been following this Substack for a bit you already know what a fan of Ewing’s I am (check out this post for more background). This book dives into Chicago school closings in the poetic, empathetic, immersive, and highly readable way you can expect with Ewing’s writing. A perfect example of “academic writing” (this book came out of her dissertation) within the sociology of education field.
Say Nothing or London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe — PRK may not be a sociologist (he’s a writer for The New Yorker) but his books are great examples of finding sociology in the everyday. I know I’m cheating the whole self-imposed “two” rule by technically including three books here…I was going to say Say Nothing, his book about The Troubles, but then I finished his newest book London Falling this week and it is just as good (maybe even better??) so I am including both. Come for the incredible narrative structure and murder mystery/true crime of it all, stay for the unique and delicious perspective on the sociology of place and identity that emerges in both books, in different ways.
Two fiction books I’d recommend to anyone
The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman — do not (imho) watch the Netflix movie, and while I think the first one is wonderful, it genuinely only gets better as the series progresses. So keep reading.
Tara Road by Maeve Binchy or Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout — still cheating the two rule (rules were meant to be broken!!) but in my mind these are similar books in different styles. If you (1) enjoy books that are less plot-driven and (2) want to read books with fully formed characters with gorgeous yet digestible prose and poignant themes, then either of these will hit the spot. It’s more a matter of are you willing to stick with a longer arc (Tara Road) vs are you ok with more of a short story construct that ultimately reveals the full character of the titular Olive?
My two concentration exams
These are the “areas of expertise” listed on my C.V.
Sociology of Education — I took a Sociology of Education course with my advisor, Kendra Bischoff, then did some extra work after the class ended to qualify for a sociology of education concentration.
Community and Urban Sociology — I designed a syllabus with one of my committee members and cohortmates that I worked through over the course of an (intensive) summer, then did additional reading and writing more focused on my particular areas of interest (neighborhood definition and effects)
Two of my most favorite pictures of Jack from this last year
impossible to choose, but sticking with the “two” theme and going with:
Two Substacks I recommend
if you’re looking for recs on what to read on this app, these are two people I read every post from (choosing folks who post quite regularly….otherwise I’d highlight sociology peeps like Eve L. Ewing and Allison Daminger, or authors I love like Kristen Berry and Rebecca Makkai):
Two things I’d want to tell myself on this day 2 years ago
I know why you want to keep trying to breastfeed, I really do! But it will never work with this kid, and you just need to embrace the pump until you’re finally ready to turn solely to formula (which I know you’re not ready for! So I’m not going to try to push you. But future you is assuring you — it’s all good and he does great (gets even cuter!!!) and you feel less like a failure than you thought you would).
There’s a lot of beauty right now in the quiet moments. But even when it gets so loud and uncontrollable and overwhelming as he gets older, it’s just as beautiful and way more fun.