I’ve written a brilliant pop song, called “Such a cutie.” Unfortunately, I can only sing it to Lev to the tune of “Where’s your head at.”
He doesn’t seem to mind.
P.S. When I’m not cuddling him in my free time, I’m writing stuff like this. People keep telling me that it’s hard for them to reconcile my status as a young mother with the kind of columns I write. But I don’t think it ought to be. Young mothers need to keep their eyes on the ghosts. And the darkness.
Natalia A. 
smacks of over-idealizing mothers, to me. why on earth wouldn’t a journalist write about the news, including the bad news? why would becoming a mother make you less likely to write columns about what’s going on around you?
It’s very hard to write about murdered infants when you have an infant of your own to come home to (and are constantly worrying about him when you’re away!). The thing is, I think I’ve become much more adept at writing about the horrors since I’ve become a mother, Possibly because I *feel* them more, while I actually freak out about them less, if that makes sense. But you’re right that the image of a young mother as someone who must block out the bad news is kinda off, especially if you’re talking to a journalist. The thing is, I *wish* I could block them out – but the bad stuff is ultimately what I’m good at. It’s what my colleagues say, at the very least.