Jane Roper

Writer

The author at age 14. (Courtesy Jane Roper)

I think it’s fantastic. All of it. So why am I -- liberal, feminist me -- telling my teen daughter ixnay on the aring-shay? 

My kids aren’t embarrassed to talk about periods. Why am I?

Young woman crouching and taking time choosing sanitary pads. (Getty Images)

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My father’s death was just one more strange, ungraspable thing among thousands of others. The multitude of other losses seemed to water down my grief for him.

I might have felt his absence more keenly on Thanksgiving and Christmas, except for the fact that my mother and in-laws weren’t there either. Nobody was.

Just Before The Pandemic Began, My Father Died Of Cancer. Then, The World Disappeared

The author and her father are pictured on a hiking trip in 1975. (Courtesy Jane Roper) 

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My 12-year-old is now using "they" pronouns, writes Jane Roper. So far, people have been very supportive. But many also add, with varying degrees of consternation, that they just have trouble with the fact that "they" is a plural.

'They' Is Here To Stay. Get Over It

... as accepting as most people are, many still feel the need to add, with varying degrees of consternation: “I just have trouble with the fact that ‘they’ is plural.”

It’s time for the rest of us to stop kvetching, tell our inner schoolmarm to take a hike, do the linguistic work, and embrace the evolution of “they.”

My 12-year-old, Elm (pictured), is now using "they" pronouns, writes Jane Roper. So far, people have been very supportive. But many also add, with varying degrees of consternation, that they just have trouble with the fact that "they" is a plural. (Courtesy)


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I’m awed by Handel’s "Messiah," the smell of spruce, and my mother’s sour cream coffee cake on Christmas Day. 

Finding The Sacred In A Non-Christian Christmas

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Religion

There is a vast difference between being sad and suffering from the mental illness that I and millions of others live with, writes Jane Roper. 

This Is The Problem With Casually Using The Word 'Depressed'

When you’re really sad, you might not feel like getting out of bed. When you’re clinically depressed, you can’t.

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Mental Illness

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Yes. I remember last year. It was awful and I hope I never live to see anything like it again. But still, I prefer my winters to be winters.

As a New Englander, the rhythm of the seasons is the scaffolding of my whole sense of time -- my memories, my plans and even my state of mind throughout the course of a given year.

The Winter That Wasn't

Crocus flowers start to sprout on a cold, wet Spring day in North Andover, Mass., Thursday, April 9, 2015. (Elise Amendola/AP)

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Tugging on people’s heartstrings -- which the idea of sick children has a tendency to do -- is far more likely to open purse strings.

...it’s unethical to lure potential customers on one thing and deliver something else.

Poster Children: When Cancer Charities Mislead To Raise Funds

Unless donations are going to support pediatric research, leave the kids out of it. (J Pat Carter/AP)

Jane Roper

Recently published

My kids aren’t embarrassed to talk about periods. Why am I?

Cognoscenti

Just Before The Pandemic Began, My Father Died Of Cancer. Then, The World Disappeared

Cognoscenti

'They' Is Here To Stay. Get Over It

Cognoscenti

Finding The Sacred In A Non-Christian Christmas

Cognoscenti

This Is The Problem With Casually Using The Word 'Depressed'

Cognoscenti

The Winter That Wasn't

Cognoscenti

Poster Children: When Cancer Charities Mislead To Raise Funds

Cognoscenti