What Season Is It?

And favorite content from this week?

We came across this tree on a walk in our neighborhood and thought it summed up the state of North Carolina right now: Is it still winter, or have we moved onto spring? Every March, there’s a back and forth—you get out your spring clothes, only to need long sleeves again, and then you’re wearing shorts and sandals.

I could wax poetic about deeper meanings of this tree, but to be honest, I’m tired, because we’re between seasons and my daughter’s been sick for over a week and my husband is sick and I’m pregnant and we’re potty training and it’s Holy Week.

So, may this tree make you giggle like it did for us.

Have a blessed Good Friday and a wonderful Easter!

What Else (in addition to potty training and caring for sick family members!) I’ve Been up to:

• I love the Gospel for Holy Thursday, particularly Jesus’ washing His apostles’ feet. So I was excited to write the Gospel reflection for that day for CatholicMom.com.

• I finished recording this week’s episode of Catholic Women Lead, with Leah Jacobson, feeling excited for the future of Catholic women. Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

• As we wrap up Holy Week and enter the Easter season, don’t miss our Lent articles for 2024 at Catholic Women in Business. The writers outdo themselves every year! Read them at https://catholicwomeninbusiness.com/articles.

Favorite Content From This Week

• This Our Sunday Visitor essay by Sister Julia Darrenkamp was such a beautiful reflection on St. Mary Magdalene.

• There was an interesting essay published recently about “dopamine culture” but I found this response, by

  L. M. Sacasas
  at
  The Convivial Society
  , even more interesting. I think it captured a deeper perspective on our culture right now.

• While I’m Catholic, not Evangelical, I found this Christianity Today piece by

  Russell Moore
  to be a great look at the state of some (alarmingly widening) corners of Christian culture, including among Catholics.

• Am I going to share at least one Public Discourse article in every Substack? I might. This one on homemaking and public policy by

  Stephanie H. Murray
  was so, so good, as was this one on ordinary life and people by Elizabeth Corey.

• I immediately subscribed to

  Jenny Holland
  ’s Substack,
  Saving Culture (from itself)
  , after reading this post on contemporary womanhood.

• If you haven’t read Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow, go on your library’s or bookstore’s website and order it now. In the meantime, read this excellent and short response to progressive urban America’s (woefully misinformed and arrogant) perspective on rural America.

• I definitely didn’t agree with every perspective shared in this McKinsey report on women’s health care, but I appreciated its deep dive into the data behind its sorry state.

• Mothers at Home Matter is a movement in the U.K. promoting and campaigning for women who care for their children full time. I would love for their perspective on their recent trip to the U.N.’s Commission on the Status of Women to be shared far and wide. TL;DR: The Commission on the Status of Women does not appear to be interested in the status of women who are full-time homemakers and caregivers (or, perhaps even more to the point, who would like to be).

Books I’m Enjoying:

Still loving Charlotte Mason’s Home Education. And I finished Take the Lead: How Women Leaders are Driving Success through Innovation and unfortunately found it lacking in depth and specificity to female leaders. I’m reviewing it, along with Female Founders’ Playbook: Insights from the Superwomen Who Have Made It, by Anne Boden, for Catholic Women in Business. Stay tuned!