My son is sleeping all day after nine months in jail — My son has a major mental illness. I’ve been trying to come up with a better way to say that for 17 years but haven’t thought of one. Sometimes I go with “my son is disabled,” but that creates the wrong picture. Lately, I’ve been grooving on a newish term…

What can you expect to find on this site? — Fourth Wave contributor L. A. Jackson asked me recently what my vision was for Fourth Wave for 2023. I told her I don’t have a particular vision for this publication; I’m not trying to take FW in one direction or another. That’s because I don’t consider FW a magazine so…

We are destined to have a magically good year — I don’t often remember my dreams, but just before the year changed to 2023, I had two glorious dreams which I’m hoping foretold a fantastic and magical year to come for us all. Thinking Outside the Box and Writing Your Own Script In the first, which I had late in December, I am a teacher. And in fact, I…

Get a glimpse of Muslim life in Pakistan, Iraq and San Francisco — At its heart, Bad Muslim Discount is a boy meets girl story, and those aren’t usually my favorite plots. But there’s so much more than romance of interest in this novel that I tore through it in just a few days and happily recommend it here. First, there’s the story…

What female lubrication really means, and what it doesn’t — Here’s a funny story. When women in a Canadian lab got wet watching Bonobos having sex, scientists determined that women find monkeys sexy. And when those same women reported that watching Bonobo sex wasn’t really turning them on? Scientists decided they were lying. Or possibly in denial. Society’s messages that…

Award-winning film inspired by femicidal maniac in Iran — Holy Spider tells the story of a serial killer targeting sex workers in Iran and the female journalist trying to stop him. It’s inspired by real events from 2000–2001, when a family man murdered 16 prostitutes in the holy city of Mashhad and won some support in the community after…

Navigating the holidays with a son with a major mental illness — My son just got out of jail. He was in there nine months on a minor vandalism charge, which is cruel and unjust, I know. But the fact is, he got his head on straight in there. He started taking appropriate medication. He stopped being psychotic. When he was released…

All hail the heroic protestors in Iran — We’re in the third month of protests in Iran against the repressive regime that allows “morality police” to beat women to death for not fully covering their hair. As a Western woman living half way across the world, I’m in awe of the young women who are leading the protests. …