tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37981897649936699612009-11-10T04:26:56.659-05:00J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-39194440994672591372009-11-04T07:31:00.011-05:002009-11-04T08:32:46.539-05:00

It's been over two years since I slipped out of grad school after having written my masters' thesis, Shooting the Ayatollah. But on this anniversary of the seizure of the embassy, I can't help but offer up this reminder and shameless plug.Thirty years ago today, a group calling themselves the Muslim Students Following the Imam's Line captured the US embassy in Tehran. For the 61 Americans working

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-91620903607327238612009-10-13T20:47:00.007-05:002009-10-14T07:48:49.356-05:00

To wrap up this past summer, we took a trip back to our new favorite beach, Carillon Beach near Panama City Beach. We were looking forward to properly introducing the 'lil sir to the beach and gulf (last time, he was a little young and the weather, a little cold) and to a relaxing week away from the hubbub in Atlanta.We went with Patrick, Pam, and their one-year old son, Noah. It was great to see

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-39499575754880691292009-10-13T19:48:00.015-05:002009-10-14T08:07:38.077-05:00

This summer was a whirlwind, and not just cause Jack started running circles around us. There was JD's new job, the never-ending bathroom remodeling project, a trip to Albany for the twins' birthday, lots of trips around town, lots of company, that weekend with the rooftop pool, the Inman Park Festival, a couple parties for flavah, and, thankfully, lots of time to hang out and enjoy being a 'lil

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-11010734663221893032009-05-08T21:45:00.007-05:002009-05-09T09:40:06.953-05:00

On April 26, Ann and I reconnected with Alisha Robertson so that Jack could have a professional one-year photoshoot. We were thrilled with the outcome of our six-month shoot with the lil sir, so this followup was a no brainer. Alisha was great with Jack the first time and she was fantastic with him again this time.To mix things up from out first shoot, we headed into Historic Roswell and shot

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-59139463459641582552009-04-05T14:40:00.006-05:002009-04-05T15:09:43.029-05:00

Yesterday, we celebrated Jack's first birthday with a small group of family and close friends. And, true to form, Jack behaved himself magnificently for several hours while people, cake, beer, presents, other kids, and Sparky whirled around him.The only problem going into the party was Jack's apparent egg allergy. A few weeks ago we noticed his bad reaction to egg yolks and our pediatrician

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-91690265863213655822009-03-31T18:37:00.025-05:002009-04-05T17:04:05.407-05:00

Happy Jackiversary! Just 365 days ago, at 6.37pm on March 31, 2008, we met Jack for the first time—a few of us in person, a great many more online. It's hard to believe it's been a whole year! As a couple long known for discomfort around children of all ages, we're happy to say that the past year has been a blast and that—poop-related incidents aside—it's been better than either of us could've

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-90122041593754332412009-02-25T08:33:00.009-05:002009-02-26T22:56:52.604-05:00

This past Tuesday, February 24, I was thrilled to have opportunity to, once again, give my presentation about Classical Islamic Poetry. Beaux Pettys, a fellow member of the Burns Club of Atlanta, saw my presentation back in August and invited me to speak on the same subject in front of the Gate City II masonic lodge in downtown Atlanta.A detailed description of the program can be found at the

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-90935761816375400922009-01-18T16:55:00.013-05:002009-01-18T19:21:49.265-05:00

The holiday season was a busy one for us – as evidenced by our almost total lack of updates between our beach trip and now. But we had a great time both with Jack and with the extended family. Ann and I were lucky to get her whole family up from Florida for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. And we were lucky that, once again, Jack puts up with crowds, staying up late, and busy family holidays

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-1844062490400170832009-01-06T22:30:00.006-05:002009-01-08T09:46:11.055-05:00

A friend recently directed me to a Time interview with Avraham Burg, author of The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Rise from Its Ashes and scion of one of Israel's founding families — his father was the deputy speaker of the first Knesset, and Burg himself later became speaker of the legislature, and a member of Israel's cabinet. In this book, and the Time interview, Burg argues that the Jewish people

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-18920330144905561282008-12-14T14:55:00.008-05:002008-12-14T15:55:17.451-05:00

After a failed attempt to do breakfast with Santa at Ann's church (we were only 24-hours late – just missed it) and a premature arrival at Northpoint Mall (we were only two hours early), we only had to wait 2+ hours to get Jack's first obligatory picture with Santa.The "miracle" of this scenario was not that it took us three tries to get to Santa, but that Jack made it through all these attempts.

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-52106846787516580652008-11-10T13:06:00.011-05:002008-11-24T09:51:06.378-05:00

At the end of October, Ann and JD went to Carillon Beach, near Panama City Beach, to celebrate their fifth anniversary ... so, of course, Jack came along and enjoyed his first trip to the beach. And while the weather was a little cooler than normal beach weather, most days were warm enough to enjoy the beach and the sunshine – even if the Gulf of Mexico was too cold for swimming.We rented a

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-19928937934470844192008-10-27T20:07:00.005-05:002008-10-28T14:40:54.081-05:00

On October 14, Ann and I were fortunate enough to steal a spot in Alisha Robertson's schedule so that Jack could have a professional six-month photoshoot.I really wanted a professional shoot to celebrate Jack's semi-annual. After all, what self-respecting art director doesn't take advantage of their rolodex when it comes to getting their own pictures taken. Luckily, I'd seen Alisha's work with a

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-30775182740898910242008-10-14T21:31:00.005-05:002008-10-15T13:28:49.478-05:00

Jack's sixth month has been another eventful one. The 'lil sir has successfully – though not without some false starts – conquered rolling over. He's even translated this new skill into a strange means of getting from point A to point B – something he has demonstrated for JD and JJ multiple times but never once for his mother, much to her disappointment. And he appears to have figured out the

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-60729537897628175622008-09-07T15:32:00.021-05:002008-09-08T11:27:54.030-05:00

August was a busy month for Jack. He found his feet, learned to love bottles of all varieties (thank you, Dr. Brown, Diet Mountain Dew and Sweetwater...), discovered that everything is better in his mouth, and isn't satisfied if he doesn't drool through three or four bibs a day. We also invented a great game – all new parents should try it. It's called the Drool on Mommy game. You can probably

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-51430736366646615792008-08-08T13:33:00.009-05:002008-08-19T12:22:23.209-05:00

This past Wednesday, I had the opportunity to speak before the Burns Club of Atlanta, a fantastic literary of social organization of which I am proud to be a part. I presented a program that looked at the classical period of Islamic poetry, using a small handful of notable Arab and Persian poets to explore some common themes of the genre: from uniquely Middle Eastern devotional works to familiar

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-30950160195334837772008-07-28T18:06:00.014-05:002008-07-28T19:02:32.928-05:00

At four months, Jack has gone through some changes, to say the least. He is currently sporting three different hair colors – brown on top, blond around the sides and back, and red on his neck. Red is holding its ground but brown is surrounded and, frankly, Ann is hoping blond sends it into full retreat soon. His eyes have changed a fair amount, too. They started the month with a tint of brown but

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-15832978729344060632008-07-07T00:48:00.009-05:002008-07-07T20:07:37.996-05:00

This July 4th weekend, Ann, JD, and Sparky took Jack on his first official vacation – a three-day trip to the north Georgia mountains near Blue Ridge. We stayed at a great cabin about fifteen minutes outside of town and adjacent to the Benton MacKaye trail. We took the kid into town for a 4th of July lunch (and, to Ann's dismay, the biggest raspberry-cheesecake ice cream waffle cone JD ever ate),

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-35746896037154398982008-07-01T19:45:00.008-05:002008-07-01T20:25:30.773-05:00

Jack's third month has been an eventful one – but, above all else, pretty enjoyable. While he is still a lot of work, both of us are having a blast with the kid. Seriously. The court is still out on other people's kids, but we've decided that ours is pretty awesome.A couple of notable things from Jack's third month:One terrible word: Drool.One wonderful word: Sleep.Jack less resembles a bobble

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-44597437950395934262008-06-23T20:22:00.008-05:002008-07-02T14:58:08.072-05:00

All of a sudden, Ann and I are adults (well, more adult-like, at any rate). Jack is the primary motivator of this recent development, what with his babyishness and our sudden parenthood. But don't let the Wii fool you – we've brought this new adult-ish revolution to the home as well as the family.Behold: we now have a real dining room (as opposed to our previous, ad hoc dining room, at right).

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-80961554407420603972008-06-09T13:51:00.004-05:002008-06-10T14:16:15.819-05:00

Breaking away for a moment from the flood of Jack-related postings, we turn to another of our passions. Actually, two of them: History and drinking.Derek Waters, of Derek and Simon: The Show, recently posted a series of three (well, two and a half, technically) episodes of Drunk History. For us, these video's combine the familiar and the famous. The familiar is the parade of drunken historians

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-83146051699489319332008-06-04T09:52:00.019-05:002008-06-04T12:33:48.215-05:00

In the month since Jack's photoshoot, we've seen a lot of firsts from the little guy. First baths, first trips to the park, first trips out to eat and to go shopping.A couple notable things from Jack's second month:He smiles. A lot. We love it.Jack has, on several occasions, slept 10+ hours through the night. We love that too. (As Ralph Waldo Emrson once said, "There was a never a child so lovely

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-64988031629758354852008-05-14T10:44:00.005-05:002008-05-14T11:13:38.371-05:00

As promised, below you will find a second collection of images from Jack and Ann's April 28th photo shoot for Marchet Butler's Early Motherhood Photo Project. We were really fortunate to get so many good, professional pictures of Jack at such a young age – even if he is clearly an unhappy model in some of them – and some great pictures of Ann as a new mom.We'd also like to thank everyone who has

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-50837329506688332742008-05-05T09:56:00.012-05:002008-05-05T12:26:41.896-05:00

In a shameless attempt to both amuse ourselves and embarrass Jack, we celebrated Cinco de Quatro (yes, we know) with a juvenile, Corona-themed baby photo shoot. These photos were taken as much in memory of our own childhood pictures, posed with beer bottles and cans, as in the hopes of humorously documenting Jack's first holiday.One note of special importance: The kickin' lime hat Jack is

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-65989480142175921982008-04-30T12:53:00.007-05:002008-04-30T21:25:53.564-05:00

On Monday, Jack's 4-week-anniversary, Jack was photographed for Marchet Butler's Early Motherhood Photo Project. Marchet's photojournalism project is a celebration of breastfeeding, early motherhood, and childhood featuring candid images taken in the models' homes.Ann recently found out about the project through a friend who appeared in her own photoshoot alongside her own extremely well-named

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798189764993669961.post-22277364897775977472008-04-08T20:59:00.004-05:002008-04-08T21:08:56.884-05:00

In addition to letting me write baby names (and question marks) on her pregnant belly prior to Jack's birth, Ann agreed to participate in a time-lapse sequence showcasing her swelling stomach over the course of 9 months. The result shows Ann's flat tummy gradually growing to a size worthy of Jack's 9lb bulk.I think mom and baby turned out great!

J.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13410710834258909791noreply@blogger.com1