HeyJaredSwing For The Joy
Award-winning commentary on politics, education, parenting & Catholicism since the '90s. Frequently distracted by squirrels and baked goods.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 5
- Latest publication
- Sep 23, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 16, 2026
Latest issues
Making life better (opens the original)
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Chapter One: For much of my 45-year writing life, I’ve been an opinion columnist, mostly in newspapers, occasionally in small magazines. These columns were informed by my training as a journalist, so they’ve never been “just” opinion. Each column I write — including the ones here at Swing For The Joy — takes an average of 15 hours to research, write, fact-check, rewrite, rewrite again, and proofread. In the early days — after I’d spent time as a reporter on cops and courts, the business desk, pr
First-year parent support in Germany (opens the original)
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The past three months have been full of visitors to the place we lived this summer: Southeastern Idaho. Two visits were our daughters and their families, three were friends from Texas, and one was my husband’s golfing buddy. It was pretty fun, including this craziness with our daughter, son-in-law, and eldest grandson:Our first visitors, arriving when the house was still kind of in shambles, were Mike and Lyneille Meza whom we’ve been lucky to know for about 35 years. They were very excited to t
What we don't know about each other (opens the original)
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I’ve spent this summer in Pocatello, Idaho, living in 100-year-old house, getting to know my neighbors next door and across the street, exploring the great outdoors in pleasant weather, and enjoying the wonder of being able to bike one mile to church, donuts, the library, and a $3 movie theater. (Alas, we have to cycle an insane two miles to access the $1/scoop ice cream parlor!)Most importantly, though, this summer has been about me encountering — and coming to better understand — life and atti
Don't get that phone (opens the original)
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For as long as I can remember, the start of the school year has been my New Year, far more exciting than that day in the dark of winter. A school supply list, excited children, back-to-school sales, and re-energized teachers has always signified the best of a New Year for me. I still feel that way, even though I haven’t had a child in school for 18 years and haven’t worked in education since 2020. So last week, stepping into my local Fred Meyer, seeing shelves of bright crayon boxes, crisp multi
Throw pillows: discuss (opens the original)
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There’s a heat dome across the country, a multi-state cyclosporiasis outbreak (avoid grocery store lettuce and raspberries, folks!), and the Iranian foreign minister trolling President Donald Trump over the Strait of Hormuz, but we’ve got way more important things to discuss this week. To wit,
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