Summer Pennell
Summer moved to Vermont in 2021 with her wife and kiddo. She lives in an amazing gayborhood in a great community, and loves to pretend she's in a real-life Hallmark movie.
Summer has degrees in English literature, visual arts, folklore, and education (clearly, making lucrative choices) and works with future secondary teachers. Along with some neighbors and her wife, she served on the Essex Pride Committee that planned the first pride in Essex Junction in 2023. Her hobbies include crafting, reading queer romance and YA, spontaneous kitchen dance parties, and watching ridiculous things on TV. Her family enjoys exploring the beautiful state and surrounding areas, and she always welcomes suggestions for family-friendly activities. Look for @gayborhood stitches on etsy to find her crossstitch patterns, and on instagram to see her latest designs and (many, many) current stitchy projects.
The New Perimenopause Starter Pack For When Your Hormones Betray You
If you’re a child of the 80s like me, you probably never heard the term perimenopause until your friends started warning you about it. I didn’t know the phase before menopause had a name,...
Project 2025 Will Destroy Public Education
Tl;dr: It will be bad.
Project 2025 is a terrifying proposal for running the U.S. government, sponsored by ultra-conservative interest groups. I am a mom, an educator, and a queer person who is in fear...
Celebrating Pride as a Queer Mom
The author writes about celebrating pride now that she and her wife are parents.
5 Inspiring YA Books to Read with Your Teen
5 inspiring YA books to read with your teen. All feature main characters with marginalized identities. Multiple genres included.
Dead Mom Rituals Are My Grieving Process
My mom died two summers ago. In front of me, my sister, and my partner. On an extended family vacation. It was traumatizing, so I don’t talk about it very much. Not even with...
5 Things Not to Say to Parents of Autistic Children
5 things not to say to parents of autistic children. Author compares these don'ts to things not to say to queer and trans people.
Moving to the Vermont Gayborhood of Our Dreams
My wife and I, with our then 2-year-old, moved to Vermont in 2021 from rural Missouri.
While we had great friends and community in Missouri, we did not feel safe in the increasingly red state....