Sharon Van Epps
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Articles by Sharon Van Epps
After 20 Years of Marriage, My Husband and I Know 'Love is Blind'
Malte MuellerGetty Images If you’ve binged the new dating show Love is Blind, you already know that Lauren and Cameron are #couplegoals. For those who’ve yet to surrender to the discomfiting charm of the Netflix hit, the show features a group of attractive singles who “date” by talking through an opaque screen. Couples form, but meet in person only after they’ve gotten engaged, sight unseen.
Why I Love Living in Berkeley’s North Shattuck Neighborhood
Full of gourmands, but (finally) no longer referred to as the Gourmet Ghetto Illustration: Aaron Alvarez My neighborhood feels like a small town some days and a cultural mecca every day. It’s one of the best-known neighborhoods in Berkeley. For 50 years, it was referred to as the Gourmet Ghetto. As its former name hints, this area is famous for its groundbreakers in the culinary realm.
Friday 5: Down-to-Earth Napa Wineries to Visit This Spring
When you want relaxing—not pretentious Let’s distract ourselves from politics for the moment and talk about something else: wine. The weather has been so nice lately, which means it’s time to head to wine country before tourists roll up in the summer. We know that as locals, you are likely to spend more time in Sonoma than Napa. Sonoma is the cooler, more chill sibling.
The Labor Strike That Shut Down San Francisco and Kicked Off the City’s Counterculture
San Francisco’s radical leftist politics didn’t start with the hippies in Haight-Ashbury or even the beat poets howling in North Beach. No, our counterculture leanings date back even further, to a group of sailors looking for fair wages. In what’s known as the General Strike of 1934, workers initiated an unprecedented labor strike that shut down San Francisco — the first time this took place in a major U.S. port city. This singular event spurred the modern-day American organizing we know today.
8 Budget Hacks to Explore San Francisco on the Cheap
It’s expensive here, have you heard? We’re here to help you get off the couch. It’s a problem most of us not living large in tech have faced: You’re ready to hit the town on a Friday night, only to realize there’s too much month at the end of the money. Actually, even people making six figures in the tech industry probably face this issue — the Bay Area is a crazy-expensive place. We get that it’s sometimes easier to just grab In-N-Out and hang on your couch.
Obituaries of Parties I Attended in My Twenties
Parting is such sweet sorrow Parties are a great way to meet new people, experience boring conversations about accidentally killing succulents, and humiliate yourself. Luckily, every party throughout civilization has and will eventually die, even Woodstock. While each passes, it’s worth remembering both the life of the party and memorializing its death. Here are a few touching obituaries of various parties I have attended while in my twenties.
Which Presidential Nominee is San Francisco Voting For?
Good morning, Bay Area! Today is Election Day in California. Have you voted? Today, our state (and 13 others) will vote on who should be the Democratic presidential nominee. More than one-third of all delegates for the Democratic National Convention are up for grabs, and 30% of those will come from California — so your vote matters. We canvassed San Franciscans on who they’re planning to vote for and why.
Where Presidential Candidates (Probably) Stand on California Issues
Enough about global warming — where do they land on S.F. vs. L.A.? Illustration: Elizabeth Ryan By Ginny Hogan and Josh Freedman The California primary is Tuesday. Unfortunately, it’s the same day as the primaries in 13 other states, but let’s be honest — it’s really about us. As such, we’ve compiled a list of where the candidates stand on key California issues.
The Weirdest Shit to Come Out of Silicon Valley in February
This month, we look at Cybertruck toys, Alexa-powered kid kitchens, and a CEO’s Mountain Dew obsession This month, New York opened its doors to the 117th edition of the Toy Fair, filling the Jacob K. Javits Center with wonders from across the world. Many of the featured toys had a tech angle, from VR Junior Chef games to ASMR kits for kids.
March’s Sketchy Rentals: Red Minivan Edition
New tenant protections may be coming to Oakland Illustration: Nicole Album The Bay Area housing crisis made national headlines in recent months after a group of homeless mothers, all members of Moms 4 Housing, were physically forced from a vacant West Oakland home they had been occupying. Ever since then, there have been increased conversations over the need to give tenants more protection.
The Weirdest Shit to Come Out of Silicon Valley in February
This month, we look at Cybertruck toys, Alexa-powered kid kitchens, and a CEO’s Mountain Dew obsession This month, New York opened its doors to the 117th edition of the Toy Fair, filling the Jacob K. Javits Center with wonders from across the world. Many of the featured toys had a tech angle, from VR Junior Chef games to ASMR kits for kids.
Everything To Know Before Voting in California's Primary on Super Tuesday | The Bold Italic
Super Tuesday is coming in hot — be ready to vote, Bay Area Every day, we inch closer to the general election and restoring sanity. The presidential primaries already are underway — with Iowa (yikes), New Hampshire, and Nevada — behind us, and South Carolina voting Saturday. A front-runner will likely be solidified this Tuesday, March 3 — Super Tuesday — when 14 states, including California, will vote.
My Mother Abandoned Me for San Francisco
I didn’t know what to expect when my 16-year-old son and I made plans to travel to San Francisco for the first wave of his college tours. We rarely hang out, just the two of us. In an embarrassingly old-fashioned approach to gender roles, my husband usually grabs that quality time, while I focus more on our two teenage daughters.
Best Flea Markets in the Bay Area | The Bold Italic
Where to thrift—outside Photo: Alameda Point Antiques Faire The Bay Area probably has more thrift stores than it has Starbucks. Don’t quote us on that, but seriously, how else would our hipsters get their hands on their all-too-cool denim jackets? But there’s something even thriftier than a thrift store: a flea market. Hitting up a flea market is a great weekend activity if you want to shop and be outside. But these block-long affairs can be hit or miss. Here are our favorites.
Your Child Has to Board a Flight Alone. Now What?
Home > Family • Travel Tips PHOTO: Pavel L Photo and Video/Shutterstock Keeping your child’s age and personality in mind, plan ahead to ensure a safe and successful trip. If you’re considering putting your child on a plane alone, news reports of canceled flights, lost luggage, nasty, dirty aircraft, and the occasional bewildered passenger ejected by airline fashion police may have you freaked out—not to mention stories of unaccompanied minor travel gone wrong.
Don’t Take My Name or Number-Just Date Me
How I tried to date the old-fashioned way I never save a guy’s phone number when he texts me until I know that he really matters. This time, I took my hesitance a step further. I gave him only my first name. Getting to know me more — or just hearing from me ever again — would require showing up for a dinner date in six days. We’d each have no last name, social media account, or phone number to lean on for patchy communication or mindless internet stalking.
Carving Out Spaces for Artists of Color
As Oakland gentrifies, are there still creative spaces that celebrate diversity? In the year and a half since Detroit-born curator, strategist, and founder Ashara Ekundayo opened her eponymous gallery in the Koreatown Northgate district (KONO) in Oakland, much has changed in the neighborhood. What were once empty lots and abandoned storefronts have now transformed into market-rate high-rises and new businesses.
TBI’s 5 Best: Local Grocery Stores in San Francisco
Skip Safeway and Whole Foods in favor of these family-run shops Photo courtesy of Elaine Y. // Yelp There’s an old adage that says to spend your life with people who make going to the grocery store an adventure. And San Francisco is the perfect place in which to avoid the humdrum of the typical Americana market.
This Author Spoke To 1,000 Parents & Here's What She Found Out About Happiness
The closest thing we have to a parenting oracle is KJ Dell’Antonia, who doesn’t consider herself a parenting expert, even though, as a mother of four, she spent the past decade writing about every facet of child rearing as the former editor of The New York Times Motherlode blog. “I’m just a curious journalist who had a problem and wanted to solve it,” she says. Her problem? Life as a working mom sucked a lot of the time, and she didn’t want to feel that way anymore.
Tommy John’s son wants to help kids avoid sports surgeries like the one named for his dad
For years Tommy John, son of the legendary Major League Baseball pitcher of the same name, was a personal trainer for adults with a lucrative side business: Parlaying his famous name and his own experience as a Minor League pitcher, he had become a private baseball skills coach for kids. John enjoyed the work, but over time, he noticed his young baseball players developing the same degenerative physical issues that plagued his 50- and 60-year-old rehab clients.
I Adopted My Kids from “Third-World” Orphanages - Where They Were Treated Better Than Child Refugees In The U.S.
The Trump administration wants us to believe that the immigrant children they've torn away from their parents at the border are being well cared for. But as the mother of internationally adopted children with an interest in child welfare, I’ve visited multiple orphanages overseas, and America’s child detention centers sound like far worse than anything I've seen what Trump once called the “sh*thole countries” of the Third World.
Dear Security Guard, Sorry My Son Is Black
Sharon Van Epps is a writer living in Seattle. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times and other publications. Yesterday, you detained me at the gate leading to the scalloped lawns and multimillion-dollar homes that you guard. I want you to know that although I expressed irritation in the moment, I understand you were only doing your job.
As an adoptive mom, there are some things that I can't give my daughter. And that's OK.
As an adoptive mom, there are some things that I can't give my daughter. And that's OK.
11 Signs You're Raising Three or More Kids
While you might remember the names of your own children, keeping track of their dozens of classmates, teammates, and friends is impossible. For example, Dahlia, Daphne, and Natalie from your daughter’s soccer team – you know, the lanky ones with the long blonde ponytails – might as well be triplets. And was that Jake from the soccer team or Mark from basketball who dropped by to return your son’s lost water bottle? Remembering all the parents you encounter is even harder than recalling the kids.
OTC Pain Relievers Made Me So Sick That I Couldn’t Work Or Care For My Family
That news was a relief, but as the technician shifted her attention from my abdomen to my pelvic region, I couldn’t help but notice that she got ominously quiet. Imaging the ovaries required a transvaginal probe, a slightly embarrassing and physically uncomfortable procedure. As the tech poked and prodded, first on my right side and then on my left, fireworks of pain burst in my pelvis and brought tears to my eyes. I agreed to all the tests.
How to Throw a Stress-Eating Party!
Posted By Sharon Van Epps on Feb 4, 2018 in Entertainment Hosting a stress-eating party is the perfect way to combat winter’s short, dark days and long, cold nights (not to mention existential dread). Whether you invite a few friends over or simply dine alone, a stress-eating soiree requires little preparation and almost no enthusiasm. Unsure how to get started? We’ve got you covered with these simple, stress-eating party themes and menus.
Perspective | Soccer star turned soccer mom Abby Wambach: Here’s what sports parents get wrong
Two-time Olympic gold medalist and Women’s World Cup Champion Abby Wambach famously scored 184 goals during her career, more than any other male or female player in the history of international competition. In 2012, she was named FIFA World Player of the Year, and in 2015, her retirement year, she landed on the Time 100 list of the world’s most influential people.
6 Parenting Lessons from 6 Women You Should Know | ParentMap
It’s possible that you’ve never heard of Together Live founder Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, but trust me, in the literary world she’s a behind-the-scenes giant. As a literary agent and vice president at William Morris Endeavor, Walsh represents some of the biggest names in books and the culture at large: superstars like Brene Brown, Sheryl Sandberg and Oprah.
New attitudes toward adoption from foster care offer hope
More than 110,000 children in the U.S. foster care system are legally free for adoption, yet more than 20,000 of these kids will never find an adoptive family. After a childhood of hardship, youth exiting the system without family support face a high risk of unemployment, homelessness, incarceration and other negative life outcomes. But the 2017 US Adoption Attitudes Survey offers a glimmer of new hope.
New attitudes toward adoption from foster care offer hope
More than 110,000 children in the U.S. foster care system are legally free for adoption, yet more than 20,000 of these kids will never find an adoptive family. After a childhood of hardship, youth exiting the system without family support face a high risk of unemployment, homelessness, incarceration, and other negative life outcomes. But the 2017 US Adoption Attitudes Survey offers a glimmer of new hope.
Sorting memories of an adoption that wasn’t to be
I’m cleaning the basement, dismantling the piles that have been collecting dust since we moved into this house almost three years ago. When I tire of wading through a container of old toys, broken crayons and stray Lego pieces, I wander over to a box of photos. The basement is full of boxes, filled with detritus, each one demanding that decisions be made. Donate, toss or keep?
Unpacking the adoption that wasn’t
I’m cleaning the basement, dismantling the piles that have been collecting dust since we moved into this house almost three years ago. When I tire of wading through a container of old toys, broken crayons, and stray Lego pieces, I wander over to a box of photos. The basement is full of boxes, filled with detritus, each one demanding that decisions be made. Donate, toss or keep?
I Learned Too Late That My Grandma Was Way More Fun than Me
Although I grew up in the Arizona desert, in many ways mine was a Southern childhood. After my parents' divorce, a few plot twists worthy of a Carson McCullers novel delivered me at the age of 4 into my grandparents' care. My Grandmother Maye, originally from Arkansas, still spoke with the thick drawl of her youth, and cooked as if she still lived in the Gulf Coastal Plain.
Heading Into the New Presidency, We’re All in This Together
Heading Into the New Presidency, We’re All in This Together After a deeply divided election, one mom muses on moving forward These are hard times to be a parent. We’re a nation divided, fighting over everything from health care policy to the legitimacy of public protests to what counts as fake news. Maybe you voted for the new president, or maybe, like me, you were with her. Perhaps you voted third party this time or you didn’t vote at all.
How My Children Changed My View of the Perfect Holiday — New Holiday Traditions
Growing up, I had not one, not two, but three different holiday traditions. As a result, I dreamed of a life that looked a lot like Norman Rockwell's famous painting, Freedom from Want: Family gathered, a fat brown turkey on the table, and ideally, fewer emotional complications for my kids than my own divorced childhood had delivered. But dreams don't always come true, and sometimes they fail to encompass all the available — and wonderful — possibilities.
Helping your athlete kids recover from injury the right way
Early this summer, during her first week of preseason high school basketball practice, my oldest daughter broke the middle finger on her left hand. The fracture marked the end of seven sports-injury-free months for our family, a record. As a mom, I took comfort in knowing that there was nothing I could have done to prevent my kid from jamming her finger on a rebound, other than forbidding her to play. That felt like progress.
The 10 creepiest Olympic mascots of all time
Although the history of the Olympics stretches back centuries, the quirky tradition of the Olympic mascot arrived only in the Mad Men era. For the past 48 years, characters such as Vinicius (above) -- an amalgam of Brazilian animals miraculously "born out of the explosion of joy" that occurred when Rio was named the 2016 host -- have been aimed at children as a marketing ploy. But if the designs were truly intended for kids, why are they all so weird and creepy?
An email guide for youth coaches and parents
It has recently come to our attention that you may dislike interacting with us. (Really, we can tell when you're just hiding behind your Ray-Bans, pretending not to see us in the parking lot after practice.) However, as you know, some communication with parents is unavoidable. (Like when you find us standing right next to your parked car, waiting. Or whenever team fees are due.) Today we're writing to ask you to commit to improving.
Sorry, Your Fur Baby Is Nothing Like Raising a Real Child
Yes, I know. Dogs are adorable, especially yours. You love your precious fur baby beyond words. But please, don’t compare raising your dog to raising a child. It’s not even remotely the same thing. Of course you want little Fido to have the best of everything. You’re selfless that way.
Soccer in the U.S. still looks like it’s for white girls
For families like mine, September doesn’t just mean back to school – it also means back to soccer. My oldest daughter, 15, adopted from India, has just begun her first season of high school ball. Although my younger son, 14, and daughter, 13, both adopted from Ethiopia, play soccer year-round for competitive clubs, it gets more intense in the fall as we try to juggle school, homework and family time with the grind of practice and weekly games.
Soccer in the U.S. still looks like it’s for white girls
For families like mine, September doesn’t just mean back to school — it also means back to soccer. My oldest daughter, 15, adopted from India, has just begun her first season of high school ball. Although my younger son, 14, and daughter, 13, both adopted from Ethiopia, play soccer year-round for competitive clubs, it gets more intense in the fall as we try to juggle school, homework and family time with the grind of practice and weekly games.
4 Tools to Grind Spices for Better Flavor — Spice Intelligence
Using fresh, quality spices is one of the easiest ways to transform a good-enough dish into something exquisite. But how can you be sure that the spices you add will deliver the ultimate flavor punch? "Keep everything whole for as along as possible," advises Amanda Bevill, owner of World Spice Merchants in Seattle. "Then grind your own." Grinding your own demands tools, of course. So, what's the right tool? Here are four expert-recommended tools to help you get the most flavor out of your spices.
5 Tips for Organizing Your Spices — Organize Thyself
If you're an even slightly adventurous cook, chances are you've amassed an impressive collection of spices. And that's great; spices are great — yay, spices! But figuring out how to organize all those little jars and tins is a perpetual challenge. Maybe, like me, you've tried a few different approaches over the years. Perhaps you've invested in a special rack for organizing your tins of thyme and bay leaf only to find that it didn't quite fit (almost!) into your cabinet.
5 Spice Storage Tips (Essential For Keeping Spices Fresh)
updated Aug 3, 2021 Credit: Joe Lingeman/Kitchn If you’re not thinking about your spices as perishable ingredients, it’s time to start. That jar of garam masala that’s been languishing in your spice cupboard for the past decade? It’s likely discolored, clumpy, and doesn’t taste like much of anything at all. What’s more, there’s no bringing old and weak back: You can’t overcome the deficiencies by dumping more of it into your curry.
Stop telling my adopted kids they're lucky to have us - we're not their saviors
Share Tweet Pin Share Tumble Combined comments & shares on social media “Thank you for being my mother.” “Yeah, thanks.” “Thank you.” More: Your first summer as an adoptive parent is worth celebrating The kids and I were having lunch at our favorite Thai place when, out of the blue, all three decided to make me feel like the luckiest mom in the world with those words. I don't recall how we arrived at that sweet moment or what we said next.
An email guide for youth coaches and parents
It has recently come to our attention that you may dislike interacting with us. (Really, we can tell when you're just hiding behind your Ray-Bans, pretending not to see us in the parking lot after practice.) However, as you know, some communication with parents is unavoidable. (Like when you find us standing right next to your parked car, waiting. Or whenever team fees are due.) Today we're writing to ask you to commit to improving.
A Poster Family for Diversity
Clicking through the new website of the private school my three children attend, I landed on a close-up photo of my oldest child’s smiling face. I shouldn’t have felt jarred, but I did. The picture, accompanied by a short interview highlighting everything she loves about the school, had been posted on the admissions page. Born in India and adopted by my husband and me, who are white, she’s a minority student at a majority white school that’s striving to become more diverse.
A Poster Family for Diversity
Clicking through the new website of the private school my three children attend, I landed on a close-up photo of my oldest child’s smiling face. I shouldn’t have felt jarred, but I did. The picture, accompanied by a short interview highlighting everything she loves about the school, had been posted on the admissions page. Born in India and adopted by my husband and me, who are white, she’s a minority student at a majority white school that’s striving to become more diverse.
11 Signs You're Raising Three or More Kids
While you might remember the names of your own children, keeping track of their dozens of classmates, teammates, and friends is impossible. For example, Dahlia, Daphne, and Natalie from your daughter’s soccer team – you know, the lanky ones with the long blonde ponytails – might as well be triplets. And was that Jake from the soccer team or Mark from basketball who dropped by to return your son’s lost water bottle? Remembering all the parents you encounter is even harder than recalling the kids.
3 Muslims Share What It's Like to Work During Ramadan
During the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims around the world abstain from food and drink during daylight hours and spend their evenings in prayer, reflection, and shared meals. In the Arab world, Ramadan brings shortened work hours for most employees, but in the U.S. and Europe, where Muslims are in the minority, it's business as usual.
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