Marisa LaScala: Writer, Editor, and Good Addition to Your Bar Trivia Team

Big news! I've moved over to GoodHousekeeping.com as the website's new Parenting & Relationships Editor. I'm still on the same beat, doing my best to support all the moms out there, but at a new publication.

I've done a lot of editing and updating of the parenting content there so far, but I've also managed to write some of my own stories. 

I started off with my own opinion about Bert and Ernie (having done hours and hours of "research" with my daughter).

As the Mom of a Toddler, I Don't Need Bert and Ernie to Be Gay, but Kids Should See More Loving, Same-Sex Relationships on TV.
This headline is a hard one, and possibly misleading. I wrote about what it's like to watch the show now, in its half-hour format (it's very different from what it was like when we were kids!), and what I found so beautiful about the male friendship of Bert and Ernie in an era of toxic masculinity.

Then I went back to my pop-culture roots for some movie recommendations.

20 Best Kids Movies of All Time

20 Animated Movies You Need to Watch With Your Kids Before They Grow Up

30 Christmas Movies for Kids to Get the Whole Family in the Holiday Spirit

20 Best Kids Movies on Netflix Right Now

And then a few other fun round-ups.

The Cutest Outfits for Baby's First Thanksgiving
(This includes the Carter's turkey dress my daughter's worn for three years in a row—the same one she peed on three times her first Thanksgiving.) 

16 Best Pregnancy and Baby Books for Those First 40 Weeks (and Beyond)

The 10 Best Halloween Horror Nights of 2018

Starting with the July issue of Parents, I'm taking over the children's media page. I immediately used to opportunity to get in touch with my new kids'-show obsession, DuckTales. I would seriously watch that show even if my 2-year-old didn't (but, thankfully, she's into it). But I managed to pack lots of fun stuff on this page and not just make it 800 words about DuckTales. So excited to keep doing this one in the future!

Can you spot my quick quote in this video about what moms really want for Mother's Day? (I mean it: Keep the breakfast, just give me the bed!)

For the May issue of Parents, I got to hear from eight inspiring moms who are working to make the world a better place. If you have a problem who needs fixing, definitely call a mom. 

We featured Bethenny Frankel, who chartered her own private planes to bring disaster relief to Puerto Rico; Senator Tammy Duckworth, the first serving senator to give birth while in office; Bozoma Saint John, the chief brand officer at Uber tasked with making it a company worth supporting; Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America; Ellen Oh, author and co-founder of We Need Diverse Books; Sarah Evans, who helps build sustainable water infrastructure in Africa; Theresia Gouw, a VC who made headlines recently for being a part of the #AllRaise movement for equality in investing; and Vien Truong, whose organization works to fight pollution and poverty concurrently. Phew! That's a lot of #momspiration.

Just a few quick updates today:

• Exciting news on the Parents front: I already mentioned I was handed the reins of the "Media Mix" page, which covers children's entertainment. Kids' books! Movies! TV! Podcasts! It's all happening! My first outing with this column appears in the July issue—keep an eye out!

• Did you know I help co-host a podcast? It's over at SportsAlcohol.com (and rarely talks about sports or alcohol—the name is a get-rich-quick-SEO joke gone awry). It's mostly just for fun—we are decidedly lo-fi, and our discussions always run long—but if you want to hear people talk about culture they really enjoy, check us out!

• I had some fun items in the past couple of Parents magazines. Our April issue was the "imperfection" issue, where we celebrated the gap between our daily parenting journey and the idealized Instagram version. I did a round-up of recent books that let moms off the hook when it comes to "perfect" parenting.

• Before that was our March issue, where I wrote about this March Madness "trend."

I'm usually more known as a crafter of words as opposed to a crafter of things, but here's a throwback to my most successful DIY project. For my wedding in 2010, I made the place cards and boutonnières on my own—not too shabby if I can say so myself! Everything else, well, ETSY! I think my projects are as good as the pros', no? 

The top two photos are DIY, the rest was PSE (pay someone else). 

Photo credit: Chris Ware

Some exciting things are in the pipeline at Parents. First up, I'm going to be taking over the children's media page, which is super excited to me, a mom who makes my kid watch DuckTales with me. I got to preview good things ahead by looking at this year's ALA Youth Media Award winners, but my debut in-book isn't for a while yet. I also have a feature I'm very excited about for May/Mother's Day, but it's not quite out the door yet. 

Until I can share that one, here an article I assigned to writer Leslie Casimir. It is so good, the story is so important, and this is probably the best thing I've gotten to work on at Parents so far.

As 2017 comes to a close, here's a look back at some of the stories I've written in the last stretch of the year.

Just wanted to pop in to urge everyone to check out the September issue of Parents magazine, which features a beautiful new redesign including a brand-new font! Just look at that lowercase "a!"

It's been an honor going through the redesign process for the front-of-book, and really rethinking what we want moms to experience when they open the magazine—finding that right mix of humor, service, and heart. Take a look at the September FOB and see what you think.

Before we launched our big redesign, I got to do a couple of super fun pieces for August that I'm particularly proud of, too.

Disney World is on of my favorite places on Earth, so I was extremely excited to be one of the first to visit Pandora: The World of Avatar in Disney's Animal Kingdom for Parents. I had some tips on traveling there with the kiddos. 

"1. Carve out some time to just explore the land. You may think that, with only two rides, it'll be easy to breeze through Pandora, but there's a lot to be seen just by walking around the paths. One Disney expert I spoke with suggested that you plan on spending 45 minutes there in addition to the time you'll spend waiting on line for the attractions. Look for interactive elements, like playable Na'vi drums and exotic plants that steam and squirt water at guests.

2. Pandora looks completely different in the daytime, when you can see all the details of the extra-terrestrial flora, and at night, when the bioluminescence of the land gives everything a blacklit glow. It's worth it to see it in both lights. Animal Kingdom is looking to beef up its other nighttime offerings, like adding the new Rivers of Light show (which was sadly rained out for my visit). If the kiddos can't stay up that late, though, you can get a good idea of the bioluminescence in the Na'vi River Journey.

3. Talk with the cast members. Everybody has a tale of how they ended up on Pandora—you can start by asking them if they were born on Pandora or Earth. The "Field Guides" walking around can give you even more background about the world's creatures, teach you some of the Na'vi language, and offer hints about what you may see, like how to tell the difference between a true Na'vi and a lab-created avatar. (Hint: Count the fingers.)"