What’s with the first name?
I’m Kami. Not Candy. Not Tami. Kami. Short for Kameron. Like Cameron Diaz. Or Kirk Cameron. Only with a K. Yes, I’ve heard it’s a boy’s name. My parents thought it would look great in lights on Broadway, but…neon’s just not my color. No one has ever referred to me as Kameron unless they were reading my name off a class roster. I don’t know what to tell you.
What’s with the last name?
My last name is Lewis Levin. (Yes, I get the redundancy.) I was a Lewis. Then I got married to a Levin. My husband, being the complicated, feminist man that he is decided that for the sake of equity we should both change our names. So we became Lewis Levin. No hyphen. Because hyphenating is pretentious and obnoxious. It turns out, however, that a simple space between the names is MORE pretentious and obnoxious and often won’t be accepted into bureaucratic computer systems. It’s apparently just that odd and confusing. Hence, my credit cards all read Lewis-Levin. (sigh.)
What’s your deal?
I am a used-to-be cool, urban kid turned suburban wifemom. It all happened so fast, my nose ring got yanked out in the process. (Feel free to note the slight tinge of embarassment on my face.) I develop social studies curriculum, work with high school teachers to try and get ‘em to up their game. And I tell tales of working martyrdom motherhood on my blog.
Why did you call it the Fence?
I have a foot in both worlds. At work, I’m career-driven, focused, and productive. At home, I’m on the floor doing puzzles and building towers. I’m very lucky. But I often feel as though I am sucking at one or the other. Balance is the stuff of folklore…
Oh. You wanna know more?
I have a dirty mouth. Sometimes I let slip in front of my kids. So far it hasn’t bitten me in ass, but I’m sure it’ll be one of mine who says, “fuck!” at the next birthday party we go to.
I’m a feminist. I love my job. I love my fam. I’m learning to love myself. I began this blog because I found my work and my momming paradoxical at times. I needed to find my soul sisters, people who get it and could help me put things into perspective. And I have. (check out my blogroll.) Yay, me!
I love getting comments from people who read my stuff. And I love responding to comments. And I love reading other people’s blogs. And commenting.
I Get Around:
I am Mommy in the Raw at www.MomsWhoNeedWine.com
I was in the New York Times, November 2011. (It’s a piece about flies.)
I appeared on Gayle King Live in June 2011.
I was an Isis Parenting Guest Blogger 2010-2011 (see Conversations with Dads, Oshi Mat product review and a Smugglers Notch travel review).
My Chewbacca post made me a finalist for BlogHer Voices of the Year 2010 in the humor category.
I wrote this piece about working mom guilt for Women on the Fence in April 2010.
I wrote this working mom circus piece for the Work it, Mom site June 2009.
