L.A. Hancock
Bio
I'm a wife and mom, and this is my creative outlet. I am experimenting with lots of different writing styles and topics, so some of it is garbage, and I'm totally fine with that - writing is cheaper than therapy. Thanks for stopping by!
Stories (38/0)
Delta Kream: The Black Keys and the Blues Behind the Album
I have been a longtime fan of The Black Keys, first discovering their album Thickfreakness and then following subsequent releases off and on through high school and college. I caught my first Keys show in Atlanta in 2014, and they have been one of my favorite bands ever since.
By L.A. Hancock2 years ago in Beat
- First Place in Vegan Bake-Off
Mama Eze's Jam Cake: A 19th Century Recipe Gets a Vegan MakeoverFirst Place in Vegan Bake-Off
History and food. You may not think the two go hand in hand, but as a longtime teacher and student of history and an enthusiastic foodie, I believe that one of the best ways to study the past is through...you guessed it, cooking and eating.
By L.A. Hancock2 years ago in Feast
Baby Got Vax: Why I'll Vaccinate My Child Against Covid-19
Cue the conspiracy theorists, the crunchy mamas, the vehement anti-vaxxers. I hope y'all are sitting down because I'm coming in hot to tell you that we will be vaccinating our preschooler against Covid-19 as soon as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine becomes available for his age group. Get your rotten vegetables ready to throw and start building a pyre, because in this thought piece I plan to take you through our three reasons for vaccinating...and I'll address some common arguments against doing so along the way.
By L.A. Hancock2 years ago in Longevity
Felis Catus: A Touch of the Wild
Felis catus. She is the only domesticated animal among the family felidae, believed to have first domesticated themselves around 7500 BCE in the Near East. First attracted to human settlements by the rodent populations gathered around our ancient ancestors' grain stores, cats have settled comfortably into their role as some of humans' oldest companions.
By L.A. Hancock2 years ago in Petlife
Birth of a Mother
Heat. That’s the part I remember the most. In all of the videos I had watched and books I had read about labor and delivery, nothing had prepared me for just how hot I would get in that triage room. My husband ran ice chips from a Styrofoam cup down my bare back and they melted instantly, rivulets of lukewarm water mingling with my sweat, pouring off of me.
By L.A. Hancock2 years ago in Families
Generational Strands
Sitting around her wood kitchen table, its surface ridged like the jagged hilltops that enfolded the county, and well-worn with three generations of hands, my grandmother drenched buttermilk pancakes with blueberry syrup and slid the plate down the slick surface until it bumped into my open hands.
By L.A. Hancock2 years ago in Families
- Second Place in Sweet Nostalgia Challenge
In Defense of Skinny JeansSecond Place in Sweet Nostalgia Challenge
Look, I know skinny jeans have gotten a bad rap lately. A millennial myself, I am also a middle school teacher and I have a Gen-Z sister-in-law. So I like to think that I am pretty up-to-date on style trends. There are tons of styles from about 2005-2012, or as I like to call them, The Naughty Aughties, that I was willing to let go of. Flat ironing our hair into oblivion, for example. The heavily penciled eyeliner. Abercrombie & Fitch everything. Even my side part. You get my point.
By L.A. Hancock2 years ago in Styled
How I Wrote 4 Top Stories in 5 Days: 6 Tips for Vocal Creators
I first became interested in Vocal upon seeing an advertisement on social media for the $20,000 Little Black Book challenge. That would be lifechanging money for my family, so I made my account intending to enter that contest. Life got the best of me, and parenting a toddler is crazy, so I didn't enter the contest.
By L.A. Hancock2 years ago in Lifehack
Top Last-Minute Gift Picks for Mother's Day
It's Mother's Day, and for whatever reason, you are finding yourself waking up today having forgotten to grab a gift for your mom. As a daughter, I know it happens, and as a mother, I think your mom is unlikely to hold it against you! She understands that your life gets busy, that you get swamped at work, and that sometimes these special holidays and events creep up on us before we even realize it.
By L.A. Hancock2 years ago in Families
Move Along: 10 Essential Angsty Teen Songs of the Mid-2000's
Ah. 2006ish-2011. The golden days of high school bliss, where our biggest worry was our next AP Government test and what color we were going to force our date to purchase a matching vest in for junior prom. These were the days of laying out by the neighborhood pool, eagerly waiting for square-pizza day in the school cafeteria, and sneaking out to hang with my best friends after hours only to realize we had nowhere to go.
By L.A. Hancock2 years ago in Beat
Critical Race Theory: A Former Tennessee Teacher Responds to New State Legislation
Critical Race Theory. The latest newly politicized buzzword has become a polarizing topic in politics and education circles across the U.S. Touted by many academics, activists, and professional teachers as a valuable lens through which to analyze legal, political, and historical topics but widely derided by the conservative right as an inaccurate portrayal of history, today I will examine the basics of critical race theory, explain how this method comes into play in K-12 classrooms today, and argue against legislation currently awaiting the governor's signature in my home state of Tennessee.
By L.A. Hancock2 years ago in The Swamp
