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 (45/0)
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
- Top Story - May 2021
Critical Race Theory: A Former Tennessee Teacher Responds to New State Legislation Top Story - May 2021
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
- Top Story - May 2021
Terrific Teacher Appreciation GiftsTop Story - May 2021
Teacher Appreciation Week here in the United States is well upon us! Traditionally celebrated by schools and communities across America during the month of May, the 2021 week of recognition spans from May 2-May 8. This is the perfect week to thank your teacher or to thank your student's teacher, no matter the age or grade level they teach! And even if you're catching this article after the week of celebration has already passed, remember...there is never a wrong time to say "thank you."
By L.A. Hancock2 years ago in Education
The Teachers Who Quit
In 2019, before Covid-19 and all of the ensuing fallout from the global pandemic, I submitted a piece to Kappa Delta Pi's Why I Teach writing contest. I was in my fourth year of teaching, had recently landed a dream position to help open a laboratory, project-based middle school in the fall, and was positive that I would be enthusiastically teaching the traditional K-12 classroom until my retirement. You can read the original piece here.
By L.A. Hancock2 years ago in Education
