Starshine Roshell

Starshine Roshell
Location
Santa Barbara, California, USA
Birthday
August 10
Title
journalist / professor
Bio
Starshine Roshell is a syndicated columnist, and the author of "Keep Your Skirt On" and "Wife on the Edge."

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FEBRUARY 6, 2012 12:28AM

The muffling of 'I love you'

If I could begin again, I would change the setting. But not the sentiment. The sentiment was perfect.

We were in line at Jack in the Box when I first said “I love you.” Young, broke, and decades from cholesterol issues, we had diddled away the morning in… Read full post »

JANUARY 23, 2012 12:36PM

Kristy McNichol is Gay

Kristy McNichol has come out as a lesbian — in order to help people.

Do me a favor and read that sentence again. In a rational world, that string of words would make no sense whatsoever. In a reasonable society, the apropos-of-nothing proclamations of a 1970s child star and… Read full post »

JANUARY 9, 2012 1:04AM

Your Child, Your Mouthpiece

She went off. And then she went viral.

Little Riley Maida of Newburgh, New York, made news recently with a video clip known as Riley’s Rant. In it, the precocious 4-year-old stands in a toy store railing against toy makers for assuming that girls only want to play… Read full post »

DECEMBER 14, 2011 1:55PM

Urine for a Treat

(I’d like to point out some unusual formatting in this week’s column. Every time you see an asterisk [*] in the text below, I want you to squeeze the muscles of your pelvic floor. I’ll explain later; just do it. Every time.)

Being the mother of a teenager… Read full post »

DECEMBER 14, 2011 1:50PM

My Pantry's in a Bunch

If you’re ever strolling past my house at night, I hope you’ll stop and admire the view through my living room’s picture window. You’ll spy fresh flowers and flickering candles. You’ll see throw pillows and artfully arranged bookshelves. You’ll notice a rainbow… Read full post »

NOVEMBER 14, 2011 1:53PM

Thank You Notes

Circumcision. Gay marriage. Immigration. There are a handful of subjects so controversial, so likely to propel people into disparate, dueling factions, that one dare not even broach them in mixed company.

They’re surefire feud igniters. They’re quarrel kindling.

Who knew tha… Read full post »

NOVEMBER 14, 2011 1:50PM

Population Seriously Scary

There are few things that scare me in this world. Ghosts? Meh. Vampires? Yawn. Zombies? Bring it. But this Halloween, something truly terrifying will take place. On October 31, the world population is expected to hit 7 billion. Seven BILLION humans will walk, crawl, and limp across… Read full post »

NOVEMBER 14, 2011 1:47PM

Gift Wrap This

I’m not blessed with what you’d call “business acumen.” I crawled on my knees through Econ 101. I have trouble calculating sales tax on a $10 sale. And the extent of my salesmanship is saying, “Hey, you don’t want one of these, do you?”

Yet in 15 com… Read full post »

I’m no stickler for rules — at least, not most of them. I’ve always favored whimsy, irreverence, and originality over propriety, decorum, and tradition. I’m the mom who lets my kids run naked in the front yard, sneaks massive snack sacks into movie theaters under my shirt,… Read full post »

SEPTEMBER 8, 2011 2:28AM

I'm Gluten-Free Vegan-Intolerant

If you really are what you eat, then everyone I know is nuts. You can’t lob a legume through a restaurant these days without hitting someone on a fussy — and fairly freaky — diet.

Gluten-free. Dairy-free. Sugar-free. Wheatless and meatless, pescetarian and Paleolithic, macr… Read full post »

SEPTEMBER 5, 2011 2:32PM

What If My Kid's Gay?

It’s probably unwise to wonder this aloud, but that’s never stopped me before: What if you suspect your child is gay? Or—you know—will be gay eventually?

My own boys seem humdrumly hetero thus far, but I’ve known lots of kids who bucked traditional gender stereo… Read full post »

AUGUST 26, 2011 12:06PM

The Dirt on Flirting

Grandma used to flirt with the butcher. During WWII, when meat was rationed, she’d sidle up to his counter in her finest frock and chat him up for hours.

“Grandpa really liked pork chops,” she told me, “so I’d say, ‘Gee, I’d really like to have those,… Read full post »

AUGUST 26, 2011 11:59AM

Lewd Lullabies

It’s our beloved bedtime ritual: In the dark of my son’s room, at the edge of his small bed, I sing him to sleep every night. From the day he was born, I’ve been lulling him off to dreamland by warble-whispering the random anthems filed in my musical… Read full post »

AUGUST 12, 2011 12:38AM

The Rubdown Lowdown

Complex. Cryptic. Complicated. This is how men describe women. Whereas guys claim to be simple creatures easily won over with a frosty beer or an unobstructed glimpse at boobies, gals are perceived as inscrutable human vaults whose hearts and, well, parts are guarded by a system of… Read full post »

AUGUST 8, 2011 1:11AM

Cycle-wary

An old biker adage says there are two kinds of motorcycle riders: those who have been down, and those who are going down.

Bikers court danger; it’s part of the thrill of riding. And the axiom is their way of acknowledging the inevitable.

Spend enough time in the World of Two… Read full post »

AUGUST 8, 2011 12:08AM

My Child, My 'Friend'?

As a mom or dad, you hear it all the time. Too often. It’s one of those firm parenting axioms recited by smug sages—like “sleep when your baby sleeps”—that’s as nonnegotiable as it is unachievable.

Children don’t need a friend,” the advic… Read full post »

AUGUST 8, 2011 12:06AM

The Brand Canyon

Do you love buying shoes? Are you someone for whom shoe-shopping begets a Zennish euphoria? Yes?

Here’s some advice for you: Don’t do it with a 12-year-old.

My 8th-grade–bound son has long coveted classic Converse low-tops. Last week, we found a pair of lookalikes on sa… Read full post »

I’m turning 40 soon. Let’s not discuss how soon. It’s a “big” birthday, the official gateway to “over the hill” or, alternately, “the new 18,” depending on whether the person uttering it is under 40 and smug or over 40 and in serious denia… Read full post »

JULY 5, 2011 5:37PM

Circumcision: Cut it out?

By Starshine Roshell

    There's been quite a flap over foreskin lately.
    Actor Russell Crowe recently railed against circumcision in a profanity-laced tweet, calling the ancient and still-popular practice "barbarism." In July, Colorado became the 18th state (Californi…

Read full post »

Editor’s Pick
JUNE 8, 2011 2:19PM

Lost: One Father

By Starshine Roshell


    I always knew I'd speak at my father's funeral.
    It's a morbid thought, I know. But I was sure I'd deliver his eulogy. See, he's a fascinating man — passionate and charismatic, the kind of guy who seems to have lived several lives in the s… Read full post »

JUNE 3, 2011 2:22PM

Don't Say 'Gay'

It’s the love that dare not speak its name—especially if you’re in Tennessee, where it could land you in jail.

The state’s Senate just passed a bill that would make it illegal to teach about homosexuality in public schools from kindergarten through 8th grade. No gay-ma… Read full post »

JUNE 3, 2011 2:06PM

Better Blind Than Fat?!

One in seven women would rather be blind than obese. That’s what researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) found when, in a study of how “obesity spreads socially,” they asked 100 women to choose—hypothetically—between obesity and other socially stigmatized condit… Read full post »

MAY 12, 2011 8:44PM

Men Who Stare at Melons

Call it the hooter hoax. There’s a story going around the Internet—and even on TV news stations, though not good ones—that staring at women’s breasts is beneficial to men’s health.

Yeah. Take a minute to chuckle. It’s worth it.

My husband sent me an art… Read full post »

It’s early Saturday morning in the back room of a community center. Clusters of sleepy-eyed children sip chocolate milk from cheap paper coffee cups before taking their seats. The meeting begins. A 1st grader with bed head shuffles to the podium and clears his throat.

Hi, I&rsqu… Read full post »

APRIL 27, 2011 7:13PM

Infidel enamel

By Starshine Roshell


    Scrubbing shower grout. Having brunch with Muammar Gaddafi. Running naked across the highway.
    These are all things I'm more likely to be doing on a Sunday morning than attending church.
    I'm an atheist. Not an agnostic. Not "s… Read full post »

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