The Dispatch Monthly Mailbag with Rachael Larimore

How she likes working remotely, tips on being a boy mom, what beer she likes the best (and the worst), and more.

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(Photo ffrom Getty Images.)

It’s been such a treat reading your questions over the last few weeks. I know a few of you from your regular comments on The Dispatch Weekly, but it’s nice to hear from a wider audience. And, wow, a lot of you had questions about beer. We’ll get to those. There were also great questions about journalism and The Dispatch, working from home and life in Ohio. If I didn’t answer your question here, I will try to get back into the original comments and respond there. 

Normally I close out the essay portion of my newsletter by thanking everyone for reading. This time is a little different: Thanks for writing!

Kathleen: Is it tough to do all work remotely or do you just get used to not being in a traditional newsroom?

Is it tough to work remotely? I want to say “Quite the opposite, actually,” but that’s not quite right. I enjoy the time I do spend with my colleagues and I realize there would be benefits to seeing them every day. But I’m rather set in my ways. I’ve been doing this since 2005, and our second son was born a little over a year later (and our third in 2009). Working from home has allowed me to spend more time with my kids than I would have had I been in an office. I’ve been lucky that my various employers have given me flexibility, though that cuts both ways. Sometimes when “normal” folks are working, I’m running kids to the dentist or picking them up when their after-school activities keep them from taking the bus home. On the other hand, I’ve also worked from baseball games, swim meets, social gatherings, and once, memorably, from a bar. When I was at The Weekly Standard, a writer got an interview with Steve Bannon immediately after he’d been fired by Donald Trump. That was big enough news to push it out on a Friday night, but we’d made plans to watch an important baseball game with neighbors at the closest bar. We went, me with laptop in tow. It all worked out.

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  1. Token Liberal

    As was the habit amongst this crew, the out of town "camp friends" stayed at our house after our older son's bar mitzvah. So they were 7th graders. Some of the girls were changing in the bathroom normally used by our sons. My wife overheard this: "Ewww, smells like boy!"

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    Dhubers

    HOPSLAM is a seasonal IPA by Founders. Available now. Also Zombie Dust brewed in Munster, Indiana. Both highly recommended IPAs.

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    Mikehickerson

    Hello, fellow Cincinnatian! I, too, have wished that I liked sours more. I’ll give Gadget a try. And count me in for a SW Ohio in-person event.

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    Collin

    I think the indoctrination thing is overplayed. People are certainly pulled in, when they are bathed in an idea. However, they also rebel. Ramming a concept down a child’s throat leads some of them to reject it. This is why the approach of certain people on the right to gain control of schools is ill fated. If young people are bathed in your ideas, some of them will pull away. Control of institutions does not guarantee you foot soldiers. I understand the fear, but I think it might be exaggerated.

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  5. Kgfroehle

    Thanks for the IPA comments. I, too, suffer from an IPA addiction (here in a central Ohio city I won't mention that has a soccer team). There are so many, and so many expensive brews (for one who lives on SS). I do like Porters and Stouts (don't know the difference), but I'd say that IPA "Sessions" seem like "IPA Lite" : bleh. My go-to 15-pack at Kroger's is... hold on... let me check the fridge....

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    Abridge683

    IPAs - feel my hate.

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      Bel

      I am with you. It’s particularly annoying when a bar has a dozen different IPAs on the menu and two other beers that are usually lame.

      There is a similar issue issue with the bourbon craze. I prefer scotch but bars have no many bourbons they don’t bother with scotch expect for a bottle or two not worth drinking.

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    Ryan.Molnar

    Love the Bobcat love! My mom and I are OU alums as well! Have you been to the new and improved Jackie O’s in Athens yet? That’d be a great spot for a meet up.

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  8. Richard Kennedy

    Much as this Michigan man grudgingly dips toe in Ohio, I’d like to push for northwest Ohio? Or some place between The Heart of Darkness and Toledo? I understand that Michigan is pretty much out of the way being a peninsula, but within three hours of Detroit would be wonderful for a meetup. Just sayin’. You all know where most of us live.

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    Charles

    My undergrad was at Ohio University and my graduate degree from Ashland University.

    OU’s campus is, as she said gorgeous! I just visited yesterday and it’s such a beautiful season to be in southwest Ohio.

    It is certainly a liberal campus, especially within ResLife and its policies.

    If you have reservations about campus culture corrupting your kid’s conservative values, Ashland is a fantastic school. It has a healthy mix of viewpoints, and a surprising number of conservative faculty (at least in the Political Science/History department).

    (I use the term “conservative” in the sense that writers at the Dispatch would want it to be used. The professors I’m referring to at Ashland are thoughtful conservatives and intellectually honest. They are not Trumpy and don’t push the GOP or anything like that.)

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  10. Whiskeyman

    I appreciate you answering my question Rachael! After your answer I didn't expect you to then immediately say IPA was your favorite style. Do you dislike any amount of lactose in the beer or just the over the top, each can weighs 5lbs type milkshake IPAs? I find it interesting how the definition of "sour" beer has really evolved and broadened over time. It can be hard to pin down what people mean when they say they like sour beers.

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      Rachael Larimore vertical-nib Author

      I don’t mind some lactose in beers but milkshake IPAs are just too much. And I agree it’s interesting how the definition of sour beers has changed but I’m glad they are out there.

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