"Rapunzel's Mother" by Carolyn Williams-Noren (currently featured in the Literary Mama poetery department) was discussed on the Endicott Studio for Mythic Arts blog this week as part of a focus on the Rapunzel myth. Congratulations, Carolyn!
Would you like to join our editorial staff? We're looking for a very part-time Associate Editor -- or two -- in Columns, as well as a Copyeditor. The ideal AE has experience as a substantive or line editor, while the ideal CE is psychotic about detail and is comfortable writing (and testing) links in HTML.
You'll work with amazing writers and editors, plus gain exposure to publishing industry contacts. We are an all-volunteer organization, though, so unfortunately we can't offer payment.
To apply, please send an email expressing your interest and summarizing your experience to marjo(at)literarymama.com (replace (at) with the @ sign).
Writer's Digest wants to hear from you on the topic of "When Parenting and Writing Collide." Write your best original, unpublished parenting-and-writing story in a 500-word essay and email it to publicity(at)fwpubs.com with "Writer Mama contest" in the subject line.
Christina Katz, author of Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids will select the top three entries. The first-place entry will be published in an upcoming issue of "Writer's Digest" magazine; second- and third-place entries will be posted on WriterMama.com. All winners will receive a signed copy of "Writer Mama." All entries must be e-mailed by March 31.
The fine print: The entry must be written in the body of the e-mail; attachments will not be accepted or opened. Each entry should include your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address. Only the winning writers will be contacted, and entries will not be returned. "Writer's Digest" retains first-time rights to run the winning entries in the magazine and/or on their website or associated websites, after which all rights return to the author. The decisions of the editors are final.
Balancing fertility treatments with the cost
American Public Media is working on a story for public radio looking at the choices couples face when they have trouble having a baby.
Have you or someone you know had infertility treatments? How did cost factor into your decision? Have you considered other options?
Please share your insights with us at www.americanpublicmedia.org/pin/fertilitytreatment
What do you do when you see a parent about to lose it in public?
It happens in grocery stores, on airplanes and at shopping malls. A child is having a temper tantrum. You see a frazzled parent on the verge of losing it.
What do you do? And, what if that parent is you?
The Wakanheza Project in Ramsey County, Minnesota, teaches that strangers can diffuse a tense parent-child situation by stepping in. A kind word, an unrelated question, a helpful gesture – any of these can distract the parent for just long enough to help her regain composure and prevent the situation from escalating.
We're working on a public radio story exploring this practice which seems to go against our natural inclinations, or what we've been taught: to mind our own business.
If you're a parent who's witnessed a parent losing it with kids in public, or been that parent, we'd like to hear from you.
To share your story, please visit: www.americanpublicmedia.org/pin/publicparenting
We'd also appreciate any ideas you have for future stories on family issues. To tell us what you'd like to hear more about, please visit www.americanpublicmedia.org/pin/family
Former LM editor and columnist Sophia Raday is featured in a San Francisco Chronicle article on how military families are coping with the war. As the conflict approaches its four-year anniversary, Sophia’s husband has been deployed to serve in Iraq. Meanwhile, Sophia is at work on a memoir based on her LM columns. Look for more about her book here soon!
When my middle son Avery was diagnosed with Down syndrome at five days old, my Dad said, "Ah, well. He'll be one of the better ones. He'll be the best." It felt like a kindness, and I remember being buoyed by the thought. He may have Down syndrome, but by God, he'll still be the best.
Fast forward six months and Avery had his own rolodex of phone numbers -- for a speech therapist, a physical therapist, a family support specialist, a pediatrician and our family practitioner. His contact list also included an occupational therapist, a doctor of chiropractic, a craniosacral therapist, a naturopath, and a healer.
We had "therapies" every day, sometimes twice a day. When we weren't with a specialist, I was working on Avery's "program" at home. Every minute, every movement was an opportunity to engage him in his development and expand his potential. But the idea that I had control over it all made me a little crazy, and I lived in a perpetual state of worry -- was I scheduling enough, teaching enough, doing enough? Should I be doing more?
Every three months, Avery was evaluated. The affect of constantly comparing him to "normal" left me feeling as if we lived in Deficit Land. We were always behind, of course, but the tougher question was, by how much? And were we gaining, or losing ground?
It all came to a frenzied head one afternoon when my friend Emily stopped by. She reached out to hold Avery (she is a great fan of his), and instead of leaning into her, as was his way, he tucked his head into my neck and burst into tears.
After running through all the usual reasons for crying, an idea born of mother's intuition came to me -- Avery was burned out. At this age, my other boys thought the world was made up of mommies and daddies; Avery's world, to him, was made up of people who wanted something from him. In a word, therapists.
The realization came to me with great sadness. This wasn't what I wanted for my son. If this was where being the best had gotten us, it was time to rethink my goals for him, and for me as his mother.
I know we need to measure; we live in a measuring world, and many of his services were dependent upon him having deficits, things like this: at twenty-eight months, he takes a few steps, here and there, but he is not really walking. He says a few words on occasion, but he is not really talking. These are things his brothers did by twelve months. It's a huge gap, if this is what we measure it by.
But how to measure Avery's love of books? Or the fact that he is the only one of my children who can keep a musical beat? He has a great social intelligence -- Avery is the first one to say (sign) sorry when someone is feeling wronged or sad. And Avery is the first one to recognize when someone needs a smile, even if the man is tattooed and wearing a Hell's Angels jacket. Avery is the first one to offer a hug.
He has character. He has integrity. He knows what he's about. These are the things that are harder to gauge, these things are harder to quantify. But these qualities are what make Avery a unique and whole human being. It's not the measuring that's wrong, it's what we choose to make important. And I am his guardian, his protector. It's up to me to make sure his life has meaning and balance, a fact that I had overlooked in my quest to be the best.
And so Avery's rolodex is tucked away in the cupboard, along with the cookbooks I never use, the scotch tape and the rubber-band ball and the kitchen twine. He has physical therapy once a week because he needs it, he has music class once a week because he loves it, and the rest, well, we've developed a new plan. We're leaving our schedule open, so that we have plenty of time to build blanket forts, bake cookies, and eat snow. I am giving my son his childhood back, and if it means we drop right out of the race, so be it.
How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel, Edited by Sarah Franklin
To be published by Seal Press, Spring 2008
From the submission guidelines: "How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel is a collection of humorous essays by women. Whether it’s being stuck on the tarmac for 15 hours with Dora the Explorer for company, or discovering that the road trip these days is more National Lampoon than Jack Kerouac, this anthology depicts the good, the bad, and the just plain hilarious side of traveling with children."
If you're in the Washington D.C. area, please join us for a champagne toast and reading to celebrate the launch of Not What I Expected: The Unpredictable Road from Womanhood to Motherhood. The anothology includes a story by LM Fiction Editor Suzanne Kamata, and a piece by Donna Vitucci that originally appeared in Literary Mama. Books will be for sale and signings are encouraged!
Tuesday, March 20th
7pm-10pm
The Lyon Park House
414 N Fillmore
Arlington, VA 22205
LM Columnist Rachel Sarah will be reading from her book Single Mom Seeking: Playdates, Blind Dates, and Other Dispatches from the Dating World at two locations in Seattle:
March 21, 2007, 7 p.m.
University Bookstore
4326 University Way NE, Seattle, WA
March 22, 2007, 7 p.m.
Third Place Books
17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, WA
Fellow LM editor Caroline Grant sent me a link to this recent NYT article about Cathy Orenstein teaching women to write op-eds. My favorite quote?
“I try to convey the idea that there is a responsibility,” she said. “Op-ed pages are so enormously powerful. It’s one of the few places open to the public. Where else is someone like me going to get access? It’s not like I can call up the White House: ‘Hello?’ ”It's a great, short piece. Check it out! (And then send your submissions to me!)
Literary Mama Fiction Editor, Suzanne Kamata, will be reading from her forthcoming novel Losing Kei at the Portugalia Bar and Grill in Osaka, Japan, Sunday night, March 18. This event is an offshoot of the popular Boston reading series, Four Stories. But don't worry if you can't make it to Osaka. You can download and listen to an MP3 recording of the event in a week or so. LM columnist Jessica Berger Gross was a reader at last November's Four Stories. You can listen to Jessica read her essay here.
Editor-in-Chief Amy Hudock and columnist Rachel Sarah have essays appearing in Single State of the Union, which has just been published by Seal Press. Way to go!