Margery Kempe: Patron Saint of Writing Moms By Krista Stevens Highlight “Having children has simultaneously fried my brain and made it sharper and more focused.”
If Miscarriage is So Normal, Why Doesn’t Anybody Talk About It? By Anna Lea Hand Feature When she loses a pregnancy, Anna Lea Hand searches in vain for vital advice and information.
Soli/dairy/ty By Liza Monroy Feature As a nursing mother newly exposed to the harsh realities of milk production, Liza Monroy reconsiders the dairy cow, and questions the meaning of compassion.
We Use Language as a Spade By Krista Stevens Highlight “Though the embryo was only seven weeks old, I loved it. I loved it and wanted it, and its life ended.”
Addiction’s Seismic Effects on a Family By Sarah Evans Feature A mother confronts the painful truths of trying to save a son who’s a danger not only to himself, but to the rest of the family as well.
Renovating a Family By Christine Kalafus Feature After her husband’s infidelity, Christine Kalafus re-architected her marriage. Now she needs to let her son in on the plans.
We Are All We Have By Megan Stielstra Feature While caring for her mother post-surgery and her grandmother during her final days, Megan Stielstra wonders who’s really taking care of who.
‘To Be Well’: An Unmothered Woman’s Search for Real Love By Vanessa Martir Feature After years of strife with her mother, Vanessa Mártir finds unconditional love in a new, tender relationship.
Borrowed Babies By Jill Christman Feature Five months into her first pregnancy, one writer pursues a research project about the history of home economics, as she struggles with her own concerns about motherhood.
Tar Bubbles By Melissa Matthewson Feature Melissa Matthewson remembers the flights of fancy that kept her company as a young girl, and bears witness to her daughter’s.
Airbrushing Out the Evidence of Her Son’s Differences By Sari Botton Highlight Are you really achieving representation for your child with special needs if you’re only sharing the upbeat, attractive photos on social media?
Frenzied Woman By Longreads Feature Cinelle Barnes considers how the chaos and discipline of dance kept the disparate parts of her being stitched together.
‘A World Where Mothers Are Seen’ By Vanessa Martir Feature Vanessa Mártir introduces Writing the Mother Wound, a series of essays on mothering presented in collaboration with Writing our Lives and Longreads.
How to Survive a Vivisection By Rachel Somerstein Feature After a traumatic experience with childbirth, Rachel Somerstein struggles to bond with her newborn daughter.
Cut From the Same Cloth By Myfanwy Tristram Feature Artist Myfanwy Tristram was irritated by her teenage daughter’s extreme fashions — until she took an illustrated journey into their origins.
Prayers to Lucia By Heather Quinn Feature When a high-risk pregnancy jeopardizes their eyesight, Heather Quinn explores the expectations of motherhood and finds common ground with a patron saint.
After Three Children, Reclaiming My Body and My Mind By Ukamaka Olisakwe Feature In the wake of childbirth and postpartum complications affecting her mental health and her marriage, Ukamaka Olisakwe picks herself up and starts over — in grad school.
In a World Full of Cruelty and Injustice, Becoming a Mother Anyway By Eliza Margarita Bates Feature A visit to Auschwitz makes Eliza Margarita Bates only more determined to have a baby, despite her painful chronic illness.
How Do You Move Past a Dad? By Sara Fredman Feature Pamela Adlon’s Better Things is not a riff on the antihero show so much as it is an antidote to it.
Holding the Pain By Amye Archer Feature Amye Archer explores her own relationship with the shooting at Sandy Hook as she works with survivors to tell their stories.
All the Obstacles in a Mother’s Way By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Everyone has something to say about this mother’s body, career, and parental choices.
And What of My Wrath? By Sara Fredman Feature Cersei Lannister could have been a great antihero, but she was on the wrong show.
Becoming Family By Jennifer Berney Feature Jennifer Berney explores how queer families challenge traditional notions of heredity and paternity.
Game of Crones By Laura Lippman Feature It wasn’t entirely Laura Lippman’s idea to become a mother in her 50s. But when it happened, she leaned in hard.
Does the Woman in the Painting Have a Secret? By Longreads Feature In the wake of her mother’s passing, Dylan Landis wrestles with unanswered questions about love and art, and imagines different possibilities of what could have been.
Bracing for the Silence of an Empty Nest By Michelle Cruz Gonzales Feature As her son finishes high school and prepares to leave for college, Michelle Cruz Gonzales looks back on his early years as a pianist and anticipates a future without the sound of his playing filling the house.
Wonder Woman By Longreads Feature Of all the genes parents pass down and values they instill, how does one take hold so much stronger than the others?
Everything is Fine By Sara Fredman Feature Sara Fredman thinks about the voices in her life as she raises young children and reckons with her fading father.
Mothers of the Future By Thea Prieto Feature In a new memoir, Sophia Shalmiyev attempts to reunite with her missing mother through scraps, signs, and surrogates.
Labor Pains: A Reading List By Sara Benincasa Reading List No one ever said expelling a tiny human our of your body would be easy — or if they did, they shouldn’t have.
