“It’s strange to think that the Righteous Brothers outlive my mother. Sometimes I pretend they are singing to her.”
Writing the Mother Wound
Posted inNonfiction
The Coastal Shelf
June Amelia Rose remembers coming out in her youth to a turbulent family as her mother died of cancer.
Posted inNonfiction
All Mom’s Friends
Svetlana Kitto recalls her 1980s childhood in Hollywood during the early years of the AIDS crisis.
Posted inNonfiction
Leadership Academy
Victor Yang considers how his time as an immigrant rights organizer helped him understand his mother, and the guilt and obligation he carries from their relationship.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Nonfiction, Story
Witness Mami Roar
Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez remembers growing up undocumented in the shadow of her mother and father’s tumultuous relationship.
Posted inNonfiction
‘To Be Well’: An Unmothered Woman’s Search for Real Love
After years of strife with her mother, Vanessa Mártir finds unconditional love in a new, tender relationship.
Posted inNonfiction
Tar Bubbles
Melissa Matthewson remembers the flights of fancy that kept her company as a young girl, and bears witness to her daughter’s.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Culture, Essays & Criticism, Story
Frenzied Woman
Cinelle Barnes considers how the chaos and discipline of dance kept the disparate parts of her being stitched together.
Posted inCulture, Essays & Criticism, Feature, Nonfiction, Story
I Had To Leave My Mother So I Could Survive
Elisabet Velasquez reckons with a lifetime of disharmony with her religious, mentally ill mother.
Posted inCommentary, Culture, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story, Writing
‘A World Where Mothers Are Seen’
Vanessa Mártir introduces Writing the Mother Wound, a series of essays on mothering presented in collaboration with Writing our Lives and Longreads.