All posts filed under: A Closer Book

The Orca and the Spider: On Motherhood, Loss, and Community

By Grace Loh Prasad

1. Once upon a time, in the Southern Resident community off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, a female orca gave birth to a calf but the baby died within the hour. The mother, known as Tahlequah or J35, carried her dead calf for a number of days, attracting worldwide attention in her spectacle of grief. More than a week passed and Tahlequah showed no signs of letting go, but as she became weaker the other female orcas in her pod took turns carrying the dead calf in a stunning display of maternal support and community. This was no mere gesture. The calf weighed 400 pounds, and it’s estimated that the orca pod swam around 1,000 miles during what came to be known as the “grief tour.” Millions of people around the world empathized with Tahlequah and responded by creating essays, poems and artwork. We are naturally captivated when animals act in ways that seem to fit a human narrative; we instinctively project our own emotions onto other species. Orcas may actually be worthy of …

“How to Travel with Kids while Getting Life-Changing News” EXCERPT from ALL WATER HAS PERFECT MEMORY by NADA SAMIH-ROTONDO

By Nada Samih-Rotondo

Olympia, Washington 2019  You are a thirty five year old wife and mother of three, who just started a job teaching English language learners at a new school. Your husband tells you about a conference he has the opportunity to attend in the Pacific Northwest. In a rare moment of spontaneity, you say, “Let’s do it, let’s go.” You haven’t been on an airplane in five years, you just completed a master’s degree, and your youngest is right on the cusp of aging out of the free seat. Why not? Excited to be shown around the PNW by your husband, who attended college in Olympia, you request your days off at work and book the flights on a credit card.  Two days before your flight, you check your To Do list and note how hard it will be to travel with a four and an almost two year old. You are grateful your oldest can go to his father’s house a few minutes away. On your lunch break, you open up your laptop and see …

Ten Questions for Melissa Coss Aquino

By Sherisa de Groot

What inspired you to tell this story? There is a long story and short version answer. In short, coming up in the Bronx I was taught to feel a lot of ways about myself, my mother and women who did not perform motherhood, female sexuality, and Latina identity in very specific ways deemed respectable. I felt compelled to tell the story of mothers and daughters who appear to fail to be good and right, but who love, protect and fight for each other in every way imaginable. What if we found a Holy Mother like that? A divine image of ourselves as right just how we are. The long version is about a whole vision I had walking down the Grand Concourse when I was 23 years old and had my first son in a baby carrier on my chest. It came after seeing a group of girls who looked to be getting into a fight with a young man. What did you edit out of this book? Dreams and scenes of chaos. The dreams …

Ten Questions for Malaka Gharib

By Sherisa de Groot

RAISING MOTHERS:     What inspired you to tell this story?  MALAKA GHARIB:     I wanted to know: how did spending my childhood summers with my dad’s family in Egypt shape my worldview and personality? I grew up going to Cairo every year from my home in Los Angeles from the age of 9 to 23. I spent a couple of years exploring that question and I came away with new understandings that surprised me. I learned that my father did the best he could to include me in his new chapter of life in another country. And that I learned a lot about relationships – that it takes love but also effort. Writing a book is like free therapy. RAISING MOTHERS:     What did you edit out of this book? MALAKA GHARIB:     You can’t include every detail of your life in a book, otherwise that wouldn’t be a story – it would just be a diary! The specific anecdotes I chose to tell, for example, the first time I smoked …

Ten Questions for LaToya Jordan

By Sherisa de Groot

RAISING MOTHERS:     What inspired you to tell this story? LATOYA JORDAN:    The idea began formulating in my head in 2016, after I read a news article about the first uterine transplant being performed in the US. Because my mind always goes to the worst-case scenario, I thought about the urban myth surrounding black market organs and waking up in a hotel bathtub filled with ice and a kidney missing. I thought about the lengths some people will go to to have biological children and wondered about what a future black market for uteruses might look like. Later that year, I had uterine surgery to remove a fibroid. I’d had many talks with my doctors about my uterus, surgery, and preserving my fertility. Then, the first Woman’s March happened in January 2017. What began as a kernel of an idea morphed based on what was happening in my life and what was happening in the country around medical advances, reproductive rights, and racial justice. RAISING MOTHERS:     What did you edit out …