Adiba Nelson is the author of “Ain’t that a Mother,” a hilarious and vulnerable memoir about Black motherhood, Cerebral Palsy, and surviving intergenerational trauma. Adiba’s memoir is timely and so important because it discusses important themes such as Plan B in today’s post Roe v. Wade climate, postpartum depression, and the *shit* show of dating. The memoir even dips into the beautiful world of burlesque dancing.
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! Daniella Mestyanek Young’s powerfully immersive and exceptionally honest debut memoir Uncultured opens with a scene of Young standing in line to get spanked by Uncle Zephaniah. This man is not her blood uncle, but what the kids in the Children of God cult call the men in […]
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! My mother was a liberal feminist; my father was a religious zealot who left the family to live by the cult leader. Two months before I married, I had my first period. I still wore a training bra. I was 12 and had never kissed a boy, […]
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! I was a child bride. It’s time to stop teaching young girls to stay sweet. Like the young girls in Netflix’s #2 trending true-crime docuseries, Keep Sweet: Pray and Obeyabout Warren Jeffs’ Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), I also grew up in a […]
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! When I gave birth to my first son 27 years ago, the hospital’s lactation consultant recommended Fruit of the Loom’s Beyondsoft Front Closure Cotton Bra. I was 22, and my husband and I were struggling financially, so I was happy to learn I could pick up the […]
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! Adiba Nelson’s hilarious, heartbreaking, and bold debut memoir Ain’t that a Mother: Postpartum, Palsy, and Everything in Between (Blackstone, 2022) explores the cavernous lows of postpartum depression, the joys and challenges of raising a daughter with high medical needs, the naughtiness of burlesque dancing, and all the messiness in […]
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! Purchase Adiba Nelson’s debut memoir, Ain’t That a Mother: Postpartum, Palsy, and Everything in Between, for the book jacket alone and clutch it under your arm like you would your prized handbag, using it as your statement accessory. The cover is gorgeous and girly—cotton-candy pink with a gold-horned unicorn piñata. People […]
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! I learned so much from Adiba’s memoir, but mostly I learned the power of staying true to myself. Adiba Nelson, an Afro-Latina mama to 13-year-old Emory, is a retired burlesque performer, TEDx speaker, and disability rights advocate. Her debut memoir “Ain’t That a Mother: Postpartum, Palsy, and […]
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! How old are you? In July, on lucky 7/7, I turned 50. Is there another age you associate with yourself in your mind? If so, what is it? And why, do you think? Maybe I still think I’m 38. I remember feeling so old when I was 38 because […]
Want to listen to the article? Great–listen here! Triplets Tamara MCPOEMWe named them: Fuchsia, Turquoise, and Black Ivory.The moment they were fertilized, before they had even become fetuses,everything about them had been genetically determined.How do you speak about losing three babies? Technically they weren’tbabies, but blobs—fertilized eggs that had turned from two cells, to fourcells, […]