my story

Cry, baby

Thumbnail image for Cry, baby September 7, 2010

My first semester in grad school for journalism, more than a decade ago, was a shock. Boom! Right from the beginning we had daily story deadlines. Each of us desperately wanted to prove ourselves to be the next Edward R. Murrow. None of us knew what we were doing. We were awestruck by our professors, [...]

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Sunday Night Blues

Thumbnail image for Sunday Night Blues August 1, 2010

I would get it every Sunday. It would start in the late afternoon, a sadness laced with dread, a weight pressing lightly on my chest. As the evening wore on, the feeling would get stronger, the weight on my chest heavier, until I tucked the kids in bed. Only then could I fully contemplate the [...]

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This sucks (Part I.)

June 21, 2010

This is the first of a series of posts about working moms and breastfeeding. I went back to work when my son was four months old and still living exclusively on a diet of breast milk. So approximately every three hours I dropped what I was doing and ducked into Conference Room B. All four [...]

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A mother of a day

Thumbnail image for A mother of a day May 11, 2010

I had a truly crappy Mother’s Day this year. I think Anna Jarvis would understand. Inspired by her own mother’s life, she started a campaign in 1907 to recognize mothers for their contribution to society. She was successful in making Mother’s Day a national holiday, but then spent the rest of her life fighting its [...]

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Thank you

April 20, 2010

Exactly one year ago today, I went home sick from work and I never went back….Every mother I know has the same fear. Every one of us is haunted, at one time or another, by the burden we carry and believe we carry alone. If we had to stop, it seems like the world would stop…

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If you give a mouse a Prozac…

Thumbnail image for If you give a mouse a Prozac… April 8, 2010

It is crazy to put women in impossible situations where they actually go crazy, and then act like there’s something wrong with them for going crazy.

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What would you call it?

March 29, 2010

I did not feel suicidal or psychotic. I did not get strung out on heroin, walk around downtown Berkeley yelling at garbage cans, or act outwardly crazy in any way. I simply stopped, the way a watch stops when the battery dies.

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Mommy doesn’t have a “job”

Thumbnail image for Mommy doesn’t have a “job” March 17, 2010

When it was time for me to leave, Ruby ran up to her teacher and said, “Mrs. Thomas, can my mom stay until snack?”

“Sure…but I don’t know if she has time. She might have to get to work.” Very diplomatic, that Mrs. Thomas.

“Oh, she doesn’t have to go to work,” Ruby beamed mischievously. “My mommy doesn’t have a job!”

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Why are we here?

March 8, 2010

I was a 37-year-old mother of three* and somehow, my kids, my marriage, and my career were all thriving. Then, one sunny Saturday in the spring of 2009, while driving to Target to buy diapers, I broke down. Not my car. Me.

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