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Review: Breeder: Real-Life Stories from the New Generation of Mothers

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Breeder (2001) is a collection of essays written by moms. Honest moms, punk moms, hippie moms. Moms who loved their own mothers and ones who are fighting history to be the mothers they want to be. The collection was cultivated by Hip Mama editors, Ariel Gore and Bee Lavender. When I reviewed Ariel Gore’s Hip Mama Survival Guide , I wasn’t glowingly impressed. I wanted to be.

Breeder was fantastic, despite the critical review from Publisher’s Weekly, “Contrary to the intent of editors Gore and Lavender of the zine Hip Mama, this collection of essays by Gen-X writers proves that motherhood is much the same no matter what generation one is from.” A quick glance at reviews of this book in the past will reveal either glowing positivity or severe criticism, without the smattering of lukewarm reviews one expects with just about any book, especially a collection of essays.

When it comes down to it, this might not be a wonderful read for a very conservative woman, but if you cut through the hipsterish presentation, it is relate-able on many levels to many women. In “Will,” the author’s misgivings about her pregnancy and later miscarriage throw her into a self-imposed purgatory that would hit any mom straight in the heart.

This is a fairly quick read and a bit of an emotional roller coaster, but a good one. I recommend this one to any mom, Gen X or not.

Interested in other books by Ariel Gore?


Review: Human Zoo – A Death Row Poetry Collection

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Editor Tomothy Moxley spent three years collecting and compiling works of poetry from inmates on death row across the country. His purpose was to show young people in trouble the inner working of inmates on The Row. He wanted kids at risk to see how short the road is from stealing change from your mom’s purse to landing in prison. The request he sent to inmates was this:

“If you write poetry, would you be willing to contribute a poem or two to this collection to help young people see the damage of starting off life by down the wrong road?”

Almost surprisingly, he received many submissions.

Although aimed at youth-at-risk, Human Zoo is a worthwhile read for anyone. Moxley did very little editing, admittedly correcting some spelling errors and formatting the work to flow as poetry. However, it is easy to get a feeling for each individual, their level of education and intelligence, their struggles, and many times how they are coming to understand their imminent demise.

Each group of selected poems begins with the prisoner’s name, date of birth, date sentenced, and a quote from their letter to Moxley. Many had a certain message they wanted to get across to kids while others simply expressed hope to help Moxley in his quest.

Human Zoo helps the reader understand the convicts as human beings and individuals. An understanding that, for some, may be shocking and unexpected. Much of our society tends to view inmates on the Row as things, or as garbage to be thrown away. We tend to ignore the very begining of these problems. I don’t mention this to lead into a death penalty debate, but to call to attention that there is death penalty agenda in this book. It is very clear that Moxley’s goal is to help kids relate and understand the path before them. In accomplishing his goal, I found that it’s pretty easy for any reader to relate and understand. If anything, it speaks volumes about paying attention and addressing the problems that youth in this country (whether labeled as “at-risk” or not) face at very young ages in day-to-day life. For many kids living is only surviving. Robert West makes this point in one of his poems:

“A child will only learn
what it has been taught.
So use your time and patience
or a monster you will wrought.”

Moxley closes the collection with a poem of his own that simply questions what a criminal feels or thinks as they take the actions that they know will land them in prison, then how they reflect while waiting to face their penalty.
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You can order a copy of Human Zoo from River’s End Bookstore: http://www.riversendbookstore.com/ or order it used from Amazon.com.

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Review: Dorothy Parker’s Elbow

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Dorothy Parker’s Elbow is a collection of fiction and poetry involving tattoos and the stories behind tattoos. In the introduction, editors Addonizio and Dumesnil state, “Behind every tattoo stands a story that people want to hear. Our interest in those stories led to Dorothy Parker’s Elbow.”

This collection contains selections by some well-known writers as well as new writers. I enjoyed the whole book. The tattoo theme is more subtle in some works than others, but the theme and excellent editing choices, made this read flow as easily as a well-written novel. The idea that spurred these editors is one every tattooed person and certainly every tattooed writer can relate to. The permanent etching of symbols in your skin is akin to a language in and of itself. Tattooed bodies tell stories all their own and are surrounded by circumstance, life experience, relationships, emotions, and ideologies. All the works chosen in this collection represent those notions.

One of my favorite stories was It’s Bad Luck to Die by Elizabeth McCracken. McCracken met her husband, Tiny, at age 18 during her first visit to a tattoo shop. Tiny was 49 and was the artist who inked her cousin during that first visit. McCracken and Tiny were married a year later. Throughout Tiny’s life he slowly covered his wife with his artwork. One piece he chose from a fine art book that McCracken’s mother gave her as a gift. My favorite line in her story is a thought she has while looking at her husband at age 76 in his hospital bed, “It hadn’t occurred to me until that minute that I’d have to exist after he was gone.” When a young tattoo artist contacts McCracken about photographing her tattoos, she declines feeling that it is too person and saying, “I am a love letter.”

One of my other favorite stories is It Only Hurts a Little by Seth Moonkin. The story describes his first tattoo experience. He was tattooed a few times by a professional. When he must write an article about tattoos, he finds a random shop to get tattooed at. At the end of a dark alley, with no other customers in sight, while being repetitively cut with the razor a tattooist is using to shave him, Moonkin realizes that not all tattoo shops are created equal.

Review: Stolen Voices: Young People’s War Diaries from World War I to Iraq

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Edited by Melanie Challenger and Zlata Filipovic (author of Zlata’s Diary), Stolen Voices is a collection of incredible war diaries written by the children of war.

Each editor wrote an introduction for the book explaining their interest in war diaries, their personal connections to them, and they met each other. Folipovic penned her own war diary during the Balkans War (1991-1993) in Sarajevo . She first met Challenger in 2003 “in the house where Anne Frank wrote her diary.” Challenger, a struggling creative writer who grew up in peacetime United States, was struck by the inner workings of young people struck by war.

The collection consists of one or two diaries from each war, with the exception of WWII for which there is six diaries. The entries span WWI, WWII, the Holocaust, Vietnam, Balkans War, Second Infitada, and Iraq War. Each is accompanied by a brief yet very informative explanation of the region, surrounding politics, and war-time culture. There is also a short afterword for each diary detailing the children’s lives post-war or in some instances, their death during it. Lastly there is a glossary organized in chronological order as the diaries appear. Because Filipovic and Challenger chose to let the true voice of each person shine through, the glossary is included to explain any slang, foreign language, or other terminology which may be unfamiliar to many readers. I felt this was a fantastic choice. It helped in allowing the reader to bond with each child, to develop a sense of who they were, who they became, and to care. The few selected photos in the middle of the books of some of the children and of their actual diaries also gives the collection a very personal feel. The diaries never give you a feeling of having been watered down or cut short.

While reading these diaries, I was most struck by every young person’s sense of hope. Even when they describe the most hopeless circumstances, there remains a youthful hope for return to normalcy. Each child shows almost two identities. One is a person who has had every aspect of youth, playfulness, creativity, family, and comfort ripped away. The other is hopeful, imaginative, and strong. While crying for the care of adults, of family, they fight to appear unscathed to those around them, and to make the best of the most terrifying circumstances.

As writers, each diarist watches and takes in everything around them. Their insights are startlingly wise. They question humanity in ways most adults, even in war, simply would not see. They long for innocence as they feel themselves begining to age rapidly.

The hope that each child has is not a selfish, childish hope. It is hope for their country, for their community, and for family. Some even take a position that they themselves would shoulder all the pain if they could be sure no one else would have to. They find joy in the smallest thing like a meal, clean water to drink, an hour of electricity.

This book is a powerful, eye opening read. It is a window into the minds of children that have lived through horrors most Americans cannot begin to imagine. I was particularly touched by the diaries of more recent conflicts. I believe that we don’t see or choose not see how individual human beings are still being affected by war. Hoda Thamir Jehad (Iraq) describes trying to survive without running, clean water or the ability to walk to a market to buy food. The descriptions and ranges of emotions portrayed in so many of these diaries about watching your food start to deplete and not knowing when or how you will be able to get more is equally fascinating and terrifying.

I hope to see this collection very soon in as many schools as Anne Frank’s Diary. It is absolutely a must read for everyone.

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