From the Editor: June 2019
This month we celebrate Father’s Day. We are grateful to the enthusiastic dads who taught us to ride bikes or make art or play football, the courageous dads who joined the military to fight for their country, the loyal dads who were there when everyone else failed us. These fathers are heroes.
Mothers are heroes too, and this month we also share with you a creative nonfiction piece about a mother fighting to protect her child from life-threatening allergies and the final installment in a column about a heroic mother facing the death of her infant son. The big things we do for our kids are valiant: soothing them when they cry, easing them through puberty, guiding them from young adulthood into a big and scary world where they will go forth and live their own lives. But it’s the struggles and successes we face every single day—beating back monsters under the bed, putting their needs first, getting food on the table—that make us heroes.
For almost sixteen years, in stories, essays, poems, interviews, and more, Literary Mama has been ushering tales of parent heroes into the world. All this time, we have operated without funding as a community of women who give of their time and talents selflessly and generously. The women who have contributed to this journal are my heroes, which is why I am pleased to finally announce that Literary Mama is now a 501(c)3 organization!
As a not-for-profit organization, Literary Mama can raise money to keep the journal operating, begin to pay our writers and editors, apply for grants, and much more. These are big and exciting steps and we are grateful for your support! In September, we’ll begin to raise funds and have online ways of donating to Literary Mama. We’ll need you, our readers, to please consider giving to the journal.
Another change that’s coming will be in our publishing schedule. Starting with the September issue we will begin publishing every other month, six issues a year. We are also retiring our themed issues, though we will still welcome writing by fathers or those desiring motherhood. These changes will help us hone our continued goal of publishing the very best writing for and by mothers.
Thank you to all the heroic fathers and mothers out there working hard for your families. And thank you to our readers, for your ongoing support as we journey into the new world of not-for-profit organizations. Enjoy the June issue!
Amanda Jaros
Editor-in-chief
Columns
The End of a Circle: Myth of the Hero Mother by Jennifer Golden
Transformation: Conversation Barometer by Katrin Grace
Creative Nonfiction
You Are the Hero of This Tale by Sharon Silver
Fiction
Self Portrait with Dad by D. Brody Lipton
Literary Reflections
Speaking Book by Cindy Frank
Essential Reading: Father’s Day by Nerys Copelovitz
Poetry
Early Riser by Shay Cook
Dad, 2014 by Lauren Cook
Pinky Promise by Tom Speaks
Green Bird by Jennifer Greenberg
March 19, 2003 by Betsy Littrel
Profiles
A Conversation with Lara Lillibridge by Dana Mich
A Conversation with Andrea Jarrell by Rudri Bhatt Patel
Reviews
A Review of Little Million Doors by Camille-Yvette Welsch
A Review of Motherhood by Jodie Vinson
Images by Aliko Sunawang, Rudri Patel, Danilo Batista, Meredith Porretta, Diaga Ellaby, and Christina Gottardi.