Profiles

A mother’s steadfast, tireless fight to discover the truth of her son’s sickness.

As a mother to two daughters, Keisner reflects on what it means to raise children in a culture of normalized violence against women.

“First, images come to me, the snippets of glorious language, or a scene, or a strange association.”

“I drew from my experience as a daughter of immigrants who understood that even though my parents didn’t leave love notes in my lunchboxes, they loved me through their actions.”

“I’ve had all these identities in life: girl, and then woman, Black person, whatever, but there is no tribe like that mother tribe.”

The evolution from being a parent who noted this dangerous issue, to a journalist who started writing about it, to acquiring a book deal was truly an . . . evolution.

As humans, we’re hard on ourselves. Whether it’s because of mental illness, or we feel like we’re a burden, or we think we’re not good enough as moms. I think what I want people to take from the story is that they can come back from making mistakes.

When I was on the trail, I was really hoping to find answers to this question—basically how to be happy in my normal life. I came away with a few different strategies. One, slow down.

I was good at listening to my kids—at really hearing what they were saying and what they were not saying. This helped me to honor who they were at any given moment (kids change so fast!), and I prided myself on that aspect of my parenting. That same skill is at the heart of book coaching.

I find hope in the books I read which . . . often are hopeful in the face of terrible odds.

I have to believe that I am telling my son that I embrace all the parts of myself, all of my flaws and mistakes, and I am not ashamed to tell the truth.