Not in my family By Janis Cooke Newman
In her new novel, "A Member of the Family," Susan Scarf Merrell gives us more reasons to be afraid of orphans from the former Soviet Union. This adoptive mother of a Russian child is not amused. (05/18/00)

Knowing what's up down there By Carmen Winant
Life is one long vagina monologue for this precocious teen, the daughter of a sex educator. (05/17/00)

It'll take more than a million moms By Bruce Shapiro
To have an impact on the next election, gun-control advocates need to take a few reality checks. (05/16/00)

Abortion at the movies By Audrey Fisch
"Cider House" fails where "High Fidelity" rules. (05/15/00)

Sentimental hogwash By Douglas Cruickshank
In or out of the mental hospital, my mother always found a moment to write the note that would excuse me from Mother's Day. (05/12/00)

My mother's 10 rules to live by By Elissa Schappell
Take them with a grain of salt, but just one grain or you'll bloat. (05/12/00)

Perfect for this world By Avital Gad Cykman
Scarlett O'Hara taught my mother to make a velvet dress out of the living room curtains. And my mother, before she died, taught me that I must win at all costs. (05/11/00)

Supplicant By Kathryn Harrison
My mother gave me up before either of us knew the value of a mother. After her death, I no longer confuse longing with love. (05/11/00)

ILOVEYOUTOO! By Jonathan Poletti
Let's take a moment to appreciate the brutal sexual politics of the love virus. (05/10/00)

My mother the nun By Theresa Rusho
It's true she was a bride of Christ -- just don't ask for details of the marriage. (05/10/00)

My four favorite photos of my mother By Amy Bloom
Her true selves are revealed, as real as uncut gems. (05/10/00)

A tale of two mothers By Denise Ryan
My mother was a chain-smoking, champagne-swilling, braless art mom. My best friend's mother was June Cleaver. They both suffered -- and made difficult choices. (05/09/00)

Summer of the monkey-boys By Colin Harrison
A hot summer day, a carload of teenage boys and a dangerous driving mistake reveal a mom's capacity to pardon boyhood transgressions. (05/09/00)

An introduction By Jennifer Foote Sweeney
We devote a week to Mother's Day and the messages that don't fit on the cards. (05/08/00)

My mother wears army boots By Lisa Zeidner
She kicked butt for me and I want to thank her. (05/08/00)

Stalked by my birth mother By Beth Broeker
I didn't want to be her baby, not now, maybe never. (05/08/00)

Remembering Cardinal O'Connor By Ari L. Goldman
He stopped taking my calls after I slammed him in the press, but he still had time to be kind to my mother, an Orthodox Jew. (05/05/00)

Sexism and the death chamber By Cathy Young
Chivalry lives when a woman must die. (05/04/00)

My spawn arrives! By Hank Pellissier
In the third installment of his lesbian sperm donor saga, Hank Pellissier describes the arrivals of his two babies -- born 21 days apart. (05/03/00)

The number that will outlive my grandfather By Alexandra J. Wall
During World War II, this number was meant to track whether or not he was still alive. Now, he wants it to follow him to his grave. (05/01/00)

Crossing over By Beth Kephart
In her new novel, Jayne Anne Phillips, the princess of literary darkness, plumbs the emotional netherlands of motherhood. (04/28/00)

The virtual bitch slap By Amy Silverman
A new game, Sissyfight 2000, lets me be the playground bully I never was. (04/27/00)

The other side of the closet By Janet Nicolazzo
After 10 years and two children, my husband told me he is gay. (04/26/00)

Letting go of Thomas By Beth Broeker
The baby's abuser is still uncharged, but the issue of his death -- in surrender or at the end of painful medical heroics -- finally reaches the court. (04/25/00)

Sleeping with the enemy By Lisa Guide
While I'm planning security for the IMF demonstrations, my husband is getting thrown in jail. He better not ask me for bail. (04/24/00)

Born to pop pills By Elissa Schappell
I have a well-chosen capsule for every occasion. (04/20/00)

Our town By Mark Phillips
The place I share with Timothy McVeigh. (04/19/00)

Baby barf rules By Jonathan Kronstadt
Take the hit, then reach for the tequila. (04/17/00)

Of football and flamenco By Kerry Lunsford-Madden
A coach's kids flee sports for the wussy arts. (04/14/00)

Little girls on the big prairie By Melanie Rehak
Through these classics of childhood, a kid could suffer the privations of starvation in the flashlight-lit privacy of her own imagination -- and live to cherish the memory. (04/13/00)

I luv Ruby By Stephen J. Lyons
My love smoldered in the margins of great books. (04/13/00)

Ethan is on the front porch, reading By Virginia Tubeck-Drozd
I turn away, so my dyslexic son won't see my tears. (04/12/00)

Gift rage By Mary Valle
Damn the silverware, smash the crystal. I can't take the accouterments of middle-class marriage. (04/11/00)

From household saint to social pariah By Kate Moses
In Sunday's New York Times Magazine, Martha Stewart let it slip that the real reason she's leaving Westport, Conn., is because she's lonely. (04/11/00)

Are we not divas? By Jori Finkel
Guys -- at least straight guys -- can't be divas. They don't have the right shoes. (04/10/00)

Image-conscious
We want your photos -- just the best ones, please -- for our new feature. (04/10/00)

Nonparent trap? By Rachel Elson
Elinor Burkett argues that family-friendly policies are racist, regressive and, worst of all, anti-woman. (04/06/00)

Mothers who don't think By Leslie Lafayette
About anything but their kids. (04/06/00)

The Blair baby project As told to Elkan Allan
The British prime minister can't decide whether to take paternity leave. His unborn child weighs in. (04/05/00)

My heart aches for what I can't have By Clea MacAllister
My daughter's boyfriend is the man of my dreams. (04/04/00)

The hired men By Nancy W. Hall
When it comes to "the help," I need a guilt exorcism. (04/03/00)

Generations of servitude By Pamela Toutant
Once, my grandmother worked as a domestic servant. Today, I need to hire help -- but I can't take the guilt. (04/03/00)

No bottle feeders, no spankers By Amy Brill
Attachment parents stick to their guns. (03/31/00)

I believed in the breast By Sue Robins
And then the control freaks at La Leche League buried me in bureaucracy, bare breasts and too much LLLove. (03/31/00)

Daniel is good at not dying By Elizabeth Halling
A mother lives with the disciplined ambivalence of a do-not-resuscitate order. (03/30/00)

Life as a fate worse than death By Beth Broeker
A lawyer tries to prevent the ultimate abuse of a tiny victim. (03/30/00)

When the jailhouse is far from home By Nell Bernstein
Kids with parents behind bars share the pain of incarceration. (03/29/00)

Swag hags By Matthew DeBord
Mothers, driven by impure decorating motives, should not be allowed in bachelor pads. (03/28/00)

When the revolution comes
We asked for grand plans and we got more than a few. (03/27/00)

Naked to the world By Pegi Taylor
I've been a nude art model for 20 years. But am I brave enough to hang a photograph of me and my daughter in a gallery? (03/24/00)

Belly wounds By Caroline Leavitt
My tummy is a misshapen battlefield, but I'm not ready to tuck it away. (03/23/00)

The story of your grandmothers By Susan Straight
It is the stuff of tragedy and myths and fairy tales. (03/22/00)

Pack of wolves By Stephen G. Bloom
When my son joined the Cub Scouts, I didn't expect him to learn about peckers, pedophiles and Jesus Christ. (03/20/00)

I miss lesbian reproductive sex By Laurie Essig
Little purple sticks, big metal tanks and doing it whether we wanted to or not -- now that's hot. (03/17/00)

Power play By Amy Sunshine
What kind of kid would break up with his mother? Mine, apparently. (03/16/00)

Divorce karma By Lee Uttmark Wicks
My husband dumped me for a very young, very beautiful woman. Then his new love dumped him -- for another woman. (03/15/00)

Sisterhood is powerless By Jennifer Foote Sweeney and Alisa Smith
How feminism has made men's lives safer -- and women's more dangerous. (03/14/00)

What a few good women can do By Jean Hanff Korelitz
On Mother's Day, a million mothers will march for gun control. (03/13/00)

A child shoots a child By Beth Broeker
It isn't about guns; it's about neglect. (03/13/00)

My brother's keeper By Chris Colin
I have saved him all my life, but now there are too many miles between me and the paraded condoms, the muffled awe. (03/10/00)

Witness for the persecution By Kate Moses
Croatian novelist and journalist Slavenka Drakulic tells a story of breathtaking brutality. We interview her about her new novel and her experiences. (03/09/00)

"Terminus" By Nicholas Christopher
A harrowing poem about rape and murder in the Balkans. (03/09/00)

Abortions in TV land By Audrey Fisch
Good girls don't get them; bad girls do and pay a price. (03/08/00)

Lessons in consumption By Nick Gillespie
Only by immersing our children in marketing can we teach them to choose. (03/06/00)

Different hero, different war By Jennifer Foote Sweeney
John McCain's first wife won't say a harsh word about the man who dumped her. Is she a spineless wimp or a quiet hero? (03/06/00)

Consumed by consumption By Amy Benfer
Shoplifting brand-name jeans is more honest than buying them. (03/06/00)

The tyranny of "Abercrappie" By Damien Cave
My brother is under the spell of a company that promotes the frat-boy free-for-all. (03/03/00)

When the revolution comes By Jennifer Foote Sweeney and Amy Benfer
We invite readers to respond to the Family for Sale series with grand plans, brainstorms and blueprints for a better tomorrow. (03/03/00)

Watching TV on the bus By Carina Chocano
Teen TV novelizations invade bookstores and void the teenage mind. (03/03/00)

Home labor By Nora Macaluso
Stay-at-home moms chase pocket money and "a life" through a revived home-party selling industry. The overhead is low -- and so are their earnings. (03/02/00)

Don't ask, don't sell By Kerry Ose
My parents' experience as network marketers soured me for the new wave of home parties. (03/02/00)

Fear with a shot of vanity By Pia Hinckle
Marketers capitalize on the insecurity and ignorance of new parents. (03/01/00)

We obsess, therefore we buy By Karen Karbo
Parenting manuals multiply along with parental insecurities. (03/01/00)

Stealth merchandising By Shoshana Marchand
Why is the venerable Scholastic book club company peddling cheesy toys in classrooms? (02/29/00)

Babes in Willy Loman-land By Bob Whitby
Why does my kid have to sell stuff door-to-door for her school? (02/29/00)

Hooked on tutoring By Catherine Davis
After-school programs bleed Mom and Dad while dissing Junior's teachers. (02/29/00)

The family for sale By Jennifer Foote Sweeney
We take a week to examine the ravenous commercial forces that prey on us each day. (02/28/00)

What kind of mother are you? By Lisa Moskowitz
Marketing mavens dissect moms for eager advertisers. (02/28/00)

Shrinks and con men By Arthur Allen
The unholy alliance that targets kiddie consumers. (02/28/00)

A ghetto mom talks back By Caroline Ruhle
The New York Times says inner-city youth need "middle-class" parenting. But it's poverty, not bad child-rearing, that holds poor kids back. (02/25/00)

The swimsuit issue is here! By Lee Quarnstrom
Wimpy, artsy, dishonest porn delivered to your door -- now in 3D! (02/25/00)

Damaged goods By Beth Broeker
The parents of a murderer sue adoption workers, claiming they should have been told about the boy's mentally ill birth mother. (02/24/00)

Don't call me Mrs. By Donna Cornachio
When the local Catholics couldn't face my surname, I went church shopping. (02/23/00)

Be fruitful and multiply By Michael Kress
Infertile couples who are members of strict religious organizations often find themselves vilified by the church. (02/23/00)

Brother knows best By Amy Benfer
Dave Eggers talks, with some reluctance, about the staggering work of being a genius parent. (02/22/00)

Breaking the silence By Rahna Reiko Rizzuto
Telling the secrets of Japanese internment (02/18/00)

He loves me, he loves me not By Eleanor Stacy Parker
Race was never an issue in my life -- until I fell in love. (02/17/00)

Love strands By Susan Straight
My daughters are part me and part their father. The evidence is in their springy, curly, ready-to-dread hair. (02/17/00)

Torn to pieces By Nell Bernstein
Brothers and sisters in foster care, rarely adopted together, are routinely split and scattered, never to see each other again. (02/16/00)

War of the dust-busters By Pamela Gordon
Cheryl Mendelson may have written "Home Comforts," but my grandmothers could out-scrub her any day. (02/15/00)

Beware of "women's culture" By Jennifer Foote Sweeney
Francine Prose issues a stern warning in the New York Times about market-driven pablum for women -- who are as silly, powerless and narcissistic as a gender can get. (02/15/00)

Dear Jon; Love, Jon By Jonathan Poletti
In which a young Romeo pens verses of true love -- to himself. (02/14/00)

Subway love By Jori Finkel
Gone is the stench of urine. Into its void rushes a whiff of pheromones. (02/14/00)

United nations of nannies By Cecelie S. Berry
I wanted to be Lady Liberty, but my nannies from foreign lands never became part of the family. (02/11/00)

Pet a lamb, go to prison By Monica Finch
Law and order in Ann Arbor is tougher than you think. (02/10/00)

Oxymorvan By Laurie Wagner
My husband wants me to be a mother in a minivan. I want to be a hot mama in motorcycle boots. (02/09/00)

Goodbye forever By Beth Broeker
A mother signs away her son. (02/07/00)

Welcome to Planet Pinkwater By Paul LaFarge
Who could resist a place where chickens sing, avocados think and real estate agents are extraterrestrials? (02/04/00)

Filthy living By Jonathan Kronstadt
Our kitchen after supper looks like the Meadowlands after a Stones concert. (02/03/00)

When the big news is a big bummer By Nikki Royston
I'm pregnant and it feels about as good as a pie in the face. (02/02/00)

My first husband's girlfriend and me By Caroline Leavitt
Sure she was an adulteress, but I needed her. (02/01/00)

Is this child pornography? By James R. Kincaid
American photo labs are arresting parents as child pornographers for taking pictures of their kids in the bath. (01/31/00)

Melissa, David and me By Laurie Essig
Why does lesbian motherhood need the blessing of a "father"? (01/28/00)

Beat the Biological Clock! By Dorothy Nixon
I've seen the future and it is a televised reproductive hootenanny. (01/28/00)

Going for the perfect high By Merle Kessler
Choosing a high school was a lot easier when you didn't get to choose. (01/27/00)

Out with the old and out with the new By Cathy Young
Feminism of every stripe has failed. It's time for a gender equality movement. (01/26/00)

Talking trash By Amy Benfer
Talk magazine peddles hardcore porn from the mouths of babes. (01/25/00)

Southern governors declare war on divorce By Lisa Moricoli Latham
But their methods ignore science, solutions and their neediest constituents. (01/24/00)

A new year and a new spouse By Shelley Emling
Forget losing weight. This year, a vast number of British couples resolved to lose something else -- their spouse. (01/21/00)

Mothers have a million reasons for giving their children Daddy's last name By Carol Lloyd
But none of them make sense. (01/20/00)

A Fisch by any other name By Audrey Fisch
My last name is Fisch. My husband's last name is Flynn. Our son's last name is Flysch. No, it's not a spelling error.(01/20/00)

A match made in Graceland By Carol Ormandy
Who could forget those darling fugitives from Canadian cultural protectionism? (01/18/00)

In all the hoo ha about Elian we have forgotten the Smalls! By Dorothy Nixon
Who could forget those darling fugitives from Canadian cultural protectionism? (01/14/00)

Abortions are down and everybody wants credit By Elissa Keeler Miller
The real news is that access to medical abortion doesn't increase the overall rate.
(01/13/00)

My husband is a man in a woman's world By Mary Valle
Being the wife of a grade-school teacher is like being the husband of Queen Elizabeth -- Ol' What's-his-name. (01/12/00)

Mothers who kick butt By Nancy Hall
How a peace-loving mom stopped worrying and learned to love her fists. (01/11/00)

Where is the dyed-blonde stoner chick in the '74 Cougar? By Elissa Keeler Miller
At the moment she's a paranoid mom with white supremacist neighbors. (01/11/00)

Slave labor in the state house By Martha A. Ackmann
Massachusetts Lt. Governor Jane Swift, sucumbing to the pressures of "normal" motherhood, makes nannies of her staffers. (01/10/00)

My mother loves me, ma'am! By Ali Wicks
I'm a rough, tough Massachusetts cop. But mom still tries to keep me home on snow days. (01/07/00)

Who loves you, Wicks? By Lee Uttmark Wicks
At least she wears a bulletproof vest. (01/07/00)

Germany shuns "foreign" families By Allison Linn and Ayla Jean Yackley
Immigrants and their German-born children find themselves cut off from state benefits. (01/06/00)

I can't hate the Kelsos By Anne Mitchell
At least they took their disabled child to the hospital instead of the nearest bridge. (01/05/00)

Shooting babies By Chris Neal
I was a Wal-Mart photo peddler. (01/03/00)

- - - - - - - - - - - -
Mothers Who Think Feature archives for: 1999 | 1998 | 1995-97