I want to be better at this. There I said it.
Parenting in Pdx stemmed from this desire. I wanted to find others like me who knew they could be better parents with time, thought and focus. I am trying to provide them that time, thought, and focus in the group I've organized.
Sometimes I feel really alone in this pursuit but I know I am not. I feel it. I just haven't reached all the parents I need to reach yet. Then I stumbled upon a magazine. It's called Stealing Time. It's published here in Portland by people who know that a parenting magazine can be better.
I read the first issue, "Genesis", on a plane ride back from visiting my grandmother. I'd had the magazine for a while and wanted to read it without distractions. I thought I might be able to use parts of it in my parenting groups. The editor's essay called "Into it All" by Sarah Gilbert, the first section of writing in the issue, had me hooked, and I did decide to use it in my group. It's a powerful piece of writing.
I chased after something more unreachable than even wind, the backward glint of time, to capture it in my memory. But now, I long for only more of the now, gulp the glimpses of life I am able to record and bring into an art, one that glories in the time lost--no, spent--picking lice out of hair, soaking chili pans in hot water, engaging in silly wars of rhyme and pun and homonym, reading bedtime books whose words I must occasionally change to fit my strict requirements of internal rhythm.
I love this work.Or try "Twenty-Seven Ways to Wear Your Baby," by Rebecca Kelley. It's a remarkable essay about real parenting. About a mother overwhelmed by all the advice and other moms who are 'naturals', her voice is the same one we hear in our heads when we are struggling.
Motherhood was like a prison anklet. There was no escaping it, even at night. Especially at night.
There are also lighter pieces of writing such as "Calling in Dead" by Vaughn Teegarden, a script about our morning routines.
Vaughn [the father]: Calling in dead [to work] huh? Think that will work?
Storm [the child]: <real matter of fact> Yeah.I felt the pull of kindred spirits when I read this magazine. Of spirits who know that more is possible for parents. We can be thinkers, readers, writers and poets. We can be. This magazine represents the 'better' I've been seeking. We, the readers, can be better by engaging in the thought required to read their writers' words.
Do you want to read more from Stealing Time? In the comments section below, give your name (first and last initial), city, and tell me your favorite place to read. One of you will get a very special super-low subscription rate for the magazine. I know! Lucky you! The giveaway is now closed.
Comments must be entered by Tuesday, November 6. One entry per person.
