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FeedListen to your Mother!
It is an unfortunate thing that so many of us mothers will never be famous. The crazy stunts we do - breastfeeding an infant in Target while shopping for hummus! - changing a blow out while pontificating on a conference call! - refereeing a fight while sautéing green beans! - are really quite noteworthy and deserving of some press. Alas, most of us mothers toil along in relative obscurity. The same is true of writers: most of us who like to spew out our thoughts in a journal, or a blog, will write to a very small audience, the Dooces and Pioneer Women of the world notwithstanding. Of course, no one mothers - or writes - for fame, but for the pleasure inherent in those vocations.
But when I - an amateur mother and writer - was procrastinating online one day, I stumbled upon a call for written essay submissions to a show called "Listen to Your Mother." "Listen to Your Mother" is a national series of live readings by local writers in celebration of Mothers' Day. The show takes place in ten cites throughout the US - from Austin to San Francisco, New York to - surprise - Northwest Arkansas, right up the road! So I figured, hey! What do I have to lose?
Well, I was one of fourteen other lucky women in the Oklahoma/Arkansas area to be chosen to read our essays for the inaugural Northwest Arkansas' "Listen to Your Mother," being held at the Walton Arts Center this Sunday at 2pm, April 29, in Fayetteville, Arkansas. And while I am pretty sure that I won't have to start dodging paparazzi, wow - what a great opportunity to speak about a little slice of my mothering life, and to listen to other mothers' stories too. My piece will be about those first whacky weeks after you have a baby: no many how many kids you have, no matter how seasoned you are in this mothering gig, those first postpartum days you are just lucky if you can keep you, your other kids and your baby ALIVE, so tumultuous are the hormones careening through your system. Well, that's been my experience, and getting up on that stage will be as close to feeling like Angelina Jolie as I will ever get.
And I'm really excited to hear other moms' stories too: from what I've seen from my new group of Facebook buddies, this is a hilarious bunch. And one woman is actually NOT a mom - she'll be speaking about her choice, now that she's in her 40s, to eschew the whole thing. So it promises to be a fascinating assemblage of women, and a unique way to spend a sunny spring Sunday.
So consider buying tickets here, and making the little jaunt to Fayetteville this weekend. I don't know if you've been there, but I was surprised at the picturesque countryside here when I auditioned for the show. Even as a semi-reformed West Coast Elitist Snob, I was quite taken with the rolling green bucolic hills inviting one to gambol about, and the artsy feel of this college town. Make a little weekend out of it, and come see me and other moms speak about this highly personal, yet wholly universal experience of motherhood. Bring your own mom too! At the very least, you will want to witness how - and whether - I can pull off wearing kick arse red stilettos while eight months pregnant. I'm sure that spectacle will be worth the price of admission alone.
Read more from Jill VanTrease through her blog and Hip Mom columns.
