Latest writers revealed show…
Feel free to check out the latest podcast of my new show, Writers Revealed, by clicking here. This week was all about family, particularly the notion of the “bad mother” and I chatted with authors Elissa Schappell (Use Me), Liesel Litzenburger (Now You Love Me), Sabina Murray (A Carnivore’s Inquiry) and Victoria Redel (Loveryboy). After we chatted about their individual books and the mother characters in each, we delved into discussion about what makes a good mother, can we define it? is it a mother who’s fascinating or a good caretaker? is Dina Lohan a bad mom? How do parents shape their children? Challenges that today’s mothers face, including raising children in this age of influence (internet, tv, movies) and influential marketing, and we also discussed choice feminism in Leslie Bennetts’ The Feminine Mistake and have we back-peddaled on feminism?
And we talked about the soccer mom and Michael Apted’s documentary 7Up.
And I said “sort of” (oh wait, not true. GODDAMN) and “interesting” less this time - thank god! But listening now, I’ve discovered the word “fascinating” - who knew such a word existed? I have to say that I have the utmost respect for folks who produce podcasted/radio shows. It’s tough, but this journey is incredibly amazing. I hope you’ll keep tuning in!
Next week (6/3, 7pm EST) I’ll be chatting with Leslie Bennetts (The Feminine Mistake) and I’ll be taking live calls. Got a question for Leslie (because, hey now! i’ve got books to give away)? Leave them in the comments field below.
Click here for my previous posts on Bennetts and her book.
About the Book: It would be easy to dismiss this as yet another salvo in the mommy wars-—the debate over women opting out of careers to be stay-at-home moms. But Bennetts, a longtime journalist and writer for Vanity Fair, is more interested in investigating what she sees as the heart of the matter: economics. Through impressive research and interviews with experts and with real women, Bennetts shows that women simply cannot afford to quit their day jobs. Long-term loss of income has a cascading impact in areas such as medical benefits and retirement funds, not to mention a woman’s sense of autonomy, derived from financial independence. Further, a career supplies a woman with a measure of security for herself and her children in the event of unexpected sickness or divorce. As any woman who has tried knows, returning to the workforce and finding a well-paying job after an absence of years, or even decades, is difficult. Not so long ago mothers would pin a dollar bill to their daughters’ underclothes when they went out on a date in case, for some reason, they needed carfare home. Those mothers knew all to well that without money of your own it’s easy to be left stranded. As Bennetts expertly shows, it’s still true. - PW review
Bio: Leslie Bennetts has been a contributing writer at Vanity Fair since 1988, writing on subjects that have ranged from movie stars to U.S. anti-terrorism policy. Before joining that magazine, she was the first woman ever to cover a presidential campaign for The New York Times. Bennetts lives in New York City with her husband and their two children.
