Mamaphonic - Writing Mama

spring breezes bring spring sneezes--May 300 words

Wed, 07 May 2008 14:05:25 -0700

I am listening to the sound of helicopters overhead. Today is the day of civil disobedience over the Sean Bell verdicts. I have not been keeping up with the news, with what has been planned. I saw it last night on the news, briefly, 6 different meet-up points for protests.

This afternoon, with the helicopters whining overhead for the past two hours, I am thinking about them more. Should I go? Not to get arrested, but to be a person in the crowd supporting the Bell family and showing my unhappiness over the verdict, over the reality that three cops, regardless of color, can pump 41 or 50 (will it be 75 next?) bullets into an unarmed 23-year-old black man and get away with it.

Madre Zenith #9

Thu, 01 May 2008 18:50:52 -0700

May Day! I'm back! this time with contributor Mariah Plumlee, a friend and mama from the Ithaca, NY area. This issue includes: The Car Question (with a surprising answer!), The Marvelouses do Baltimore, Getting Mauled By Bunnies: Life on the frontlines with twin toddlers (not for the weak of stomach), book reviews, a family pic so's you can see who you're dealing with, and from Mariah - the Diet Guru, Elegy for a Still-Living Elkhound, and unusual words on Dr. Suess. Oh, plus there's a top secret Mama tip written in code! Can you figure it out? hee hee hee, the adventure continues in a rambunctous household with your hostess and new RN actually paying the bills with a fulltime job that lasted more than 7 weeks! Who'da thunk?

Apron Strings -- "Juggling" is ready!

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:22:14 -0700

Hi!
i just picked up apron strings at the printer and I must say that I am quite pleased with it! lots of clever stuff from some great contributors plus a photo of yours truly with the always-crushable (in the "I have a crush on him" kind of way) and well-coifed SF mayor Gavin Newsom. I am going to mail out trades as soon as I can organize myself. regular folks: expect one within a couple of weeks.

Bus Brats - Feedback, Please

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:22:22 -0700

Bus Brats

“Your daughter’s on the phone. Her bus didn’t pick her up,” the school secretary told me on the phone in my classroom. She couldn’t transfer my daughter to me on that phone, as the classroom phones only worked inside the building, not out, and I couldn’t call my daughter on my cell because it didn’t get service inside the building, either. After a few flustered seconds for me, she said, “I’ll get Phil to come watch your class. Come take it in my office.”

Abruptly April -- 300 words

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:36:20 -0700

It is possible that I have been sucked into another blogging site.

Usually I check Mamaphonic on a semi-regular basis, and spend far too much time on LiveJournal, and that's it unless I'm searching for recipes or something else specific. But a friend is involved in the launch of a foodie site, and she's invited me to be in on beta-testing.

I like reading her food writing. She's casual about her involvement with baking, so it's fun to read her and it's not intimidating. The new site is specifically supposed to be a place where people can talk about food without being pretentious. So I checked it out and opened an account.

Sex-Positive Parenting

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:41:16 -0700

I haven't been posting my monthly columns lately because they haven't been very literary and I usually finish them right around when I need to get them in. We aren't getting much writing, up, though, so here's this month's attempt (it also includes a textbox with recommended sex education books for kids) - what do you think?

Sex-Positive Parenting

Ah, spring. Spring is the season when the sharp green blades of tulips and other burgeoning bulbs thrust their way up through the dark soil and open. It is the season of tender, budding flowers and buzzing bees, of songbirds, eggs and bunnies and other thinly veiled symbols of fertility.

latest med school mama: winter

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:24:17 -0800

The WINTER issue includes:
Mini Mental Status Exam
Christmas Bounce
What is good about getting old?
Secret
a poem
correspondence from my call nights
a few reviews

Love to share and trade. Let me know if you would like one.
Spring will come too...

Positive Evolution Zine #1

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:16:15 -0800

My new zine reflects the emotional changes going on with me in my journey of personal development. Positive Evolution: The Zine for an Ultra Life is about my mission to infuse positivity into the world! Topics include choosing happiness, depression management, overcoming trauma, letting go of the past, personal development, personal growth, positivity, and more.

Positive Evolution is a quarterly publication. Magazine dimensions are 8.5 x 11 with a full color cover and back. The inside pages are black and white with gray scale artwork and photos. The magazine has on average 50 pages, and is composed primarily of the writing of myself, Trula Breckenridge, and freelance writers. Out March 2008

Mamaphiles #3 - Printing Plan - moving forward

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 09:54:45 -0800

this is what I just emailed out to all the contributors. I want to put it up here too, so we can keep straight. Its a big step, I think, and at this point it feels right to just go ahead and lead the mass production attempt myself. If there is an unforseeable problem that mamaphiles #3 doesn't make it to printing, I will send everyone back there money. I will keep our collective money in my savings account, away from my other money, and can hopefully raise it quickly, then send it out to the printers. We have had a seperate treasurer in the past, but I think this makes sense. As alway, if someone has a different idea, please feel free to chime in! Or discuss! Or get the collective juices going again!

Gung hay fat choy! Feb 300 words

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:54:39 -0800

One is supposed to clean house for the New Year. Every year, I pledge to clean my house before the Lunar New Year. Every year, I fail to do so and for the rest of the year, my house is chaos. Whether this is because I started the year with it in chaos and thus am doomed to have this happen all the rest of the year or simply because I am not domestic, well, that's a question that I'll ponder while waiting for the subway sometime when I've forgotten my book.

i wanna do another apron strings

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:38:08 -0800

Hi y'all, I am really ready to put together another apron strings...now that new baby is almost 6 months! I would love submissions. I think the theme going to be "Juggling" or "balls in the air" or something related to that. I would love your stuff (essays, cartoons, photos, fiction) and you can send it to robin_cookston(at)yahoo.com
love, robin

GEMINI #7

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:14:01 -0800

I'm just wrapping up GEMINI Issue #7: Word to Your Mother, and hope to get it to the printer in the next couple of days. Inside:
I discover the library
Connecting through books
Twins learning to talk
My son is a money-grubber
PLUS
cartoons
poetry/haiku
book reviews
and much much more...

Get your today (OK, get yours next week after it comes home from the printer). $3/issue or trade. If we've traded in the past, you'll no doubt have one in the mail in a week or two. If not, let me know.

New New Y ear's -- January 2008 300 words

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 09:25:21 -0800

It seems a little funny to be starting a 300 words thread when the old one is so small, but it seems even stranger to write about 2008 in a 2007 thread, so here we are.

The new year has brought a new schedule for the homeschool. We're still Monday through Wednesday, but instead of staying home and working on and off, interspersed with chores, we're getting up a little earlier and going to the library for some concentrated time. We did our first day yesterday and it went pretty well, but it's still new, so we'll see how we feel in a couple of weeks when the shiny has worn off.

cost of mamphiles

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 09:07:15 -0800

I am finally making copies of mamphiles and trying to sell them to my contacts, but I am wondering why we chose $4 as the price. It cost over $5, just to copy, not to mention the shipping cost (almost $2) and that all the places I sell them to take a 60/40 cut. I'm not trying to make money, obviously zines never do, but it would be nice to come close to breaking even. Also, it hit a nerve for me, a nerve that mamas and writers never place a value on their time and often donate their time and energy and ....

Fertile Ground #16

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:13:59 -0800

Good News! Fertile Ground #16 is done! Trades are in the mail!
Bad News! I think this might be my last issue for awhile.

Website isn't updated, but if you'd like a copy, email me (stacey at fertilegroundzine dot com) for a trade or paypal me $3.

Here's what's inside:

FROM THE TRENCHES
Soil Chart by Stacey Greenberg
Abraham at Home by Andria Brown

THE REAL DIRT
It’s a Family Affair by Wendy Trenthem