Mothers

Motherhood's many faces are revealed in excerpts of interviews from the StoryCorps booths. The stories, told by or about mothers, are insightful, touching and warmly intimate. Often a child interviews the mother, but sometimes it's siblings talking about their mom or a child interviewing someone who knew the mother. Whatever the bond, the close relationship between interviewer and interviewee seeps through these narratives.

You know your mom is Super Woman. She never ceases to amaze you in all that she knows; a cure for every ailment, a word of wisdom for every problem. But like Super Man, Super Woman too has kryptonite. My mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis when she was 22. I have never known my mother as a healthy woman. I have never known her without her kryptonite.

I was quite young when I realized that my mom was not like other moms. While other children were getting spankings when they misbehaved, I was not.

They say the only thing more accurate than a mother’s advice is her memory of the times you didn’t follow it. We’ve taken some of our moms’ favorite bits of wisdom and updated their rationale. “Because I said so” can be substituted for any explanation.

Like many of us, I grew up with freshly baked breads. My mother and grandmother baked bread.  White bread, whole wheat bread, multigrain organic bread, white dinner rolls.  All kinds. 

A mother risks everything—her life, her reputation, and love--to protect her daughter in Jenna Blum’s debut novel, Those Who Save Us. The secrets Anna keeps from Trudy have shaped their relationship, and have brought grief to both women. Action moves from a small town near Buchenwald during World War II where Anna grew up to current day Minnesota, where Trudy is a professor of German History.