Mama Dentata is about motherhood.
It is about the astonishing female powers of creation.
It is about how we humans come into this world, and slowly become ourselves, through a process of constant exchange with others.
It is about how we spend our days, and slowly make the future. And ways we might begin to reckon what that future is really worth.
A society is a group of people. And where do people come from? Who makes each and every human that makes up the whole lot?
The answer, of course, is mothers. Every single one of us, as Adrienne Rich said, is “born of woman.” Motherhood is the fundamental activity of life, and the intensity and hazard of the task with human children is why we have evolved into such a uniquely social species. It is the work that most needs doing, but it needs a great deal of support to be done well. That’s why they say it takes a village; it genuinely does, and always has. Of course, now that everyone is getting connected into a so-called global village, we find ourselves in messier arrangements than ever before. Forces that effect our children (and our capacity to care for them) can come from anywhere the world over - benevolent, or otherwise.
But while the context of motherhood and childhood shifts and roils all around us like never before, the fundamental facts of motherhood, and in particular, the urgent developmental needs of our children, do not. What took eons to evolve across a species can’t be changed to fit the whims of one social fad or another. It can’t even be made to fit the preferences of mothers themselves, because the needs of mothers and their babies are frequently very different indeed. Taking the job of mothering seriously means a constant negotiation between the needs of ourselves, our young, and those around us; and hopefully, if we’re lucky, braiding those very different strands into something strong, and even beautiful.
But the work of it is unending, and frequently tears us up, or bites us in the ass. Indeed, it often seems that there is no getting it right. Indeed, it often feels that the world around us has limited interest in enabling us to do our job well. Indeed, it frequently feels that the powers that be are out to make our job much harder than it needs to be. How is it that we evolved to live in social groups, in order to ensure the thriving of our young - i.e. the work of motherhood - yet motherhood is not seen as the job of all jobs? How is reproductive labour allowed to be cast as anything less than the most productive labour?
Mama Dentata is to be about that. About motherhood. And how it is the one job that most needs doing well. Because it is the work that builds all the humans that we share the world with. And how those humans go forth and shape the world (how they work and imagine and argue for the future that will come after us) has an awful lot to do with how they were fed and held and spoken to, from their conception forward. Yes, the future of our species - and increasingly, of our planet - depends more than most anyone would like to acknowledge, on how mothers bring all their formidable powers of nature and nurture to bear. And I am extremely grateful to be a part of it.
So Mama Dentata is to be about that work, and all that it entails. And it is to be a ferocious defence of the whole messy, sweaty, hilarious, heartrending, glorious business. For mothers, and for anyone interested in, well, life.
Who Am I?
I am a writer of many things, and the mother of one little boy. We look like this:
I grew up in Alaska, but have since led a scattered life that is currently playing out in Berlin. I have a BA from the University of California, Davis in Political Science and Women & Gender Studies. I have an MSc from the London School of Economics in Global Politics. I have somehow managed not to translate these credentials into an actual career, but instead have worked my way through a range of gigs in offices, shops, eateries, and kennels. The last several years, however, have found focus around writing and mothering a very young one through a pandemic and its aftermath. Through these labours of love (along with a few other activities to promote health in the mind, body, and soul), I feel that I am finally coming into my own. I go through my days with a mix of gratitude, joy, bewilderment, wonder, and sleepiness. And hope that in exploring and sharing it all here, something useful will be added to our understanding of just how mighty this business of making people really is.
Interests/ favourite things in addition to writing & mothering include: books, music, mountains, dreams, jokes, backpacks, tea, trains, knitting, wandering, animal welfare, mushrooms, museums, snacks, chats, and cats.
