Infertility Survivors Finally Heard
Jennifer Aniston grabbed headlines again this week. This time the news focus wasn’t solely on her newest streaming series, the launch of a new product or a new film. It was Jennifer’s admission that she’d endured failed IVF and the “shitty” aftermath. I’m not gonna lie. I’m glad Jennifer Aniston has come clean here in…
IVF survivorship as a concept didn’t exist when I first considered the medical procedure. That was in the late 1990s. All I knew came from the well-oiled IVF industry hype machine. The growing and enormously profitable business portrayed IVF as the science world’s answer to modern family formation. IVF clinics intentionally portrayed this hugely invasive…
Egocentrism sure is easy to spot these days. This observation came to me this weekend. It started with a New York Times essay on co-housing initially titled: Is This the Cure for the Loneliness of American Motherhood? As an aside, my fellow blogger and dear friend Sarah discovered the print edition of the paper retooled…
Words and their origins have always fascinated me. Hardly a day goes by when I don’t search for a synonym or meaning. I’m equally intrigued by those such as my friends and fellow bloggers, Klara and and Elaine, who speak multiple languages with an ease that makes me marvel. Then there’s Lara, who did the translations and questions for of…
Atta Girl is a new publication on Medium. (More about why it exists in a minute.) Today, I am pleased to be among its published writers. Now, I don’t know about you, but I got a little weary of the Momala, Momala, Momala in recent weeks. The ‘momification’ of Kamala got me thinking and writing….
Kamala Harris won my heart for many reasons. Her Vice President acceptance speech, however, really resonated. Politicians (or their wives), for years, have harped on and on about their traditional families. Women politicians who have birthed a child, in particular, preface most of their speeches with “as a mother” or “as a mom.” It’s as…
Social media, more often than not these days, tests our patience and our sensibilities. Let’s face it, we’ve all had to decide what is and isn’t cool to post. Trial and error hasn’t always proven pretty. For instance, those early days of social media were downright goofy as we all tried to discern what, exactly,…
1970s America The women’s movement galvanized attention. As a child in 1971 I felt the tension. I sat at the top of the stairs one night and overheard a rap session in our living room. The women’s conversation didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but their passion left an impression. So, that 1970s…
A friend or coworker can exacerbate infertility pain out of sheer ignorance. A careless comment or mass email can magnify suffering in ways large and small. Some years back, I participated on an infertility chat board. The clueless topic came up. It led to a discussion about how Silent Sorority could be used as a…
Michelle Obama can help educate her audiences and followers about the reality of IVF and its risks.