Textual Mothers/Maternal Texts: Motherhood in Contemporary Women’s Literatures

Elizabeth Podnieks and Andrea O’Reilly, editors
$38.95 Paper • 978-1-55458-180-1 • 398 pp. • January 2010

Textual Mothers/Maternal Texts focuses on mothers as subjects and as writers who produce auto/biography, fiction, and poetry about maternity.
International contributors examine the mother without child, with child, and in her multiple identities as grandmother, mother, and daughter.

The collection examines how authors use textual spaces to accept, negotiate, resist, or challenge traditional conceptions of mothering and maternal roles, and how these texts offer alternative practices and visions for mothers. Further, it illuminates how textual representations both reflect and help to define or (re)shape…

Unsung Heros

I’ve spent this morning teaching Yin-Yang and Zig-Zag—(I never call them these names to their faces; they think their names are “Stoppit” and “Stoppit!”, respectively...) to jump on a chair when I say “chair”.  All of my previous cats in history have been able to jump on a chair when I said “chair”, so I figured it was about time that these ones learned how to, too.  Yin-Yang and Ziggy did fine. 

Basically, cats figure it out pretty fast, and will walk all the way from one room to another to jump on the relevant chair, to get the food…

Val McDermid Claims the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award (2010)

The Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) of the United Kingdom has announced famous crime author Val McDermid as the winner of this year’s CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award. She has been awarded in recognition for her 20 plus years of producing quality crime fiction.

Born in Scotland, Val McDermid has authored 23 bestselling novels, selling over 10 million copies worldwide and seeing her works translated in 40 languages. She came to the limelight with her 1995 bestselling crime novel The Mermaids Sing, claiming the CWA Gold Dagger Award. Among her many international awards are the Los Angeles Times Book…

Joe Biden Sr.’s old development, the Cliff House, takes out mortgage to pay for projects backed by B

Documentation of all facts mentioned in this article is available here: http://www.litmocracy.com/docs/CliffHouse

The Cliff House, a Wilmington property managed by commercial property manager Brite Realty of Exton, PA took out a $690,000 mortgage in 2009 to pay for a balcony project and other incidentals.  This amount was added to $800,000 for special assessments in 2001, and annual condo fees that total to a 78% increase since 2001.

Cliff house was developed and sold by Joseph Biden, Sr. who was one of the first 2 Council members.  Mary Lou Sheehan also served with Biden until their successors were chosen and qualified as…

Modern Slavery

Do you think that there just aren’t any powerful people who would like to have you as a slave?  You have to admit that there probably are, right?  But they don’t have access to you, right?  You’re just one of millions, so how could they get to you to make you a slave?

Do you think they’d let on that they’re using you as a slave, if they are?  Or would they hide it?  What would be the symptoms of enslavement, and could they be masked so that even if you are a slave, you wouldn’t struggle against it?  You’d do…