“The way that we think about art, about care work or housework or maintenance labor is interconnected in the sense that these are spheres of society that are often deemed unproductive. Obviously, first and foremost, we need to resist that notion because it's the most important work that we do. I do think of writing as a kind of care work in that sense. It's like a tending. It's tending to our narratives and our cultural understandings of things.
I think it's very easy, especially in the motherhood/parenting sphere, to get wrapped up in our demands and the policies that we need –and absolutely, we need all of that. But there's a reason that that's not happening. I think it's because we need a bigger shift of understanding. We need new language for articulating the way in which women's bodies are exploited and used from a young age through and beyond parenthood.” - Amanda Montei
We’re so grateful to share this conversation with Amanda Montei whose book Touched Out: Motherhood, Misogyny, Consent, and Control lands on bookshelves on September 12th, 2023. Kaitlin and Amanda have had the pleasure of being connected through Amanda’s writing workshops and also through the Artist Residency in Motherhood community where they've staged their own collective residencies alongside other mother-writer-artists in the Bay Area.
Amanda is also the author of Two Memoirs, published by Jaded Ibis Press, and a collection of prose, The Failure Age, as well as co-author of Dinner Poems. Her writing and criticism explore literary and cultural representations of gender, work, care, sexuality, feminism, creativity, and the body. If you're eager to connect with her, she also teaches creative writing at organizations such as Catapult, Corporeal Writing, Hugo House, Writing Workshops, and Write or Die.
Amanda and Kaitlin talk about:
More about Amanda:
Website: https://www.amandamontei.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.montei/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amontei/
Pre-order Amanda’s book Touched Out: Motherhood, Misogyny, Consent, and Control: https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9780807013274
Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and give us a rating. This will help us reach more listeners like you who are navigating the joys and pitfalls of artistic and parenting identities.
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Art and Advocacy: Ashley January’s Response to the Black Maternal Health Crisis
The Explosive Female Body: Artist Alexandra Carter’s Muse in Birth and Beyond
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S2E15 - A Moment in Time: Looking Back on Season Two’s Highlights, Lessons, and Reasons for Hope in Caregiving and Creativity
S2E14 - The Poetics of Parenting: Poet and Educator Ben Berman's Take on Writing While Parenting
S2E13: Mom Rage is a Weathervane—Minna Dubin on Maternal Anger and Structural Inequalities in American Society
S2E11 - The Transformative Power of Poetry and Parenting: How Eugenia Leigh's Creative Process Rewrites the Page Itself
S2E10 - Centering the Bodily Experience in Creative Practice: A Conversation with Writer and Teacher Molly Caro May
S2E9 - Alloparenting in the Modern Era: Re-envisioning Parenting and Human Community with Dr Darcia Narvaez
S2E8 - Where Working Motherhood and Maternal Activism Intersect: A Conversation with Raena Boston
S2E7 - Honoring the Body and Practice of Pregnancy: Birth and Postpartum with Chiropractor and Childbirth Educator Dr Elliot Berlin
S2EP6 - Activism At Home: How Kimberly Seals Allers is Making Equitable Maternal Care Accessible to All
S2EP5 - Where Evolutionary Parenting Meets Modern Practice: A Conversation On Postpartum, Parenting Culture, And Creative Pursuits With Tracy Cassels
S2EP4 - The Power of the Pause Talking to Dr Pooja Lakshmin About Real Self-Care, Boundaries, Postpartum, Creativity and the Patriarchy
S2EP3 - Parenting and Writing: Practicalities and Possibilities with KJ Dell'Antonia
S2EP2 - Motherhood As Muse: Jazmina Barrera’s Linea Nigra Pushes Against Patriarchal Narrative Forms
S2E1 - Writing the Writer-Mother: Lessons from Biography and Life in Julie Phillips's work
Season 2 Preview: Embodying the Creative Caregiver, a Season of Hope and Doing the Work
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