From a Salsa Jar to My Son: Alix Olson’s Alternative Road to Motherhood

Writer/activist/spoken word star Alix Olson has never been predictable, but no one is more surprised than she to realize how much it means to be a mother. Hear the origin story of her first son, born after her sperm donor made his contribution into a "well-rinsed Tostitos jar," and her shock at wanting a second child, but then experiencing painful secondary infertility, having to "play straight" to access her insurance coverage, and becoming a single mother after her then-wife transitioned into a man. Come along with us on the road of Alix's self-discovery as she candidly takes us through success, addiction, recovery, sobriety, love, heartache, turkey basters, IVF, an ovarian cyst, medical error, infertility insurance coverage, sociopolitical norms, PhD research, women's rights, queer kinship, socialism, teaching university, and motherhood to two incredible kids. We cap off this special episode with a real-time performance of one of Alix's heartfelt, spoken word poems.

Author, writer, poet, professor, performer and public figure Alix Olson has been reviewed and raved about in Ms. Magazine, Utne Reader, Progressive Reader and more. Historian and activist Howard Zinn has called Alix "an ingenious poet, a brilliant performer, a funny person, a serious thinker. Quite simply, extraordinary."

Learn more about Alix Olson at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alix_Olson.

Learn about her work as an Assistant Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at Emory University.

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