The Baby
(by Paula Mirk) I imagined myself each morning, emerging from my one-month basement rental as from a cave. I’d surely feel exhilarated just to be on a New Jersey sidewalk instead of in the woods, to be looking across the river at Manhattan’s gleaming skyscrapers instead of the White Mountains. I couldn’t wait to hurry down 59th street, Union City, past a corner market with its bins of plantains and its cashier swathed in a sari. I might meet Pete in the stairwell when I arr
Grand Mothering
(by Kathy Lenney) Meetings like ours weren’t supposed to happen. In the 1960s, once you signed a relinquishment, you permanently gave up your rights to ever see your child again. But Pat found a way around the rules. She paid a private investigator $200, and after a few months, she had my contact information and mailed me a letter inviting me to call. When we spoke on the phone for the first time and I heard her voice, so similar to mine, it felt like God had finally gotten a
From Tanzania to Twickenham
(by Rakhee Verma) The London borough of Twickenham is known for a film studio, a rugby stadium, and the homes of A-listers like Mick Jagger. The neighborhood has always been white and affluent. So, when my Indian family moved there in 1979, nobody looked like us. Working several jobs at once between them, my parents had scrimped and saved up enough to buy a small shop that sold newspapers and magazines, but everyone called it the “sweet shop” for the rows and rows of jars f
Blondie
(by Aimee Lee Ball) I was on a business trip to my hometown of Philadelphia. After my meeting at the Four Seasons Hotel in Center City (what Philadelphians call their downtown), I went to the lobby…and walked right past my unrecognizable mother. What I didn't know was that my mom had started wearing a short blond wig. After two fender-benders that made her realize it was best to turn in her car keys, plus moving to a new neighborhood, it was less convenient to get to her lo
