Vanessa Martir

1 month ago | ca.news.yahoo.com | Vanessa Martir |Michelle Lhooq |Alaina Demopoulos |Rich Juzwiak

Bushwick is a dizzying, thrilling place to be. At Maria Hernandez park men pack into the volleyball courts, shouting over matches in Spanish, while children chase soccer balls around shirtless skateboarders. Reggaeton plays from passing cars and techno leaks out of nightclubs under the M train. Recent art school grads throw rooftop parties and split rent four ways, and European tourists roam the neighborhood’s industrial sections to snap photos of street art.

May 8, 2024 | memoirland.substack.com | Vanessa Martir

This is the first in a series called Writing the Mother Wound, edited by and Danielle Amir Jackson, and originally published in Longreads. I’ve been writing about my relationship with my mother for a long time, but these stories were hidden in journals and computer files. Then my brother, my Superman and first best friend, died in 2013, and I went reeling into the darkest time of my life. I quickly learned that this grief was dangerous, it could take me out and for a time I was letting it.

May 8, 2023 | vanessamartir.blog | Vanessa Martir

I first launched Writing the Mother Wound in 2018. I’ve since taught dozens of one-day and multi-week classes and worked with dozens of writers. In 2019, I moderated the standing room only Writing the Mother Wound Panel at AWP, and have partnered with Longreads and NYU’s Latinx Project to publish mother wound essays. On June 3rd, I am facilitating a one-day, online Writing the Mother Wound Intensive, from 12pm-3pm ET.