Full Description
"...these essays are jewels of the unexpected, and in introducing them, I don't want to steal any of their surprise. Suffice it to say that family life...is alive and well, but it is not like anything you ever read about before in your life."
-- Jane Smiley, from the foreword
The nuclear family peaked in 1960 with 45 percent of the American population. Many decades later, the tidy ensemble is rare. Relationships, baby making, sex, dating, divorce -- they aren't what they used to be. But the mainstream media keeps the reality of American life a secret, only leaking the occasional tidbit to remind us that those in "unconventional" configurations are a sad anomaly to be pitied or ignored.
Life As We Know It offers proof in its most engaging form -- the personal essay -- that the big guys have got it wrong. This collection of blunt, lyrical, and often very funny work from award-winning Salon.com tells the true stories about how we live -- of hustling fertility drugs, losing a child, hating dad, and coming to terms with a parent who was the voice of "Frosty the Snowman" on TV. First-time writers and critically acclaimed authors like Amy Bloom, Kathryn Harrison, Susan Straight, and Benjamin Cheever, plumb the familiar to deliver portraits of moments, seasons, and eras that we recognize or long to understand.
Contents
Contents
FOREWORD | Jane Smiley
INTRODUCTION | Jennifer Foote Sweeney
THE CALCULUS OF LOVE
Pluses and Minuses
THE COLOR OF LOVE | Erin Aubry Kaplan
SAUCY SOCCER MOMS | Matthew DeBord
DERANGED MARRIAGE | Sridhar Pappu
FORESKIN AND SEVERAL YEARS FROM NOW | Kim Lane
WHILE YOU ARE GONE | Stephen J. Lyons
CRYSTAL IS THE CUSTOMARY GIFT -- I GOT DOG DROOL | Susan Musgrave
MEATMARKET.COM | Heather Havrilesky
IF AT FIRST | Diana O'Hehir
LOST AND FOUND | Eve Parnell
Multiplication
HUSTLING HORMONES | Carol Mithers
REPRODUCTIVE AS A RABBIT, ABSTINENT AS A NUN | Jennifer Bingham Hull
WE BELIEVE CHILDREN AREN'T THE FUTURE | Lori Steele
I MISS LESBIAN REPRODUCTIVE SEX | Laurie Essig
PICKING MR. RIGHT | Liza Weiman Hanks
MY SEEDS ARE SPROUTING IN TWO WOMBS | Hank Pellissier
POST-NUCLEAR FAMILY LIFE
The 'Rents
LOVE ME, LOVE MY GUNS | Susan Straight
HARD-TO-SWALLOW SOUP FOR A KID'S SOUL | Callie Milton
ON BEING KEN | Tim Cornwell
HE AIN'T HEAVY | Lisa Zeidner
DYR MOM: WY R YOU SO LAVEABL? | Gayle Brandeis
THE NEW DAD | Jonathan Kronstadt
The Reared
EVERYTHING FALLS | Jill Ketterer
MY BROTHER'S KEEPER | Chris Colin
BORN TO POP PILLS | Elissa Schappell
IDENTITY CRISIS | Theresa Pinto Sherer
A HERO'S RETREAT | Margaret Finnegan
WORLD WITHOUT END
Loss
FAITH IN THE BABY | Kristin Ohlson
ASPIRIN FOR A SEVERED HEAD | Suzanne Finnamore
ISLE OF SKYE | Mary McCluskey
A WORLD OF HURT | Earl R. Mies
A MOTHER WITHOUT A CHILD | Robin Wallace
A MATTER OF LIFE IN DEATH | J. B. Orenstein
Remembrance
PAPA DON'T PREACH | Benjamin Cheever
CURSE OF THE HIPPIE PARENTS | Sarah Beach
SUPPLICANT | Kathryn Harrison
MY FOUR FAVORITE PHOTOS OF MY MOTHER | Amy Bloom
BEING FROSTY JR. | David Vernon
MY FATHER'S LEGACY | George Packer
SENTIMENTAL HOGWASH | Douglas Cruickshank
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
