I adore my mother.
Let me clarify: I adore both my mothers. But I have to say, my adoptive mom–the one who raised me–she was very sweet and loving and kind, but she was also very much a product of her time and place. Which is to say that like many Mississippi women of the 60s/70s, she played the role of dutiful wife and mother to a tee. Sure she could be feisty at times, and in her own way, I guess she gave society the finger, but she was awfully quiet about it.
My biological mother? Not so much:
Callie isn’t especially happy with that photo, and I admit that it doesn’t do her justice, but that’s almost beside the point. To me, a shot of Callie preparing to read Ginsberg’s “Howl” in honor of Banned Books Week kinda sums her up: behind the podium and the cardigan and the librarian accouterments lies a woman who should be taken VERY SERIOUSLY.
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