Mother Tongue - Issue 6

In this issue we discuss the coexistence of seemingly incompatible things—humor and trauma with filmmaker Lulu Wang and author Priyanka Mattoo; rejecting pregnancy and embracing motherhood with writer Samantha Mann, and attempting to solve the mysteries of self with no real clues to go on with poet Maggie Smith. We revel in the confidence of the Real Housewives with illustrator Jess Rotter and get weird about candidates’ wives with Sarah Hutto; and we talk empathy and non-binary thinking in a post-October 7th reality withMoh Mahdara, Rabbi Sharon Brous and BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors. We forgo categorization with artist Hayv Kahraman; rally for sisterhood with Salamishah and Scheherazade Tillet; and look to the right and left with Shannon Watts. We try on chore coats and grief with Jessie Gaynor; resist hoarding with Victoria Hely Hutchinson; examine the symmetry of our breasts with Caitlin Scholl; and last, but quite obviously not least: We get lusty about midlife with our cover s