About Your Mother

Ann Fessler's critically accompanied book, "The Girl Who Went Away," gives voice to the millions of women forced to surrender their babies in the decades before Roe v Wade. As an artist and a teacher, listening to Ann tell her story feels like you are walking into a lecture hall about to learn something new, and you are.

Connect with Ann
Website
The Girls Who Went Away
A Girl Like Her

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The subject of reproductive rights has taken center stage in our society. Still, many people don't understand the tentacles those rights have in every corner of society or within most families. On this episode of About Your Mother is my conversation with writer and editor Elizabeth Hines, who spearheaded the recent anthology Aftermath: Life in Post-Roe America. Our discussion touches on motherhood, activism, and what it takes to bring important stories to the forefront.

Shocked and motivated by the Dobbs decision, Elizabeth Hines channeled her energy to gather essays and interviews from contributors to share the importance of reproductive rights in America. Here is our conversation.

Connect with Elizabeth
Facebook
More about Elizabeth Hines
Check out the anthology here: Aftermath: Life in Post-Roe America
She Writes Press Review

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In our new series, What Happened Then, AYM features stories from a part of our history unknown to many. Karen Wilson-Buterbaugh spent twenty years researching and writing The Baby Scoop Era. In 2007, Karen founded the Baby Scoop Era: Research, Education, and Inquiry (BSERI) organization to support millions of women forced to surrender their babies between 1945 and 1972.

Young and in love, Karen found herself pregnant at 17 years old. The events that followed were an emotional and humiliating experience. First, she was sent to a wage house, then to a maternity home, where she was labeled an inmate. She found herself isolated from everyone she knew and expected to surrender her child. Karen was not alone. The Baby Scoop Era represents a time when millions of single unwed mothers went into maternity homes where they lived in secrecy and shame.

Connect with Karen
BabyScoopEra.com
Twitter
Buy her book here: The Baby Scoop Era: Unwed Mothers, Infant Adoption and Forced Surrender

Learn more about the podcast at byjennifergriffith.com/category/podcast

For Mother’s Day, we are recapping ten powerful episodes from the last year. This review features a short clip from each conversation, so you can quickly get a feel for the content and guest. Timestamps and guest names are listed below.

An interesting thing happens when the word mother is mentioned - a conversation rooted in truth always follows. And for all of us, while she is our beginning, where we land is a journey uniquely our own.

Follow guests on IG here:
instagram.com/jeffforney
instagram.com/oliviajoffrey
instagram.com/amyksf
instagram.com/fosterdadflipper
instagram.com/ferris_a
instagram.com/melaniespring
instagram.com/angiekimask
instagram.com/bigtoughgirl
instagram.com/shantibrien
instagram.com/bethbroday

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This episode of About Your Mother is my conversation with Steph Jagger: a seeker, explorer, and writer. Her latest book, Everything Left to Remember, documents her adventure with her mother into the Rocky Mountains while they navigate the terrain of dementia and the meaning of remembrance.

Steph's life and work are as deep as the 4 million vertical feet she skied in one year to break a world record. That journey is the basis of her first book Unbound: A story of Snow and Self-discovery. Her latest book examines her journey and transition from maiden to mother.

Connect with Steph Jagger
Website
Instagram
Order her new book here: Everything Left to Remember

Learn more about the podcast at byjennifergriffith.com/category/podcast

This episode of About Your Mother is my conversation with Beth Broday – a pioneer in producing who put music videos on the map beginning with Prince's Little Red Corvette.

Beth Broday is a storyteller and has mastered the art of Becoming. Throughout the various stages of work and life, she saw the lessons in each experience, never afraid to make a U-turn that led to something beautiful.

Her storytelling is like butter. Towards the end, enjoy our banter on working with some of the world's greatest musicians of all time.

Connect with Beth Broday
Facebook
LinkedIn
Instagram

Learn more about the podcast at byjennifergriffith.com/category/podcast

On this episode of About Your Mother, we meet Shanti Brien, who has spent her career fighting for justice. Often, taking on the most complex cases where the rate of success is meager. When her husband's company was under investigation, her career and personal life collided.

Connect with Shanti Brien
Website
Facebook
Fogbreak Justice

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In this episode of About Your Mother, we hear the story of Diane Danvers Simmons, whose mother left and moved next door with three college men when Diane was sixteen years old.

A successful businesswoman, mother, and stepmom, Diane was on a trip with her daughter when she heard she needed to forgive her mother, which set her on a path to writing her book. The exercise launched a ten-year journey into uncovering her past, her mother's story, and ultimately finding a way to accept her experience.

Listen to how Diane's writing journey became an exploration of generational trauma and lessons learned growing up in the 70s while her narcissistic mother chartered her unfathomable course to independence and freedom.

Listen to an inspiring conversation on survival, reflection, acceptance, and motherhood.

Order Diane's book today:
https://www.mothersanddaughtersunfiltered.com/my-mother-next-door

Connect with Diane Danvers Simmons
Website
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
Podcast

Learn more about the podcast at byjennifergriffith.com/category/podcast

To honor National Adoption Month this November, I bring you a big brave story. In this episode of About Your Mother, meet Ashley Mitchell.

Ashley Mitchell is the founder of Lifetime Healing Foundation, which supports birth mothers and those affected by such trauma. Her mission is unique but needed. Give it a listen, and you will understand why.

Connect with Ashley Mitchell
LifetimeHealingFoundation.org
@bigtoughgirl
@twistedsisterhoodpodcast
@lifetimehealingfoundation

Learn more about the podcast at byjennifergriffith.com/category/podcast

In this episode of About Your Mother, meet Amy Ferris. Amy is witty, brutally honest, talented, and regal, like Meryl Streep, and she looks like her too.

Ruth Pennebaker of the New York Times described Amy’s memoir, Marrying George Clooney: Confessions from a Midlife Crisis", as "poignant, free-wheeling, cranky, and funny. It is all those things, as well as a deep exploration of a complicated relationship with her mother.

Amy Ferris is an author, screenwriter, editor, and playwright. Enjoy my conversation with Amy as she shares her story and talks about Buddhism, living and getting kicked out of a commune, midlife, truth-telling family divisions, and more.

Connect with Amy Ferris
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn

Learn more about the podcast at byjennifergriffith.com/category/podcast