After a sundry professional career as an academic, a mom blogger, a Disney executive, and an entrepreneur, Catherine Connors has entered what can only be described as her Holy Doodlebug! phase. That’s how her mom would react to extraordinary or unexpected things, and man, does that ever fit the moment.

In addition to her mom—who died on Mother’s Day 2023 right before her daughter’s high school graduation—she has also lost her house, her job, her sister, her cat, and her stepfather within a year of each other. As a result, she’s had to process overlapping waves of grief and live the essential paradox that although plans are necessary, many of them just don’t matter.

During this turbulent present, Catherine is assessing her past decisions as a parent (which feels a lot like trying to edit the script after the movie’s out) and pondering her future, which feels disorienting in its openness. But every emotional hurdle shows us we can do hard things and makes us better prepared for the next hard thing.

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We also talk about TikTok feminism, why A.I. might just eat its own tail by reiterating post-modern gibberish, and why it’s important to pre-arrange communication channels into the afterlife.

Other links:

* Follow Her Bad Mother on Instagram and Threads

* Catherine’s startup, Maverick, and her company, Demeter Media

* This Be the Verse, by Philip Larkin

* By the time your child is 18, 90% of your time with them is over.

* Good Will Hunting: “So what do you really wanna do?”

* If, by Rudyard Kipling

* Jennifer Lee, chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios

* Simulacra and Simulation, by Jean Beaudrillard (and in The Matrix)

* The Baba Yaga zine

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