Literary Mama
308 FOLLOWERS
Writing about the many faces of motherhood
Literary Mama
1w ago
My Barbie story begins on a quiet tree-lined neighborhood in Queens, New York in the late 1970s. My younger sister and I played with the neighborhood girls who had a real Barbie collection with the frills. They might have had the Dream house. I know we did not. My parents were immigrants from India; at ..read more
Literary Mama
2w ago
When I signed my contract with the publisher of Typecast, I was thrilled. Having worked as a book publicist, I was under no illusion that having my book published meant that anyone would read it. Over the past twenty-five years, online bookselling and the advent of new publishing options have transformed the industry, leading to ..read more
Literary Mama
2w ago
Dear Baby Boy, Carrying you unborn into the cinema to watch Barbie, I was captured by the atmosphere of anticipation and adoration in the audience. Knowing nothing about the film, I imagined I was there to be entertained, take the weight off my pregnant feet, and leave behind reality for an afternoon. How naïve I ..read more
Literary Mama
2w ago
She’s back so we beeline to Barbie. After college plus a bonus year in Burlington, VT , my daughter has come “home”—in quotes because here is her launch pad to elsewhere, though she spends hours hanging her latest paintings and training pothos vines across her room. In my childhood rewind, Barbie makes confounding cameos. She’s too stiff-limbed to swivel into ..read more
Literary Mama
3w ago
I was 40 years old when my husband gifted me a Barbie Doll—a French Edition Collector Barbie dressed in a cancan dress with a pink and white striped bodice and black skirt, a pink feathered hat, and a black choker—a nod to my French heritage. It was the first and only Barbie I ever owned. ..read more
Literary Mama
3w ago
I did not take my daughters to see the Barbie movie because I wanted to see it for myself first. Untangling myself on a Saturday afternoon from the demands of home and family was maddening; my family was not thrilled about my little afternoon break. Driving to the theater, I questioned why doing something for ..read more
Literary Mama
1M ago
As a queer feminist sexuality researcher, I didn’t quite know what to expect when going to see the Barbie movie. People often perceive me as femme, but I don’t identify that way. My research delves into gender, beyond identity or physical gender expressions. I strive to unpack the multifaceted aspects of gender, investigating the distinctions ..read more
Literary Mama
1M ago
I bought a Barbie T-shirt from Hollister after the film’s opening week. I was at the register checking out while my son tried on hoodies in front of a mirror. My daughter, irritated in the mercurial, teenage way, looked at it and said, “Oh, you got it?” That balmy, summer night at the theatre while ..read more
Literary Mama
1M ago
Greta G. and Noah B., your poignant writing and directing did this 40-something mom proud; After years of feeling slightly shamed for loving her, I confidently utter her name again aloud. BARBIE, MY QUEEN, call it fate or pure sparkly luck that we meet once more; Last I saw your flawless face, pretty hair and ..read more
Literary Mama
1M ago
Contrary to the lyrics that swam through my head throughout middle school, I was not a Barbie girl, and I did not live in a Barbie world. I lived in a braces, glasses, back brace, greasy face world. By the time I was in seventh grade, it had been years since I’d played with Barbie ..read more