
Finding Community in Isolation in Ordinary Insanity: Fear and the Silent Crisis of Motherhood
Author: Amanda Parrish Morgan | April 15, 2020 Ploughshares at Emerson College
Posted In Critical EssaysSarah Menkedick’s new book, Ordinary Insanity: Fear and the Silent Crisis of Motherhood in America is about fear, of course, and anxiety, but it’s also about community. The book, a mix of interviews, case studies, and memoir, is an examination of maternal fear and its history, causes, repercussions, and implications. In the conversations Menkedick has with new mothers, it becomes clear that the relationship between motherhood and fear is a cycle propelled by isolation and shame: shame about parenting decisions leads to isolation which leads to fear and often, then, to further isolation and shame. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE