“The state and society generally construe single parenthood as an outcome of the breakdown of the traditional heterosexual family; however, what is overlooked in this construction is that diverse situations exist where women as single mothers are encountering different challenges. Also, what is negated is the fact that in modern society, the family structure is altering. In this fast-changing scenario, single motherhood is taking on multiple forms, whereas the laws and policies have failed to keep pace with the shift in the forms of motherhood.”
Source: Single Mothers, Patriarchy and Citizenship in India: Rethinking Lone Motherhood through the Lens of Socio-legal and Policy Framework
“I know it won't bring her back or help me to understand why she left us like that, but it helps me to make sense of how I feel about it.”
Source: All That I Leave Behind: A powerful, heart-breaking story of family secrets
“I missed Mammy so much, I can't tell you what it was like just to be able to talk to her again.”
Source: All That I Leave Behind: A powerful, heart-breaking story of family secrets
“Nobody ever wrote down a plan to be broke, fat, lazy, or stupid. Those things are what happen when you don’t have a plan.”
“Guard the love that surrounds you, for in chasing the brilliance of distance stars, you may overlook the gentle radiance of the moon by your side”
“But there were few occasions where we wished we were Mama's handbag instead of Papa's backpack; extravagance and its toll.”
“A friend who wasn't her family was just what she needed.”
Source: The Second Favorite Daughter's Club
“The Eviction by Stewart Stafford
The mind's paper vessel crumples
Sodden with learning and memory
Ne'er to sail waves of reminiscence
A living statue, hewn by sculptor Time.
The physician nor the shaman console
Self-pitying sobs in the moaning wind
Brought down by jackals in the dunes
The skull's tenant but a daily squatter
Nostalgic waves batter alien shores
Déjà vu of the blood and the collegial
A stranger's reflection in misting eyes
A sandcastle sacked to the four winds
© Stewart Stafford, 2024. All rights reserved”
“We acquire the feelings of others, especially beloved others, and imagine that what we have never seen or touched belongs to us, too, by imaginative connection.”
Source: Mothers, Fathers, and Others: Essays
“His little brother.
Always his little brother.”
Source: Crimson Rivers