family – Women & Writers

Laundry Room Make Over: part 1

September 6, 2023
by admin

My laundry room is stuck in the 1950s. It’s clear that the architects who designed my house had not imagined that a laundry room would ever be anything but utilitarian. It’s uninsulated. The drain pipe from the tub in the bathroom upstairs runs from wall to wall about 10 inches below the ceiling. Copper pipes that bring hot water from the basement water heater cross just a few feet away. The under workings of the commode are above the utility sink. The single pane window has a metal frame with a handle that, when unlatched allows the top to drop inward. Nearly every wall is unfinished. A bare bulb sits in the center, mounted on a beam, with a pull chain that doesn’t always work to turn the light on.

Back in the early 1980s, the previous owners moved one of the original kitchen cabinets into the laundry room for storage. I keep my iron, spray starch, screw gun, and a bag full of screws, outlet covers, allen wrenches, and various other things that came off or out of something but seemed too significant to toss. They screwed two metal strips that allow you to put adjustable shelf brackets on the wall near the door. The shelves are handy. I keep extra rolls of toilet paper and paper towels there.

The room is cramped. It would have been about six by nine feet, were it not for the chimney and duct work to the right just as you come in the door. The dryer is beside that and the utility sink in the corner on the other side of the dryer. The washing machine sits diagonally off the left corner of the dryer, so that you have to open the dryer door before unloading the wet clothes from the washing machine. Otherwise, you have no space for the door to swing with you standing there in front of both machines like a king in check mate. I don’t think a king ever washed clothes.

I have owned this house for years without turning my focus on the laundry room, despite the fact that I rather enjoy doing laundry. And I love beautiful spaces. Making a laundry room over seems decadent—a luxury I can ill-afford. But look at it…

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Exhibit K: Inheriting photographs of the Puerto Rican migration

April 6, 2020April 7, 2020
by admin

Join me in this episode when Sami Miranda is at the table. He talks about inheriting hundreds of photographs taken by his grandfather, documenting decades of family life, as well as the Puerto Rican migration to New York City.

Photo taken by Miranda’s grandfather of a soldier stationed in the Panama Canal Zone during WWII

Josefina at her son Ignacio’s grave, who died during WWII

Efua Prince talks with Sami Miranda about poetry and photographs

Now a significant part of the DC writing scene, Miranda says, “Everybody who puts work into their art form deserves support.” Miranda is the managing partner of the American Poetry Museum located in Washington, DC. He is an educator, poet, and visual artist.

photo of Sami Miranda by Monica Liang Aguirre

This week’s Opening Paragraph is drawn from John Murillo’s Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry.

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Exhibit H: Talking Family and Inspiration with Rion Amilcar…

February 21, 2020February 27, 2020
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Exhibit H: Family and inspiration with Rion Amilcar Scott

On this episode, listen as V Efua Prince talks with Rion Amilcar Scott about how raising two boys serves as both obstacle and inspiration. Having children influences not only when one writes, but the form that writing takes. Get insight into the writing process of one of the country’s most distinct emerging writers. Released Monday, March 30, 2020.

For this week’s Opening Paragraph, Scott reads from his own work, Insurrections and The World Doesn’t Require You, as well as one of his biggest inspirations, a monologue from August Wilson’s King Hedley II.

Presenting Evidence that God Still Loves Women and Writers podcast featuring music by Talitha Gabrielle

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Exhibit E: Ironing and Invisible Labor

February 2, 2020February 27, 2020
by admin

Exhibit E: Ironing and invisible labor

As the one charged with the care of laundry, there’s hardly been a day in nearly 30 years when I have not been acutely aware of the underwear situation for the people in her family. Join me March 9th on Presenting Evidence that God Still Loves Women and Writers as I consider the cost of invisible work while caring for a treasured silk blouse.

http://womenandwriters.libsyn.com/presenting-evidence-that-god-still-loves-women-and-writers-3
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This episode’s Opening Paragraph is not a paragraph at all. It is the beginning of Remica L. Bingham’s collection of poetry, What we Ask of Flesh. Remica L. Bingham

featuring music by Talitha Gabrielle

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Exhibit B: Food and Family

January 12, 2020February 6, 2020
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Join us February 17, 2020 as my guest, Sufiya Abdur-Rahman talks about food and family. She writes creative nonfiction. Her work has appeared in publications including Catapult, The Washington Post, Washington City Paper, Bull Men’s Fiction, The Source, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and NPR. Her writing investigates questions of family, identity, race, and religion and, often, how they intersect. You can find her work here: herehttps://medium.com/@sufiyaabdurrahman.

We close the exhibit today with Abdur-Rahman sharing her pick for Opening Paragraph–Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns. The Warmth of Other Suns

featuring music by Talitha Gabrielle

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Exhibit A: Old Photo Albums

January 12, 2020February 6, 2020
by admin

Join me February 10, 2020 for the first episode of the new podcast: Presenting Evidence that God Still Loves Women and Writers. Sit with me as I ponder over what to do with mounds of old photos.

And listen to the Opening Paragraph of “Careless,” a tender story of a marriage at the brink, from Kerry Neville’s collection Remember to Forget Me. Remember to Forget Me