On Writing

New psychologytoday.com blog post explores the reasons why so many are estranged. * Recent polls show that roughly a fourth of those surveyed are not speaking to a member of their family. * The family is undergoing some of the most rapid changes in history, and that has contributed to estrangements. * A poll in October 2022 found that nearly one in five voters report that politics upset their friendships ...

“A blunt social media post, a slip on the family text thread, a careless remark during a holiday celebration — the smallest offense can shatter a sibling bond made brittle by intense political partisanship.” - FERN SCHUMER CHAPMAN, AUTHOR OF “BROTHERS, SISTERS, STRANGERS: SIBLING ESTRANGEMENT AND THE ROAD TO RECONCILIATION" https://www.huffpost.com/entry/advice-family-estrangement-politics_l_6369630ee4b0eb51ab13079a

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2023/01/10/prince-harry-prince-william-sibling-feud-fractured-relationships/11017196002/

A Wisconsin women’s prison selected my memoir, MOTHERLAND, for its book club, and then invited me to speak to readers. The women related to my mother’s story in a way I never could have predicted. My grandparents sent my 12-year-old mother as an unaccompanied minor from Nazi Germany to America to save her life in 1938. My grandparents never explained to my mother why they felt they had to take ...

Without understanding the reason for a cutoff, shunned siblings feel their reality and emotions are invalidated. They are rendered voiceless. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brothers-sisters-strangers/202212/the-anguish-of-not-knowing-why-a-sibling-cuts-you-off #silenttreatment #silence #siblings #family #cutout

On one of our visits to the small German town my mother fled as an unaccompanied minor in 1938, a woman my mother hardly remembered asked that we visit her in her nursing home. My mother wasn’t interested, but the woman insisted, saying she had something she absolutely had to give to my mother. Finally, we stopped by her home, and she presented Mom with this box. “Before your mother ...

The World Jewish Congress marked the 84th anniversary of the Kindertransport with this post: "After the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938, Jewish groups organized a secret rescue operation to get Jewish children of out of Nazi-occupied Europe. Because of immigration laws, their parents were unable to join them. "The first group of children arrived in the UK in December 1938. It is estimated that up to 10,000 children were saved ...

An ongoing family dynamic of toxic positivity and avoidance leads to superficial relationships that may devolve into distance and estrangement. Photo credit: Askar Abayev/Pexels https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brothers-sisters-strangers/202212/the-desire-appear-perfect-amps-family-holiday-stress

Appreciate the kind words!

After decades of estrangement, my brother and I did an interview about our reconciliation with a North Carolina pubic radio station. Other public radio stations around the country are running the story during the holidays.