On Writing

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.

Men often avoid discussing their pain, but that doesn’t mean they don’t suffer. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/node/1182228/preview

i totally agree with you. Men have been socialized to be "strong and silent", no emotion, etc. [This is a reference to the psychologytoday.com post, "Men and Women Handle Sibling Estrangement Differently." https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/node/1182228/preview ] My twins, boy and girl, age 40, had a falling out. I don't know why cause they won't say. My daughter will talk about issues, her brother doesn't almost never. When he does, he'll do it in ...

Every year for Totensonntag, a German friend takes her son to the stolpersteine that memorialize my family in Stockstadt am Rhein -- my mother's town. Totensonntag is a Protestant religious holiday in Germany and Switzerland that commemorates those who have departed. My friend sent me this photo this morning of the candle she placed at my family's stumbling stones. Recently, I read this fascinating article, "Monuments to the Unthinkable" by ...