September 28th, 2008
I’ve been working with a new illustrator, Jonathan Lam, for the upcoming November–December issue. One of the things that sets this guy apart from the other illustrators whose work has appeared in our pages is that he is—among other things, of course—a comic book illustrator.
We wanted art with an epic feel for a story about a woman who has a waterbirth during a power outage after a huge windstorm in the Seattle area, and Jon’s style seemed a match.
After all, what could be more heroic than natural childbirth? I’d like to see Spidey do that . . .
Tags: illustrator, jonathan lam, superheroes, waterbirth
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September 24th, 2008
You get attached.
Adding emotion to the already heightened stress of magazine crunch time for me this issue is our son’s impending departure for school. Reeve, who is 19, leaves Friday for the Royal Scottish Academy for Music and Drama (catchily acronymed RSAMD) in Glasgow. He’s very excited to be going off into the world—and to Scotland, in particular. He’ll be studying voice—wants to pursue a career in opera—and of course Tim and are thrilled for him. But it will quite an adjustment for us. . .
Photo at right of me with the baby bird.
I keep reminding myself that many, many moms (and dads, of course) have been through this.
I hate feeling like a cliché.
Tags: attachment parenting, reeve, RSAMD
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September 22nd, 2008
One of the more entertaining challenges before us with the toy issue: getting mice to raise their paws in greeting. Staff photographer Melyssa Holik rose to the occasion with grace. (For the record, mice are actually quite happy to wave if you give them a little support of the paperclip variety.)
Tags: melyssa holik, mice, paperclip, wave
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September 22nd, 2008
Every other month is crunch time in these here parts—that special time when we at Mothering magazine focus on putting out a, well, a magazine. We’re in the throes right now, working on the November–December issue, which features . . . toys! Our annual toy review. Articles editor Candace Walsh, who also does all our product reviews, has been busy soliciting the very best in new natural toys, and they’ve been arriving for months now. It’s been a trip—the office is awash with toys, the staff is abuzz with toy talk, and visitors to the office are just plain confused.
Last week our staff photographer, Melyssa Holik, set up a temporary photo studio in the Mothering library. A couple of days and almost a thousand photos later, she emerged, starry-eyed and exhausted and riding a tricycle. (This model is tricked out like a school bus and has a handy platform at the back—convenient for toting other staffers to the kitchen and back.)
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Tags: mel, melyssa holik, November-December 2008, toys, tricycle
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September 18th, 2008
The ball. This is where I sit, and it does wonders for my mood—as well as my hamstrings. Rolling around on an inflated ball all day, it’s hard not to feel like a kid. Now, if I can just find a few other folks with feet as big as mine, we might be able to get up a big game of kickball. . .
Tags: ball, office equipment, the making of a magazine, tips
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September 18th, 2008
I really like the fact that many OpenType fonts include an option for proportional oldstyle numbers (also called expert numbers)—right there in the font. Check out the difference here. See how much more elegant the second line looks?
Tags: expert numbers, fonts, OpenType, proportional oldstyle
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September 16th, 2008
Voted Very Best By Far Relatively Guilt-Free Super-Yummy Chocolate Tasty Treat by Mothering’s back room production team (art director and managing editor), Wax Orchard’s “Oh, Fudge” is fat-free and fruit-sweetened. This scrumptious fudge sauce was most likely created to be used as a topping, but we’ve found it’s pretty darn excellent right out of a spoon. Laura and Melissa give it five thumbs up. Get some for yourself: http://www.waxorchards.com/fudge.htm
Note: this is not intended as an official Mothering endorsement, merely the effusive opinions of two very appreciative, very stressed-out women who happen to work in the magazine biz.
Tags: chocolate, production fuel
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September 16th, 2008
Contrary to what the Madison Avenue crowd—with their red and orange images of autumn— would have us think, fall in Santa Fe is . . . purple and yellow. Nature taking the region’s reputation for nonconformity to heart . . .
Shot this on my commute along the railroad tracks (walking, that is) on the way to the Mothering homebase.
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Tags: fall, flowers, photography, Santa Fe
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September 15th, 2008
Also in the current issue, a small-world coincidence. To illustrate a story on one couple’s homebirth, I wanted to use a series of images photographer Allison Kuznia initially submitted months ago as a pitch for a yet-to-be-written photo essay. I asked her if we could use her photos with this other article instead, and sent her the text. She wrote back excitedly to say that Gail Tully, the expert on spinning babies mentioned in the article, was actually the midwife in her photos. (I had had no idea where Allison lived—let alone that she was in the same town as the family featured in the story! )
Tags: allison kuznia, gail tully, homebirth, issue 150, Sept-Oct 08
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September 15th, 2008
September! New month, new season, new issue on the stands—this one making Mothering history. Our first cover featuring an interracial couple! I don’t anticipate any raised eyebrows, since we are all, ostensibly, comfortably at home now in the 21st century. (But, then again, I was not expecting it when our last issue featuring a breastfeeding cover, July-August 2006, got pulled from newsstands around the country. Apparently just too indecent. . .
The story behind our new cover is a moving one. The cover couple, Kathy and Gerry Swan, lost their first child hours after his birth, then endured five miscarriages and many unsuccessful fertility treatments before finally conceiving Grayson Owings Swan—who is now a happy and healthy two-year-old. (Photo by Erin Labelle. To see more of her work, go to erinlabelle.com. or www.labelle2.blogspot.com)
Tags: erin labelle, interracial, kathy and gerry swan, september-october 2008
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I’ve been working with a new illustrator, Jonathan Lam, for the upcoming November–December issue. One of the things that sets this guy apart from the other illustrators whose work has appeared in our pages is that he is—among other things, of course—a comic book illustrator. 
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