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Postpartum ProductionTo Every Season: Highlights from Conversations on Birth and CreativityIn this special episode, Kaitlin reflects on the season that was—through illness, overwhelm, fundraising, mothering, and moments of joy—and shares what it means to mark time in "seasons."Season 3 of Postpartum Production explored the intersections of identity, care, and the ways birth informs artistic expression. In this compilation episode, we revisit some of the most thought-provoking, vulnerable, and resonant conversations from the season. These clips offer a window into the deep well of insight shared by our guests—artists, writers, healers, and parents navigating the complexities of postpartum life, creative practice, and care work.We’d...2025-05-2124 minPostpartum ProductionDebunking the Good Mother Myth: Author Nancy Reddy on Old Science and New Models for Modern CaregivingToday, Kaitlin is joined by poet, author, and longtime friend Nancy Reddy - a connection that has spanned the lifetime of Kaitlin’s youngest child. Funny how parenthood reshapes our sense of time and friendship.Nancy first appeared on the podcast back in Season 1, Episode 12, when she and her co-editor Emily Perez discussed their anthology The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood. Since then, Nancy’s work has only expanded. She’s a writing professor at Stockton University in New Jersey, the author of three books of poetry, and, most recently, the author of her first narrative nonfiction book...2025-04-3048 minPostpartum ProductionThe Postpartum Production Birth Story: A Conversation with Our Producer Erin GreenhouseToday, we share with you a very special episode of Postpartum Production that involve a bit of role-reversal: our producer, Erin Greenhouse, steps out from behind the scenes and in front of the microphone to interview our very own Kaitlin Solimine. What started as an idea Erin had for her website, evolved into something special we knew we wanted to share with you all: the birth story of the podcast. In alignment with this past season’s focus on birth stories, Erin and Kaitlin explore the origins of Postpartum Production, delving into Kaitlin’s creative work and the l...2025-03-1940 minPostpartum ProductionBirth Stories with Sara Nolan: Kaitlin’s Second BirthIn the final installment of our three-part Birth Story series, Kaitlin revisits the birth of her middle child, who, fittingly, arrives with a story that defies expectations. Released on his sixth birthday (🎉!), this episode is a reflection on the nuances- and myths- of second births, the power of trusting the birth process, and the beauty of not knowing as much as you think you do..Kaitlin continues her storytelling with Sara Nolan, a doula, writer, editor, and founder of Tell Your Birth Story, a business in which Sara helps those who have given birth reflect, re-experience, and re...2025-02-1153 minPostpartum ProductionReclaiming Birth, Motherhood, and the Left: A Conversation with Sarah MenkedickWe've wanted to talk to writer Sarah Menkedick for a long time, but we weren’t sure how we could make our conversation fit into this season's focus on childbirth- until she wrote the essay Why the Left Must Reclaim Birth on her Substack, Terms of Endearment, in late 2024. In her essay, which Kaitlin and Sarah explore in their conversation we share with you today, Sarah posits that, in order to make progress in our patriarchal society, the feminist left must embrace motherhood and the experiences of women who cherish identities and lives that have typically been co-opted by th...2025-02-0543 minPostpartum ProductionA Cold Rage: Debunking Motherhood and Childbirth with Lucy Jones’s MatrescenceWe’re thrilled to welcome Lucy Jones, a celebrated writer and journalist, to the Postpartum Production podcast to discuss her latest book, Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood with us. Lucy’s work draws on deeply personal experience as well as a diverse range of disciplines - neuroscience and evolutionary biology, psychoanalysis and existential therapy, sociology, economics and ecology, to illuminate how the changes in the maternal mind, brain and body are far more profound, wild and enduring than we have been led to believe.Lucy’s acclaimed career includes roles as Deputy Editor at NME...2025-01-2253 minPostpartum ProductionBirth Stories with Sara Nolan: Kaitlin's Third BirthWe continue our Birth Stories series with the birth of Kaitiln’s 3rd child. No, you did not miss an episode! As we have chosen to release these episodes on the birthdays of Kaitlin’s children, we will be sharing Kaitlin’s 2nd Birth Story in February. Today, we skip ahead to the 3rd, to honor the birthday of Kaitlin’s 2nd child, which also happens to fall on Christmas and Hanukkah this year. Kaitlin continues her storytelling with Sara Nolan, a doula, writer, editor, and founder of Tell Your Birth Story, a business in which Sara helps tho...2024-12-2549 minPostpartum ProductionBirth Stories with Sara Nolan: Kaitlin’s First BirthSara Nolan is a doula, writer, editor, and a mother/stepmother who lives in New York. Kaitlin and Sara connected through the Artist Residency in Motherhood Facebook group which we’ve mentioned here before. Sara also runs a wonderful project and business of conducting birth story interviews, called Tell Your Birth Story. So, as the subject matter of this season came into focus, we realized- why not sit with Sara and record our own birth stories, and share them with you all? Kaitlin took the leap and recorded her three birth stories- one for each of her chi...2024-12-031h 02Postpartum Production#artbirth: Actor and Singer Athena Reich Makes Birth a Stunning PerformanceIn this laughter-filled episode, Kaitlin speaks with Athena Reich—an actress, singer, songwriter, the “World’s Top Lady Gaga impersonator,” and queer, single-by-choice mother—about her remarkable artistic journey and personal fertility experience. Athena’s critically acclaimed comedy show Lady Gaga #ARTBIRTH explores the intersection of art and birth in a raw, hilarious, and unforgettable performance that earned her a Time Out Critics’ Pick in NYC, and which Kaitlin describes as “the most grotesquely beautiful and perfectly Lady Gaga-esque birth you could ever imagine.”The conversation delves into Athena's path to parenthood- highlighted in the Emmy-nominated documentary Vegas Baby- her ex...2024-11-2752 minPostpartum ProductionInvisible Labor: Rachel Somerstein on the Hidden Systems Shaping Childbirth in AmericaIn this episode, we sit down with Rachel Somerstein, associate professor of journalism at SUNY New Paltz and author of Invisible Labor: The Untold Story of the Caesarean Section. Rachel brings a unique, deeply informed view on how the personal experiences of childbirth intersect with larger systemic issues that shape birthing practices in this country. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, Boston Globe, The Guardian, The Rumpus, and Wired, and she’s been featured on Fresh Air. She lives in New York’s Hudson Valley, where we recorded this conversation.Rachel’s perspective on the cr...2024-11-1349 minPostpartum ProductionMarginalia #3: From the Frontlines of a School Closure Protest: Unexpected Lessons and Activism in Public EducationKaitlin shares her recent experience of a fast and deep dive into community activism to protect her children’s public elementary school, Sutro Elementary, from potential closure. Only weeks ago, Sutro was among 13 schools in the San Francisco Unified School District identified for possible closure due to budget constraints. Kaitlin helped lead a community-wide campaign to keep Sutro open, which culminated in a 600-person protest, a town hall with the district superintendent, and ultimately, a halt to the closure process.This experience led Kaitlin to reflect on the essential role of Public schools as community pillars that pr...2024-11-0123 minPostpartum ProductionCentering Ritual and Visualization in Birth and Art: A Conversation with Anna HennesseyWhen we decided to focus this season on the subject of birth and creativity, we knew we’d have to include Anna Hennessey, a writer and scholar based in San Francisco. Much of Anna's writing over the past decade, which includes a book called Imagery, Ritual, and Birth: Ontology between the Sacred and the Secular, is devoted to the topic of birth in the humanities. She also has a blog called Visualizing Birth, intended to provide people with images, videos and stories that they can use as practical tools to help them in envisioning the birth of their own ch...2024-10-0953 minPostpartum ProductionRupture and Reimagining in Poetry and Life: How Adrie Rose's Writing Roots Us in Experience, Loss, and our Lived WorldsWe’re excited to share with you this conversation with Adrie Rose, a poet and trained folk herbalist who lives beside an orchard in Western Massachusetts. Adrie is the editor of Nine Syllables Press at Smith College. Her chapbook Rupture came out in January of 2024, and her micro chapbook I Will Write a Love Poem came out in 2023.In today’s conversation, Kaitlin and Adrie discuss Adrie’s writing and the connections between her personal experiences and her work on the page. Specifically, the way in which her wider personal history- one that has included everything from the cr...2024-09-2545 minPostpartum ProductionThe Art of Movement: Ori Lenkinski’s Exploration of Dance, Birth, and Universal Human ConnectionOri Lenkinski is a dancer, choreographer, and journalist based in Tel Aviv. Her work in all its forms is devoted to exploring the connection between words and movement. She's worked with independent choreographers and companies in the U. S., Europe, and Israel. Her body of work includes The Painting, Portrait No.2, The Suit, Help Desk, Birth Preparation Course, as well as the dance films Carriage and Expecting. In today’s episode, Kaitlin and Ori discuss Ori's births and how she integrates the moving body—in all its beauty and potential— into not just her artwork, but also everyda...2024-09-111h 04Postpartum ProductionAn Unexpected Birth Story: How Artist Alexandra Carter Met the Monstrous Feminine on Her Home Bath MatToday's episode is one we've been holding for you all with great anticipation. As listeners will hopefully remember from our first episode this season, we spoke with Alexandra Carter, an artist whose work delves into themes of femininity, transformation, and the embodiment of the monstrous as a source of power and creativity. At that time, we discussed her artwork and how she encounters this monstrous feminine. She was also about to give birth in that episode.Alexandra was just weeks from her due range, as those in the birth world like to say; we had talked about...2024-08-2853 minPostpartum ProductionAn Intimate In-Person Conversation with Poet Eleanor Stanford on Midwifery, the Maternal Body, and Menopause in the Poetic FormEleanor Stanford is the author of four books of poetry, all from Carnegie Mellon University Press. Her most recent, Blue Yodel, is forthcoming this fall. Eleanor’s interest in birth- not just in a personal context but through a global lens, through the ways that people and other cultures experience it- brought her to Brazil, where she was a Fulbright fellow. Here, she researched and wrote about traditional midwifery in rural Bahia. She was also a Peace Corps volunteer in Cape Verde, an experience which also impacted her poetry and life trajectory.In today’s conversation, recorded in-p...2024-08-1446 minPostpartum ProductionBreaking Ballet Barriers: Ingrid Silva’s Journey from Rio to Harlem to Motherhood“Companies oftentimes see dancers, especially women, "unable" to have a career, a professional career after they're becoming mothers. And that's also part of the patriarchy because this is not how it works. Having a child and coming back to work, it can potentialize your work in so many ways. It can bring a broader vision for yourself and for others around you. It can change everything.” - Ingrid SilvaIngrid Silva was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she began classical ballet training at age eight in the Dançando Para Não Dançar, a program...2024-07-3146 minPostpartum ProductionChoose This Now: A Live Reading by Nicole Haroutunian on Motherhood, Artistic Practice, and PublishingThis episode of Postpartum Production was recorded live at Blackbird Books Bookstore and Cafe in San Francisco, on a warm Spring day in the shop's back garden. This beautiful event was co-hosted by Recess Collective, a local San Francisco organization that builds inclusive community-centered spaces for families, particularly in the early years of parenting. A heartfelt thank you to both organizations for their efforts in uniting our community on that day, and every day.That day, Kaitlin joined author Nicole Haroutunian at Blackbird for a reading of her novel Choose This Now, published by Noemi Press this...2024-07-1744 minPostpartum ProductionRoom Swept Home: Remica Bingham-Risher Holds Communal and Ancestral Narratives in a Universe of Poetry"It's about history, it's about family lineage, and it's about what we bring into the world." - Remica Bingham-RisherWe continue our exploration of birth and creativity with Remica Bingham-Risher. Remica is the author of Conversion, which was winner of the Naomi Long Magit Poetry Award, What We Ask of Flesh, which was shortlisted for the Hurston Wright Award, and Starlight & Error, winner of the Diode Editions Book Award. Her first book of prose, Soul Culture: Black Poets, Books, and Questions that Grew Me Up was published by Beacon Press in 2022.Her next book of...2024-07-0345 minPostpartum ProductionFrom Set to Home: Actress Lauren Lapkus Finds Humor in the Balance of Caregiving and a Career on ScreenLauren Lapkus is an American actress and comedian known for portraying Susan Fisher in the Netflix comedy drama series Orange is the New Black. She played Jess in the HBO comedy drama series Crashing, she's appeared in the television series Are You There, Chelsea?, Hot in Cleveland, Clipped, The Big Bang Theory, and Good Girls, the films Jurassic World, The Unicorn, The Wrong Missy, and she played the voice of Lada in the animated comedy series, Harvey Girls Forever! She also plays Joanna in the film Another Happy Day, a “postpartum depression comedy” directed by Nora Fiffer, a guest of th...2024-06-2041 minPostpartum ProductionPoetry and Parenthood: How Amy Bornman Mines Domestic Practice for Creative PowerWe’re so excited to introduce listeners today to Amy Bornman: a poet, textile artist, and parent living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as well as the author of two books of poetry, There is a Future (Paraclete Press Poetry, 2020), Broken Waters (out now!), and co-author of How to Sew Clothes (Abrams Books, 2023). Amy has literally made creative pieces out of the experiences of the births of her two children, and she's even birthed the small press Imaginary Lake, which supports her creative production. Amy's work focuses on themes of domesticity, caregiving, confession, and spirituality. In this conversation, we dee...2024-06-0534 minPostpartum ProductionArt and Advocacy: Ashley January’s Response to the Black Maternal Health CrisisIn this episode, we sit with contemporary artist Ashley January to discuss her powerful paintings inspired by maternal experiences. Ashley delves into themes of preeclampsia, premature birth, and birth trauma, shining a spotlight on the Black maternal mortality and morbidity crisis in America. Her art is not just a reflection of her personal journey but also an act of activism, aiming to bring awareness and change to the maternal health landscape.In this episode, Kaitlin and Ashley discuss:Art and Maternal Experience: Ashley shares how her journey through motherhood, including facing preeclampsia and premature birth, has...2024-05-2250 minPostpartum ProductionThe Explosive Female Body: Artist Alexandra Carter’s Muse in Birth and Beyond“The bulk of my work comes out of this place of the explosive female body and really meditating on that and looking at that. The body has always been my deepest interest, and painting the figure, and that has been the case for many, many years. And so when I started to think about family building and my reproductive health and my fertility, just even the inkling of those thoughts, the work started to become infused with these images of motherhood of the reproductive female body. Because it represents so much: there's so much richness there for me in ter...2024-05-0858 min
Fourth Trimester: The First Months and Beyond | Parenting | Newborn Baby | Postpartum | DoulaListening Partnerships, Unlocking Deeper Connection, and Elevating Family DynamicsParents benefit hugely from having regular and purposeful emotional outlets - when we take care of our own emotions, we are able to be more present, patient and connected with our children and families. Listening Partnerships are a tool we recommend for every parent to keep in their parenting toolbox. Why? It's FREE, it takes 5 mins a week, and it has tremendous benefits!!! Sarah and her real-life listening partner Kaitlin Solimine break down how to create and benefit from a listening partnership. Tune in to learn: What is a Listening Partnership Benefits of Listening Part...2024-04-2046 minPostpartum ProductionMarginalia #2: How Not To Scratch the SoilHello, dear listener, and welcome back to Postpartum Production! We are thrilled to begin Season 3 of the podcast, and to be in community with you once again. Before we kick off Season 3, Kaitlin checks in to provide an update on the podcast, a peek into what we’ll be exploring together this season (more on that in a moment!), and some heartfelt reflections on the never-ending challenges of balancing creative work, caregiving, and commerce. How can we create art while paying the bills? How do we play the long game of sustainability, while also living in the pre...2024-02-2813 minPostpartum ProductionS2E15 - A Moment in Time: Looking Back on Season Two’s Highlights, Lessons, and Reasons for Hope in Caregiving and CreativityIn this episode, we look back at a few of the themes that emerged from our conversations this season and take stock of what this means now; looking back and also looking forward to the work we all have to continue in our examination of this intersection of caregiving and creativity.We’re incredibly grateful that our guests could take the time to sit with Kaitlin, and for their honesty and vulnerability, which really make this podcast the open and engaging space that it is, and hopefully is for you as listeners.Please subscribe wherever yo...2023-12-1326 minPostpartum ProductionS2E14 - The Poetics of Parenting: Poet and Educator Ben Berman's Take on Writing While ParentingWe are capping off our season of conversations with Ben Berman, the author of three books of poems and the new collection of humorous and literary essays, Writing While Parenting. Ben has won the Peace Corps Award for the Best Book of Poetry, has twice been shortlisted for the Massachusetts Book Awards, and has received awards from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, New England Poetry Club, and Somerville Arts Council. He's been teaching for 25 years and currently teaches creative writing classes at Brookline High School. He lives in the Boston area with his wife and two daughters.Kaitlin’s conversation with Ben explores the intersection of creativity and parenting through the lens of his latest book, and how they can co...2023-10-0441 minPostpartum ProductionS2E13: Mom Rage is a Weathervane—Minna Dubin on Maternal Anger and Structural Inequalities in American Society"I think about rage as containing information. I talk about anger as a weathervane pointing you towards the places that need attention and healing. So I think rage can be useful in that way of teaching you what needs to change in your life. And it might be that you need more support or you need to not be in charge of bedtime every night or whatever.Rage is also useful in giving you the energy to create change larger than just your little home." ~ Minna DubinWe are really excited to share with you...2023-09-2049 minPostpartum ProductionS2E12 - The Body as Genre: Amanda Montei's Touched Out Touches on Motherhood, Misogyny, Consent, Control, and More“The way that we think about art, about care work or housework or maintenance labor is interconnected in the sense that these are spheres of society that are often deemed unproductive. Obviously, first and foremost, we need to resist that notion because it's the most important work that we do. I do think of writing as a kind of care work in that sense. It's like a tending. It's tending to our narratives and our cultural understandings of things. I think it's very easy, especially in the motherhood/parenting sphere, to get wrapped up in our demands an...2023-09-0643 minPostpartum ProductionS2E11 - The Transformative Power of Poetry and Parenting: How Eugenia Leigh's Creative Process Rewrites the Page Itself“It's like all of the pressures of everything happening build up inside you, and if you don't write it down or put it somewhere— I just couldn't even handle it. I had no other coping mechanisms left. I came to poetry when I was younger as a coping mechanism, and I think I still do sometimes.Some poets like to pretend that it's a totally intellectual practice and that there's no therapeutic benefit for them. But for me, it did start out as a therapeutic practice, and I think I still turn to it in that way. In s...2023-08-0950 minPostpartum ProductionS2E10 - Centering the Bodily Experience in Creative Practice: A Conversation with Writer and Teacher Molly Caro May“I remember saying to my husband, I wish there was some sort of machine where I could attach a keyboard to my limbs and learn to type differently through my body so that the writing was a physical dance; instead of just my fingers dancing, it was my whole body dancing. I want to feel, not just sensations in my body, but feel my body in motion as I am writing. And so a lot of what I do is recording myself as I walk – writing with my voice – and feeling what it feels like to have it come...2023-07-2652 minPostpartum ProductionS2E9 - Alloparenting in the Modern Era: Re-envisioning Parenting and Human Community with Dr Darcia Narvaez**This episode is brought to you in partnership with the With Her and Mind Awareness Campaign of Mindful Philanthropy. Learn how you can act ‘with her in mind’ by visiting www.withherinmind.org.**_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_"Throughout life, we need people who are responsive to us, who listen, who think we matter enough to be listened to and who support us. And we also need alloparents. So all these components are not just for mom to do...2023-07-1251 minPostpartum ProductionS2E8 - Where Working Motherhood and Maternal Activism Intersect: A Conversation with Raena BostonThis episode is sponsored by Needed, a leading women's health supplement brand. (You can save 20% off your first order of any vitamins or supplements at thisisneeded.com with code POSTPARTUMPRODUCTION.)ANDBetter Help, the world's largest therapy service 100% online. (Go to https://betterhelp.com/postpartumproduction for 10% off your first month of therapy with BetterHelp and get matched with a therapist who will listen and help #sponsored)...2023-06-2847 minPostpartum ProductionS2E7 - Honoring the Body and Practice of Pregnancy: Birth and Postpartum with Chiropractor and Childbirth Educator Dr Elliot BerlinThis episode is sponsored by Needed, a leading women's health supplement brand. (You can save 20% off your first order of any vitamins or supplements at thisisneeded.com with code POSTPARTUMPRODUCTION.)ANDBetter Help, the world's largest therapy service 100% online. (Go to https://betterhelp.com/postpartumproduction for 10% off your first month of therapy with BetterHelp and get matched with a therapist who will listen and help #sponsored)...2023-06-1444 minPostpartum ProductionS2EP6 - Activism At Home: How Kimberly Seals Allers is Making Equitable Maternal Care Accessible to All“Having something that you keep for yourself can actually be the most revolutionary and important thing that you could do in your postpartum journey.” ~ Kimberly Seals AllersWe are thrilled to share with you this conversation with Kimberly Seals Allers, an award-winning journalist, five-time author, and founder of Irth. A leading voice on the racial and sociocultural complexities of birth, breastfeeding, and motherhood, Kimberly created the Irth app for brown and black parents to address bias and racism in maternity and infant care.Additionally, Kimberly is the host and creator of Birthright, a po...2023-05-3146 minPostpartum ProductionS2EP5 - Where Evolutionary Parenting Meets Modern Practice: A Conversation On Postpartum, Parenting Culture, And Creative Pursuits With Tracy Cassels“It's okay to struggle in a society that doesn't support you. It's okay to be like, this doesn't work and I have to get some stuff done. The question is then, how do you approach those changes that you have to make with your family in mind [...] while considering everyone? So it's also looking at your child and saying, Yep, this may not be ideal, it may not be what I want it to be, but how do I do it knowing what's most important to my child?”~ Tracy Cassels, PhDIn this episode, Kaitlin has a conv...2023-05-1758 minPostpartum ProductionS2EP4 - The Power of the Pause Talking to Dr Pooja Lakshmin About Real Self-Care, Boundaries, Postpartum, Creativity and the Patriarchy“I think of the boundary as in the pause. So your boundary is in the space between when someone asks you for something or offers something and you take your pause and then you can say yes, you can say no, or you can negotiate. So the boundary isn't the no, the boundary actually is the space. And then you decide how you're going to move. It's not a brick wall.” ~ Dr Pooja LakshminWe’re really excited to talk to Dr Pooja Lakshmin, a psychiatrist specialising in women's mental health, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the Ge...2023-05-0341 min
Informed Pregnancy PodcastKaitlin Solimine: Redefining Productivity in CaregivingAuthor, mother, start-up founder, and podcast host Kaitlin Solimine discuss her three unique birth experiences, how they have shaped her life's work, and how she is redefining "productivity" in caregiving and art.Connect with Kaitlin and her podcast online: https://www.instagram.com/soliminewriter and www.instagram.com/postpartumproductionpodcast
Keep up with Dr. Berlin and the Informed Pregnancy Project online!www.informedpregnancy.comwww.instagram.com/doctorberlin/www.facebook.com/InformedPregnancywww.twitter.com/doctorberlin Learn more about your ad...2023-04-2038 minPostpartum ProductionS2EP3 - Parenting and Writing: Practicalities and Possibilities with KJ Dell'Antonia“The thing that has not changed for me is the need to protect the time that I need to achieve my creative goals. But the biggest barrier is [that] there's always more to do in that busy household. So you have to make a concerted effort to set aside that time.” ~ KJ Dell’AntoniaIn this episode, Kaitlin is joined by KJ Dell’Antonia, the New York Times best-selling author of The Chicken Sisters, In Her Boots, How to Be a Happier Parent, and the forthcoming Playing the Witch Card in a compelling conversation about the intersection of careg...2023-04-1949 minPostpartum ProductionS2EP2 - Motherhood As Muse: Jazmina Barrera’s Linea Nigra Pushes Against Patriarchal Narrative FormsThis episode features Kaitlin speaking with author and essayist Jazmina Barrera. Born in Mexico City in 1988, Jazmina is the author of four books in Spanish, Cuerpo Extraño, Cuaderno de Faros, Linea Nigra and the children’s books, Los Nombres de los Animales and Punto de Cruz, a recipient of the Latin American Voices prize and a finalist in several awards.She’s the editor and co-founder of Ediciones Antílope and lives in Mexico City, which is where she was during this conversation.Jazmina and Kailtin talk about:Jazmina’s journey in writing her late...2023-04-0544 minPostpartum ProductionS2E1 - Writing the Writer-Mother: Lessons from Biography and Life in Julie Phillips's workWe'd love to highlight this episode’s sponsor, a product and company that's working to build technologies to assist caregivers in the early phases of postpartum and caregiving—the Bonoch Long Range Baby Monitor. The Bonoch Long Range Baby Monitor is perfect for larger houses and bigger families so you can effortlessly hear your children when they wake and ensure they're cared for.Follow this link to find out more about the impressive specifications of the Bonoch Long Range Baby Monitor and to receive a special 30% discount available only to our listeners._____________________________________________________“Sh...2023-03-2258 minPostpartum ProductionSeason 2 Preview: Embodying the Creative Caregiver, a Season of Hope and Doing the Work“I feel like I have the most internal struggle when I recognize that my work doesn't have value in a traditional sense and that my creative work and the work I do as a mother is not valued in this system. And trying to remind myself of the values of that, trying to say, Okay, I'm going to spend time today working on this literary fiction that I know will not pay our bills. Does it matter?” ~ Kaitlin SolimineI don't know, listeners. Does it matter? I'm really curious to hear how you engage with this...2023-03-0819 minPostpartum ProductionOne Moment in Time: A Special Dedication to Annabelle Kim"What an immense privilege it is to be able to put words on paper."~ Annabelle KimThis episode is a special dedication to a dear writer-mother-friend, Annabelle Kim, who passed away in September of 2021 after a battle with stage 4 cancer.Annabelle, a mother of four, was a mechanical engineer, an inventor, and a novelist. She was the author of Tiger Pelt, published by Leaf Land Press, a small independent publisher. The novel tracks two individuals' intertwined lives through the Japanese occupation of Korea, World War II and the Korean War, and it was based in pa...2023-01-1116 minPostpartum ProductionArtist Mothers Under Capitalism: Constraint, Creativity, Perseverance, and Promise**This episode is sponsored by Full Spectrum Features, a nonprofit social justice organization that uses film to inspire dialogue and create impact. They’re a Chicago-based 501(c)(3) committed to driving equity in the independent film industry by producing, exhibiting, and supporting the work of women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ filmmakers.You can find out more about Full Spectrum Features and their support of artist caregivers in this episode and on their website at fullspectrumfeatures.com as well as their Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.**—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------We’re excited to share with you this season f...2022-12-2136 minPostpartum ProductionMarginalia #1: How We Hear the World as New MothersThis episode is a quick update from Kaitlin in which she checks in with you, dear listener, and shares what’s on her mind and what creative and early postpartum challenges she’s grappling with. If you’re a regular reader of our Substack newsletter, you’ll be familiar with her “Recent Musings” section; this is an audio version of the same. And if you have no idea what we’re talking about, no need to feel left out. Go on and subscribe to the newsletter right now by following this link.Kaitlin also shares a sneak preview of sea...2022-12-0705 minPostpartum ProductionDo We Forget the Babysitter?: An Artist Residency in Motherhood, CollectivelyA wonderful resource that's come up on the podcast is the Artist Residency in Motherhood organization, which artist and mother, Lenka Clayton started in 2012. Kaitlin didn't know much about the organization until last year(2021) when a fellow writer and mother, Amanda Montei mentioned it in a class of hers Kaitlin was taking, and then alerted the class of a Facebook group that was spawned out of this residency.Kaitlin joined the group and was linked up with a Bay Area group of caregiver artists whose work runs in and around topics of motherhood and art in the modern...2022-11-3026 minPostpartum ProductionOut of the Shadows: Emily Midorikawa on the Condition of Women’s Voices in Victorian Times“There's a tendency when talking about narratives of female empowerment to want historical figures to be wholly good or wholly villainous. And I think there's not always enough opportunity to look at people [for whom] maybe it's a bit more of a grey area, perhaps— they're complicated. They did some things that we could admire and maybe some are not so admirable. To me, that wasn't really an issue. They were still fascinating figures.” ~ Emily MidorikawaEmily Midorikawa is the author of Out of the Shadows: Six Visionary Victorian Women in Search of a Public Voicepublished by Counter...2022-11-0943 minPostpartum Production“The Good Mother”: Namrata Poddar on the Emotional Labor of the Caregiver-Artist Bind“I'm still trying to make sense of a culture of caregiving that ‘good mothers’ are good caregivers…A ‘good mother’ is someone who doesn't question or resist caregiving, whereas men are never socialized into that narrative.”Namrata PoddarNamrata Poddar writes fiction and non-fiction, is an editor for Kweli journal and teaches literature and writing at UCLA. Her work has appeared in several publications including Poets & Writers, Literary Hub, Longreads, The Kenyon Review, and The Best Asian Short Stories. Her debut novel, Border Less, was a finalist for Feminist Press’s Louise Meriwether Prize, and is longlisted for The Center of Fict...2022-10-2649 minPostpartum ProductionFractured Time: Writing and Reading Poetry During Motherhood with Nancy Reddy and Emily Pérez"I think of all the arts, poetry is a really good one to pair with motherhood, because you can do something that feels complete in the fractured time you have, and then you can revise it in fractured time." ~ Emily PérezHave you ever been at a conference, totally energized and excited, but you leave and have lost all that momentum?Thankfully, this was not the experience for poets Nancy Reddy and Emily Pérez. They shared in a panel conversation at a writing conference, then took all of the energy and support they re...2022-10-1250 minPostpartum ProductionAnother Happy Day: Exploring Postpartum and Filmmaking with Nora Fiffer“When I became a mother and the work deepened and changed, part of that was because if you're gonna spend the time on a project, it better be worth it. It better be important.”~ Nora FifferNora Fiffer is a writer, director, actor, and producer based in Chicago and New Hampshire. In New Hampshire, Nora co-founded Firelight Theater Workshop, dedicated to creating innovative theater experiences. Nora is currently working on her debut feature film, Another Happy Day, planned to release in 2023.In this episode, Kaitlin and Nora discussed how she has navigated postpartum and he...2022-09-2845 minPostpartum ProductionErika Lee Sears is Capturing This Cultural Moment Through her Oil Paintings"When I think about my work in particular, I fall on creative journey. I really think about my creativity and what I wanna be making and what ideas excite me. But I also think about - what are the daily moments that are around us? What are we capturing as creatives? As writers, we are kind of historians of our time. We are dictating what is happening around us all the time. We are the people on the streets that are deciding what's gonna be a moment in time. Our fingerprint on the world that's gonna be left for...2022-09-1439 minPostpartum ProductionBalancing Parenthood and Writing Roles: MM De Voe Builds Communities to Help Caregivers Stay Creative After Having Kids“If you try to balance your writing career against your parenting as though it's on a scale, like, ‘I'm balancing my life like a scales of justice scale, and there's only these two things and one goes up and the other goes down’--If you try to do that, you are guaranteed to be miserable because whenever your parenting is going great, you will think that your writing is going badly. And when your writing is going great, you will feel like your parenting is going badly. And that is not how one should look at life.”~ MM De VoeJoin K...2022-08-3141 minPostpartum ProductionSara Petersen’s Writing Holds a Mirror to Momfluencer Culture and American Motherhood“Motherhood makes us all so insecure and vulnerable as it is. It's just an innately vulnerable experience that's just rife for feeling bad about yourself or feeling unsure about your choices. We're just ‘onslaughted’ with so many people—most of them strangers—that we're just constantly consuming other people's renditions of motherhood.And it's dizzying in terms of feeling comfortable and solid with your own decisions.”~ Sara PetersenMomfluencers on social media are pervasive in today's culture, with focuses on everything from fashion, to parenting philosophies, to humor. It's interesting to see the impact of per...2022-08-1743 minPostpartum ProductionAt Home and in Concert: A Mother’s Relationship With Time, Musical Work Spaces, and Shifting Identities with Heather Powell“How fun would it be to have a space where the kids could be kids and we could mother them, but we could also do our creative work with each other?! I don't know what that would look like, but it sounds like a world that I would love to inhabit.” ~ Heather PowellIn this episode, Kaitlin talks with Heather Powell about the guilt that comes to surface when balancing motherhood and more specifically, about how she balances her value of creating musical/live art with that of being a parent to one child, with anoth...2022-08-0341 minPostpartum ProductionFinding Flow: Dani Rowe Talks About Dance, Choreography, and Motherhood“Becoming a mother gave me this drive and confidence. I felt like I had a voice and that I felt ready to be that person that was at the front of the room, having those ideas, using my imagination, and attempting to communicate that to a whole room of dancers.”~ Dani RoweKaitlin talks with Choreographer and filmmaker, Dani Rowe about her transition to motherhood and how that impacted her career as a whole. Dani started out as a dancer from very early on in her life, with her first professional role at age 17...2022-07-2037 minPostpartum ProductionLived Experiences Shape Fiction with Vanessa HuaAs writers, we are always bringing so much into the work that is not just that time that you're sitting at your desk, or wherever it is that you work.Join us as Kaitlin talks with Vanessa Hua, an award-winning columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, and the author of the national bestseller A River of Stars (https://www.amazon.com/River-Stars-Novel-Vanessa-Hua/dp/0399178783). She wrote, and most recently published a novel Forbidden City (http://www.vanessahua.com/forbidden-city ).Vanessa and Kaitlin met in 2009 at the Breadloaf Writers conference in Middlebury, Vermont, and continued their writerly...2022-07-0631 minPostpartum ProductionWork In Progress: A New Model of Being a Mother and an Artist with K. Lorraine GrahamIn this episode, Kaitlin talks with K. Lorraine Graham about the process—versus the production—of art, and the unfinished work of art and parenting. They also delve into what it means to be forever in postpartum.Lorraine makes poems and texts that sometimes manifest as drawings, games and performances. She is the author of The Rest Is Censored, Terminal Humming and a recent chaplet of new work from Belladonna. Her work appears in Flarf: An Anthology of Flarf, Omniverse, and Postmodern Culture.Lorraine and Kaitlin talk about:How the different phases of depression/depr...2022-06-2242 minPostpartum ProductionPart II - Seeing Yourself in Your Child: Katherine Duclos has Learned More About Herself and her Art Through Raising a Neurodivergent Son"I didn't know that I would learn so much about who I am by being a mother, figuring out how to mother somebody who's just like me in the ways that I wish I were better. He mirrors the hard parts; mirrors the parts that have been really difficult for me to manage my whole life.”~ Katherine DuclosIn part 2 of this 2-part episode with Katherine Duclos, Kaitlin and Katherine talk about Katherine’s relationship with her neurodivergent son, and how his diagnosis has shone a light on who she is as a person, a mother, and an artist....2022-06-1540 minPostpartum ProductionPart 1 - Making Space for Art: How Katherine Duclos Transforms Everyday Objects of Motherhood into Artistic PracticeIn this episode, Kaitlin talks with Katherine Duclos. A New England native that Kaitlin has known since their high-school days, Katherine is a prolific artist who received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from Pratt Institute - Brooklyn, NY in 2012. She then moved with her family from New York City to Vancouver, BC where she maintains an active multi-media studio practice delving into concepts of motherhood, identity, neurodivergence, materiality, and more. Episode 3 is a 2-part installation, and in this first part, Katherine and Kaitlin talk about:How Katherine has navigated her growth as an artist through t...2022-06-0844 minPostpartum ProductionPostpartum as a Catalyst: Becoming a Mother Cracked Open Jackie Leonard’s Creative Possibilities"I've heard the expression that people are cracked open when they give birth, and for me, I think I just felt so jarred by this birth that happened in a way that I didn't understand and wanted to make sense of. I felt like there were a lot of things that happened in my personal life at the time that were a lot for me to hold inside. And since I was a young child and could write, that's been the way that I am able to make sense of what's happening in my life. And so it was...2022-05-2549 minPostpartum ProductionRedefining Motherhood’s Worth Through Art with Memoirist Sarah Chaves"I put so much pressure on myself to produce when I was pregnant. Just because there was that end date of Ooh, baby will finally come out into the world but also like this end of a chapter in my life where I would be able to produce as widely or as efficiently before I actually had the baby. So that was probably my biggest challenge during pregnancy."~ Sarah ChavesIn this episode, Kaitlin is joined by Sarah Chaves. Sarah is a first-generation Portuguese-American author, mom and educator whose work has appeared in The New York Times...2022-05-1139 minPostpartum ProductionIntroducing the Postpartum Production Podcast with Kaitlin Solimine"Postpartum is really about a constant period of identity transformation, and exploring every challenge and possibility that comes with that massive life transition.”~ Kaitlin SolimineWelcome to our corner of the world. This is the Postpartum Production Podcast. In this podcast, you’ll hear from artists like novelists, painters, filmmakers, choreographers, and more who are mothers and caregivers. Join us every other week as we unpack concepts like: What is postpartum? What does it mean to be a mother and an artist in a capitalist society? How do we stay relevant and visi...2022-05-0309 min
Mother WriterWhy Mothers Deserve Better with Kailtin SolimineKaitlin Solimine, writer and Motherscope contributor, is on the show today. I was introduced to Kaitlin through a mutual friend and I’ve always been captivated with the way she incorporates her advocacy for moms into her creative writing. She challenges the convention and structures that have held mothers back in the past and most likely the future too. This episode will get you thinking about your role as a mother, especially in this capitalistic world we all live in. Visit this episode's blog post here: https://motherscope.com/podcast/why-mothers-deserve-better-with-kailtin-solimine 2021-10-2633 min
GrottoPodEpisode 39: Kaitlin Solimine’s Glimpse Into ChinaKaitlin Solimine thought her future would be in international business -- until a high-school Mandarin class changed the course of her life. Two decades later, this former exchange student, East Asian Studies major, Harvard-Yenching scholar and U.S.2017-10-3155 min
I Found This Great BookAnna Redmond - The Golden Arrow - Hippo Reads A country going through a massive regime change, a shadowy figure who rules the country, two children of an aristocratic family who have two very different visions for the future, this is just part of the fantastic world Anna Redmond builds in her novel "The Golden Arrow". A story of political and religious intrigue set in a wonderfully detailed fantasy world. We discuss how Anna came to write "The Golden Arrow" Anna gives a brief description of the story (No Spoilers) Anna shares how she built the rich world of "The Golden Arrow" We talk...2017-09-1536 min
I Found This Great BookKaitlin Solimine - Empire of GlassIn "Empire of Glass", Kaitlin Solimine draws upon the stories share by her "Chinese father" during her frequent trips to China as an exchange student and Fulbright Fellow. The book follows the lives of Baba and Li-Ming as they survive the dramatic changes that occurred between the 1950s and 1990s in China. A story that captures how a family's love endures through challenges that would break most people. Kaitlin paints her story on the canvas of change that occurred in China during this time period. Kaitlin Solimine makes use of an interesting technique with footnotes t...2017-07-0147 min
Litquake's Lit CastNatashia Deón and Kaitlin Solimine: Litquake's Lit Cast Episode 71Lit Cast presents this live recording featuring novelist Natashia Deón and journalist Kaitlin Solimine at Litquake's Epicenter series. This conversation discusses Natashia's debut release, GRACE, from Counterpoint Press. The New York Times says, "Ms. Deón is not merely another new author to watch. She has delivered something whole, and to be reckoned with, right now." Co-presented by Green Apple Books, and recorded live at Alamo Drafthouse in San Francisco. https://www.facebook.com/litquake/ https://twitter.com/Litquake2016-07-191h 03
UCSD New Writing SeriesMFA Graduating Class: Courtney Kilian, John Pluecker and Kaitlin SoliminePerformed May 18, 2011MFA Graduating Class: Courtney Kilian, John Pluecker and Kaitlin Solimine2001-05-191h 16