Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (JMI - York University)

Martel, Sheila

Book Reviews 
ences of four fathers (out of the 40 parents) who share in their children's care. 
Interestingly, she shows how health care professionals reinforce gender expec- 
tations by emphasizing mother and daughter competence in managing chronic 
illness. 
Parenting Your Parents: 
Support Strategies for Meeting the Challenges 
of Aging in the Family 
Bart Mindszenthy and Michael Gordon 
Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2002 
Reviewed by Sheila Martel 
The realistic vignettes included in Parenting Your Parents describe probable 
situations and offer resolutions for adult chidren (an unsatisfactory term) 
caring for aging parents. Among the family situations presented, many are 
neither easy nor do they end happily. Chapter three, for example, illustrates the 
need to carefully consider all ramifications of encouraging elderly parents to 
relocate. 
The book is enhanced by the authors' own stories of caring for elderly 
parents. A Personal Parenting Planner poses many key questions and a resource 
guide that follows is excellent. It offers a complete list of resources at both 
national and provincial levels. 
Elderly divorced parents are missing from the family compositions pre- 
sented. Certainly, our chidren will be dealing with elderly parents who are 
divorced, and who might live at great distances from one another. Moreover, 
differing viewpoints and attitudes toward the very issue of caring for elderly 
parents requires further discussion. Some adults simply will not accept respon- 
sibility for their elderly parents. This is undoubtedly rocky terrain for siblings 
who disagree over their individual and collective obligations toward their 
aging/ill parents. 
It would seem that reversing the roles-turning grown children into 
"parents"-is simplistic and unrealistic. Although the authors did not invent 
this paradigm, it begs reassessment. The authors recognize, for example, that 
the need to take time off from work can be costly to careers. (The issue of 
sacrificing career achievement and leisure time in order to care for loved ones 
is hardly new terrain for mothers, however.) Further, the book does not live up 
to the promise of its subtitle, Support Strategiesfor Meeting the Challenges of 
Aging in the Family, since explicit support for caregivers is not provided. 
Nonetheless, Mindszenthy and Gordon have succeeded in creating a reader- 
friendly primer for parent care. Parenting Your Parents is an excellent starting 
point for those beginning to undertake this important and complicatedjourney. 
208 1 Volume 6, Number 1 


English

Parenting Your Parents: Support Strategies for Meeting the Challenges of Aging in the Family

Buydens, Norma

Book Reviews 
Lost Ground: 
Welfare Reform, Poverty and Beyond 
Randy Albeda and Ann Withorn, eds. 
Cambridge: South End Press, 2002 
Reviewed by Norma Buydens 
In the preface to Lost Ground, Barbara Ehrenreich announces the volume's 
purpose: to expose the "racism and misogyny" (vii) behind the Personal 
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 - the latest 
American federal welfare reform - in time for the 2002 debate over its 
reauthorization. Ehrenreich writes of the "coded messages" stigmatizing 
welfare recipients as promiscuous African American single mothers, the 
renewal of the term "illegitimacy" for nonmarital births, and claims that African 
American men have been "cuckolded by female-headed welfare families (vii- 
viii). But PRWORA is also "class warfare" in its punitive requirements that any 
workoffered must be accepted by single mothers on welfare, even i f  dangerous, 
abusive or poorly pa id  (ix) and too low paying to take families out of poverty: 
T o  the extent that welfare served as a shield, however inadequate, 
against the worst forms of workplace exploitation, welfare was and 
remains a class issue. Racism and misogyny helped blind many to this 
fact six years ago when welfare reform was passed, but we cannot let 
that happen again. (X) 
The book, titled as an answer to neoliberal stereotyping in Charles 
Murray's 1984 Losing Ground:American SocialPolicy 1950-1 980, is intended by 
editors Randy Albeda and Ann Withorn as a space for "well-known progressive 
writers and activists" to respond to PRWORA with "ways for shifiing the 
ground upon which to respond to poverty" (1). 
Does Lost Ground succeed in its purpose? Not quite. The scholars and 
activist contributors-social historian Linda Gordon, activist lawyer Lucie E. 
White, critical race sociologist Kenneth J. Neubeck, black feminist activist 
Linda Burnham, urban activist sociologist James Jennings, economist Sanford 
F. Schram, political scientist Joe Soss, poverty activist Mimi Abramovitz, and 
feminist activist Gwendolyn Mink, among others-are extremely well-re- 
garded. The volume's description of PRWORA's legislative history and 
practical application is sound and detailed. But there is something missing, 
something needed for Lost Ground to be a viable weapon. 
Rather than defend the image of poor people, Lost Ground should be 
holding the U.S. government accountable for its second-class treatment of 
citizens. W i l e  Sanford Schram and Joe Soss, in "Success Stories: Welfare 
Journal ofthe Association for Research on Mothering 1 209 
Book Reviews 
Reform, Policy Discourse, and the Politics of Research," understand that the 
current situation is based on an ideological framework which poverty advocacy 
fails to meaningfully confront because "researchers expended great effort 
identifying the typical duration of participationn and "focused on work effort 
. . . and poor people's behaviors" "[tlo distinguish myths from realities," they do 
not supply the structural questions they claim are essential to the investigation 
into welfare. 
In the context ofa badlaw such as P R W O M ,  someone needs to announce 
that "the emperor has no clothes." But no one does in Lost Ground. Gwendolyn 
Mink's "Violating Women: Rights Abuses in the Welfare Police State," the 
only article to adopt a consistently angry tone, comes closest to scrutinizing the 
state for its harmful doing. Mink attacks the use of welfare to implement 
patriarchal ideology by requiring father-headship of families and punishing 
childbearing outside of marriage. 
In many ways, Mink has the easiest argument to prove. The Act states 
baldly in its purposive sections that "marriage is the foundation of a successful 
society" and "the purpose ofwelfare must be . . . to 'end the dependence ofneedy 
parents on government benefits by promoting . . . marriage', 'prevent and reduce 
. .. out-of-wedlock pregnancies' and 'encourage the formation and maintenance 
of two-parent families"' (98, quoting U.S. Public Law 104-193, Title I). 
Childbearing and the right to raise one's own children are individual human 
rights, not to be attacked on grounds of gender or racial discrimination. They 
are also rights of "national, ethnical, racial or religious groups," the groups 
protected under the Genocide Convention. 
A useful book, Lost Ground contains invaluable information for women 
(especially mothers), minorities, and the poor, and for those who care about 
these citizen groups. Regrettably, however, it does not fulfill its own important 
mandate. 
A Question of David: 
A Disabled Mother's Journey Through Adoption, 
Family and Life 
Denise Sherer Jacobson 
Berkeley: Creative Arts Book Company, 1999 
Reviewed by Shelley M. Park 
In A Question ofDavid, Denise Sherer Jacobson recounts the events and 
emotions surrounding the adoption of her son, David. David is classified as a 
"special needs" baby because of his potential cerebral palsy. Whiie it is never 
clear to the reader whether David has been misdiagnosed (he becomes an active 
210 ( Volume 6, Number 1 


Lost Ground: Welfare Reform, Poverty and Beyond

Langan, Debra

Using Mothering at Work: Embracing the Contradictions of Pedagogy and Practice

Greaves, Lorraine

Pederson, Ann

Varcoe, Colleen

Poole, Nancy

Morrow, Marina

Johnson, Joy

Irwin, Lori

Mothering Under Duress: Women Caught in a Web of Discourses

Connolly, Kate

Book Reviews 
ground their study in new psychological models of child development and the 
neurobiology of attachment. They show how early relational trauma and 
disturbed attachment can alter brain development, disturb emotion regulation 
and cognitive processing, and cause relational difficulties. Through a three- 
phase model of intervention that addresses safety/stabilization, symptom 
reductionlmemory work, and developmental skills, the authors offer an alter- 
native to drug therapy for children who suffer from the complex effects of 
trauma, abuse, and neglect. 
Stein and Kendall emphasize that troubled children must develop emo- 
tional intelligence and problem-solving skills as tools for coping with and 
overcoming the effects of trauma. They also discuss the need for adequate 
public health policies and resources that challenge mental health professionals 
to look beyond chiildren and their families to find innovative solutions to the 
legacy of psychological trauma and childhood abuse. 
Psychological Trauma and the Developing Brain is a useful resource for 
professionals working in the field of children's mental health. 
I Writing: The Politics and Practice of Teaching 
First-Person Writing 
Karen Surman Paley 
Carbondale: Southern Illinois Press, 2001 
Reviewed by Kate Connolly 
Certified to teach English, and having served as Director of Freshman English 
and Writing at Loyola Maryrnount University in Los Angeles, Karen Surman 
Paley reports on an ethnographic study in the classrooms of two English 
composition professors. The author challenges the common perspective of 
"expressivist pedagogy as nalve, modernist, self-centered, apolitical and aso- 
cial" (139). Throughout Paley's book, the reader has the unique opportunity 
to "observen two teachers assist students in their efforts to write personal 
narratives. Through transcripts of one-to-one studendteacher conferences, 
classroom discussions, and interviews with faculty and students, Paley demon- 
strates that personal narrative courses are much more complicated and politi- 
cized than they are typically understood to be. 
Paley's main thesis is that students who are allowed to write about their 
lives make significant contributions to the culture of the academy. Through 
autobiographical narratives, persuasive discussions of social issues, and descrip- 
tive essays, private discourse can become public discourse. The key research 
question guiding Paley's ethnographic study is: how do faculty teach personal 
narrative without crossing the boundary into psychotherapy? In other words, 
how do writing teachers balance the "textual moment"-which can be assessed 
190 1 Volume 6, Number 2 
Book Reviews 
-with the "psychological moment"-which cannot be assessed? 
By observing the two teachers in their studentlteacher conferences, readers 
gain an appreciation for the delicate balance that exists between encouraging 
narrative depth and expression while offering technical writing tips. In her 
classroom, "Helena" uses a social constructionist approach that is suited to the 
socio-political topics chosen for student narratives. As a result, she finds herself 
addressing differing politicalviews on issues ofhomelessness and race. "Debby" 
adheres more closely to expressionism and enters the private psycho-social 
domain of her students. She must strike a balance between entering into a 
psychodrama and addressing technical issues such as grammar. 
I Writing is a thoughtful study it offers teachers who use narrative in the 
classroom useful ways to critiques students' work. One issue that Paley raises 
is how to grade or assess narrative essays. Due to the highly subjective nature 
of the work, which often touches on personal trauma, teachers are compelled 
to walk an ethical line between honouring student disclosure and applying the 
contract that exists between "teacher as grader" and "student as learner." More 
guidance from Paley on how to navigate this potential conflict would have been 
helpful. 
Paley's writing style engages readers. For the most part, her discussion is 
passionate, informed, and theoretically grounded. She challenges teachers who 
bring personal narrative into their classrooms to employ high ethical standards, 
and to do so with the compassion necessary to encourage students to write of 
their lives with honesty and depth. 
Assignation at Vanishing Point 
Jane Satterfield 
Denver, CO: El i i r  Press, 2003 
Reviewed by Monika Lee 
The photo on the front cover of electrical lines extending vertically into space 
is an apt metaphor for a collection of poems whose direction is consistent and 
endless. These poems, with their clean density, their elliptical messages, and 
their exploration of time as linear space reflect an intellect steeped in art, 
literature, popular culture, and philosophy. The literary echo is pervasive, but 
not intrusive. The words of Charlotte Bronte, the Velvet Underground, 
Wittgenstein, Sartre, Baudelaire, de Quincey, and many others merge at the 
vanishing point of Satterfield's anticipative voice. The vanishing point is 
paradoxical, assigned and yet forever reaching into an unattainable hture or lost 
("Archaeology"or "Stanton Moor") in an irrecuperable past. 
The poems in the first section of the volume lean backward in time. The 
voice is courageous, honest, and pondering. The purpose of the book declares 
Journal oftbe Association for Research on Mothering 1 191 


I Writing: The Politics and Practice of Teaching First-Person Writing

Diehl, Charlene

excerpts from Out of Grief, Singing

Bar-Yam, Naomi Bromberg

Nursing Mothers at Work: Corporate and Maternal Strategies to Support Lactation in the Workplace

Dever, Maryanne

Saugeres, Lise

I Forgot to Have Children! Untangling Links Between Feminism, Careers and Voluntary Childlessness

Neel, Lisa

Dentith, Audrey M.

Art and the Politics of State Control: Finding Spaces that Nurture Voice Among Homeless Women

Radbord, Joanna L.

Equality and the Law of Custody and Access