To celebrate the one year anniversary of our move from New York City to Rockland, Dan and I decided to unpack the designated non-essentials that had been stowed in boxes in a $250 per month storage space and then transported practically by circus train to our new and fabulous suburban garage. My job was to go through the myriad boxes of videos, and it was in one of these that I rediscovered a stunning documentary a friend of mine produced in 1999 about women in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. What would it be like, I wondered, to see this video again, post 9/11?

--read more >>

The 8 Most Embarrassing Things about My Mother
by Maia Swift

Excerpted from Whatever, Mom: Hip Mama's Guide to Raising a Teenager by Ariel Gore with Maia Swift . . . available now!

1. Dyes her hair every time she gets a gray--and it’s obvious.

2. Wears her own company’s T-shirts with ripped jeans and biker boots as if she’s some kind of punk revolutionary.

3. Acts like a little kid around me and my friends, like when she walks in and says, “Are we having a slumber party, Girls?!?� (I know it’s a joke, but we’re not laughing with you, Mom.)--read more >>

Excerpt from Dispatches from a Not-So-Perfect Life: Or How I Learned to
Love the House, the Man, the Child

When I became a mother, part of me thought I had to undergo a radical
personality overhaul. I had been ambitious, prone to curse, ironic, and
rebellious-- often in a rather adolescent form. None of this struck me as
mom material.

Moms, I thought, were people who were simultaneously perky and selfless.
Sure I'll head up the PTA book sale! I'd love to. They were enthusiastic
about service-- anything to help their children. They were efficient and
resourceful.--read more >>

Punk Planet says Daphne Gottlieb's work speaks to the present historical moment in a beautifully eloquent, dramatic, and everyday kind of way. Roger Corman calls her poems courageous and startling. Lynn Breedlove reports that Daphne's machete take on life leaves no one standing except us, for it's us she aims to elevate, the fucked over and the fucked up, and for that we thank her.

Final Girl
an excerpt from the new book
by Daphne Gottlieb

bikini killer

at 4, it's already clear
that mimi's going to grow
up to be one of those ladies --read more >>