Welcome to The Mom Salon
2020 was a lonely year. Maybe one of the loneliest on record. How odd has it been to partake in such a collective experience while still feeling so incredibly disconnected? Maybe not that strange at all if you call yourself a mother. Another widely collective AND isolating experience.
During these uncertain times, we cling to the glimmers of hope and connection we can find. They are there, as they have always been, and we as humans naturally seek continued opportunities to close the gaps between us.
Writing is powerful. Anytime I invite stories for my review, the writing I receive always blows me away. When I opened applications for regular paid contributors at the end of last year, I thought I’d be searching for four writers so I could publish consistently on the Motherscope blog. Thanks to the exceptional writing I encountered, and a big idea I couldn’t ignore, four turned to thirteen, and blog contributors became a team of remote writers in residence for the year.
The Mom Salon, Motherscope’s monthly print zine, was born.
The mission? Deliver stories to the homes of mothers across the globe, inviting engagement, discourse and reflection.
The impact? We get to cast our net far and wide to create a dense social circle that anyone can be a part of, regardless of where you are.
A while back, with my first, during a time when I was still feeding him in the wee morning hours, I came across an illustrated comic on social media by Paula Kuka of Common Wild. In it, a mother is pictured breastfeeding her infant in a room alone at night with “The Nights Might Feel Lonely” written above the image. The image spans out to show many homes with one room illuminated in the same way. Then even further panned out to show a world full of lights with the words, “But You Are Not Alone.”
In that season of my life, I spent what felt like hours in his nursery, bored and exhausted. I learned very quickly that new content from my favorite sites didn’t post until later in the morning, and podcast episodes often didn’t go live until later as well. After seeing this illustration, I told myself, If I start a podcast or blog, I’m going to go live in the early AM hours, as a gesture of solidarity.
It has also been important to me that everyone has access to Motherscope’s stories. The purpose of this platform is not selling magazines. Our biannual and monthly issues are beautiful and special ways to engage with the stories and art and photography that represent and broaden our understanding of motherhood. For people, like me, who love, prefer, and are able to read in print form, I always intend to provide this as an option for our publications.
It isn’t the only way to get our stories out into the world. The Mom Salon opens up an amazing opportunity to now provide you all with access to new stories each week, going live every Monday morning at 12 am PST! This great advancement in our reach is thanks to the work of our thirteen regular contributors
I consider The Mom Salon a conversation starter and companion. Our print issues each contain the stories of four to five women experiencing motherhood in their own unique ways. After each reading, you’ll find space to record your thoughts too. In essence, this is your opportunity to dialogue with a group of moms each month.
By the end of each reading, whether you are receiving these stories online or via print, I guarantee you will:
- Learn something new
- Make a connection to your own life
- Feel inspired to write a story of your own
If you are a paid Mom Salon subscriber, you also gain access to our quarterly Mom Salon Meet-Ups, another new opportunity to connect with our global Motherscope community. During our time together, we’ll discuss one of the stories featured previously, engage in discussion about the contents of the story, I’ll guide you through a writing prompt and then we’ll share a little bit of what we wrote with one another!
May each of the stories within these pages remind you that, though we may be separated, we are closer than you think.
Welcome to the Mom Salon.
