Letter from the Editor

Welcome to our Fall Edition. This is such a mystically enchanting and spooky time of the year - my favorite to be sure - and in all honesty, You Mamas always live up to the occasion. From Scary Fairies to big wooly butterflies, basement nightmares, and dreadful first words, we have here a delightfully frightful issue filled with whimsy, charm and lots of cool colors. We welcome all of our newcomers and are so grateful for all of our mainstayers. Eternal thanks to all the artists who have gifted the universe with their spectacular artwork through public domain. It pairs so well with our award-winning poets & writers - whose bios you’ll find below or with their work. They are all an amazing bunch of moms and women and I’m honored to publish them. It’s going to take awhile to get through this, so brew some tea or coffee and enjoy! You ROCK, everybody!!!

Lots of love, Darlene

Alise Hassler is a small business owner, mother, wife, very messy artist, and writer who is studying her craft at The Writer’s Studio and Berkeley’s Extension program. Her work has appeared in several editions of The Marin Poetry Center Anthology. She is inspired by sound and structure (and the lack thereof), and has a healthy addiction to South Korean Netflix dramas. You’ll find her story, “Who’s Afraid of Marie Kondo” on pages 8-9.

Paula Mahon is a practicing family physician at Health Care for Homeless in Manchester, NH. Her essays, poems & stories have been published in the Boston Globe, Light, The Lyric, The Road Not Taken, Pulse and the Potcake Chapbook ‘Strip Down–poems of modern life‘. She won The Lyric’s 2020 NE Prize for Two Points of View. She is married to Robert d’Entremont and mother to a son, Raymond, adopted from Kazakhstan. The inspiration for her poem, “Happy Birthday” is about her grandnephew’s christening, not a birthday per se. “It was just the thought that he was at the beginning of his life and there was so much to look forward to.” Since writing the poem, Paula has been blessed with 3 more grandnephews and a grandniece. Read her poem on page 33.

Desiree Simons has a BS in Education, MA in Communication and has been helping people achieve their communication goals since 1986, She has written numerous articles for magazines and newspapers, check out: desireesimons.wix.com/dscw. Simons has also written commercial copy, web content, marketing materials and reports for the non-profit sector; she has penned a humor column, “My View from the Porch” for her local paper; and she is currently teaching communications at a North Texas community college. When she’s not teaching or writing, she enjoys the company of her two adult children and her golden retriever, Dusty. She hopes to finish her novel one day but for today, you can enjoy her wonderful article, K is for Kindness on pages 14-16.