I wrote a book about how neuroscience is rewriting the story of parenthood. But stories are living things, passed between us. They don’t really change unless the people telling them do. This is a place to explore the stories we tell ourselves and each other about who we are—as parents and as people at large—and to dig into the science that challenges and affirms those stories.
Between Us is an occasional newsletter exploring the parental brain, sex and gender, the culture of caregiving, public policy, health care and the nature of storytelling. All subscribers receive the first chapter of my book, Mother Brain: How Neuroscience Is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood, sent to their inbox.
Why trust me?
I’m learning to parent two great kids on the fly. And, I’m a really good listener—a skill honed over the two decades I’ve been a journalist.
I started my career at the small but mighty Concord Monitor in New Hampshire, where I discovered my love for narrative writing. I wrote about health care as a staff reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Boston Globe, and I was part of the Globe staff that won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news, for coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings. For three years, I led the features report at the Portland Press Herald in Maine, where I edited weekly sections on arts and entertainment, books, food, and sustainable living. My writing also has been published by The New York Times, Mother Jones, Politico, the Boston Sunday Globe magazine, National Journal, The Week, ParentMap, and WBUR. I have been a fellow with the Poynter Institute, the National Library of Medicine and the Health Coverage Fellowship led by writer Larry Tye.
My book, Mother Brain: How Neuroscience Is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood, was published in 2022 by Holt. It weaves together the science of the parental brain with the cultural history of parenthood and stories from lots of people who have experienced the turmoil of new parenthood, including my own. The writing and reporting of Mother Brain was supported by a generous grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Public Understanding of Science and Technology Program. An excerpt ran on the cover of The New York Times Sunday Opinion section and caused a stir.
In short, I’m good at translating difficult topics, and I’m motivated to tell these stories, because I need them too.
