Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos's Blog, page 12

Investigative Journalists Need Your Help

Oy. Breathing. It is such an overlooked but critical function for, well, doing just about anything. An upper respiratory infection the past several weeks has left me fantasizing about big, deep, delicious, clear, gentle breaths moving easily in and out. Until that happens the blog post ideas rattling around in my head will have to wait until my immune system kicks it up a notch. Meanwhile, I’ve had several requests from journalists about important projects that need your help. Share, won’t you — via your blogs, Twitter and other social media platforms of choice? Fellow Americans First up: I’ve exchanged

The post Investigative Journalists Need Your Help appeared first on Silent Sorority.

Two Wiser Women On Society and Motherhood

  Welcome to all on the virtual book tour for Life Without Baby: Surviving and Thriving When Motherhood Doesn’t Happen.  (Don’t have your copy yet? You can get one here. Don’t worry, we’ll wait…) ~~ Right. Let’s get to it, shall we? Author Lisa Manterfield has done a tremendous service for those grappling with this question: “What if I never get to be a mother?” Smart, resourceful and deeply thoughtful, Lisa turned her search for an answer into a book that will undoubtedly benefit many. Take it from one who learned the hard way: you could not fashion a better guide. Are We There Yet? Impatient as hell in 2010,

The post Two Wiser Women On Society and Motherhood appeared first on Silent Sorority.

Our Modern Day Betty Friedan Moment

  Is this all? Those three little words — Betty Friedan’s simple question — went on to define an era. Her book, The Feminine Mystique, arrived on February 19, 1963.  Per The New York Times Back Story: When she wrote the book, Ms. Friedan was a suburban housewife and mother who penned freelance articles for women’s magazines. She had become disillusioned by the conventional wisdom that all women needed to be happy was a husband, a home and a family. 53 years later many of us are experiencing a life that is the polar opposite of Betty Friedan and her peers. Since we find ourselves on very different paths,

The post Our Modern Day Betty Friedan Moment appeared first on Silent Sorority.

Male Call: The Head Cannot Heal the Heart

Editor’s Note: When it comes to matters of the heart, there’s nothing quite so comforting and validating as discovering you’re not alone in teasing out complicated emotions. Whether in the blogosphere or in society as a whole male voices are in the minority on the topic of disenfranchised grief. It’s rare to hear men give voice to their feelings on involuntary childlessness or the finality of infertility. That’s just one of the reasons why this guest post from Brian Hawker — a self-described teacher, sometimes writer and bad trumpet player is so special.  Take it away, Brian… ~~ For several

The post Male Call: The Head Cannot Heal the Heart appeared first on Silent Sorority.

Treasure Trove of Truth: Blogging Infertility

Nine years ago tonight the blog Coming2Terms arrived on the scene. It started with a tentative point and click … PUBLISH. The blogosphere in 2007 was still relatively new and more than a bit wild and disordered. It seemed the perfect place to explore taboo topics. Discussion about infertility and failed fertility treatment was, indeed, not discussed in polite society. It’s not altogether different today, but then most reproductive subjects are hard to broach.  Complicating matters further in the aughts: who can forget the cultural smothering emanating from the ‘mommy movement?’  Fearful about being discovered and shunned, I wrote under the

The post Treasure Trove of Truth: Blogging Infertility appeared first on Silent Sorority.

HealthCARE vs. Health Business: True Fertility Medicine ‘Helpers’ Don’t Hide Statistics and Agendas

It’s rare that male readers weigh in on the fertility health and societal response topic. Such an occurrence introduced an added jolt to my morning coffee. More refreshing still were the “ah-has” that accompanied the insight-laden comment (a blog post unto itself really). Let’s annotate his comment further. Brian begins: Your blog reminds me of the importance of not letting hope replace reality. Immediately the famous quote from Charles Revson, founder of Revlon, popped to mind: “In the factory, we make cosmetics, in the store, we sell hope.” Revson also said, “We don’t sell lipsticks. We sell dreams.” Consider that

The post HealthCARE vs. Health Business: True Fertility Medicine ‘Helpers’ Don’t Hide Statistics and Agendas appeared first on Silent Sorority.

Many Miles Later: Culture, Medicine and Us

In my ‘gentle yoga’ class the instructor began the weekly session as she always does. She asked us to close our eyes and turn inward to focus on our breathing. In a soft voice she encouraged us to explore any places in our body that felt stuck and to direct our breath to those areas. While I engaged in my physical  inventory, breathing into those stuck places, my mind also gently skipped across a series of conversations, written exchanges and snippets of ideas that had been haphazardly parked.  This blog post is an attempt to dislodge some of them and

The post Many Miles Later: Culture, Medicine and Us appeared first on Silent Sorority.

Did the Fertility Industry Underwrite Latest IVF Study?

A new IVF study caught my attention just before powering down for Christmas. As much as I wanted to coast into the holidays and give my blog a rest, I couldn’t get this headline in The New York Times out of my head: With In Vitro Fertilization, Persistence Pays Off ‘Pays off’ that’s a nice play on words, isn’t it? IVF persistence pays off for whom? Fertility clinic owners and the pharmaceutical reps selling IVF cycles, that’s for darned sure. As I mused on it further it occurred to me that maybe the headline writer was auditioning for a job

The post Did the Fertility Industry Underwrite Latest IVF Study? appeared first on Silent Sorority.

2015 Cultural Beacons: Amy Schumer, Frances Barden …

Inspired by the roundups that appear this time of year, it seemed only fitting that the Finally Heard / Silent Sorority blog and its readership weigh in. Let’s put our heads together and make a 2015 list of standouts. The contenders? New cultural beacons, particularly women, challenging conventional wisdom. Where to look? We’ll cast a wide net. They can be found either in real life society or portrayed in TV series, books or films.  I’ll get us started with my top five cultural picks. First up category… All Around Awesome Woman My nomination: Amy Schumer Who doesn’t adore how this

The post 2015 Cultural Beacons: Amy Schumer, Frances Barden … appeared first on Silent Sorority.

Comprenez-Vous? Oui. We Understand Each Other

On so many levels society today seems remarkably chaotic. Misunderstandings, loaded labels and dark suspicions are rampant. It seems we can all benefit from taking a step back and recalling some of what we share in common. Let’s look at the universality of confronting fertility challenges — both the personal as well as societal response. Some experiences transcend language and culture. This blog alone has had 54,604 unique visitors from 167 countries in the course of five years.  During that time one thing has remained clear: there is no easy or tidy resolution when an emotional tsunami remakes the landscape

The post Comprenez-Vous? Oui. We Understand Each Other appeared first on Silent Sorority.