The subject was not broached again until I met Al Larkin, then Sunday Magazine editor at the Boston Globe in early 1982. Al talked me into writing a Mother’s Day piece, which the Philadelphia Inquirer was kind enough to run simultaneously, since Ma was living in Philly at the time. The public response to the piece was so overwhelming I decided to delve further, partly to get out of working for a living and partly to expel some of my own demons regarding my brown skin, curly hair, and divided soul. I asked Mommy if she would be interested in doing a book and she said no.
