Contents -- Foreword by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner 1 -- Introduction by Shari MacDonald Strong 5 -- Believe -- Motherhood Made Me Do It by Judith Stadtman Tucker 15 -- Alien by Sarah Masterson 25 -- Mom, Interrupted by Marrit Ingman 30 -- Rebel Mom by Tracy Thompson 40 -- As a Mother by Nancy Pelosi 48 -- Life Under Construction by Jennifer Margulis 50 -- Of Volcanoes and Ruins and Gardens by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza 59 -- Mothers Against Faith by Marion Winik 67 -- Well-Behaved Women by Jennifer Niesslein and Stephanie Wilkinson 70 -- the Secret Lives of Babysitters by Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser 75 -- My Bus by Karen Maezen Miller 83 -- On Receiving Notice of my Stepdaughter's Pregnancy by Mary Akers 89 -- Shown the Ropes by J. Anderson Coats 94 -- In Albania by Mona Gable 101 -- Teach -- Twists in the Plot by Jennifer Brisendine 111 -- First-Grade Values by Susie Bright 124 -- How to make a Democrat from Scratch by Stephanie Losee 129 -- Revolution on Your Skin by Susan Ito 135 -- Because I'm Not Dead by Ona Gritz 138 -- Making a Minyan in Vermont by Nina Gaby 147 -- The Making of a Scholar by Vera Landry 155 -- Chubby Cheeks, Dimpled Chin by Margaret McConnell 164 -- Mothering in Real Time by Jane Hammons 174 -- All-Consumed by Alisa Gordaneer 181 -- Playground Prophets by Carolyn Alessio 189 -- Girl-shy by Kris Malone Grossman 194 -- A Letter to my Daughter at Thirteen by Barbara Kingsolver 201 -- Act -- The Maternal is Sustainable by Rebecca Walker 219 -- Politics of the Heart by Jennifer Graf Groneberg 225 -- Campaign Confidential by Ann Douglas 230 -- One Hundred and Twenty-Five Miles by Amy L. Jenkins 240 -- The Mean Moms by Helaine Olen 243 -- One Day by Benazir Bhutto 250 -- Trying Out by Gayle Brandeis 253 -- Good Riddance, Attention Whore by Cindy Sheehan 260 -- Adoption in III Acts by Kathy Briccett 264.

Performing Mother Activism by Beth Osnes 280 -- Pregnant in New York by Anna Quindlen 285 -- The Born by Anne Lamott 289 -- Signora by Gigi Rosenberg 293 -- Raising Small Boys in a Time of War by Shari MacDonald Strong 298 -- the Mother is Standing by Denise Roy 309 -- Peace March Sans Children by Valerie Weaver-Zercher 314 -- Acknowledgments -- About the Contributors -- About the Editor.