Modern Families

The New Global Family

4 years ago, sitting in a park in my neighborhood I struck up a conversation with another mom, a virtual stranger who had 2 biological sons with her lesbian life partner.  Our small talk took an unexpected turn and suddenly we found ourselves clinging to each other’s stories like hurricane survivors in a life raft.  She had endured countless stares, unsolicited advice and an intrusive and heartbreaking exchange with a stranger in a diner in the very “PC” upper west side of Manhattan.  A woman stopped at her table, pointed at her and suggested she might be the “father” of her baby.  We laughed, even cried a little and that moment changed my life.  I realized that, as a single mother to an adopted child of another race, this woman and I shared a deep bond.  Different as we might be in other ways, we were both pioneers in a new, American family model.

This realization found creative form in a book proposal where I had intended to interview countless “non-traditional” parents – gay, single, trans-racial, adoptive.  In the midst of this journalistic frenzy something quite wonderful and miraculous happened.  A chance meeting with a friend on the street directed me and my newfound mission to a friend of hers, Catherine Wayland, who was actually putting together a magazine, International Family Magazine, for people like me.  I had no idea how that innocent interchange would enrich my life.  Catherine has become not only a cherished friend, but a creative lifeline who has allowed me to spin my pain into gold.  She has given Zoe and I a home in print and, for that, I will be eternally grateful.

A Profile in Divorce
April 2009

How Did I Get Here
March 2009

Taking on the Disney Channel
February 2009

What's Wrong with this Picture?
January 2009

Change Has Come. And the Struggle Continues...
December 2008

The Reading Relay Race
September 2008

The Glue That Holds a Family Together…
August 2008

A New Wave
July 2008

Partnership or Parenthood?
June 2008

Agwera Margaret
May 2008

The New Global Family, Ours and Yours
April 2008

Zoe's Siblings - Thicker Than Blood
March 2008

"Priceless"
May 2007

Mommy, I'm Brown and Beautiful
May 2006

More New Global Family writers and stories.