Finally—and this is a compliment, they will understand—if I were sent to hell, these are the companions I would take with me…Keep it flamin’, my Mother on Fire sistahs (and brothahs) from the Cool Baby group and beyond…Madames Tanya Anton, Dorit Dowler-Guerrero, Martha Little, Christie “Martinis and Magnets” Mellor, Susan Nickerson, Joanne Palmer, the mothers of PART (including Kelly Kane, Forouzan Faridian, Marie Murphy), the parents of PEN (including Chris Brandow and Kristin Maschka), Erika Schickel, Mara and Mark Schoner, Jody Shipper, Maria von Hartz, Spike Dolomite Ward, Ann Wexler, Anji Williams, Angel Zobel-Rodriguez…and a last huzzah to LAUSD mom and all-around gem Julia Sweeney (Not afraid to feed us: Jake at Mao’s Kitchen)!
And in conclusion (picture very tiny letters now rolling, miniature stagecoach disappearing over the horizon), a big smackeroo to Mike Miller, Man of Steel to my Mother on Fire to my girls, and to my favorite South Dakotan mother-in-law Bernice…
And one last bursting-fireworks, raspberry-to-the-man, in loving memory of a true friend and a good writer, she flames forever on the Internet, Cathy Seipp.
The end!
About the Author
Sandra Tsing Loh is a writer/performer whose solo shows include Mother on Fire (which ran for seven months in Los Angeles at 24th St. Theatre), Sugar Plum Fairy, I Worry, and Aliens in America and Bad Sex with Bud Kemp, which both premiered off-Broadway at Second Stage.
She has been a regular commentator on NPR’s Morning Edition and on Ira Glass’s This American Life. Currently, KPCC (89.3 FM in Los Angeles) broadcasts her daily segment, “The Loh Down on Science,” and her weekly segment, “The Loh Life.” American Public Media’s Marketplace broadcasts her monthly segment, “The Loh Down.” She is a contributing editor for The Atlantic Monthly and was twice a finalist for the National Magazine Award.
Her books include A Year in Van Nuys; Aliens in America; Depth Takes a Holiday: Essays from Lesser Los Angeles; and a novel, If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home by Now.
Visit her Web site at sandratsingloh.com.
Also by Sandra Tsing Loh
A Year in Van Nuys
If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home by Now
Depth Takes a Holiday
Aliens in America
Copyright © 2008 by Sandra Tsing Loh
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
CROWN and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Loh, Sandra Tsing.
Mother on fire / Sandra Tsing Loh.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Loh, Sandra Tsing. 2. Authors, American—20th century—Biography. 3. Authors, American—21st century—Biography. 4. Middle-aged women—United States—Biography. 5. Middle-aged mothers—United States—Biography. 6. Midlife crisis—Humor. I. Title.
PS3562.O459Z46 2008
818’.6—dc22 2008000496
[B]
eISBN: 978-0-307-44974-0
v1.0
Mother on Fire: A True Motherf%#$@ Story About Parenting! Page 29
