Page 8 - Jewish News_January-2021

8A January 2021 FEDERATION NEWS

People of the Book...continued from page 7A
framed as catalog notes from a photog- stances leading up to their pregnancies
raphy show at the Museum of Modern and their decision to terminate those
Art, though none of Preston’s photo- pregnancies. As a child of the Roe v
graphs appear in the book. It is a por- Wade era, I knew intellectually that
trait of a mother and artist dedicated, it was difficult and often traumatic to
ultimately, to a vision of beauty, truth seek an abortion before 1973, but these
and authenticity. essays made the issue very real in a
What or who inspired you to way that I knew had to be an important
write this book? part of any book I wrote about female
This book began when my two ambition.
daughters were coming up through At the time I began writing the
elementary school and book, one Presiden-
I was struggling to bal- tial administration ago,
ance my artistic ambi- I felt I was writing
tions with my parenting about this from a his-
aspirations. I set out to torical perspective, but
find examples of bril- the past four years of
liant artists who were the Trump administra-
also great parents, with- tion have made it very
out much success. I clear that the issue of
don’t know why I was reproductive rights is
drawn in particular to current, and that histo-
photographers, except ry is repeating itself. I
that I’ve always been want Feast Your Eyes
a visual person, and Myla Goldberg to help make abortion
it was perhaps easier to find biogra- something that people start talking
phies of female visual artists than fe- about, to normalize it as a topic of con-
male writers. There were plenty of versation, and remove the stigma and
bios of artistic men, of course, but secrecy that still surround it almost 50
their parenting skills were never ex- years after its legalization.
actly a feature of their biographies. At What did you learn about your-
one extreme, I learned about Dorothea self by writing this book?
Lange, who gave her two sons to oth- Writing this book was a way for
er people to raise for four years while me to explore the parenting/ambi-
she traveled the country taking her tion issue on an intellectual level as
canonical WPA (Works Progress Ad- well as a personal one, in an attempt
ministration) photographs. On the flip to achieve some sort of balance of my
side, I learned about Sally Mann, who own. I’ve come out the other side with
chose to integrate her children into her the opinion that it’s extremely difficult
art, resulting in a series of beautifully to be both a spectacular artist and a
executed portraits that stirred up a lot spectacular parent, but not necessar-
of trouble and heartache for her and her ily impossible. It’s just that bios tend
children. to get written about people with inter-
What message does your book
esting (i.e. dramatic or dysfunctional)
2020-2021
TORCH convey about the times in which we lives and not people who quietly go
TO
R
H
C
about their business. I’ve also come to
live?
realize that being a parent and being
In the course of my reading about
O
N
S
S
P
O
R
S
SPONSORS countered a book called The Choices thy involved in parenting makes me a
women who came before me, I en-
an artist go hand in hand. The empa-
We Made, an anthology collecting
better artist, and the creativity involved
personal essays by successful women
in being an artist makes me a better
writing about their illegal abortions. I
was struck by the sheer number of parent.
To register for People of the
accomplished and ambitious women Book events, visit jfedsrq.org/books.
(like Grace Paley, Rita Moreno, Ursula For more information, contact Jere-
Le Guin, Whoopi Goldberg) who had my Lisitza at jlisitza@jfedsrq.org or
illegal abortions, and by the circum- 941.343.2113.
tz
die and David Chaif
E
Edie and David Chaifetz
e
eon R. and M
L
gar
t M. Ellin
e
ar
Leon R. and Margaret M. Ellin ADULTS
Debbie and Larry Haspel
Debbie and L arry H aspel CHARITY CULTURE
R osen thal R oo ts F amily F oundation
Rosenthal Roots Family Foundation
t
S
Sylvia and Norman Samet KIDS JEWISH
ylvia and N
orman Same
Bunn y and M ort ( (z”l) Skirboll CALENDAR
Bunny and Mort Skirboll
z”l)
H adassah and M artin S tr obel OF EVENTS Your Hub
Hadassah and Martin Strobel
tulber
g
ois S
Lois Stulberg IN SARASOTA for Jewish Events
L
AND MANATEE
LEARN
( and help fund crucial services for people in need here ( FAMILY
We offer our very deep appreciation
to our 2020-21 Season Torch Sponsors!
They support our Federation’s efforts to bring
quality events and programs to our local community
in Sarasota-Manatee, in Israel and around the world. JFEDSRQ.org/JewishEvents
*As of 10/11/20