Motherhood and Literature

This is what I'd like to be working on rather than writing my uni assignments. I wish I could go. Parking this here for when I get around to doing that PhD. By then, the papers from the conference will be available as a book.

In the meantime I'm happy to be reading this, which also suggests titles for those interested in the topic. Thanks to blue milk for sharing.
http://criticalflame.org/out-of-body-reading-gender-through-womens-fiction/

CALL FOR PAPERS   INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Hosted by the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI) and Ryerson University MOTHERS, MOTHERING, AND MOTHERHOOD IN LITERATURE   (Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Life Writing, Creative   Non-Fiction, Social Media) October 22-24, 2014   Heaslip House, Ryerson University   (297 Victoria Street, Toronto)

In 1976, Adrienne Rich broke new ground with her text Of Woman Born, in which she challenged scholars to confront their tendency to avoid discussions of motherhood, observing: "We know more about the air we breathe, the seas we travel, than about the nature and meaning of motherhood." Rich's book helped to launch the academic study of mothering in literature, as evidenced by the publication of several key texts: The Lost Tradition: Mothers and Daughters in Literature (1980), Mother Puzzles: Daughters and Mothers in Contemporary American Literature (1989), Women's Fiction Between the Wars: Mothers, Daughters, and Writing (1998), This Giving Birth: Pregnancy and Childbirth in American Women's Writing (2000), and Textual Mothers, Maternal Texts (2010). The aim of this conference is to advance the study of maternal representations in literary texts throughout history, across diverse narrative genres (fiction, poetry, drama, life writing, creative non-fiction, and social media), and from various maternal perspectives (nationality, ethnicity, race, class, ability, sexuality, ability, age, etc.). Papers from a wide range of disciplines and cultural perspectives, both theoretical/scholarly and creative (stories, narrative, creative non-fiction, poetry) are highly encouraged. If you are interested in being considered as a presenter, please send a 250-word abstract and a 50-word bio by April 15, 2014 to BOTH Andrea O'Reilly: aoreilly@yorku.ca and Liz Podnieks: lpodniek@ryerson.ca ** TO SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT FOR THIS CONFERENCE, ONE MUST BE A MEMBER OF MIRCI: http://www.motherhoodinitiative.org/membership.html Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI) 140 Holland St. West, PO Box 13022, Bradford, ON, L3Z 2Y5 (905) 775-9089 http://www.motherhoodinitiative.org  info@motherhoodinitiative.org

Talking to children about leukaemia

This week my daughter's primary school is having a 'Giving Back to the Community Week'. As part of that they're having a Crazy Hair Day to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation. I offered to give a little talk at the school assembly to explain leukaemia and what the Foundation does. This is the speech I gave (with a few asides).

Hello. I’m Catherine Walsh, [name]’s mum, and I’m going to talk a little bit about leukaemia, my experience with leukaemia and what the Leukaemia Foundation does.

What is leukaemia?

We think of blood as red. It looks red. But actually there are different parts of the blood. Each part has a different job to do. The white cells fight infection. Haemoglobin carries oxygen around the blood to give us energy and platelets make the blood clot so, when you get cut you stop bleeding. Leukaemia is cancer of the white blood cells. Cancer is when bad cells grow in the body. They tend to keep growing until you stop then. The word ‘leukaemia' means ‘white blood’ - that’s how it looked under a microscope when it was discovered. There are other types of blood cancers that are about other parts of the blood. Those cancers are mainly myelomas and lymphomas. All blood cancers are deadly diseases if left untreated. We don’t know why some people get it.

About a year and half ago I found out I had leukaemia. It is a sneaky disease, and you don’t know that you have it until you have a blood test. The main symptom is tiredness, but you can be tired for lots of reasons, and that’s normal. When you have a cold, you can feel that you have a cold, but you can’t feel you have leukaemia. That’s how I found out - I had a blood test. There are different types of leukaemia. For my type of leukaemia most people are treated with medication - they take a pill everyday and that keeps it under control. But my leukaemia looked like it was about to get much worse, so my doctors decided I needed another treatment, and that I should have a stem cell transplant. (It used to be called a bone marrow transplant - your blood gets made inside your bones in your bone marrow). That meant I needed chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is a strong drug that kills cancer cells. Usually it is in liquid form that goes straight into your veins. It doesn’t hurt but it can make you feel sick. And it makes your hair fall out. That’s why you often see that cancer patients are bald. That’s what happened to me - my hair started falling out so I shaved it off. For the stem cell transplant the doctors killed my bone marrow, so I couldn’t make my own blood. They took some of my sister’s blood and put it in me, so my body grew new bone marrow and started a new blood supply system. It’s a dangerous thing to do, and can get pretty tricky, but I was lucky and everything went smoothly. I’m going to be OK.

 I spent ten weeks in hospital last year, and I met lots of patients with blood cancers. Some of them will get better and some of them won’t. People talk about the battle to fight cancer. Scientists and doctors might think of it that way, but as a patient, I don’t - I’ve spent too much time sleeping to think of myself as fighting. I’ve just been obeying my doctors. We’ve made a lot of progress in treating blood cancers, and I’ve been lucky that we have such good medical treatment in Australia, but there is still a lot of work to do, especially for people with other blood cancers, particularly multiple myeloma.

So, what does the Leukaemia Foundation do?

The Leukaemia Foundation helps people in a number of ways. They provide information to patients - they make booklets about the diseases and their treatments. They provide counselling. They provide somewhere for people to stay if they need to travel from the country to the city for their treatment. They can provide a driver and transport to and from medical appointments. And they organise research to be able to better treat people with blood cancer. Their main fundraiser is the ‘Be Brave and Shave’ campaign. They ask people to raise money by shaving their heads, because if you go bald you might make cancer patients feel they are not alone, and they’ll feel supported. We don’t expect children to shave their heads, so [school] is having a Crazy Hair Day on Friday.

So, thankyou for doing the Crazy Hair Day and raising money for the Leukaemia Foundation. I know we’re not the only family at [school] who has been affected by blood cancer. It really is a worthwhile cause.

I want to go off my medication

The one that switches off the leukaemia. The one that costs $5000 full price. The one that is my insurance policy.

I'm sick of feeling nauseas and tired. I'm sick of bone pain. I'm sick of feeling like I can't do things and go places and enjoy myself. I feel like I'm just trudging through life. I want to feel light and happy and energetic.

I know my doctor won't be happy with my suggestion. I'll remind him he said I'm 'probably cured'. If the leukaemia returns I can return to the medication, of course. Or maybe I can try an alternate drug that does the same things with fewer side effects - it's different for each patient.

I want to return to feeling normal. Wish me luck!

And so the year begins

Only now because the year doesn’t really begin until the kids go back to school and the weekly schedule emerges and the calendar fills once more.

It’s a bit of a shock. We’ve spent January sleeping in, going to the pool, mooching about. The jobs we didn’t do one day could just as well not be done the next. Now it’s all commitments and appointments and filling in forms and putting money into envelopes and preparing for the many activities of each day and watching the clock.

I started the term with my uni exam, which turned out to be better than I expected. I’ve spent every day since on medical stuff; three days of vaccinations and a hospital checkup. I’m reading a book that lives on the shelf of my doctor’s waiting room.

The children’s schedules are nearly complete (music, dance and drama - anyone would think I’m preparing them for the stage), but I’m still working out what I’m doing this year. I’m teaching ethics at the primary school. I’m helping to prepare the Mamapalooza festival. I’m trying to gain more energy. That means eating well, getting some exercise and getting enough rest. What more I can do this year depends on my energy levels. I have four more units and two more pracs to do to finish my degree. Normally I’d do two units and a prac each trimester. I’m not sure I’m up to that yet, so I’ll have to just see what I’m capable of doing. It’s the pracs that will require a lot of energy. I’m still having a nap every afternoon. If I can’t finish the degree this year, I may as well spread it out. I’m keen to be well enough to work. I don’t know if my recovery has plateaued and I should just work with what I have. Everybody’s tired. Tired is the new normal. And it’s not measurable. Maybe I just need to blunder through. Fake it ‘til I make it. Otherwise I might have to find a way to work from home, or reduced hours, or create something to sell, or write a popular Christmas song. I’m taking transplant medication until May, and have convinced my doctor to let me take my leukaemia medication every second day (it causes tiredness, nausea and bone pain). I’m sure I was feeling lighter before starting on the leukaemia medication. My blood counts are now good, but my specialist is keeping an eye on liver function, which means extra check-ups. Add on the normal mothering tasks of cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping and running around after children, and I really don’t think I’ll have the time and energy to study more than a minimal load. But I’m going to give it a go. I also want to factor in some fun. Card games. Singing with a choir. Seeing people. What’s the point if I don’t have some fun? The more I write the more I’m convincing myself to go slowly, where I can. We’ll see what fits.

Summer Reading 2014

I have been reading short stories. I have a collection of short stories by Shirley Jackson, and her ‘momoir’, published in 1953, ‘Life Among the Savages’, pioneering this style of fun housewifely writing. It’s true. There has been lots written about mothering, but each generation forgets and writes their own. Her stories are interesting to compare how parenting has changed. She smoked. A lot. Even when in labour on the way to hospital. The children walked to school or caught the bus themselves from their first day. Boys had guns and girls had dolls. And no seat belts. Children just rolled about in the back seat. But they survived. Well the children survived; Shirley Jackson died at the age of 48. I wonder if today’s mothers’ tales will be viewed the same way I view these stories.

The collection I’m reading has been collated by Joyce Carol Oates. I’m also reading a collection of her short stories. The problem though, is that I need to take a break between each story to absorb each one and let the dust settle before setting out with another. It makes for slow reading.

In between I’m studying for my uni exam and clearing out space. Studying for an exam is not an ideal way to spend the summer holidays. I hope to never do it again.

.

Questions about religion

I could write about how I’m still tired, how I’m sick of taking medication, concern for whether my brain is damaged, how I sometimes miss being in hospital and how if we don’t get employed early in the new year I could become a parking officer, but instead I’d rather talk about something meaty. Politics at the moment is too scary and, so religion it is. If you see me at the pool this summer, this is what I’d like to discuss.

1. Jesus was a Jew who followed the Jewish traditions. How do we know he wanted to start a whole new church rather than just a branch of Judaism?

2. Jesus wrote nothing himself. How can we quote him with any confidence when his words were written decades after his death, then transcribed a few times before coming to us in their present form?

3. If you study an ancient text, do you read other ancient texts to gain context about what ancient peoples thought, felt and believed? If not, why not?

5. Why were the lost gospels omitted from the New Testament? What were the forces that went into compiling the bible?

5. If you are Christian, why not be Catholic, if that is the most unbroken line to the original church? Why follow a breakaway, particularly a branch that was started by a King for his own reason (divorce, and taking property)? Were the policies to differentiate The Church of England from Catholicism (the end of worshipping Mary and the Saints, the end of idolatry, the end of purgatory, the end of monasteries, allowing priests to marry) based on theology or other factors?  

6. Why have some religions survived but most have failed? Is it due to geopolitical factors? Why are failed religions, eg, ancient Greek and Roman polytheism, considered childish or naive, but survived religions should be treated with respect?

7. What purpose did ancient, now defunct, religions serve? How do surviving religions serve different purposes?   

8. For parents who teach their children about religion and about Santa, when the children find out that Santa isn’t real, do they also question their faith in God?

9. Some believers say that God has a sense of humour. Where is the evidence for that?

10. If a self-appointed prophet appeared today, what scrutiny would that prophet be under? Is this scrutiny different from that applied to dead prophets?

11. How do people who treat the Bible as an historical document feel when historians say things like Jesus was born in April, or there is no evidence of the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt?


12. What is the relationship between religion and mythology?


13. Do people of faith discuss these issues at church/bible study?

Movies for Tweens and Young Teens

When I get together with other mums of tween and young teen girls we sometimes talk about finding movies that are suitable for their age. My kids aren't ready for M rated movies, with some few exceptions. I check out which movies are suitable on imdb website. The parental advisory. section provides details of what happens in the film regarding language, violence, drugs and alcohol and sexual references. I've made a list. These are the films my kids enjoy.

Mermaids

My Family and Other Animals

Some Like it Hot

Singin’ in the Rain

Calamity Jane

Gone With the Wind

All About Eve

National Velvet

Red Dog

Ballet Shoes

Anne of Green Gables

Ramona and Beezus

Pollyanna

Little Women

The Parent Trap (1961)

Double Indemnity

Mary Poppins

Annie
It's a Wonderful Life 
Marx Bros movies

These are the films I think I'm ready to show them. Some are suitable for younger viewers, and I'd just forgotten about them. I remember watching some of these with my family, presented by Bill Collins.

It Happened One Night
Holiday Inn

To Kill a Mockingbird

A Star is Born (1954)

Adam’s Rib

Woman of the Year

Pat and Mike

Bringing Up Baby

Arsenic and Old Lace

Blossoms in the Dust

Mrs Miniver

The Third Man

The 39 Steps

The Miracle Worker

Sabrina (1954)
West Side Story

Viva Las Vegas

Funny Girl

Starstruck

2001: A Space Odyssey

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Amadeus

Yentl

Running on Empty

Life is Beautiful

Bend it Like Beckham

The Man From Snowy River

My Brilliant Career
Picnic at Hanging Rock
The Sting

The Truman Show

Norma Rae

The Secret of Roan Inish

A League of Their Own

Stranger Than Fiction

Indiana Jones

Ghandi

Made in Dagenham

Wadjda

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Moonrise Kingdom

The Help

Dreamgirls

Now You See It

War Horse

Millions

Akeelah and the Bee

If you are looking for ideas you can search by genre and age on the Common Sense Media and Mighty Girl sites.

I have another list of films with more serious or intense themes or scenes that will have to wait until we are all a bit older...

What films do you recommend for tweens and young teens?

Personal essays and short stories

File this one under ‘thinking in public’ because I’m not sure what my point is here. Feel free to jump in anytime. Together we might find one.

Personal essays are easy to write. Sure, there’s some crafting, but there’s no research and not much imagination. There could be research and imagination. But they aren’t compulsory. I reckon a lot of blog posts, especially blog posts that get republished in online magazines, are personal essays. They are read in one sitting. We read them sitting at the computer while checking social media and reading the newspaper. They are usually about real life situations we can relate to. 

I have more admiration for writers who turn incidents from their own lives into fiction than I do for ones who just write about themselves. How much of yourself do you sell? I felt a bit queasy watching the Salinger documentary recently. I always admired him for not being a celebrity, for being a writer who guarded his privacy, and used his life in his fiction. It doesn’t really matter to me how he used his life in his fiction.

Alice Monro has recently won the Nobel Prize for literature. She is a writer and a mother whose form is the short story. This seems to be a good form for writers who are mothers. Sustainable. Doable. But only for the very clever.

There are lots of classic short stories available online. I read lots of personal essays online, but not short stories.

I’ve realised that there are short stories I've read that have stayed with me for years - The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, For Esme, With Love and Squalor, by Salinger, Poe's The Telltale Heart.

Whilst in my doctor’s waiting room I picked up a book called ‘But I saw the movie’ which is a collection of short stories that films have been based upon. It was published in 1989, so doesn’t include Brokeback Mountain, but it does include the stories that inspired Psycho, Rear Window, 2001 A Space Odyssey, It Happened One Night, All About Eve, The Fly, Blow-Up, Guys and Dolls and It’s a Wonderful Life. You just don’t see collections like this anymore.

There isn’t as big an audience for short stories as there used to be. When I was on prac, teaching a Year 10 English class at a boys school, I encouraged them to read short stories. Short stories are well crafted. For readers, they give a lot of bang for their time investment. They are often memorable.

There aren’t so many avenues for publication for short stories as there used to be. People don’t read short stories online. But there are lots available. For free. Why don’t I read short stories online? When I read short stories, I’m exposed to great writing, memorable stories, and get to read great writers. It’s a quick fix - I can say I’ve read great writer X without having to read a novel. It’s exposure. And I’m not just wanting that because I’m a snob, but because I’m planning to teach English, and need that exposure. I can’t say I particularly remember reading people’s blog posts or personal essays. I don’t expect everyone to be David Sedaris, and they’re not, even though lots of people are trying to be.

Lena Dunham is taking two bites at the cherry. She wrote the show she appears in, Girls, playing a main character who writes personal essays. This is satirised in the show. Writing only about one’s self is mocked. Since her success with Girls Lena Dunham has been given a $3.5 million advance for the publication of her personal essays.

I’m a bit cynical about Lena Dunham. But at the same time I’m telling my children to create their own work. Write songs and stories, paint pictures, and sell them. Make your own work. Good on Lena Dunham. Well done. But if the personal essays are about writing and starring in Girls, I’ll be a bit cross.

For Christmas I’ve bought myself the short stories and writings about family by Shirley Jackson. When you bump into me, ask me if I’ve read any short stories lately. I hope to answer ‘yes’. I might even share links on FB. 

Do you read short stories online?  

What are your favourite short stories?

Social Media and Young People

I’ve been talking with some other mums lately about social media and our resident young people. My oldest child is thirteen. I’m going for a ‘lead by example’ approach. Here’s what we do and don’t do and how we talk to our kids about social media.

Their dad and I are both on FB. The main thing I use FB for is reading recommended articles and keeping up to date with issues I care about. I’m only FB friends with people I know in real life.

We don't document our daily lives. I don’t use twitter (really, I’m just not that interesting, and I have enough information coming in already). We don’t regularly post pictures of ourselves online. We have carefully controlled images of ourselves online. We don’t take photos and videos of everything the children do. We don’t tell everybody where we are each day. We also don’t use flybuys or are members of big loyalty programs. We don’t play online games. We don’t use sites that share our online personal profiles or our friends’. We don’t like corporations owning information about us. We don’t have advertising online. We don’t monetize our online presence.

We don’t give out our details, or any facts about ourselves that are traceable, on social media.

We are aware that government and corporations already have information on us. We don’t want to give them more so they can market to us, or spy on us. We talk to our kids about following the money trail and about who owns what, eg, everytime you buy something from itunes, you give money to Apple, like a tax.

We have a policy that we don’t upload photos of our kids. There are a few reasons why. Once you upload a photo to social media, you don’t own it anymore and can’t control what becomes of it. We don’t know where we are going in terms of facial recognition technology. We are aware that what gets uploaded remains forever.

I have a blog. I own what I write on the blog. I put my name to it. I’m careful what I disclose about my children and partner. I use it as a place to park my thoughts and links to interesting articles, and to share information. Having a conversation there is a bonus. More frequently, it provokes conversations in my real life. I don’t say anything online I wouldn’t want published in hardcopy, with my name to to it, eg, a letter to SMH.

Their dad owns and runs a website. It is a fansite for The Glasgow Apollo. He does it out of interest. It has had 5 million hits. He doesn't carry on about it.

We don’t gain any value from ‘likes’. We don’t seek validation from strangers. We are proud of ourselves for our achievements and for trying our best and for being kind, but we don’t have to tell everybody. If we have a question we ask someone who is likely to know the answer.

We have real life relationships. Social media can help lubricate them. But the relationships are with people we already know.

I mostly use my mobile phone to check the time. I use it to text people about appointments and arrangements for the children. My 13 year old has an old phone. She usually forgets to charge it or take it with her. She often uses the alarm on it. Sometimes she texts me.

Friends of my kids have already been burnt through using social media. They’ve received nasty comments on photos of themselves. They’ve been hurt through comments on ask. I’ve replied, online, to my daughter’s friend to ask her to stop swearing. I’ve blocked younger relatives from my FB feeds due to the way they talk to their friends.

My kids message their friends. About a year ago I gave them each an electronic device - ipods or tablet. They’d never had playstations or wii or anything like that before. I got them their devices because I was sick and knew it would be a hard year for them, and because I wanted them to have recording devices for songwriting and to have their own music. They only use the home wifi, so don’t have internet connection outside the home. We don’t watch them on their devices as we would if they were are at  the computer or watching television, because they are small, portable screens. But we check their privacy settings. They know that their online interactions remain and can be traced and can be looked at when they apply for jobs, for example, and by people they may not want to see them. We know the parents of people they message. If they do anything online to break our rules, we want to know about it, and are likely to find out through other parents.

It’s not my job to create a virtual identity for my children, nor their online presence. (If I wanted to do that I’d write thinly veiled fiction.) The children will have to create their own online selves, if they choose to (we know people who live their lives without social media - peer pressure doesn’t only apply to children and it takes a strong person to resist doing what everyone else is doing). We want them to do that responsibly. We want them to be aware of the possible short term consequences and long term consequences, for themselves and for others.

What was THAT all about??

I don’t feel like this now - I’m busy with uni, ethics and planning Mamapalooza - but because I did feel like this a few weeks ago, I think it is worth posting. All part of the process and normal.

Now that I’m feeling a bit better, again, I feel like I need to process what has happened to me, and why. During the last year I’ve been accepting, and tried to be pleasant and positive. Relentlessly positive. I’ve undergone every procedure without a whimper. I’ve made light of interns trying repeatedly to find a vein. I’d had bone marrow biopsies and had chemo pumped into my veins and my spinal fluid. I’ve lain in a perspex box waiting for radiation treatment while the machine breaks down repeatedly. I’ve waited in clinics with good humour. I’ve eaten hospital food meal after meal without complaint. I’ve done everything the doctors and nurses have told me to do and barely shed a tear. I’ve come through it all OK, but I feel like a dolt. I tell people that leukaemia isn’t so bad. It doesn't hurt. It makes you sick and tired, and so does the treatment. It’s nothing to be afraid of. But really, cancer is sneaky and deadly. It is your body doing things without your consent, often without even telling you. If you are to be afraid of anything, be afraid of cancer. My doctor tells me that the worst thing that happened to me was the diagnosis. Everything else has gone smoothly. But the diagnosis is no small thing. The truth is, most times I’ve been discharged from hospital I’ve been in a state that would cause a normal person to be admitted. The truth is that I’ve spent ten weeks in hospital and I’ve pretty much lost a year. The truth is that I’ll be living with the repercussions for the rest of my life.

Now, I’m wondering what I’ve survived for. At the moment I’m cooking and cleaning and picking up and putting down, and driving children around and facilitating their many activities. They are performing and having exams and going to parties and doing things. I’m not doing anything of my own. Did I survive to be of service to my children? To attend P&C meetings? Am I jealous because it is all about the children and not about me? Did I enjoy the attention that sickness brought me?

I need to have some FUN. What do mums do for fun? I need to feel physically free, but that isn’t very acceptable for mums. I want to sing and dance and spin and swim and draw and stretch and make things that come just from me. I’m so repressed I might crack if I move. I’ve been quiet and careful for a long time. I know that doing these things will make me cry, but I need to do them anyway. Otherwise, what’s the point? I’m scared of looking ridiculous, but I’m not likely to look more ridiculous than I did with no eyelashes or eyebrows and a tube in my neck. I didn’t go through all the fear of dying and pain of treatment just to return to more of the same life of service.

I don’t expect that having the experience of leukaemia gives me any great insight or revelation about life. I doesn’t mean I never get angry or feel mean. The leukemia may be gone for now, but I don’t yet know how I’m going to be processing it all from here. I'm expecting random tears. Bear with me.

And I keep hearing in my head a song that was company for me during one of my admissions, Janelle Monae, Cold War.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f99Oe8sSz4

Povvo Cooking

Now that we’ve been unemployed for nine months while my partner has been stay-at-home carer, I figure it’s time to try to save money on groceries, and try to waste less food. I went to a workshop run by local council. We were told that, in our council area, 30% of the waste in the red bins is food. We compost, and try to not create much waste, and our red bin is fairly empty each week. Even so, I know we can do better. More meal plans using up what we have, and buying a few fresh ingredients regularly is the way I’m going (because I have the time). Luckily, people who know about these things are happy to share. So here are some resources I’m using.

Jamie Oliver’s new tv show and book, Save With Jamie. Some ideas here I hadn’t considered before, especially variations on toasted sandwiches (quesadillas, piadinas). And he has tips on using your freezer and pantry well. I don’t have a food processor though, and avoid some recipes on the basis of not wanting to do lots of washing up.

A Girl Called Jack

http://agirlcalledjack.com/

Jack is a single mum in the UK, who was being fed by a food bank. She has been documenting her journey. She now writes for The Guardian, and is the voice of those on welfare. And she’s got a book deal. I’m really happy for her. Her recipes are easy and simple and I like them. The Easy Peasy Soda Bread tastes like scone.

Stone Soup

http://thestonesoup.com/blog/

This site is run by Jules Clancy, who has a qualification in food science. I like her free online five-ingredient recipe book. She also has occasional free online training videos. It isn’t all about recipes - it’s also about storage and organisation.

Zero Waste Home

Bea Johnson, a French woman who lives in San Francisco, is the queen of zero waste. She’s an inspiration. I’ve been reading her site for years. http://zerowastehome.blogspot.com.au/

She’s now released a book. Here is an interview with her in which she shows her waste for the year (it fits in a jar!)

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/9399013-north-bay-family-generates-near-zero-waste/#.UlbIjetFxOA.twitter