We Were Witches [Paperback]

Buying into the dream that education is the road out of poverty, a teen mom takes a chance on bettering herself, gets on welfare rolls, and talks her way into college. But once shes there, phallocratic narratives permeate every subject, and creative writing professors depend heavily on Freytags pyramid to analyze life.

So Ariel turns to a rich subcultural canon of resistance and failure, populated by writers like Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Gloria Anzald?a, Tillie Olsen, and Kathy Acker.

Wryly riffing on feminist literary tropes,We Were Witchesdocuments the survival of a demonized single mother. Shes beset by custody disputes, homophobia, and Americas ever-present obsession with shaming strange women into passive citizenship. But even as the narrator struggles to graduateoften the triumphant climax of a dramatic plota question uncomfortably lingers. If youre dealing with precarious parenthood, queer identity, and debt, what is the true narrative shape of your experience?

Ariel Goreis a journalist, author, and teacher. She is the founding editor/publisher ofHip Mama, anAlternative PressAward winning publication covering the culture and politics of motherhood. Her memoirAtlas of the Human Heartwas a 2004 finalist for the Oregon Book Award. Her anthologyPortland Queer: Tales of the Rose Citywon a Lambda Literary Award in 2010.