Mother Tongue, Issue 5

Mother Tongue is a biannual print magazine that interrogates (and celebrates) modern motherhood through inclusive stories about art, sex, pop culture, politics, food and a few things in between. It’s not about kids or how to parent them: it’s about the nuanced lives we are living—as mothers, and much more. The magazine is edited by co-founders Melissa Goldstein and Natalia Rachlin and designed by creative director Vanessa Saba.

In this issue:
In Issue 5 of Mother Tongue we talk about The End—of marriage, of life, of the world as we know it. We get nostalgic about the sublime weirdness of Anne Geddes and make a list of virgin births (besides the obvious). We navigate the unchartered territory of embryo adoption and find meaning in fermented fruit.

Mira Jacob considers the “Margaret Thatchers” of her family, while poet Yrsa Daley Ward has had enough of Malcolm Gladwell. Writer Molly Prentiss and photographer Frances Tulk-Hart remind us that we must always notice the minutiae and marvel, and artist Andi Galdi Vinko documents the climate crisis through the eyes of our children. There’s also talk of phantom limbs, and a trip to Copenhagen—where Hillary Kelly trades secrets with Danish author Olga Ravn. And before we’re through, we laugh about schizophrenia with comedian Atsuko Okatsuka; we get existential about chocolate with Priyanka Mattoo; and we think about planting roots with Kailea Loften, who runs away and goes home, all at the same time.