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No More Soccer Moms And Evil Stepmothers: ‘Listen To Your Mother’ Goes Beyond The Stereotypes

WUNC | By Anita Rao,
Frank Stasio
Published May 4, 2017 at 12:42 PM EDT

Holidays like Mother’s Day are often marked by cards, bouquets, or a heartfelt gift. But for the past three years, local writers have been gathering together to celebrate the occasion through storytelling. “Listen To Your Mother” features live readings about every aspect of motherhood, from the messy to the mundane.

Host Frank Stasio talks about this year’s "Listen To Your Mother" storytelling event with participants and mothers Kathryn Clarke, Marty Long, and Sheila Arias.

Host Frank Stasio talks with three participants in this year’s event. Kathryn Clarke discusses her experience as an adoptive mother parenting across racial lines, Marty Long talks about navigating her role as a stepmother, and Sheila Arias shares her story about being a single mother to a child with special needs. The staged readings take place at the Jones Auditorium at Meredith College on Friday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. 

Kathryn Clarke with her two children. She shares her experience parenting across racial lines in this year's "Listen To Your Mother" event in Raleigh.
Courtesy of Kathryn Clarke /
Kathryn Clarke with her two children. She shares her experience parenting across racial lines in this year's "Listen To Your Mother" event in Raleigh.
Siblings parented by Marty Long. She discusses her role as a stepmother as part of the "Listen To Your Mother" event.
Courtesy of Marty Long /
Siblings parented by Marty Long. She discusses her role as a stepmother as part of the "Listen To Your Mother" event.
Sheila Arias with her two children. Her "Listen To Your Mother" essay discusses her daughter Jas who has special needs.
Courtesy of Sheila Arias /
Sheila Arias with her two children. Her "Listen To Your Mother" essay discusses her daughter Jas who has special needs.
The 2016 "Listen To your Mother" Cast.
Courtesy of Marty Long /
The 2016 "Listen To your Mother" Cast.

Copyright 2017 North Carolina Public Radio
Anita Rao
Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
See stories by Anita Rao
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio