I'm not sure where I've been these last few weeks, but I just realized that Mothering Magazine has announced that it will cease to function as a magazine in a few weeks. Motherwear was a long time advertiser in Mothering.
Mothering will publish one more edition - as a digital, not print one - and then cease to publish as a magazine entirely. Their very popular website, forums, and other online content will remain.
Some of you are regular subscribers. Some of you feel that Mothering wasn't for you. But I think that we'll all feel a loss when Mothering ceases to print.
Mothering gave us many gifts, among them a little corner of the media universe that was wholely and consistently celebratory of breastfeeding. It was the one magazine in which I knew I'd find photos of breastfeeding, practical and informative articles about breastfeeding, stories and poems about breastfeeding. Mothering gave us the international symbol of breastfeeding. I used Mothering for help in babywearing, cloth diapering, preparation for birth, even recipes. For 35 years Mothering made the way some of us raise our children seem normal and good and okay, even when the larger culture said that it was strange and bad and wrong.
Of course Mothering's forums provide support to many, many mothers, and the website has lots of wonderful content. But there is something very powerful about holding a magazine in your hand and seeing images that reflect your life and loves. I will miss it a lot.
I tried to explain all this to my son at bedtime last night, and ended up telling him that by the time he's an adult there may not be any more newspapers or magazines, at least ones that you can hold. I guess I should be grateful that he sees me reading our morning paper each day. I don't have a moral or even a tidy ending to this post. I just makes me sad.
Here's a video of Mothering's 30th anniversary.
