Welcome to Cutting Teeth, a Substack documenting the messy liminal state that is modern motherhood.
I’m Clare Wiley — journalist, mother, and chronic overthinker. And as I write this, I can hear my daughter on the baby monitor. She’s stirring from her nap and I’m simultaneously hoping she sleeps longer *and at the same time*, I can’t wait to see her little face again and hear her laugh.
If you’re also a parent, I know you know that feeling. That complicated ambivalence. And yet, so much of what we encounter about motherhood is black and white: either total bliss or an absolute nightmare.
Joy, fear, adventure, nostalgia, hope… motherhood contains multitudes like nothing I have ever experienced. Figuring out how these conflicting emotions can coexist within me has been a wild ride.
So, a bit like my daughter cutting her baby teeth, I am slowly, sometimes painfully, learning to inhabit this liminal state … thankfully with less drooling. I’ll also write about my efforts to parent in community and forge connection, in the face of the capitalist forces that divide and isolate us.
If all that sounds good to you, stick around. Each issue I’ll share recos for shows, films, audio, books and other writing that has made me feel and think more deeply about the headf**k that is modern motherhood.
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