Meet the families
Meet the families of Thoughts on Parenthood. Taken from virtual interviews with Tonika Johnson, the featured audio stories deal with topics such as race, education, health, safety and identity. We are very grateful to the parents who volunteered their time to share their stories with us, and we invite you to learn more about what it means to be a parent in Chicago.
Ebony Ávila
Ebony Ávila is a new mother of one residing in Chicago. Ebony speaks to her mental health during her first year as a parent.
"And when you are a mother or any caretaker that is taking care of someone that you really love it is hard. It's hard and I think being open and honest about that as a Black woman telling my friends, "Hey you know what?" After they just had a baby, checking in on them. "Hey, how you doing? How you feeling? What do you need?" And letting them know it's okay if you don't feel good. It's okay if you're tired I was really, really tired."
Mary Bowman
Mary Bowman is a nurse and activist whose pronouns are they/them/theirs. They are a parent of one child named Silas.
"We hadn't been hanging out with our people, our community because of the pandemic. And then all of a sudden, we were with our people in our community at protests every day, sometimes multiple times a day. And so my kid Silas went from not having any humans other than me and my partner, Brian, to being in crowds of 20,000 people."
Meet Mary
Mary Bowman
Mary Bowman is a nurse and activist whose pronouns are they/them/theirs. They are a parent of one child named Silas.
"We hadn't been hanging out with our people, our community because of the pandemic. And then all of a sudden, we were with our people in our community at protests every day, sometimes multiple times a day. And so my kid Silas went from not having any humans other than me and my partner, Brian, to being in crowds of 20,000 people."
Meet Mary
Rebecca Braithwaite is a single mother of one. She raised her daughter in the 90s in the Hyde Park neighborhood.
Rebecca Braithwaite
Rebecca Braithwaite is a single mother of one who raised her daughter in 1980s Chicago. Her daughter attended Chicago Laboratory School in Hyde Park, and now resides in Brooklyn, New York.
"It made me realize early on, that I've got to be my daughter's advocate for this entire process. I cannot leave it up to the school to decide if she's smart. I can't leave it up to them to encourage her. I've got to be the one to do it."
Meet Rebecca
Denali K. Dasgupta
Denali K. Dasgupta is a director of data strategies for a Chicago non-profit. Her children are 15, three, and she is pregnant with her third.
"He's literally walking away from me but he is also, through his choices and his actions, making people see what's right in front of them and I'm really, really proud of him right now but I am also so scared and I don't have the experience of growing up in a way that gives me the tools to be afraid in the right way."
Meet Denali
Denali K. Dasgupta
Denali K. Dasgupta is a director of data strategies for a Chicago non-profit. Her children are 15, three, and she is pregnant with her third.
"He's literally walking away from me but he is also, through his choices and his actions, making people see what's right in front of them and I'm really, really proud of him right now but I am also so scared and I don't have the experience of growing up in a way that gives me the tools to be afraid in the right way."
Meet Denali
Annette Martinez Fuller
Annette Martinez Fuller is a mother of three residing in Chicago. Her husband is a Chicago Police Department officer.
"I think that they definitely, I would say at least for my 12 year old, I would say my seven year olds are pretty unaware of all of the ramifications, but my twelve-year-old definitely, we've had those conversations as to those, "There's some cops out there that are bad at their jobs. They should not be in that role and that their personal beliefs are controlling how they treat others when that's not part of their job."
Meet Annette
Reenie O'Brien King
Reenie O' Brien King is an educator who grew up in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood. She has two children, and is pregnant with her third.
"But I think that if you expose children and you talk about things in an accepting way, at least it's my hope as an educator and as a mom that you plant the seeds of appreciating diversity and also recognizing where you come in that spectrum.”
Meet Reenie
Reenie O'Brien King
Reenie O' Brien King is an educator who grew up in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood. She has two children, and is pregnant with her third.
"But I think that if you expose children and you talk about things in an accepting way, at least it's my hope as an educator and as a mom that you plant the seeds of appreciating diversity and also recognizing where you come in that spectrum.”
Meet Reenie
Emily Hooper Lansana
Emily Hooper Lansana resides in Bronzeville. She has four sons and one grandaughter.
"I found that as a creative person and as a parent, that what I love about this city is that it feels like it's a city of possibility. So I feel that I could have an idea and bring it to fruition here. I feel that there isn't anything like the creative community in Chicago and especially the creative community of people of color."
Meet Emily
Keisha Mathew
Keisha Mathew works in social work, and her husband works for Chicago Public Schools. They have two children, and reside on the North side.
"Their libraries in their rooms, as well as the library that we have, it's filled with this topics. We have images around the house that is about, of course having them know that they're loved, that being dark is beautiful, being brown, “melanated” is the word that we always use."
Keisha Mathew
Keisha Mathew works in social work, and her husband works for Chicago Public Schools. They have two children, and reside on the North side.
"Their libraries in their rooms, as well as the library that we have, it's filled with this topics. We have images around the house that is about, of course having them know that they're loved, that being dark is beautiful, being brown, “melanated” is the word that we always use."
Arianne and Theodore Richards
Arianne and Theodore Richards are parents of three girls. They homeschool their two youngest, and their eldest began at a new school during the pandemic.
"I think sometimes in school, you're taught most of the day that it's your job to worry about yourself, your grades, your this, your that, rather than think about your role in a community and taking care of each other. So to me, that's the most important thing that we can teach our children. Like how to love and how to be loved."
Meet Arianne and Theodore
Susannah Steele
Susannah Steele is a mother of two. She gave birth during the summer of 2020, and her newborn has a heart condition. Her husband is Ryan Opera Center Ensemble artist, David Weigel.
"But it was still scary at the idea of two things: giving birth in a mask was scary to me, and then also giving birth without my husband present was... And with Lucy, with her medical condition it was a lot of unknowns."
Meet Susannah
Susannah Steele
Susannah Steele is a mother of two. She gave birth during the summer of 2020, and her newborn has a heart condition. Her husband is Ryan Opera Center Ensemble artist, David Weigel.
"But it was still scary at the idea of two things: giving birth in a mask was scary to me, and then also giving birth without my husband present was... And with Lucy, with her medical condition it was a lot of unknowns."
Meet Susannah
Allison Stockwell
Allison Stockwell is an east coast-native, and single mother of one residing in the Lincoln Park neighorbood of Chicago.
"But she'll be raised with a value system to know that not only is this not okay, but you stand up when you see something that's wrong. You say something. You are a friend, you're an ally, you're a supporter, and there's no excuse, no excuse to be quiet."
Header photo is from The Glimmerglass Festival production of Blue (Karli Cadel).
Thoughts on Parenthood photos provided by program participants.