My Baby Rides the Short Bus: The Unabashedly Human Experience of Raising Kids with Disabilities

If you're in/near NYC

2011-11-20T17:32:00.000-08:00

This Tuesday 11/22/11 Reading in NYC with contributors Jen Silverman and Ayun Halliday.
This is not a Short Bus event, but we'll both be at this reading for the Museum of Motherhood!

Queens, NY - Free April Event!

2011-03-07T06:43:00.000-08:00

-at the New York Hall of Science- Adults are invited to attend a panel discussion and Q&A on raising children who are on the autism spectrum. A book signing for My Baby Rides the Short Bus will follow the event. The panel of experts includes authors, educators, and parents of children with autism. Sunday, April 10th, 2 p.m. Free. Registration required, please follow this link: http://www.nysci.org/visit/events/event/autismpanel Panelists include: * Jennifer Silverman, co-editor of My Baby Rides the Short Bus: The Unabashedly Human Experience of Raising Kids with Disabilities. * Sharis Ingram, contributor to My Baby Rides the Short Bus: The Unabashedly Human Experience of Raising Kids with Disabilities. * Carol Greenburg, a mother with Asperger's syndrome who runs a special education consulting group. * Liane Kupferberg Carter, writer for the Huffington Post and the New York Times parenting blog Motherlode, and a mother of an adult son on the autism spectrum.

-at the New York Hall of Science-

Adults are invited to attend a panel discussion and Q&A on raising children who are on the autism spectrum. A book signing for My Baby Rides the Short Bus will follow the event. The panel of experts includes authors, educators, and parents of children with autism.

Sunday, April 10th, 2 p.m. Free. Registration required, please follow this link:
http://www.nysci.org/visit/events/event/autismpanel

Panelists include:

* Jennifer Silverman, co-editor of My Baby Rides the Short Bus: The Unabashedly Human Experience of Raising Kids with Disabilities.
* Sharis Ingram, contributor to My Baby Rides the Short Bus: The Unabashedly Human Experience of Raising Kids with Disabilities.
* Carol Greenburg, a mother with Asperger's syndrome who runs a special education consulting group.
* Liane Kupferberg Carter, writer for the Huffington Post and the New York Times parenting blog Motherlode, and a mother of an adult son on the autism spectrum.

Short Bus is nominated for an award-please vote!

2011-02-11T17:57:00.000-08:00

http://specialchildren.about.com/b/2011/02/11/vote-for-favorite-special-needs-memoir.htm

washington dc saturday

2010-11-29T12:07:00.000-08:00

A Book Event and Community Gathering for Parents, Caregivers, and Friends of Kids with Disabilities

Saturday, December 4 · 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Center for Community Change, 1536 U St NW, Washington DC

My Baby Rides the Short Bus: The Unabashedly Human Experience of Raising Kids with Disabilities is an anthology of articles written by parents about the unique joys and challenges of their families.

Light dinner provided -- bring a dish to share if possible. Event space is wheelchair accessible.

The book's co-editor and contributor Jennifer Silverman will be joined by local parents, writers, and activists Tricia Theis Rogalski (http://unringingthebell.typepad.com/), Jane Andrews, Krista Hanson and Burke Stansbury in reading and speaking about their experience of raising kids with disabilities.

For more information, contact Krista: kristaleehanson@gmail.com

Co-sponsored by Empower DC and the DC Childcare Collective

Denver! Boulder!

2010-11-11T08:53:00.000-08:00

Readings this weekend:

Saturday 11/13 in Denver at 7 p.m.

27 Social Centre, 2727 W 27th Ave

and Sunday 11/14 in Boulder at 2 p.m.

Left Hand Books, 1200 Pearl Street #10

both with Amy Saxon Bosworth and Jennifer Silverman

Western Mass. Reading

2010-10-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

Next Saturday, 11/6, Reading at Food For Thought Books in Amherst, MA. 2 p.m. with Short Bus' Maria June, Jennifer Silverman and Kyra Anderson (Gravity Pulls You In).

Food For Thought Books

upcoming events!

2010-10-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

Look for us doing readings in Amherst, MA 11/6, Denver 11/13 & Boulder 11/14. Details forthcoming!

New review up at Queens Mamas blog

2010-09-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

Read it here!

My Baby Rides the Short Bus

2010-08-09T07:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Support for Special Needs for the five days of features on My Baby Rides the Short Bus!
My Baby Rides the Short Bus

Op-ed piece by a Short Bus editor

2010-07-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

Written by Jennifer Silverman for Newsday:
http://www.newsday.com/opinion/oped/opinion-ny-s-likely-new-autism-insurance-law-lacks-clarity-1.2135131

NYC Reading 8/7!

2010-07-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

Portland was fantastic, thanks to all of you who came and especially to Chloe Eudaly for organizing the event.

Next up: NYC, at Bluestockings Bookstore in Manhattan (172 Allen St between Stanton and Rivington), Saturday August 7th at 7 p.m. with:

Sharis Ingram
Jennifer Silverman
Shannon Des Roches Rosa
Jennifer Byde Myers

A few copies of our first printing can still be found online, and our second printing (yay!) will be avaialble by September.

portland 7/24 and NYC 8/7/10!

2010-07-14T09:17:00.001-07:00

My Baby Rides the Short Bus contributors will be reading in two fabulous venues this summer!

First, come hear us in the Pacific Northwest with contributor/hostess Chloe Eudaly of Portland's Reading Frenzy zine emporium (www.readingfrenzy.com) along with Kerry Cohen, Mitzi Waltz, Nina Packebush and co-editors Yantra Bertelli, Jennifer Silverman and Sarah Talbot Saturday July 24th, 7 p.m. at p:ear (338 NW 6th Ave.).

If you're in the NYC area, we'll be at Bluestockings bookstore (www.bluestockings.com) on Saturday, August 7th at 7 p.m. (172 Allen Street) with visiting west coast contributors Shannon Des Roches Rosa and Jennifer Byde Myers plus Sharis Ingram & (co-editor) Jennifer Silverman to commemorate our second printing.

2010-06-14T06:53:00.001-07:00

Ally Jeremy Adam Smith has an interesting essay up at Mothering Magazine about making sure to include kids with disabilities and their parents and universal design--and a shout out for My Baby Rides the Short Bus. Read it here: http://mothering.com/jeremysmith/uncategorized/seventeenth-way-for-dads-to-change-the-world-include-kids-with-disabilities

summer news/events

2010-06-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

Exciting things are underfoot here at My Baby Rides the Short Bus. We're headed towards a second printing later this summer. Many thanks to Maya Gottfried, who was instrumental in getting us to this point and has a new, beautiful children's book Our Farm --- please check out her website http://www.ourfarmbook.com and get yourself a copy. Its proceeds benefit Farm Sanctuary (http://www.farmsanctuary.org/).

Our Short Bus, Long Road tour will be in Portland OR July 24th and NYC August 7th, details to be posted soon.

Our most recent radio interview with contributor Sharis Ingram and co-editor Jennifer Silverman is archived on the WNYC page for the Brian Lehrer Show (http://www.wnyc.org/).

Feel free to email us with any questions at shortbusbook@yahoo.com! Hope to hear from you.

Olympia, WA-May 22nd!

2010-05-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

The Short Bus, Long Road Tour will be here on May 22nd:
5:30 p.m.
Olympia Timberland Library
313 8th Ave. SE
www.trlib.org

Asheville, NC-May 8th!

2010-04-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

with co-editor Jennifer Silverman and guest Cheri Brackett (Gravity Pulls You In). Saturday, May 8th at 7 p.m., Firestorm Cafe and Books, 48 Commerce Street http://firestormcafe.com/

2010-04-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

Boston Reading for My Baby Rides the Short Bus!

with contributors Sharis Ingram, Ziva Mann, Stephanie Sleeper

and co-editor Jennifer Silverman

Sunday, April 25th at 2 p.m.

Lucy Parsons Center, 549 Columbus Ave, Boston

Short Bus, Long Road

2010-03-28T15:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since our last update, but we've been busy reading and presenting at places in Seattle, San Francisco/Berkeley, the Left Forum in NYC, and upcoming dates in Boston (April 25th, Lucy Parsons Center, 2pm), Asheville, NC (May 8, Firestorm, evening) and Olympia, WA (May 22, Olympia Timberland Library, 5:30 pm). If you have a suggestion for a place for us to visit next, please email us at shortbusbook@yahoo.com.

with most sincere apologies to author kathy briccetti

2010-01-07T08:18:00.001-08:00

who we accidentally published in the book as kathy bricetti! kathy is a wonderful writer who will be welcoming her own book in the spring: Blood Strangers: A Memoir. http://www.kathybriccetti.com/

audio file of nyc reading

2009-11-27T08:42:00.000-08:00

http://www.radio4all.net/files/dan_vea@yahoo.com/1999-1-shortbus_bluestockings_14november09.mp3

Book Tour starting!

2009-10-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

Come by to one of these events and celebrate the release of My Baby Rides the Short Bus.
Friday, October 30th, 7 p.m. At Legacy Books in Plano, TX with Jennifer Silverman and Robert Rummel-Hudson. 7300 Dallas Parkway.

Sunday, November 8th, 7 p.m. at Espresso 77 cafe in Jackson Heights, Queens with Jennifer Silverman and cover artist Liz Baillie. 35-57 77th St.

Saturday, November 14th, 7 p.m. at Bluestockings Bookstore in the Lower East Side, Manhattan with Ayun Halliday, Sabrina Chapadjiev, Sharis Ingram and Jennifer Silverman. 172 Allen St.

Saturday, November 21st, 3 p.m. at Wooden Shoe, Philadelphia, with Jennifer Silverman. 704 South Street.

Available for Purchase!

2009-10-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

We are thrilled to announce that My Baby Rides the Short Bus was released on October 13th! Copies are available via the PM Press website (www.pmpress.org). If your local bookstore doesn't have a copy, please ask them to order it so we can reach as many people as possible.
Thanks!

Plano Texas Reading! Oct. 30th

2009-09-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

Reading w/Robert Rummel-Hudson and Jennifer Silverman

at Legacy Books.

Friday, October 30, 2009, from 7:00pm - 8:00pm

Legacy Books

7300 Dallas Parkway Plano, TX

972-3989888

thereader@legacybooksonline.com

with 2 short bus authors!

2009-08-16T15:54:00.000-07:00

mama salon @ bluestockings

Readings of original work by four mama/mami writers: Kerry Cohen (Loose Girl), Vikki Law (Resistance Behind Bars), Maegan Ortiz (VivirLatino) and Jennifer Silverman (My Baby Rides the Short Bus).

Date:	Friday, September 18, 2009
Time:	7:00pm - 8:30pm
Location:	Bluestockings Bookstore
Street:	172 Allen Street
City/Town:	New York, NY

more advance praise!

2009-07-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

"This is the most important book I've read in years. Whether you are subject or ally, My Baby Rides the Short Bus will open you--with its truth, humanity, and poetry. Lucky you to have found it. Now stick it in your heart."
--Ariel Gore

"Smart, diverse, inspiring. My Baby Rides the Short Bus reminds us of what we all have in common and how much more work there still is to be done."
--Vicki Forman, author of This Lovely Life: A Memoir of Premature Motherhood

"The contributors of this important and necessary anthology span a range of decades from a time when "defective babies" were institutionalized, to the nascent civil rights movement, straight on to a new era of independent living. The families sharing these stories live and often struggle with the consequences of illness, injury, genetic inheritance, or sometimes a perplexing and mysterious combination of factors, insisting that the world recognize a basic fact: "We are not science experiments."

Disability is a uniquely humbling and equal experience, sometimes expected, often striking without warning. These parents are honest about both the distressing and illuminating facts of their lives; the stories are caustic, exhilarating, fierce, funny, harrowing. Yet despite the intricate and often overwhelming challenges they face, these parents and children never succumb to maudlin stereotypes, because, as one contributor learns, "it isn't saintly to take care of someone you love."
--Bee Lavender, author of Lessons in Taxidermy: A Compendium of Safety and Danger

2009-06-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

"For the collection’s diverse and candid discussion of such topics as diagnosis, education, family, community support, respite and re-learning to stand up in order to be seen, heard, respected and believed, I hereby declare this book required reading for outsider parents of all stripes, their allies, school psychologists, therapists, social workers and child advocates!"
-Jessica Mills, author, My Mother Wears Combat Boots: A Parenting Guide for the Rest of Us

"If only that lady in the grocery store and all of those other so-called parenting experts would read this book! These true-life tales by mothers and fathers raising kids with "special needs" on the outer fringes of mainstream America are by turns empowering, heartbreaking, inspiring, maddening, and even humorous. Readers will be moved by the bold honesty of these voices, and by the fierce love and determination that rings throughout. This book is a vital addition to the public discourse on disability."
-Suzanne Kamata, editor, Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs

"This book advances alternative parenting consciousness raising; and we need many more (on different separate themes within the multitude of those disenfranchised) in order to strive towards a community where no one will be left behind...About love, and difficulties; informative and supportive. Wise, non-conformist, and absolutely punk rock!"
-China Martens, author, The Future Generation: The Zine-Book for Subculture Parents, Kids, Friends and Others

2009-04-27T13:24:00.001-07:00

updated cover art!

pre-order now on amazon!

2009-04-12T19:23:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Rides-Shortbus-Unabashedly-Disabilities/dp/1604861096/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239589218&sr=1-2

Partial List of Contributors

2008-09-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

My Baby Rides the Short Bus will include essays from these fabulous contributors, among others:
Introduction by Lisa Carver
(and in alphabetical order)
Elizabeth Aquino (http://www.elizabethaquino.blogspot.com/)
Amy Saxon Bosworth
Kathy Briccetti (www.kathybriccetti.com)
Sabrina Chapadjiev interviewing Magdalena Bueno (www.sabrinachap.com)
Kerry Cohen (www.kerry-cohen.com and www.kerrycohenhoffmann.com)
Thida Cornes (http://www.thida.com)
Joe Dimino (http://milesalfonsodiminotherapy.blogspot.com)
Chloe Eudaly (http://howishenry.blogspot.com)
Christy Everett ( www.parents.com/followingelias)
Andrea Givens (http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/learningdisabilities)
Ayun Halliday (http://www.ayunhalliday.com)
Sharis Ingram
Maria June
Ziva Mann (http://kelleycom.com/books.html)
Andrea McDowell (http://www.andreamcdowell.com/Beanie)
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg (www.writewhereyouare.org, www.goddard.edu, and www.CarynMirriamGoldberg.blogspot.com)
Jennifer Byde Myers (http://www.jennyalice.com/)
Heather Newman
Nina Packebush (http://thegrannychronicles.blogspot.com/)
Shannon Des Roches Rosa (http://www.squidalicious.com/)
Robert Rummel-Hudson (http://www.schuylersmonsterblog.com/)
Marcy Sheiner (http://www.marcys.wordpress.com/ and http://www.marcysmemoir.wordpress.com/)
Stephanie Sleeper
Mitzi Waltz (www.mitziwaltz.com)
Karen Wang
Megan Raines Wingert
Andrea Winninghoff
Chrissi Witkowski (http://chrissi-livinglaughingloving.blogspot.com/)
Emily Zolten

and writing from editors Yantra Bertelli, Jennifer Silverman and Sarah Talbot
check back for updates!

2008-09-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

Submissions are now officially closed, and we have over 35 great essays coming to a bookstore near you next winter. Check back in a few days for a list of contributors...and thanks for your interest!

We are still working on our resource guide, so if you have any web sites or organizations you think should be included, please email us at shortbusbook@yahoo.com.

we need your favorite resources!

2008-04-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

...national or local agencies, support groups, list-servs, advocacy organizations, intentional communities...send us your favorite resources that help to empower us and treat us respectfully as parents/caregivers for our resource guide in My Baby Rides the Short Bus.

About the Editors

2008-02-19T04:52:00.000-08:00

Yantra Bertelli studies Latin American History at the University of Washington. She is a parent to Caleb, an autistic and deaf thirteen year old punk and has three other children to challenge her during those rare times that Caleb sleeps. Yantra was one of the founding publishers of Rag Magazine, was a moderator for Hip Mama website, and was published in Breeder: Real Life Stories From the New Generation of Mothers and The Essential Hipmama: Writing From the Cutting Edge of Parenting, among other places. Yantra has presented on Queer Parenting, Gender in the Schools, and Educating vs. Unschooling at Mama Conferences in Portland and Minneapolis.

Jennifer Silverman is the mama of a 10 year old non-verbal son who is profoundly autistic, very oedipal, and often charming. Jennifer has most recently been published in Off Our Backs and Hip Mama, but has written for a variety of parenting publications and newspapers. She is one of the founding members of the now defunct m*a*m*a, a nyc collective of radical mothers. With m*a*m*a, she spoke about her experience raising her son while being an activist at conferences in Washington DC, Minneapolis, Providence and New York.

Sarah Talbot studies Education Leadership at Seattle University and gave birth to Caleb, who she is raising with Yantra Bertelli. Sarah has experienced the Special Education system as a parent, a teacher, and an administrator, and brings a depth of perspective about systemic issues. Sarah has been published in Breeder: Stories From a New Generation of Mothers, and Best Books For High School Students, among numerous alternative periodical publications. Sarah has lobbied with the Welfare Rights Organizing Coalition and regularly drinks coffee in cafes with her son, which many interpret as performance art.

About this project:

2008-02-13T16:01:00.001-08:00

There’s a saying that children need to be seen, heard and believed. For “special needs” kids (and their parents), this should read “seen, heard, respected, and believed.”

As parents of differently-abled/special needs children we are often put on pedestals. People wonder in awe about how we cope, or tell us platitudes about how we have landed in a different but wonderful country, and we need to dream new dreams for our special angel children. But when we’re our in public, our ‘special angel children’ are most often stared at and treated like second class citizens. Our children are inconvenient, awkward, and difficult and it’s true that coping challenges us. But those who wonder how we do it are really just highlighting for themselves (and us) that they will never have to know. The truth is that our kids aren’t angels, they’re real people with big challenges. And their challenges make our lives as parents incredibly complicated, messy, and sometimes heartbreaking, no matter how much we love them. As parents who are already marginalized by politics, sexual orientation, gender, race/ethnicity, parenting philosophy, our own disabilities, economic status, blue hair and piercings, or something else that makes us unlike the CNN-camera friendly special-needs family America knows and adores, it can be harder to find support among other parents or be taken seriously by the teachers, therapists, and other professionals we often have to rely on to get the services our kids need.

My Baby Rides the Short Bus will be an antidote to the saccharine laced anthologies that exist for special needs parents. It will give punk, alternative, and marginalized parents a place to write about their realities. Readers who have special needs kids themselves will feel like they’ve found honest voices and community, while others will have a better understanding, and hopefully respect, for us and our struggle.

Call for Submissions

2008-02-13T15:56:00.000-08:00

Call for submissions: My Baby Rides the Short Bus – an upcoming anthology to be published by PM Press (Winter, 2009)

We are seeking submissions from a diverse group of parents raising special needs kids who feel marginalized by their subculture status (economics, lifestyle, orientation, religion/atheism) and underrepresented in print.

Got tips on how to stay sane during the IEP process when you don’t believe in the system to begin with? Felt you had to hide you radical political books while the Early Intervention Folks come over? Found yourself stuck in a mainstream world of special needs parenting that you don’t fit into?

Submit your stories to a upcoming anthology that features writing from parents in the know about what it's like to raise "special needs" kids -- with no sugar coating or the 'you will dream new dreams' kind of crap we're subjected to by mainstream media. Unfortunately we can’t pay, but all contributors will receive two copies of the book.

Topics we would like to see covered include (but are not limited to):
Experiences with helpful or clueless doctors
· How not to leave your politics at the door and still work the system
· Care providers and how they help us (when they show up)
Community support or lack thereof
· The asinine things people say you
· Challenging people’s assumptions
Keeping yourself sane while caring for your kid’s needs
· The politics of inclusion
· Fighting city hall/demanding more access & services
· Kids with special needs growing older
Alternatives to group homes and institutions
· Politics behind professional care-giving
Alterative treatments: the good, the bad, or the rip-off
*Also, we’re seeking suggestions for good resources/services state-by-state or on the national level. Please send those to the email listed below.

Send 2,000 to 5,000 word submissions by May 15th 2008 or questions to: shortbusbook@yahoo.com Essays must be typed, double-spaced, and paginated. Please include your address, phone number, email address, and a short bio on the last page.

Editors: Yantra Bertelli, Jennifer Silverman and Sarah Talbot, who are parents of “special needs” kids.

www.shortbusbook.blogspot.com