STROLLER by Amanda Parrish Morgan
Object Lessons is a series of concise, collectable, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Join us as we welcome the author of STROLLER, Amanda Parrish Morgan to discuss her work. This visit is co-hosted by Split Rock Books, and books will be available for purchase. Registration is requested.
Among the many things expectant parents are told to buy, none is a more visible symbol of status and parenting philosophy than a stroller. Although its association with wealth dates back to the invention of the first pram in the 1700s, in recent decades, four-figure strollers have become not just status symbols but cultural identifiers.
There are sleek jogging strollers for serious athletes, impossibly compact strollers for parents determined to travel internationally with pre-ambulatory children, and those featuring a ride-on kick board or second, less “babyish” seat, designed with older siblings in mind. Despite the many models available, we are all familiar with the image of a harried mother struggling to use a stroller of any kind in a public space that does not accommodate it. There are anti-stroller evangelists, fervently preaching the gospel of baby wearing and attachment parenting. All of these attitudes, seemingly about an object, are also revealing of how we believe parents and children ought to move through the world.
Amanda’s first book, STROLLER, is forthcoming from Bloomsbury’s Object Lesson series in 2022! Some of her essays have appeared in the 2021 Connecticut Literary Anthology, Guernica, The Rumpus, The Millions, n+1, Electric Literature, Carve, The American Scholar and the Ploughshares Blog. She has also written some pieces about long-distance running and teaching (her other fascinations) for JSTOR Daily, The Washington Post, Real Simple, Women’s Running and ESPNW. Amanda lives in Connecticut with her husband and two children where she teaches at Fairfield University and the Westport Writers’ Workshop.