San Francisco, California
August 8, 2000

Dear Readers,

Today’s letter is by Sharon O’Connor, a mother of two daughters who lives in Cabot, Vermont. Sharon’s letter is the second in our weeklong series of letters about parenthood.

I first encountered Sharon four years ago, when Lisa Carver, the editor of the groundbreaking zine Rollerderby, reviewed the first issue of Sharon’s zine, Ajax Maple. I sent Sharon a few dollars, and she began sending me Ajax Maple, which told the story, issue by issue, of a young, cool mom (that’s Sharon) who was watching as her life was transformed by the new life of her daughter, Mazie.

I loved Sharon’s writing in Ajax Maple: she captured both the joyful and the melancholy side of motherhood, and of growing up – and of Vermont, for that matter: three things that I knew little about, but came to understand better thanks to Sharon.

When Open Letters began, I remembered Ajax Maple, and set about trying to find Sharon. It wasn’t easy; she’d moved, and my letters to her were returned by the USPS, with rubber-stamp stamps on them. I emailed Lisa Carver, who knew someone who knew Sharon, and eventually I found her, in Cabot. We began to correspond about Open Letters and about Mazie (who is now five); the result is today’s letter, which Sharon wrote to Mimi, her best friend, and cc’d to Open Letters.

Sharon hasn’t published an Ajax Maple in a while, but she’s working now on issue number five. And as of today, Ajax Maple has a web site, which is excellent timing. As you’ll read at that site, issues one through four can be yours if you send two dollars and a few stamps to:

Ajax Maple
P.O. Box 221
Cabot, VT 05647
USA.

Also: In five days, Open Letters will be going on a three-week publication hiatus. Please take a look at yesterday’s editor’s letter for more on what that’s all about. (The hiatus part is down at the bottom.)

Tomorrow: a twelve-year-old in Massachusetts writes about her best friend, and the secret that disrupted their friendship.

Yours truly,

Paul Tough