“Cold Snap” is about two disparate adults, caught in the tumult of abrupt weather change, caused by the accidental detonation of an experimental meteorological weapon.
"She has been so careful at work; she has had all of her shopping delivered for weeks, actually for months, now; she's even wiped down the items with bleach as they are delivered, and still does. How can this have happened?"
In this 2nd of my Processing Parental Grief series, Calliandra receives a letter from her mother weeks after her death.
"This autoethnographic story is about mental illness, specifically bi-polar disorder."
Catholic Boy Fights the Devil in the Mohawk River Valley is a short story that’s set in upstate New York during World War II. At a time when America was fighting fascist devils abroad, many were struggling with the devil’s influence at home.
"I wrote Asha’s story to give voice to all the women in rural Bangladesh who cannot speak out against their abusers or society."
Odesa addresses the traumas of struggling immigrants, who face rejection and shunning rather than acceptance and understanding.
This story explores childbirth-related trauma and postpartum mental health through the lens of a ‘good birth.’
Missing A Beat examines the journey of two brothers as they attempt to leave behind a past marred by domestic violence but are presented with a choice that threatens the sibling bonds that have been their life raft.
I provide context by referencing theory and practice in narrative medicine and current literary criticism around trauma plots.
Ulla-Maija Matikainen·
All ContentAutoethnographic Literary FictionAutoethnographic PoetryAutoethnographic WritingVolume 2, Issue 1 (2022)
··12 min read"A woman alone doesn’t belong to any male power or protection sphere. She can be kidnapped into fears and dreams."
I write of parental grief & my mother's sweater as a comfort to me, exploring cultures of grief where pain meets love and love meets pain.
