from the editor

The Kindred Spirits Issue

I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising that when I was looking around for women to interview for this issue devoted to “kindred spirits,” I finally landed on four pairs of mothers and daughters (or daughters-in-law). After all, Memphis is held together by family ties (“aren’t you related to so-and-so?” is almost as popular an intro question as “what kind of work do you do?”). And I tried to find pairs of sisters and cousins, really I did. But there’s something about the energy between mothers and daughters that makes it tough to look away, whether they work together, or don’t. Share a dream, or just daily phone calls. Look alike, or just finish each other’s sentences. But most of all, I saw in these relationships what I miss most about my own mother, gone now nearly twenty years: the incandescent power of unconditional love.

~leanne

kleinmann@skirtmemphis.com