I really enjoyed stopping by the home of Leslie, Jadelynn and Rio for these porch portraits. If you live in the Bay Area and are interested in having me visit you too, please send me a message.
“It was three weeks after our first baby was born that our state shut down. After a very intense and traumatic birth, our gorgeous little was brought into this world. When we left the hospital, we dreamed of rest followed by the love and care of our chosen family. Two weeks later, we chose to self-quarantine as we watched our loved ones cancel their trips to see us.
During this, I have often thrown out the joke, “If no one is around to see you parent, are you really a parent?” So much of our decision to have a baby is rooted in our desire to push against the normative definitions of family, to have our child raised by as many hands possible, and to bring them into the world often and radically, engaging in the community-focused, political work my love and I both undertake. With the pandemic, much of this has been impossible. We find ourselves full of daily gratitude that we are housed, fed, and able to be together. What I wouldn’t give, however, to see our loved ones hold our child. What my aching arms and back wouldn’t do for a moment alone with myself or, even better, my love. What we wouldn’t do to hold our friends who are hurting, to cook them meals, to be in the streets. Most of the time, we are in the echo chamber of our own hopes that we are doing right by this little human.
When I watch their little body respond to the electronic screen, on the other side of which is their beloved family, I ache with a curious mix of foreboding and joy. When they seem disinterested I twinge with both celebration and sadness. What strange, conflicting states we spin in, these days. All the while, we stay anchored and constant in our heartbreak, our babe-induced bliss and our fervent, never-ending hope for a new world."
Leslie, Jadelynn and Rio, Alameda, July 2020