Balanced at the Last Straw: Reflections on Sandwich Generation

<p>Abstract:</p> <p>My dissertation, Life at the Last Straw, is a multimedia hybrid collection of poems and essays in two parts: written poetry collection and recorded poetry album. The album includes an accompanying reading list. This project is about coping with caretaking, neuro-divergence, deep, fierce love, and the frustrations of balancing my life as mother, advocate, daughter and wife against the challenges of creative work, completing my PHD, and becoming a writer.</p> <p>I am a non-traditional student (over 50) in a nontraditional life, but the backdrop is in many ways typical: Raised in an extended multi-generational multilingual Italian immigrant family, trained in the stories, folk-wisdom, and inter-generational cooking traditions.</p> <p>In my manuscript, I use cooking as sign posts and metaphors. What is the dynamic between these often conflicting realities? How did emotions, devotion, and culture play a part in the way I was raised and my view of cooking and the kitchen as my happy place? I wonder if it is possible to return there. I use creative writing and my spoken-word album not only to return, but to take readers and listeners there, too.</p> <p>Who needs me more in sandwich generation: my parents, my husband, my children? What is care work and how does it pay intrinsically when it is in reality unpaid labor with endless responsibilities, especially as a “sandwich generation” caregiver? Is it ok for me to express a range of unbecoming emotions? Do I really have time to pursue the PhD? Is it too late for me?</p> <p>My poems, essays, and voice album offer an exploration of these questions.</p>

Authors dc:creator

• LaMarca-Sacco, Nicoletta, PhD
• <p>0009-0001-1082-0278</p>

• sandwich generation
• parenting
• motherhood
• special needs
• caregiving
• menopause
• autism
• neurodivergence
• memoir
• poetry
• Digital Humanities
• English Language and Literature
• Nonfiction
• Other English Language and Literature
• Other Italian Language and Literature
• Translation Studies
• Women's Studies

Repository record dc:identifier

https://orb.binghamton.edu/english_fac/7

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:orb.binghamton.edu:english_fac-1006