Hi there, I’m Laurel Marlantes, writer & speaker
We all have those moments that break us open. For me, it was the stillbirth of my son after undergoing a lat(er)-term abortion due to medical complications. Something I kept hidden for years, fearing judgment and misunderstanding. I had once judged the act myself.
Now I know the love behind such a choice and the struggle it takes to come home afterward - not just to who you were before, but who you are now. And it's a story I believe no longer needs to stay silent.
Sharing stories has the power to create bridges and heal - not just an individual but a cultural divide.
Memoir
Memoir writing is like going on a hunt for the deepest truth to one’s life experience and then finding the words to communicate that. It’s taken years for me to find mine. Words authentic to my heart that speak in nuance and complexities, humanizing a charged political topic.
“Nuance doesn’t make for good political slogans. So, complex concepts are trimmed into neat and tidy sound bites. But perhaps we need to consider the expense more. The language we use matters, and when the words we use fail to represent the truth we feel, we become emotionally disoriented. Internal chaos is created — which in turn exacerbates political chaos.”
“Giving birth to death forces you to come to psychological terms with the fullness of life and hold, in one singular moment, the diversity and complexity of the human experience. Finding peace with this seeming impossibility required my brain and soul to stretch wider than I ever knew I could. Although the experience is horrific, it is holy. ”
“There is no one size fits all answer. So the only answer is to expand. We can’t make an assessment between the this and that (pro-choice vs pro-life), we have to grow the space around the this and that to include both.”
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