Let's Talk About Money, Baby

Mamihood, Writing, and Money: Moving Past My Money Shame & Crafting a Creative Life I Love

Recently my friend, poet and scholar Raina J. León, had her essay "On Labor's Value" published in the VIDA Review.
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In it, Raina asks: "When and for what should I be paid? And when I am not offered compensation, to what will I say no in favor of my family, my art, my life?"

For Raina (as for me and others I'm sure) so many of these questions -- which have always been there -- have taken on a new urgency since the birth of her child. Raina explains:
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"How do I also negotiate between the labor maternal and the labor that takes me away from my son so that I can creatively express myself and also be compensated for that expression and thereby provide for my son? In short, how do I get paid and provide for my household for the labor that takes me away from my son?"
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My question is: shouldn't we all be asking (and searching for answers to) those same questions alongside her?

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