MFA Alum Risa Polansky Shiman's Essay, "Just a House," in Mutha Magazine

Congratulations to MFA Alum Risa Polansky Shiman on publication of a beautiful, heartbreaking essay—"Just a House"—in Mutha Magazine.

An excerpt from "Just a House":

When we found out we were losing our baby, I was six months pregnant, and my husband and I were days away from closing on our first house: a five-bedroom, cookie-cutter monstrosity in a family-friendly suburb we thought we were too cool for until we were on the cusp of having a family of our own.

We house hunted through the beginning of the pregnancy, first in the neighborhood around our beachtown apartment, then in other walkable areas with character and charm, begrudgingly ruling out each. Homes too old, and too expensive for being so old. Schools iffy. All that. In the end, as had several sellout friends before us, we put in an offer on a newish house in a well-regarded school district west of the Florida Turnpike.

The bedroom next to the master was set up as a nursery already, with white clapboard paneling and sea-green walls.   [ . . . ]

You can read more of Risa Polansky Shiman's essay at Mutha Magazine.