What If Motherhood Isn’t Transformative at All?

Soon after I gave birth to my daughter three years ago, questions about my well-being started to take a new, unexpected form. Interest seemed to shift away from my physical state — how was I feeling, how much sleep were we getting — toward something else. “So, how’s motherhood?” “How is being a mother?” I had no idea what they were talking about. There were many obvious changes: new tasks, new research assignments, new things — soft things, plastic things — that I could not fit anywhere in the cupboards and closets. But when asked about “motherhood,” I didn’t know where to look.

First, for your viewing pleasure: An adorable, unlikely animal friendship. Also for your viewing pleasure: See the first photos of Paul Mescal on the set of Gladiator II. And one more: Chaka Khan did a Tiny Desk Concert, and she played the hits! Not that we watched the first season of the Frasier reboot, but it seems only fair that Bulldog and Gil will finally appear in season two. The new King Charles portrait has already been vandalized. Here’s how much it cost one indie filmmaker to attend Cannes. For the first time, Pamela Smart has accepted full responsibility for plotting to have her husband killed in 1990. And a new book tells the history of the ancient world through women — here’s what they had to say about sex.

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