Author ORCID Identifier
0009-0001-1082-0278
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Document Type
Dissertation
Publication Date
2025
Keywords
sandwich generation, parenting, motherhood, special needs, caregiving, menopause, autism, neurodivergence, memoir, poetry
Abstract
Abstract:
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.
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.
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.
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?
My poems, essays, and voice album offer an exploration of these questions.
Recommended Citation
LaMarca-Sacco, Nicoletta PhD, "Balanced at the Last Straw: Reflections on Sandwich Generation" (2025). English, General Literature, and Rhetoric Faculty Scholarship. 7.
https://orb.binghamton.edu/english_fac/7
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
