Sept. 5, 2018 — Middlesex Community College will present a special MxCC Reads Book Club event on Monday, September 24, 2018, starting at 12:30 p.m. California-based author, Janelle Hanchett, will answer questions via Skype about her book entitled, I’m Just Happy to Be Here: A Memoir of Renegade Mothering. This virtual meet-the-author event will take place in Chapman Hall, room 808A, at Middlesex Community College, 100 Training Hill Road, Middletown. The hour-long Q&A session is free and open to the public with refreshments provided.
“Published in May 2018, Hanchett’s book details her struggles with addiction, young motherhood, and all of the other obstacles that life throws at people,” said Adam Floridia, MxCC English professor. “She captures life’s most difficult moments and expresses them with brutal honesty and insight. Her witty, sarcastic, and irreverent personality shines through in every page, gilding even the darkest experiences with humor. Whether or not one has any experiences with addiction or struggled with motherhood, Hanchett’s accounts of the real raw parts of life can resonate with the assurance that ‘you are not alone.’”
This is a story rarely heard—of the addict mother not redeemed by her children; who longs for normalcy but cannot maintain it; and who, having traveled to the bottom of addiction, all the way to ‘society’s hated mother,’ makes it back, only to discover she will always remain an outsider. Like her irreverent, hilarious, and unflinchingly honest blog, Renegade Mothering, Hanchett’s memoir speaks with warmth and wit to those who feel like outsiders in parenthood and life, boldly recounting instead how one grows to accept an imperfect self within an imperfect life.
Participants are welcome to bring questions for the author and enjoy a lively discussion. Hanchett promises to answer all questions openly. She is excited to talk with her cross-coast readers, saying that “this is going to be rad. (I’m trying to bring that word back from the 80s!)”
Hanchett lives in northern California with her husband and four children.
Since 1966, Middlesex Community College has provided high-quality, affordable, and accessible education to a diverse population, enhancing the strengths of individuals through degree, certificate, and lifelong learning programs that lead to university transfer, employment, and an enriched awareness of our shared responsibilities as global citizens. A part of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system, MxCC offers more than 65 degree or certificate programs at the main 35-acre campus in Middletown, MxCC@Platt in Meriden, and online.
