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Grounded

A Personal Essay

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Grounded

By: Doreen Oliver
Narrated by: Doreen Oliver
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About this listen

Grounded is a moving personal essay about autism, race, and the sacrifices mothers make to give their children a chance at a good life, by writer and performance artist Doreen Oliver.

In Grounded, we meet Doreen as she’s struggling with the realization that she’s pregnant, weighing her own dreams and professional ambitions against the life she imagines is necessary to nurture and raise children well. Doreen’s mother was a stay-at-home mom who did everything in her power to ensure her daughters had the same opportunities as the white kids in their New Jersey suburb - opportunities she and her 12 siblings could have never afforded when they were young. Years later, the influence of her mom still looming large as her own children grow up, Doreen begins to see her mother’s choices in a different light with new challenges faced in parenting - particularly with Xavier, who is on the autism spectrum.

A remarkable new voice in nonfiction, Doreen Oliver tells this deeply personal story with compassion and unflinching honesty.

©2021 Doreen Oliver (P)2021 Audible Originals, LLC. Parenting & Families Relationships Nonfiction Inspiring Thought-Provoking Autism Parenting

Dear Listener,

What was my favorite part about writing this story?
"I love, love, love writing my mother into my work. She is a multidimensional force. The scene in the kitchen, though it becomes tense, demonstrates her humanity—funny (inadvertently), tough, caring, candid, and determined—but it also offers us a glimpse into her vulnerability. She is filled with genuine love that sometimes feels hard and sometimes feels soft but is always well intended. I think most people who have grown up with a mother can relate to that. And writing about her forces me to reflect on how I parent, whether my love has felt unintentionally rough-edged to my children. But that's a story for another time." –Doreen Oliver, author of Grounded
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About the Creator and Performer

Doreen Oliver is a writer, actor, and speaker whose work illuminates the beauty, heartbreak, and unpredictability of life. Her critically acclaimed one-woman show, Everything Is Fine Until It’s Not, in 2016 broke the record for the fastest sellout of a run in the 20-year history of the New York International Fringe Festival and won the Backstage/United Solo Audience award the following year. Her essays on autism, racism, and the chaos and contradictions of parenting have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post Sunday Magazine, The Root, Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. A recipient of residencies and fellowships from Yaddo, Hedgebrook, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Sustainable Arts Foundation at Gallery Aferro, Oliver honed her storytelling skills during her years developing and producing independent films in New York and working at HBO Original Programming in Los Angeles. She is a graduate of Yale University and Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was a Charles Bonini Fellow. Connect with her via www.doreenoliver.com, @doreenoliver on Twitter, and @doreeneverythingisfine on Instagram.

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What listeners say about Grounded

Highly rated for:

Compelling Storytelling Raw Emotional Narrative Vivid Descriptive Writing Relatable Motherhood Journey
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Profile Image for Gretchen Harwood

Loved listening to this essay!

Great essay- Doreen was so relatable. The language/description, wow! And the ending, so profound, so true, So perfect. Thank you for sharing your life (even better through your voice) w/ us!

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Profile Image for Atlanta Mom

Amazing read

The narrator's delivery was authentic and relatable. I laughed and cried with her very moving story.

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Profile Image for hello

Vivid & resonant

This story made me weep. It is specific to the narrator’s story, but also universal in so many ways: about motherhood, about daughterhood, about marriage and dreams and more. Most of all it’s brimming with love, for family and self. Just a wonderful and engrossing listen.

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Profile Image for Claire E.

An engrossing story of motherhood and autism

Oliver’s account of the push and pull of wanting to follow one’s professional dreams while being a loving and tirelessly advocating mother of a child with autism is riveting. Her mother’s own mother’s role in heightening the conflicts and love involved in parenting is fascinating. A great and inspiring listen.

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Profile Image for Mariza P. Muniz

Quick read, insightful, captures attention!

Although the author touches on many topics quickly and offers a glimpse into the world of autism, from a mother's standpoint, because it's such a quick read, it leaves the reader feeling like there should be more.

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Profile Image for JJ Ang

A “must listen”, if you are a mother, have a mother or know a mother!.

This engaging piece about motherhood, discovery , scaffolding, sacrifice, dedication, and love, is a raw and beautiful story about a new mother’s fears, needs and evolving self awareness. Doreen Oliver performs her story with such emotion and intensity, it’s impossible not to feel the universality of her inner thoughts. She left me wanting to hear more. Highly recommend!

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Profile Image for M. E. Lindsay

Moving and beautiful

Moving, beautiful, and masterfully crafted narrative. Such a thoughtful meditation on parenting, both being a parent, as well as being parented.

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Profile Image for MHE

Beautifully written an narrated!

I love the way the beauty and challenges of motherhood are captured in this essay. It reads like a short story and is so beautifully written and narrated. I anxiously await more from Doreen Oliver; don't keep me waiting long sis!

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Profile Image for Marcie

Kinda boring

Thank God it was only 41 min or whatever. I like having a distraction other then music sometimes and this was it. I guess if you have a nosey mother & a child with autism you could relate to this book. Sounds like she led a pretty cushie life style, so its like hire a housekeeper and take some of the load off, I bet she spent hours writing this essay and then preforming it, time her mother probably would have said would have been better spent focusing on her family. I guess i just dont like books about complaints and other people's problems. Unless for sure fiction, lol. Kinda over preformed it a bit too. Otherwise a quick car ride distraction and thanks for that.

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Profile Image for Jennifer Webster

An authentic, beautifully written listen

I liked the real insight that the tastefully crafted story opened regarding unconscious biased around issues of race, disability and generational worldview. It was so subtle that I am not sure it was intended, but as a white, disabled person I appreciated having my eyes opened. I would recommend to any aspiring young writer. and would love to hear more.

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