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All About Alumni
Parenting 101
In Katrina Onstad’s new novel,
a couple gets a crash course in
raising a child
KATRINA ONSTAD (MA 1999) MIGHT BE BEST KNOWN for her national
newspaper and magazine columns, but her 2006 debut
novel How Happy to Be was celebrated for its satire, wit, and
examination of loving and working in the 21 st century. In
her new novel, Everybody Has Everything, Onstad takes a
similar approach, once again considering the isolating
Onstad’s novel
dares to pose the
still-controversial
question: Is every
woman meant to be
a mother
aspects of contemporary urban life.
Through her characters James and
Ana, she uses the perspective of a longchildless
couple to take a provocative
look at modern parenthood, illuminating
the absurdity of a culture that has
turned “parent” into a verb.
James and Ana are summoned to
parenthood by a text message and a phone call. A tragic car
accident has occurred, and they are shocked to find themselves
entrusted with care of their friends’ two-year-old son,
Finn. The boy’s arrival in their home rocks James and Ana’s
relationship to the core, their untraditional path to parenthood
bringing not only unique challenges but also those
typical to many families – balancing child care, dealing with
tantrums and finding time for romance. Onstad has broadened
the narrative of family life to include several new
realities. After years of invasive fertility treatments and
miscarriages, Ana has only recently made peace with
the fact that she is unlikely to have a biological child of her
own. Once she becomes Finn’s guardian, she is forced to
juggle impossible competing expectations from home, in her
work as a successful lawyer and in her responsibility to care
for her ailing mother.
For James, underemployment has him questioning
notions of manhood and his role as husband and provider.
Long a purveyor of anti-sentimentality, he is also surprised
and overwhelmed by the force of his feelings for Finn, by
the connection between them that makes him feel like an
adult for the first time in his life.
Ana’s connection to Finn is less straightforward. When
he arrives, the maternal feelings fail to. Onstad’s novel dares
to pose the still-controversial questions: What is parenthood
beyond the biological connection And is every woman
really meant to be a mother – KERRY CLARE
From Stage to Screen
Measha Brueggergosman hits gold with
a new album, a TV show and an opera
Juno Award-winning soprano Measha Brueggergosman
(BMus 1999) considers time the
most important currency – though she’s never
had much of it. This past year, she released a
new album and took a role on a TV show.
Her new album, I’ve Got a Crush On You,
is a collection of covers – from Gershwin’s
“Embraceable You” to Ron Sexsmith’s “Secret
Heart.” It’s also Brueggergosman’s first nonclassical
recording. The songs were recorded in
familiar haunts in Halifax and in her hometown
of Fredericton, and the label, Kelp Records, is
run by a childhood friend. “The album is an
amalgam of the people, places and repertoire
that have gone into my history,” she says.
Part of that history includes an addiction to
reality TV developed while Brueggergosman
lived in Germany. So when Canada’s Got Talent
approached her to be a judge, it was an easy
sell. The first season recently concluded, and
Brueggergosman is hoping for a second. She’ll
also be performing in Porgy and Bess with the
Cincinnati Opera this summer.
For Brueggergosman and her husband, the
last year started with tragedy when they lost a
pregnancy. She has found healing through
more time with her family and her return to
work. “I took the time to grieve properly, but
I’m also a doer and I wanted to be busy,” she
says. “In a way, I feel like my husband and I
have been blessed in ways we couldn’t have
predicted.” – SARAH TRELEAVEN
PHOTO: TOP, JULIAN BAULD; BOTTOM, MAT DUNLAP
summer 2012 47