Writing For Texas Monthly Magazine example essay topic

Prudence Mackintosh, a writer of both novels and magazines articles, was born and raised in Texarkana and now lives in Dallas where she raised her family. Mackintosh went to college at the University of Texas in the sixties. She wrote and still is writing about Texas womanhood and what it is like to be a mother in Texas. Prudence Mackintosh has influenced the world's perception of Texas and the rest of the West through her humorous writing about everyday life in Texas. Prudence Mackintosh has three sons who are grown up now that she raised in Highland Park. All three boys are different.

Her oldest son is very well organized and willing do anything she asks him to do, her middle son is very disorganized, and the youngest son is very adventurous. Mackintosh supported them in their decisions and always helped them know how to chose right from wrong. Mrs. Mackintosh wrote a story about when her oldest son he didn't want to play football anymore, and how all the other boys made fun of him. To help him, she wrote a story telling how not all boys had to play football to be tough. Prudence Mackintosh's mother and father were the main influences as she was growing up. She was born into a family of writers, who both worked for the newspaper, her mother wrote articles and her father did editing.

Her parents took her to their office where she observed the hectic yet exciting environment of the writers using adult language that children shouldn't hear. So she grew up to think that writing was the job for her. Besides her parents, Maya Angelou was another huge influence on Mrs. Mackintosh. Angelou and Mrs. Mackintosh grew up only twenty five miles apart, but there lives were extremely different. Maya Angelou is sixteen years older so she started her writing career when Prudence Mackintosh was a child. Mackintosh says, 'Maya Angelou's first book, 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings', was an especially strong stuff for me.

Maya Angelous' black childhood experiences in Stamp, Arkansas, occurred only twenty-five miles and sixteen years from her very different white childhood in Texarkana, Texas. Angelou's writings influenced her views on racism in her small town. An old friend of hers from college became editor of Texas Monthly Magazine. He remembered how fabulous a writer Mackintosh was from their college years. Their first meeting was in a poetry class when he laughed at her name. They became good friends and decided to keep in touch.

He had read some of her articles for D Magazine and he wanted her to write about motherhood in Texas for his magazine. She rejected his first offer because her two children kept her very busy. She felt there already are many authors writing about motherhood, but he convinced her to let him be the judge. So Prudence Mackintosh began to write articles about being a Texas woman and mother for his magazine. Eventually, her third baby came along and she had to drop writing for Texas Monthly Magazine temporarily.

Prudence Mackintosh was invited into the Junior League by some good friends of hers thinking she would like it. (Mackintosh) [personal interview] Mackintosh had many things going on at the same time, she had two kids and one coming, she was writing for D Magazine, she was writing for Texas Monthly Magazine. It was an honor to be in the Junior League, you are known as an upper class woman if you are invited to be a part of the Junior League. Mrs. Mackintosh was very honored to be asked, but it put on so much responsibility on top of her children and her writing career. There were advantages and disadvantages to the Junior League.

The advantages are: you are well respected by others, it is a great honor to be in the Junior League, and you are known as an upper class woman. The disadvantages are: you have to put many hours of league and volunteer work in your membership, It come as a first priority, and you can't keep on with your hobbies, unless you want to be totally worn out. (Prudence Mackintosh pg. 73) [ Just As We Were] When Prudence Mackintosh wrote about the Junior League, it showed the people who are reading her books that Texas woman and mothers don't dress their children in rags and home school them. She told that the women in Texas aren't like that, the Junior League is a perfect example. The women in the Junior League want the best for their children, which include schooling, and they want the best for themselves as well. (Mackintosh) [personal interview] Prudence Mackintosh taught at a school named Hockaday, and that wasn't the first teaching job she has had.

She taught at a public school in Texarkana. When she came to Hockaday it was a big change for her because she was used to teaching children who had nothing to girls that had everything. She was not used to the fancy silver wear they used for lunch and their manners are remarkable. One day Mrs. Mackintosh over heard some girls talking, and they were saying I wouldn't mind being black, green or purple but I sure wouldn't want to be poor and I was going to Hockaday. (D Magazine pg. 104) [article] Prudence Mackintosh influenced the Worlds perception on the Texas and the rest of the West through her novels and articles and her experiences as a Texas woman, mother, and wife.