Catherine Gigante-Brown

Catherine Gigante-Brown

Bio

Catherine Gigante-Brown is a freelance writer of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Her works have appeared in Time Out New York, Essence and Seventeen. She co-wrote two biographies for Prometheus Books and her short stories appear in fiction anthologies. Catherine’s first novel, The El, is available from Volossal Publishing. You can learn more about her on her website.

Catherine Gigante-Brown Articles

My mammogram’s fine. I’m fine. Until next year. But four years and counting, I’ll take the fear, I’ll take the dread, just so I’m still around to feel it again next year.

How I Survive The Worst Day Of The Year (Every Year)

As a breast cancer survivor, the worst day of the year is when I go for my mammogram. True, nobody actually likes mammos, but I’ve been bitten by one. On the way to my annual squishing, I realized that I have a bunch of coping strategies.

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My OCD Kitchen

I’m sure you’ll find it a delicious and well-stocked place. There are just a few rules

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Visiting My In-Laws Is Like An Episode Of I Love Lucy

I try. I really do. But whenever I attempt to embrace my husband Peter’s Cuban culture, I always screw up.

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Until you're not.

Cancer Blues: You Never Really Get Over It

That’s the thing about being a breast cancer survivor — it’s always there: it never goes away. The scars, the fear that lurks in the back of your mind like a boogeyman. You’re going along nicely, living your merry life, and you’re fine, until you’re not.

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The Brutally Honest Mom Manifesto That Changed My Life

Anne Lamott's Operating Instructions wasn't your typical cutesie baby fare. It was raw, real—and unabashedly funny.

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Last Night, I Met “The Other Woman”

" Sure enough, the doorbell rang one early June day and there she was: curvy, seductive body, smooth black skin, bright blue eyes."

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How I Learned To Love My Son For What He Is (Despite What He's Not)

Why do we venerate individuality in adults but condemn it in children?

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You Can't Go Home Again: A Tale Of A Conflicted Cuban Childhood

I left Cuba in 1949, when I was 11 years old. Back then, I didn't understand why my mother sent me away. I still don't.

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What I Learned About Poetry From My Professor, Audre Lorde

I was 21 –– a Catholic, heterosexual college student, living at home in Brooklyn and still trying to discover who I was. At the crossroads of her life, Lorde knew exactly who she was. She was waging a war against cancer and sharing an old house in Staten Island with her kids and partner. But maybe we weren’t so different after all.

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santeria

My Bizarre Brush With Santeria: Hocus Pocus? Real Deal?

The santero sent us off with a shopping list of ite

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