Elizabeth Coffman is a documentary filmmaker and film scholar. She's published work in Camera Obscura, Journal of Film & Video and other places. Her film work has been broadcast and screened at festivals in Europe and the U.S. Elizabeth maintains messy homes in Chicago and in Tampa, where her two children live with their father during the week, and stay with her on the weekends. Elizabeth and her filmmaking partner have a media production company--Long Distance Productions.
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Long Distance Mom: Teen Zombies
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By Elizabeth Coffman
November 5, 2009 2:13 pm
Maybe it’s because it was just Halloween, but, for some reason, zombies seem to have surrounded me recently. My fourteen year-old daughter Katie wanted to go see Zombieland weekend before last. I voted for Amelia, thinking that would provide her with a more positive role model — “She just got into a plane and decided to fly it!” But a need for good humor, Katie’s desire for sleep, and ...
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Long Distance Mom: College Roommates
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By Elizabeth Coffman
October 22, 2009 8:22 am
A lot can be said about the ‘challenges’ of Facebook, but one of the great things about social media is that it puts you back in touch with old, college friends. (By ‘old’ I mean friends who attended college more than 20 years ago.) In a weird coincidence, I had two of my former undergraduate roommates come through Chicago during the past week.While visiting with these talented women — ...
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Long Distance Mom: Funding Mom's Degree
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By Elizabeth Coffman
October 8, 2009 11:43 am
Temperatures are on the rise as funds are sinking fast for college tuition.Recently, I was put in charge of developing a faculty proposal for a new graduate program in our School of Communication. (A project that is keeping me up at nights…) Not only is the field of communication in a state of ‘digital’ shock — newspapers are bankrupt, advertising is in trouble, Hollywood is facing ...
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Long Distance Mom: Heartbreak and Radicalism
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By Elizabeth Coffman
September 23, 2009 9:21 pm
There’s no denying it. The school year is in full gear now. Labor Day has passed. October is coming. My heart breaks every year in September at the reality of resuming my twice a month commute to see my kids in Florida. Since my teenagers are starting to think about colleges soon, I recognize how precious the remaining days are for us to share dinner together, or for me to challenge my son ...
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Long Distance Mom: Birth Control - Politics vs. Environment
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By Elizabeth Coffman
September 10, 2009 8:07 am
Why is birth control an expensive, hot potato issue for the national health care debate and barely mentioned as an environmental problem? My own health issues have led me to new levels of outrage that our government, religious institutions and medical scientists can’t seem to figure reproductive politics out a little better for women or the environment.Haven’t we got the picture yet? We’re ...
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Long Distance Mom: Cooks and Bloggers
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By Elizabeth Coffman
August 27, 2009 8:58 am
If you are a gourmand, then I assume you’ve seen Julie and Julia, the new film about quirky TV chef, Julia Child, and the blogger who tackled 524 recipes in 365 days from Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julie Powell. Everyone in my food-loving family saw the film within a few days of its release.After seeing Julie and Julia (twice in two weeks!), my ex-husband went out and bought ...
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Long Distance Mom: Mr. Bill
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By Elizabeth Coffman
August 12, 2009 8:25 pm
Middle-aged readers will remember the popular Saturday Night Live sketch of the 1970s and early 80s-- Mr. Bill. Mr. Bill is an animated puppet with a big white head and simply sketched face that changes expression as Mr. Bill encounters disasters, usually embodied by “Mr. Hands” or “Sluggo.” “Oh Nooooo!” Mr. Bill cries in Hurricane Sluggo (2003) as an alligator opens its big jaws and ...
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Long Distance Mom: Frogs, Whales and Camping
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By Elizabeth Coffman
July 23, 2009 5:24 am
Summer is when we expose our kids (particularly our city kids) to nature, gardening and camping gear. My teenagers already get “environmental” assignments during the school year, but when summer comes, they get to live them out. Those “green” talks from Mom or those tests at school are set aside for combating slugs on our backyard lettuce or tasting the differences between faucet water in ...
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Long Distance Mom: Gay Pride
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By Elizabeth Coffman
July 8, 2009 9:59 pm
On June 28th I found myself picking up my two teenagers in New York City to spend the rest of the summer with me in Chicago. It happened to be the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and a big Gay Pride weekend. My friend, community activist Isabel Grayson, and I decided to take our kids up to Greenwich Village to see the parade.We emerged from the train right across from the Stonewall Inn ...
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Long Distance Mom: Idiot's Guide to Stepparenting
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By Elizabeth Coffman
June 25, 2009 8:06 am
After being in a relationship with my current partner for almost as long as my marriage lasted, I decided that it was time to read about stepparenting. Even though I’m the one with the biological children, and my partner’s the stepparent, the title — The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Stepparenting -- convinced me to buy the book…My partner’s first long-term relationship was with a woman ...
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