Mary Edwards Wertsch
Encyclopedia
Mary Edwards Wertsch is an author, journalist, independent publisher and expert on the subculture of American military brats. She wrote the book Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress. This book is considered the seminal piece of literature dealing with the effects of growing up as a military brat. In writing the book, Wertsch, a reporter by training, interviewed over 80 military brats and documented the patterns she found in the ways military children are raised, and the ways they continue to be affected, both positively and negatively, well into adulthood.
Wertsch now lives in St. Louis
, where her husband is on the faculty of Washington University in St. Louis
. She is routinely interviewed and invited to speak on the subject of military brats. She collaborates with Marc Curtis of the Military Brat Registry to present workshops for military brats around the country and on annual cruises. She is the founder and president of Brightwell Publishing, the first publishing house dedicated to books and films that explore and strengthen military brat cultural identity, and writes The Military Brat Blog.
, and details patterns in this population along sociological and psychological lines.
Wertsch is currently writing a second book that also discusses military brats, but includes discussion of other types of Third culture children as well. She has stated that the new book will focus on Third culture children and the experience of "Belonging" as this relates to outsider feelings held widely by this population.
s that travel around the country to brat organizations and gatherings. At each location, people are allowed to view the memento
s other brats have contributed, and encouraged to place a memento or a written anecdote of their own brat childhood in the footlocker. When the locker is filled, it is emptied and the contents are safely stored in the expectation that they will one day be part of a museum dedicated to the millions of children who have been and will be shaped by this unique way of life.
completed a documentary film significantly based on subject areas initially explored in Wertsch's book, and funded by several grants and hundreds of small monetary contributions from military brats to her non-profit organization, Brats without Borders. Musil's film, "Brats:Our Journey Home," has been enthusiastically received by military brats nationwide, and is considered a major boost to the military brat cultural identity movement.
authors.
Early life
Born into a career Army family on July 23, 1951, Mary Brightwell Edwards, as she was then named, lived in 20 houses and attended 12 schools by the time she was 18. She has one brother, David, born in 1940. Their father. David Lincoln Edwards (USMA, 1936), took the family overseas on assignments to West Germany in the early 1950s and to France in the early 1960s, where Mary attended a French school for two years (the Lycee Internationale, also known as SHAPE School, then in St. Germain-en-Laye, France). Bases where she lived growing up include Ft. Myer, Virginia; Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, and Ft. Monroe, Virginia. She graduated from the College of William & Mary in 1973 with a B.A. in philosophy, and began a career in journalism. She worked for two newspapers in Virginia, doing investigative reporting, feature writing, and a column, before moving to San Francisco and Chicago to pursue other projects. In 1985 she married James V. Wertsch, Ph.D. They have two sons.Wertsch now lives in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, where her husband is on the faculty of Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
. She is routinely interviewed and invited to speak on the subject of military brats. She collaborates with Marc Curtis of the Military Brat Registry to present workshops for military brats around the country and on annual cruises. She is the founder and president of Brightwell Publishing, the first publishing house dedicated to books and films that explore and strengthen military brat cultural identity, and writes The Military Brat Blog.
Book and Other Writing
Wertsch wrote the book "Military Brats: Legacies of Growing Up Inside the Fortress" that studied and analyzed the lives of 80 American military brats. Through this process, her book identifies military brats as a hidden American subcultureSubculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
, and details patterns in this population along sociological and psychological lines.
Wertsch is currently writing a second book that also discusses military brats, but includes discussion of other types of Third culture children as well. She has stated that the new book will focus on Third culture children and the experience of "Belonging" as this relates to outsider feelings held widely by this population.
Operation Footlocker
Wertsch, along with Reta Jones Nicholson and Gene Moser, was also behind the inspiration for Operation Footlocker. Operation Footlocker is a mobile monument for military brats. There are three footlockerFootlocker (luggage)
A Footlocker is a storage box used in the military in which soldiers store their belongings. They came to be known as "footlockers" because they were essentially a type of locker which was usually located at the "foot" of a soldier's bunk or bed...
s that travel around the country to brat organizations and gatherings. At each location, people are allowed to view the memento
Souvenir
A souvenir , memento, keepsake or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. The term souvenir brings to mind the mass-produced kitsch that is the main commodity of souvenir and gift shops in many tourist traps around the world...
s other brats have contributed, and encouraged to place a memento or a written anecdote of their own brat childhood in the footlocker. When the locker is filled, it is emptied and the contents are safely stored in the expectation that they will one day be part of a museum dedicated to the millions of children who have been and will be shaped by this unique way of life.
Documentary
In 2006, Army brat and filmmaker Donna MusilDonna Musil
Donna Musil is an American documentary filmmaker, writer and activist exploring the subculture of U.S. "military brats".She wrote and directed the award-winning 2006 documentary Brats: Our Journey Home, a film about growing up the child of a military family and the effect it has on that child's...
completed a documentary film significantly based on subject areas initially explored in Wertsch's book, and funded by several grants and hundreds of small monetary contributions from military brats to her non-profit organization, Brats without Borders. Musil's film, "Brats:Our Journey Home," has been enthusiastically received by military brats nationwide, and is considered a major boost to the military brat cultural identity movement.
Brightwell Publishing
Wertsch is also the founder and CEO of a small publishing house, "Brightwell Publishing" that focuses on publishing the works of military bratMilitary brat
A military brat describes people who spend their childhood or adolescence while a parent serve full-time in the armed forces, and can also refer to the unique subculture and lifestyle of American military brats, the term refers to both current and former children of such families.Lifestyle: The...
authors.
See also
- Camp followerCamp followerCamp-follower is a term used to identify civilians and their children who follow armies. There are two common types of camp followers; first, the wives and children of soldiers, who follow their spouse or parent's army from place to place; the second type of camp followers have historically been...
- Global nomadGlobal nomadThe term Global Nomad can mean:*People with an international lifestyle, of multi-national background or living/working in more than one country:*People who grew up in a country other than their own *Existential migration...
- Third culture children also called "Third culture kids"
- List of military brats
- List of fictional military brats military brats depicted in literature and film.
- Military brat (US subculture)
- Military bratMilitary bratA military brat describes people who spend their childhood or adolescence while a parent serve full-time in the armed forces, and can also refer to the unique subculture and lifestyle of American military brats, the term refers to both current and former children of such families.Lifestyle: The...
International scope, describes military brat subcultures in several English speaking nations - Military brats (category)
- Military historyMilitary historyMilitary history is a humanities discipline within the scope of general historical recording of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, their cultures, economies and changing intra and international relationships....
- Military slangMilitary slangMilitary slang is an array of colloquial terminology used commonly by military personnel, including slang which is unique to or originates with the armed forces. It often takes the form of abbreviations/acronyms or derivations of the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, or otherwise incorporates aspects of...
- Military sociologyMilitary sociologyMilitary sociology aims toward the systematic study of the military as a social group rather than as an organization. It is a highly specialized subfield which examines issues related to service personnel as a distinct group with coerced collective action based on shared interests linked to...
- Nomads Includes modern nomadic subcultures
- Social psychologySocial psychologySocial psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all...
- The Great SantiniThe Great SantiniThe Great Santini is a 1979 film which tells the story of a Marine officer whose success as a military aviator contrasts with his shortcomings as a husband and father. The film explores the high price of heroism and self-sacrifice...
, film about American Marine brats. - War ChildWar ChildWar Child or Warchild may refer to:* Child soldiers, children who are used in war, as soldiers or in combat support* Military brat, military slang for a child or teenager of a military family* Refugee, children who are refugees of war...
External links
- Brats Without Borders 501c3 Nonprofit organization, promotes awareness and support for Military Brats and Third Culture Children.
- "Brats: Our Journey Home" Award winning documentary produced by Nonprofit organization about military brats, based significantly on research by Wertsch, also includes extensive interviews of Wertsch.