CityState : Current
Modern Dad
PVD author Lucas Mann gets real on fatherhood in Attachments . By Tony Pacitti
PHOTOGRAPHY : COURTESY OF LUCAS MANN / PORTRAIT BY REBECCA ATWOOD .
When it comes to taking on the role of a present , handson dad , Providence author and Riffraff co-owner Lucas Mann knows the score .
“ There is an incredibly low bar ,” he says . “ You can be seen with an enormous amount of generosity , much of which isn ’ t really earned . You feel incredibly visible and like everyone ’ s rooting for you . I ’ ve never had people be nicer to me . It ’ s that weird tension where I ’ m not doing it for that , but also : That ’ s nice .”
In his new collection of essays , Attachments : Essays on Fatherhood and Other Performances , Mann examines the multifaceted experience of fatherhood as one of constant performance as he articulates the anxieties , paradoxes and little victories of millennial fatherhood .
The book begins with a more abstract mode of performance as Mann imagines a series of brief , hopeful futures and existentially alarming what-ifs for a daughter born into our current climate catastrophe . Others explore literal performances of fatherhood , as with the “ Dads Being Dudes Making Jokes ” about finding kernels of truth within dad memes and the real dads who make them .
His personal experiences in parenting are woven honestly and hilariously through ruminations on the broader ideas of fatherhood and popular culture , including contemplating LeBron James ’ “ girl dad ” side , and how Brad Pitt ’ s constant on-screen chowing down brings up the body issues Mann hopes won ’ t be passed on to his daughter . Mann also crafts a superficially heartfelt view of fatherhood from the borrowed words of famous real and fictional girl dads who range from being complicated personalities to morally dubious to outright villains .
The moments of big love that you would expect are peppered throughout — his love for his daughter radiates through it all — as are moments of humor and frustration . Mann is game to call himself out and admit when he ’ d really just rather be scrolling through LeBron ’ s Instagram , but what parent can ’ t relate to that ?
In the end , readers will find notes of a dad they recognize from their own social circle , if not their own mirror . I certainly found echoes of my own parenting struggles perfectly summed up in such a gut-punch of a sentence that I had to walk away from the book for a bit : “ The flip side of not wanting fatherhood to be a joke is having no sense of humor about it at all .”
Accurate , beautiful , brutal . A must-read for any anxious dad doing their best this Father ’ s Day . 🆁
20 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l JUNE 2024