Sunday, November 27, 2011

I'll be speaking at the Museum of Motherhood in Manhattan on Monday Dec 5

My talk is "Towards a New Paradigm of Perfection" at 10:30 and I will be challenging my audience to consider how our paradigms of perfection often exclude people and reject their gifts. I did when my in-laws, country fold from El Salvador came to share my home and I was soon to find, by their bonding with my genetically diverse daughter Christina, that we often miss the contributions of others but rejecting them.


www.MOMmuseum.org
Museum Of Motherhood
Celebrating The Multicultural Family

WHAT: Day Conference & Luncheon. Multicultural Mothers: The Many Hats We Wear

WHEN: Monday, December 5, 2011, 9AM-4:30 PM

WHERE: 401 East 84th St. (@1st Ave), lower level, New York, New York

INFO: Available Online: www.MOMmuseum.org

WHO: The Museum Of Motherhood (M.O.M.) is a living, breathing, community-centered arts, media and social change museum focused on amplifying the voices and experiences of mothers, and connecting 'the cultural family' while pioneering new areas of academe in†mother studies.†We are the first and only facility of this kind
FEATURING: Global Organizations, Experts and Multicultural Voices: Tanya Fields, Executive Director, The Blk Projek, Rachel Ishofsky, Jewish Heart For Africa, Presentation Panel on Aid for Aids International, Keynote with Dr. Phyllis Chesler, signing anniversary edition of her book, Mothers On Trial, two short films on global motherhood with Elizabeth Mangum, Birth Focus on Nomadic Motherhood and The White Ribbon Alliance on Maternal Health Care, Saving Mothers.org, as well as museum tours, Cynthia Odell, Afya & Leticia Velasquez on adopting new paradigms.
WHY: When we say mothers wear many hats it is more than just a turn of the phrase or a fashion statement. Within a given family, multiple cultures often exist simultaneously, making the family structure a melting pot for ideas, traditions, folklore and more. As we acknowledge a multicultural world with global perspectives, so too our twenty first century homes and communities have become microcosms of this phenomenon, making creative, tolerant perspectives an imperative when it comes to keeping old traditions alive and cultural information available to the next generation.  Now, more than ever, institutions and communities must work to preserve folk knowledge and family cultural traditions paving the way to a collective archive, such as the one emerging within the Museum Of Motherhood, for the sake of collecting, organizing, preserving and sharing matriarchal values, sister traditions, patriarchy as it relates to family structure, birth practices and so much more, so that we may examine these links from the past, to understand ourselves and best transform our future.
TICKETS:  Suggested donation $55 in Advance by ordering online, and $74 at the door.

SPONSORS: Food Emporium, Realityworks" infant simulators & pregnancy vests, Mustela™, YWCA, Gymboree, Working Mother Magazine, Mamapalooza, Motherhood Foundation Inc., Minnesota State U. PRESS: The New York Post, NY Times, Our Town, San Francisco Chronicle, Brightside Global Trade Journal (BMSI USA Publication).

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Monday, November 07, 2011

The face of pro-life

Nicole Taylor Peck of "Silent No More" addresses a pro-life rally 
I got a kick out of the image the mainstream media has of the average March for Life attendee. They think that we are all Nellie Gray's age, senior citizens who are tottering up Capitol Hill on our last legs. They actually think the March route was shortened because we couldn't make the longer route which stretched down Constitution Ave.
But a brave Washington Post reporter ventured outside the office to actually view the March one year, being the sole representative of the Main Stream Media to do so, and was stunned. What he saw was wave after wave of vibrant, enthusiastic young people. Hundreds of thousands, in an endless sea of youthful dynamism. And the stereotype was shattered.
This article proves that the Washington Post knows that the Times they are a changin'. It describes the sweet Southern belle Marjorie Dannenelser of the Susan B Anthony List, the lovely Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life, and that human dynamo Kristen Hawkins of Students for Life.
I have experienced the youthful moms who are the movers and shakers of the pro-life movement in the Beltway. I spent an exhausting twenty four hours following Kristen, mother to a special needs son, and expecting her second child, in stiletto heels, and business suit, navigating the halls of Congress while calling familiar names to see where we could be most effectively placed to have the biggest impact. We attended a pro-life meeting in the Capitol Building, where Marjorie Dannelfelser advised members of Congress about upcoming pro-life initiatives in her gentle drawl, and I have been to Blogs for Life where Charmaine Yoest, surrounded by her teenagers addressed the movers and shakers of the pro-life movement. These high powered career ladies are proud mothers who are running the pro-life movement and changing the old stereotypes. And they have experienced unprecedented success.
Recent news stories about the new vitality of the antiabortion movement and its legislative achievements — more than a dozen states enacting record numbers of abortion restrictions this year — have glossed over one crucial fact. The most visible, entrepreneurial and passionate advocates for the rights of the unborn (as they would put it) are women. More to the point: They are youngish Christian working mothers with children at home.
So, the pro-lifers are no  longer stuffy old white men, and prudish older women. They are hip, young and effective. And they know how to use the media, like the doe-eyed college kid, Lila Rose who single-handedly put Planned Parenthood on notice that the era of the government gravy train to fund America's largest abortion business is about to end.
The ladies are soft spoken, but they mean business. And the other side is scared.
They should be. They are going to have to fight tooth and nail to keep abortion on demand legal, regardless of who is president.
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Friday, November 04, 2011

My book is available at the WestBow Press bookstore

                                         You can go here to order it directly from WestBow Press.

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