Activism

Occupy

Daily reports and analysis on the Occupy movement.

One More Woman by Michelle Tellez

I recently met yet another woman who from afar seemed like your ordinary, well-adjusted, middle class mother of two. Because our kids go to the same elementary school, after dropping them off, we started chatting. She told me she had just finished writing a book about her life. She giggled and confessed, "I was a slut!" I laughed and said, "Me too! We're going to be great friends." The conversation progressed quickly, and within a few minutes, we realized that what was making us laugh hysterically was rooted in the fact that we were both survivors of child sexual abuse. We were simply coping with old scars.

Mother's Day: Up and At 'Em, Mama! by Hilary Selden Illick

When Mother's Day was first born in 1872, breakfast in bed, Hallmark cards, store-bought bouquets and being taken out for brunch wasn't anywhere near the point. Then called Mother's Peace Day, the holiday was supposed to celebrate the values represented by motherhood -- peace, mercy, charity, and patience -- and the broader social and political implications of those values.

I just came across an advertisement for some kind of a high-end breakfast-in-bed kit, with a caption that said, "Celebrating our nation's true heroes," or something along those lines, and I felt a little hostile. It reminded me of what my friend calls Mother's Day, which is, "The Keep-'Em-In-Bed-Another-Year Holiday." Sort of like: give Mom a valium, some breakfast in bed, and keep her down. Mother's Day, at its origins, was intended to be exactly the opposite: it was a day to keep Mom up-up and at 'em, marching in the streets.