"Exhibiting You" - Story

ice cream art | a fresh look series


By: Kellyann
Submitted: 01/27/2009

ice cream art | a fresh look | exhibition concept
After completing the hero series, ice cream art | a fresh look series followed in the footsteps of Phaidon publishing volume, ‘ice cream 10 curators, 100 contemporary artist & 10 source artists.’ It’s global survey of some of the most significant emerging artists today. I am not in the book, yet this book became my muse for my collection. I was inspired by the interplay between the curators & the artists presented & community building in the arts. My collection introduces large scales pieces for large lobby spaces. I explore fluid color concepts in abstraction, The timing & physicality required to arrive at a cohesive, refined, & balanced piece is my aim. I love the fusion of art & fashion. Placing gradual relevance in culture. Enjoy. Marden & Rothko were pivotal players for me.

I am curating two shows of   ‘ice cream art |a fresh look’  in community partnership with Sports Basement, San Francisco. My ‘a fresh look’ series for 2008 will be exhibited. I asked curator, Matt McKinley to observe my process & speak of my work. I wanted to work as artist & curator for these shows to explore the language of artist & curator. I see the freedom in the limitations in both arenas.

Sports Basement has been nationally recognized, along with Bank of America & Wells Fargo for their community partnering. I am happy to bring this space to a large community of artists in San Francisco & growing the exhibition schedule at Sports Basement.

http://www/lacopalocageltato.com •http://girltalkband.com •http://www.mckinleyartsolutions.com  •http://sportsbasement.com
Splendora.com | authority on fabulous,  http://www.splendora.com/cityguide/san_francisco + San Francsisco Magazine itlist.com

matt Mckinley curator review
As the title of her new abstract series suggests, ‘Ice Cream Art’ by Kellyann Gilson Lyman is refreshingly positive.  It is also, like good ice cream, engaging enough to give one pause, best enjoyed slowly so as to catch the nuance in each composition. Challenging the casual observer to look past the connotation of levity implied by such a playful title, this series matches the kinetic energy of the physical process inspired by her Ab Ex predecessors with an exploration of physical scale and multiplicity of canvases to investigate visceral reaction to the interplay of colors inher decidedly bright, nature inspired palette.  

ice cream art | a fresh look | june solo show review
June sports basement, gallery del grotto, | san francisco luxury mixer
Art + Entrepreneurs + Live Music + gelato | A Cool Summer groove

The show ice cream art | a fresh look was a tremendous collaboration of the arts..... artist, curator, entrepreneurs, latin, bluesy jazz string trio & gelato + Splendora, Authority on Fabulous & San Francisco Magazine itlist. Curator, Matt McKinley spoke powerfully on the abstract colorist collection of ice cream art | a fresh look & explored the visual language of art with the show guests. I was inspired by my artwork through his critique. Mauro Pislor of La Copa Loca Gelato was gracious & the gelato perfection. Our host Sports Basement is a 'true community partner with a smile.' A Girls Talk Band featured Valerie Bach, guitar & cavaquinho & vocals, Laura Boytz, cello, Leslie Thorne, upright bass. Their Live blues/latin/jazz created a cool groove for the night.


ice cream art | a fresh look series


By: Kellyann
Submitted: 01/27/2009

ice cream art | a fresh look | exhibition concept
After completing the hero series, ice cream art | a fresh look series followed in the footsteps of Phaidon publishing volume, ‘ice cream 10 curators, 100 contemporary artist & 10 source artists.’ It’s global survey of some of the most significant emerging artists today. I am not in the book, yet this book became my muse for my collection. I was inspired by the interplay between the curators & the artists presented & community building in the arts. My collection introduces large scales pieces for large lobby spaces. I explore fluid color concepts in abstraction, The timing & physicality required to arrive at a cohesive, refined, & balanced piece is my aim. I love the fusion of art & fashion. Placing gradual relevance in culture. Enjoy. Marden & Rothko were pivotal players for me.

I am curating two shows of   ‘ice cream art |a fresh look’  in community partnership with Sports Basement, San Francisco. My ‘a fresh look’ series for 2008 will be exhibited. I asked curator, Matt McKinley to observe my process & speak of my work. I wanted to work as artist & curator for these shows to explore the language of artist & curator. I see the freedom in the limitations in both arenas.

Sports Basement has been nationally recognized, along with Bank of America & Wells Fargo for their community partnering. I am happy to bring this space to a large community of artists in San Francisco & growing the exhibition schedule at Sports Basement.

http://www/lacopalocageltato.com •http://girltalkband.com •http://www.mckinleyartsolutions.com  •http://sportsbasement.com
Splendora.com | authority on fabulous,  http://www.splendora.com/cityguide/san_francisco + San Francsisco Magazine itlist.com

matt Mckinley curator review
As the title of her new abstract series suggests, ‘Ice Cream Art’ by Kellyann Gilson Lyman is refreshingly positive.  It is also, like good ice cream, engaging enough to give one pause, best enjoyed slowly so as to catch the nuance in each composition. Challenging the casual observer to look past the connotation of levity implied by such a playful title, this series matches the kinetic energy of the physical process inspired by her Ab Ex predecessors with an exploration of physical scale and multiplicity of canvases to investigate visceral reaction to the interplay of colors inher decidedly bright, nature inspired palette.  

ice cream art | a fresh look | june solo show review
June sports basement, gallery del grotto, | san francisco luxury mixer
Art + Entrepreneurs + Live Music + gelato | A Cool Summer groove

The show ice cream art | a fresh look was a tremendous collaboration of the arts..... artist, curator, entrepreneurs, latin, bluesy jazz string trio & gelato + Splendora, Authority on Fabulous & San Francisco Magazine itlist. Curator, Matt McKinley spoke powerfully on the abstract colorist collection of ice cream art | a fresh look & explored the visual language of art with the show guests. I was inspired by my artwork through his critique. Mauro Pislor of La Copa Loca Gelato was gracious & the gelato perfection. Our host Sports Basement is a 'true community partner with a smile.' A Girls Talk Band featured Valerie Bach, guitar & cavaquinho & vocals, Laura Boytz, cello, Leslie Thorne, upright bass. Their Live blues/latin/jazz created a cool groove for the night.


ice cream art | a fresh look series


By: Kellyann
Submitted: 01/27/2009

ice cream art | a fresh look | exhibition concept
After completing the hero series, ice cream art | a fresh look series followed in the footsteps of Phaidon publishing volume, ‘ice cream 10 curators, 100 contemporary artist & 10 source artists.’ It’s a global survey of some of the most significant emerging artists today. I am not in the book, yet this book became my muse for my collection. I was inspired by the interplay between the curators & the artists presented & community building in the arts. My collection introduces large scales pieces for large lobby spaces. I explore fluid color concepts in abstraction, The timing & physicality required to arrive at a cohesive, refined, & balanced piece is my aim. I love the fusion of art & fashion. Placing gradual relevance in culture. Enjoy. Marden & Rothko were pivotal players for me.

I am curating two shows of   ‘ice cream art |a fresh look’  in community partnership with Sports Basement, San Francisco. My ‘a fresh look’ series for 2008 will be exhibited. I asked curator, Matt McKinley to observe my process & speak of my work. I wanted to work as artist & curator for these shows to explore the language of artist & curator. I see the freedom in the limitations in both arenas.

Sports Basement has been nationally recognized, along with Bank of America & Wells Fargo for their community partnering. I am happy to bring this space to a large community of artists in San Francisco & growing the exhibition schedule at Sports Basement.
matt Mckinley curator review
As the title of her new abstract series suggests, ‘Ice Cream Art’ by Kellyann Gilson Lyman is refreshingly positive.  It is also, like good ice cream, engaging enough to give one pause, best enjoyed slowly so as to catch the nuance in each composition. Challenging the casual observer to look past the connotation of levity implied by such a playful title, this series matches the kinetic energy of the physical process inspired by her Ab Ex predecessors with an exploration of physical scale and multiplicity of canvases to investigate visceral reaction to the interplay of colors inher decidedly bright, nature inspired palette.  

ice cream art | a fresh look | june solo show review
June sports basement, gallery del grotto, | san francisco luxury mixer
Art + Entrepreneurs + Live Music + gelato | A Cool Summer groove

The show ice cream art | a fresh look was a tremendous collaboration of the arts..... artist, curator, entrepreneurs, latin, bluesy jazz string trio & gelato + Splendora, Authority on Fabulous & San Francisco Magazine itlist. Curator, Matt McKinley spoke powerfully on the abstract colorist collection of ice cream art | a fresh look & explored the visual language of art with the show guests. I was inspired by my artwork through his critique. Mauro Pislor of La Copa Loca Gelato was gracious & the gelato perfection. Our host Sports Basement is a 'true community partner with a smile.' A Girls Talk Band featured Valerie Bach, guitar & cavaquinho & vocals, Laura Boytz, cello, Leslie Thorne, upright bass. Their Live blues/latin/jazz created a cool groove for the night.


ice cream art | a fresh look series


By: Kellyann
Submitted: 01/27/2009

ice cream art | a fresh look | exhibition concept
After completing the hero series, ice cream art | a fresh look series followed in the footsteps of Phaidon publishing volume, ‘ice cream 10 curators, 100 contemporary artist & 10 source artists.’ It’s a global survey of some of the most significant emerging artists today. I am not in the book, yet this book became my muse for my collection. I was inspired by the interplay between the curators & the artists presented & community building in the arts. My collection introduces large scales pieces for large lobby spaces. I explore fluid color concepts in abstraction, The timing & physicality required to arrive at a cohesive, refined, & balanced piece is my aim. I love the fusion of art & fashion. Placing gradual relevance in culture. Enjoy. Marden & Rothko were pivotal players for me.

I am curating two shows of   ‘ice cream art |a fresh look’  in community partnership with Sports Basement, San Francisco. My ‘a fresh look’ series for 2008 will be exhibited. I asked curator, Matt McKinley to observe my process & speak of my work. I wanted to work as artist & curator for these shows to explore the language of artist & curator. I see the freedom in the limitations in both arenas.

Sports Basement has been nationally recognized, along with Bank of America & Wells Fargo for their community partnering. I am happy to bring this space to a large community of artists in San Francisco & growing the exhibition schedule at Sports Basement.
matt Mckinley curator review
As the title of her new abstract series suggests, ‘Ice Cream Art’ by Kellyann Gilson Lyman is refreshingly positive.  It is also, like good ice cream, engaging enough to give one pause, best enjoyed slowly so as to catch the nuance in each composition. Challenging the casual observer to look past the connotation of levity implied by such a playful title, this series matches the kinetic energy of the physical process inspired by her Ab Ex predecessors with an exploration of physical scale and multiplicity of canvases to investigate visceral reaction to the interplay of colors inher decidedly bright, nature inspired palette.  

ice cream art | a fresh look | june solo show review
June sports basement, gallery del grotto, | san francisco luxury mixer
Art + Entrepreneurs + Live Music + gelato | A Cool Summer groove

The show ice cream art | a fresh look was a tremendous collaboration of the arts..... artist, curator, entrepreneurs, latin, bluesy jazz string trio & gelato + Splendora, Authority on Fabulous & San Francisco Magazine itlist. Curator, Matt McKinley spoke powerfully on the abstract colorist collection of ice cream art | a fresh look & explored the visual language of art with the show guests. I was inspired by my artwork through his critique. Mauro Pislor of La Copa Loca Gelato was gracious & the gelato perfection. Our host Sports Basement is a 'true community partner with a smile.' A Girls Talk Band featured Valerie Bach, guitar & cavaquinho & vocals, Laura Boytz, cello, Leslie Thorne, upright bass. Their Live blues/latin/jazz created a cool groove for the night.


"A Woman's Journey from Domestic Violence Victim to Survivor" or "The Door"


By: The Door
Submitted: 02/12/2009

“A Woman’s Journey from Domestic Violence Victim to Survivor” is an interactive traveling art exhibit that has been displayed in public spaces (such as university campuses, a hospital lobby, a judge's courtroom, a coffee shop, and the State Capitol) across the state of Michigan. The art exhibit began as a project to create survivor art during filming of a domestic violence documentary in 2004. The documentary fell through but I decided to complete the exhibit. It is intended to honor the strength and courage of women who have experienced domestic violence, encourage others to take action, and raise awareness year round.

Viewers are invited to walk through the door and open the suitcases. Survivors are invited to sign the back of the door. A comment book, artist statement, resource materials, and information are available to the viewing public.

Since February 2008 it has found an online home at Gift From Within, a site with PTSD information. Since then I have received responses from people in over 23 states and five countries.

This art project promotes empowerment of women violence survivors by increasing visibility, encouraging thought and dialogue, and validating women’s experiences. It has inspired situations I could not have imagined - a woman sought domestic violence counseling after seeing the exhibit; another woman was empowered to begin a foster pet program for shelter residents after reading a phrase on the door; a law professor taught a class around it. The Door has prompted several empowerment based community events throughout the state. I wish to acknowledge the strength of the women I have worked with and am honored that the exhibit is part of others’ journeys.

"A Woman's Journey from Domestic Violence Victim to Survivor" or "The Door"


By: The Door
Submitted: 02/12/2009

“A Woman’s Journey from Domestic Violence Victim to Survivor” is an interactive traveling art exhibit that has been displayed in public spaces (such as university campuses, a hospital lobby, a judge's courtroom, a coffee shop, and the State Capitol) across the state of Michigan. The art exhibit began as a project to create survivor art during filming of a domestic violence documentary in 2004. The documentary fell through but I decided to complete the exhibit. It is intended to honor the strength and courage of women who have experienced domestic violence, encourage others to take action, and raise awareness year round.

Viewers are invited to walk through the door and open the suitcases. Survivors are invited to sign the back of the door. A comment book, artist statement, resource materials, and information are available to the viewing public.

Since February 2008 it has found an online home at Gift From Within, a site with PTSD information. Since then I have received responses from people in over 23 states and five countries.

This art project promotes empowerment of women violence survivors by increasing visibility, encouraging thought and dialogue, and validating women’s experiences. It has inspired situations I could not have imagined - a woman sought domestic violence counseling after seeing the exhibit; another woman was empowered to begin a foster pet program for shelter residents after reading a phrase on the door; a law professor taught a class around it. The Door has prompted several empowerment based community events throughout the state. I wish to acknowledge the strength of the women I have worked with and am honored that the exhibit is part of others’ journeys.

"A Woman's Journey from Domestic Violence Victim to Survivor" or "The Door"


By: The Door
Other authors: Stacie Dubay
Submitted: 02/13/2009

“A Woman’s Journey from Domestic Violence Victim to Survivor” is an interactive traveling art exhibit that has been displayed in public spaces (such as university campuses, a hospital lobby, a judge's courtroom, a coffee shop, and the State Capitol) across the state of Michigan. The art exhibit began as a project to create survivor art during filming of a domestic violence documentary in 2004. The documentary fell through but I decided to complete the exhibit. It is intended to honor the strength and courage of women who have experienced domestic violence, encourage others to take action, and raise awareness year round.

Viewers are invited to walk through the door and open the suitcases. Survivors are invited to sign the back of the door. A comment book, artist statement, resource materials, and information are available to the viewing public.

Since February 2008 it has found an online home at Gift From Within, a site with PTSD information. Since then I have received responses from people in over 23 states and five countries.

This art project promotes empowerment of women violence survivors by increasing visibility, encouraging thought and dialogue, and validating women’s experiences. It has inspired situations I could not have imagined - a woman sought domestic violence counseling after seeing the exhibit; another woman was empowered to begin a foster pet program for shelter residents after reading a phrase on the door; a law professor taught a class around it. The Door has prompted several empowerment based community events throughout the state. I wish to acknowledge the strength of the women I have worked with and am honored that the exhibit is part of others’ journeys.

"A Woman's Journey from Domestic Violence Victim to Survivor" or "The Door"


By: The Door
Other authors: Stacie Dubay
Submitted: 02/13/2009

“A Woman’s Journey from Domestic Violence Victim to Survivor” is an interactive traveling art exhibit that has been displayed in public spaces (such as university campuses, a hospital lobby, a judge's courtroom, a coffee shop, and the State Capitol) across the state of Michigan. The art exhibit began as a project to create survivor art during filming of a domestic violence documentary in 2004. The documentary fell through but I decided to complete the exhibit. It is intended to honor the strength and courage of women who have experienced domestic violence, encourage others to take action, and raise awareness year round.

Viewers are invited to walk through the door and open the suitcases. Survivors are invited to sign the back of the door. A comment book, artist statement, resource materials, and information are available to the viewing public.

Since February 2008 it has found an online home at Gift From Within, a site with PTSD information. Since then I have received responses from people in over 23 states and five countries.

This art project promotes empowerment of women violence survivors by increasing visibility, encouraging thought and dialogue, and validating women’s experiences. It has inspired situations I could not have imagined - a woman sought domestic violence counseling after seeing the exhibit; another woman was empowered to begin a foster pet program for shelter residents after reading a phrase on the door; a law professor taught a class around it. The Door has prompted several empowerment based community events throughout the state. I wish to acknowledge the strength of the women I have worked with and am honored that the exhibit is part of others’ journeys.

"A Woman's Journey from Domestic Violence Victim to Survivor" or "The Door"


By: The Door
Other authors: Stacie Dubay
Submitted: 02/13/2009

“A Woman’s Journey from Domestic Violence Victim to Survivor” is an interactive traveling art exhibit that has been displayed in public spaces (such as university campuses, a hospital lobby, a judge's courtroom, a coffee shop, and the State Capitol) across the state of Michigan. The art exhibit began as a project to create survivor art during filming of a domestic violence documentary in 2004. The documentary fell through but I decided to complete the exhibit. It is intended to honor the strength and courage of women who have experienced domestic violence, encourage others to take action, and raise awareness year round.

Viewers are invited to walk through the door and open the suitcases. Survivors are invited to sign the back of the door. A comment book, artist statement, resource materials, and information are available to the viewing public.

Since February 2008 it has found an online home at Gift From Within, a site with PTSD information. Since then I have received responses from people in over 23 states and five countries.

This art project promotes empowerment of women violence survivors by increasing visibility, encouraging thought and dialogue, and validating women’s experiences. It has inspired situations I could not have imagined - a woman sought domestic violence counseling after seeing the exhibit; another woman was empowered to begin a foster pet program for shelter residents after reading a phrase on the door; a law professor taught a class around it. The Door has prompted several empowerment based community events throughout the state. I wish to acknowledge the strength of the women I have worked with and am honored that the exhibit is part of others’ journeys.

Trip Around My Mother


By: Helen Oyekan
Submitted: 03/06/2009

The photos I took on my visit to my 72yrs old mum in New York temporary accomodation, failing to get her visa to the UK 23yrs on, she had me in the UK, but the visa application to get her in to visit the UK got impossible in January 1986.

So I am resigned to just visiting her where ever she is at.

This time round she is not in Africa but at New York temporary accomodation over the last 6yrs.

This was my last visit to cheeer her up.

artist to authentic culture of persons with disabilities


By: Hiljmnijeta
Submitted: 03/16/2009

Respect to all women by world.

Let us remember that female gender makes half the population of the planet and among them every 10th woman with temporary or permanent psychophysical disabilities, and we seek effective participation in a society based on non – discrimination and equality with everyone else.

Girls and women with disabilities of any age are more vulnerable and marginalized groups of society, and therefore, they are being multiple discriminated by gender, disabilities, nationality, age …

Women with /out disabilities are often exposed to a violation of instilled dignity of a human being.

Admitting that life of women with and without psychophysical disabilities in itself is not an easy task, and we are often victims of violence, exploitation and abuse in family and society, we are often exposed to human trafficking, our freedom of movement is often limited due to patriarchal prejudice or barriers in the environment where we move, we comprise a high percentage in rate of mortality, poverty and illiteracy, and we have a lower percentage of participation in high business, higher education, and higher instances of authority.

In 21st century women with disabilities are going to be businesswomen, successful, independent, under health protection, educated, informed, economically independent, and happy in family and society.

artist of authentic culture of persons with disabilities


By: Hiljmnijeta
Submitted: 03/16/2009

Respect to all women by world.

Let us remember that female gender makes half the population of the planet and among them every 10th woman with temporary or permanent psychophysical disabilities, and we seek effective participation in a society based on non – discrimination and equality with everyone else.

Girls and women with disabilities of any age are more vulnerable and marginalized groups of society, and therefore, they are being multiple discriminated by gender, disabilities, nationality, age …

Women with /out disabilities are often exposed to a violation of instilled dignity of a human being.

Admitting that life of women with and without psychophysical disabilities in itself is not an easy task, and we are often victims of violence, exploitation and abuse in family and society, we are often exposed to human trafficking, our freedom of movement is often limited due to patriarchal prejudice or barriers in the environment where we move, we comprise a high percentage in rate of mortality, poverty and illiteracy, and we have a lower percentage of participation in high business, higher education, and higher instances of authority.

In 21st century women with disabilities are going to be businesswomen, successful, independent, under health protection, educated, informed, economically independent, and happy in family and society.

But if we do believe in reincarnation, This gives me the more reason why I should ...


By: zoneziwoh
Other authors: Zoneziwoh Mbondgulo
Submitted: 03/30/2009

But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I should do it.





When ever I sit to meditate,

I pray wishing-

Before I undergo a full transformation,

Before I finally sign out

I would had tried to expressed all that I have been feeling

Something which I can`t tell;

And its neither love nor hate

Neither Pity nor joy "



But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I should do it.



"Doing good, not because I fear punishment, or perhaps because I was told that whenever I do Good, I will be rewarded from beyond.

Nevertheless I will keep-up, doing Good because I love humanity,

And respect mankind.

Nowadays we don`t do Good for the sake of Good but because we fear we wouldn`t receive blessing.`

(Zoneziwoh, Nov. 17th 2008, 2:11 pm)



But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I shouldn`t fear.



I fear to fear

"I have no fear. I don`t feel fear, and my concept is-fear is man-made and has to be destroyed. Once we stop fearing and have conviction in the force of truth, we go ahead "`

(M.A to BBC World Service, Dec. 1987)





But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I should do it.



Doing all I could, now

Such that when next,

I am signing "in again

Together with others,

We will be reaping all what I had sowed.

Consciously or unconsciously.



But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I shouldn`t do it.



Committing crimes,

Manifesting evils,

Harming the world unfriendly,

And distorting progress,

Happily, I lie down to sleep.

Only to wake up finding out that the world is still.

Same stories, same happenings years behind me

Then! I will be blaming those who had lived before me

Blaming them for had been wicked, and unfriendly to this beautiful world.

(Smile) little will I be remembering that

I too, was among those I am today blaming.





But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I shouldn`t do it.



Why should I throw words of ill luck?

Condemning their behaviors,

Cursing mankind

Cursing them curses generations to come

Unknowing that that day shall come,

I will be among the generations to come

Where I will be praying for deliverance, casting away all that ill luck which had been casted upon me, and accepting repentances,

And will be preaching to thousands, millions of people about the joy in becoming born-again.

That day, I will be performing rituals to appeased all those who had lived before me,

why I shouldn`t do it, because it`s all going to come back to me.



But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I shouldn`t do it.



Forcing mankind to sign-out

Often becoming my passion as well as seeing them transforming

Though I know I will one day follow them

But that wouldn`t be so soon, saying to myself.

(smile) ignoring weaving one hand behind my ear.

Shortsighted was I, today I am feeling the senses

But if we do believe in reincarnation, forcing mankind to sign out is making no difference,

here!

Since they will still come back and must accomplish all what they had left unfinished.





" "sitting on my bamboo bed under a raffia- palm tree behind my smoke thatch house, pondering feeling a deep bite in my marrows as the fresh breeze flows over my body.

From a distant, I am hearing a sweet song, whistling birds tonelessly.

I imagine my first day into this world, I remembered when I was young (chuckle) though I am afraid saying this, but the truth remains that one day this flesh will become humus " manure to this raffia-palm tree which today I am sitting under eating its loose nuts.`

(Zoneziwoh, Oct. 28th 2008, 3 pm)





But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I should love "



Love,

Smile

Never regret making people happy.

But cry for letting it be this way

Welcome to Oblivion


By: Lee Puffer
Submitted: 04/15/2009

By using domestic products, figurative elements, and images emblematic of sunny Southern California life and American optimism, I address aspects of the human experience that are sacred, taboo, or under recognized. The work consists of vertical stacks of hand built ceramic parts. Referencing the body, yet fragmented, the work communicates a variety of human emotional states with humor and irony. Using the figure as a framework, the work offers critical analysis of both personal and cultural phenomena such as consumerism, substance abuse, marriage and motherhood. Some of the work is based on personal experience; some works are based on iconic women from film and television. With my sculptural monuments to motherhood and aging, I am adding value to the experience. I draw on our culture’s knowledge of the role sculpture plays in honoring our most revered individuals and make sculptural representations of everyday women; mothers, grandmothers, wives and working women, to honor and validate their experiences.

meadow


By: ustya
Submitted: 04/21/2009

These six pieces were created this year, and are all on paper I made from various plants and recycled materials such as denim and leftover pulp and plant debris, some dyed with goldenrod flowers. They are prints made with linoleum blocks and silksreening, and some incoroporate gold leaf, ink and embroidery.

The inspiration behind these pieces is 'weeds', as usual for me, as well as birds. Birds make up a large population of our cohabitants, and may be the animals we see most often. Their declining numbers serve as an alarm, reminding us to change our ways immediately and go back to loving, nurturing, and respecting our environment.

But if we do believe in reincarnation, This gives me the more reason why I should ...


By: zoneziwoh
Other authors: Zoneziwoh Mbondgulo
Submitted: 03/30/2009

But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I should do it.





When ever I sit to meditate,

I pray wishing-

Before I undergo a full transformation,

Before I finally sign out

I would had tried to expressed all that I have been feeling

Something which I can`t tell;

And its neither love nor hate

Neither Pity nor joy "



But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I should do it.



"Doing good, not because I fear punishment, or perhaps because I was told that whenever I do Good, I will be rewarded from beyond.

Nevertheless I will keep-up, doing Good because I love humanity,

And respect mankind.

Nowadays we don`t do Good for the sake of Good but because we fear we wouldn`t receive blessing.`

(Zoneziwoh, Nov. 17th 2008, 2:11 pm)



But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I shouldn`t fear.



I fear to fear

"I have no fear. I don`t feel fear, and my concept is-fear is man-made and has to be destroyed. Once we stop fearing and have conviction in the force of truth, we go ahead "`

(M.A to BBC World Service, Dec. 1987)





But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I should do it.



Doing all I could, now

Such that when next,

I am signing "in again

Together with others,

We will be reaping all what I had sowed.

Consciously or unconsciously.



But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I shouldn`t do it.



Committing crimes,

Manifesting evils,

Harming the world unfriendly,

And distorting progress,

Happily, I lie down to sleep.

Only to wake up finding out that the world is still.

Same stories, same happenings years behind me

Then! I will be blaming those who had lived before me

Blaming them for had been wicked, and unfriendly to this beautiful world.

(Smile) little will I be remembering that

I too, was among those I am today blaming.





But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I shouldn`t do it.



Why should I throw words of ill luck?

Condemning their behaviors,

Cursing mankind

Cursing them curses generations to come

Unknowing that that day shall come,

I will be among the generations to come

Where I will be praying for deliverance, casting away all that ill luck which had been casted upon me, and accepting repentances,

And will be preaching to thousands, millions of people about the joy in becoming born-again.

That day, I will be performing rituals to appeased all those who had lived before me,

why I shouldn`t do it, because it`s all going to come back to me.



But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I shouldn`t do it.



Forcing mankind to sign-out

Often becoming my passion as well as seeing them transforming

Though I know I will one day follow them

But that wouldn`t be so soon, saying to myself.

(smile) ignoring weaving one hand behind my ear.

Shortsighted was I, today I am feeling the senses

But if we do believe in reincarnation, forcing mankind to sign out is making no difference,

here!

Since they will still come back and must accomplish all what they had left unfinished.





" "sitting on my bamboo bed under a raffia- palm tree behind my smoke thatch house, pondering feeling a deep bite in my marrows as the fresh breeze flows over my body.

From a distant, I am hearing a sweet song, whistling birds tonelessly.

I imagine my first day into this world, I remembered when I was young (chuckle) though I am afraid saying this, but the truth remains that one day this flesh will become humus " manure to this raffia-palm tree which today I am sitting under eating its loose nuts.`

(Zoneziwoh, Oct. 28th 2008, 3 pm)





But if we do believe in reincarnation,

This gives me the more reason why I should love "



Love,

Smile

Never regret making people happy.

But cry for letting it be this way

Água de Beber


By: Andrea Annunziata
Submitted: 01/28/2009

The story of Água de Beber, has to do with fogiveness... watch and feel it!

Água de Beber


By: Andrea Annunziata
Submitted: 01/28/2009

The story of Água de Beber, has to do with fogiveness... watch and feel it!

Walking on the Sea


By: imren Tüzün
Submitted: 01/30/2009

Throughout history, the Mediterranean region has been the stage for a number of important migrations, the product of which is the “Mediterranean Civilization”. And the same goes for our country located in the Mediterranean. The ancient civilisations it has hosted, the subsequent population exchanges, and the attraction it holds for people of today have kept the Mediterranean pulse beating and ensured its place on the agenda.

The slippers trying to ride the waves signify those who migrate to places away from here and those who migrate here from other places. The intention is to draw attention to the state of being of the Mediterranean.

Walking on the Sea was showed by “Being Mediterranean and Living Away from the Mediterranean” exhibition, 17. Istanbul Art Fair, 2007, 2. International Beylikdüzü Short Film Festival, 2008

Video by İmren Ç. Tüzün

Length: 3 minutes

Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy


By: Renée Bergan
Other authors: Mark Schuller
Submitted: 02/12/2009

Marie Jeanne details dual struggles as a woman and worker: she toils under miserable conditions to give her children the education she was denied because of gender discrimination. Living and braving death in
Cité Soleil, Solange details how Haiti’s current violence stems from a long‐brewing economic crisis and
how the global apparel industry’s inherent instability affects Haiti. Frustrated with male‐dominated
unions, Frisline offers a Marxist‐feminist analysis of Haiti’s contemporary situation. Working for thirty
years, Thérèse brings wisdom, a historical perspective, and a comparative analysis. Pushed off her land
by foreign agricultural policies, activist Hélène leads a new grassroots campaign against violence,
encouraging women to defend themselves. These five brave women demonstrate that despite
monumental obstacles in a poor country like Haiti, collective action makes change possible.

Hair We Are


By: Daniella Blechner
Submitted: 03/22/2009

Hair We Are follows two young Afro-Caribbean girls who explore and celebrate their identity through hair. Set in the 1980's it reveals diversity and strength empowering the Afro-Caribbean female.

Women Can End the Food Crisis


By: Women Thrive Worldwide
Submitted: 06/13/2008


Why Do Food Prices Matter So Much?

While many people in countries like the United States may not notice them, spikes in food prices can plunge households in developing countries even further into poverty. This is because they spend an average of 70 percent of their incomes on food, compared to the 15 to 18 percent that households in industrialized countries spend. Over the past nine months world food prices have increased by an astounding 55 percent. The cost of corn alone rose 87 percent in March. These are more than just statistics. The increase has had dramatic consequences for the billion people worldwide who live on less than 1 dollar a day: for many Central American families, for instance, the already meager breakfast of a corn tortilla is no longer an option.

Even before the food crisis hit, the majority of the world's hungry - 7 out of 10 - were women and girls. Now they are at risk of becoming permanently malnourished, creating irreversible health problems for the next generation.

Read More: http://www.womenthrive.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=527&Itemid=152

Why Are Women More Affected?

Women make up the majority of the working poor, farmers, and informal sector workers. This means they do not have the benefits or formal protections often provided by governments and employers. Compounding this problem is the fact that in many cultures women and girls eat the last and the least.

In Malawi girls are being forced to drop out of school to help feed their families. Out of desperation, some parents are even reported to be forcing their daughters into marriage in exchange for food. It is in these emergency situations that the futures of women and girls - who have the potential to lift so many around them out of poverty- are permanently threatened.


The Key to Ending the Food Crisis: Investing in Women

Investing in women is key to solving the food crisis. Rural women alone produce half of the world’s food and 60 percent to 80 percent of the food in most poor countries. In spite of this, they receive less than 10 percent of credit provided to farmers! In some places, if women had the same access as men to land, seed, and fertilizer, agricultural productivity could increase by up to 20 percent. Furthermore, decades of research and experience have shown that when women have extra income, they reinvest in their children’s health and education, creating a positive cycle of growth for the entire family. Economic opportunity for women means their children are more likely to eat, eat nutritiously, and eat regularly.


What We Can Do: The GROWTH Act

The Global Resources and Opportunities for Women To Thrive (GROWTH) Act fights poverty by investing in those who are most affected by it and most likely to end it - women and girls. Now more than ever, it is critical to give women in developing countries the tools they need to lift their families out of poverty. Passing the GROWTH Act is a concrete step the U.S. can take to do this.

Ask Congress to pass the GROWTH Act! Take Action Today!

Visit http://www.WomenThrive.org/GROWTH to sign the petition and send a message to Congress.

Knowing How to Nurture Ourselves


By: Global Oneness Project
Submitted: 06/13/2008

Stephan Fayon, director of an international seed bank in Auroville, India, explains how preserving the diversity of seeds insures against the breakdown of large-scale industrial agriculture. Today the supermarkets in the developed world are full; but if unsustainable systems of agriculture collapse, will we know how to nourish ourselves?

Stephan Fayon is an agriculture and organic farming expert who directs Kokopelli India, an international seed savers association based in Auroville, South India. A resident of Auroville for the past twelve years, he directs several reforestation programs and runs a tree farm. He has planted 250,000 trees over the past ten years.

Dreams for Women


By: Antigone Magazine
Other authors: - Kelly Lau (video creator) - Amanda Reaume (Editor and Founder of Antigone Magazine and Foundation) - anonymous postcard senders who have contributed to the project
Submitted: 06/27/2008

"What are your own dreams for yourself, your friends,
your sisters, your daughters? Paint, draw, write, sketch
or decoupage your dreams on a postcard and send it to us."

We are raising the money in order to help launch the Antigone Foundation, a national foundation that will encourage young women aged 10-30 to become politically and civically engaged. However, the project really took off when one of our executive members, Kelly E. Lau, created a video and posted it on YouTube. The first YouTube Dreams for Women video (the one we are submitting to IMOW) really launched the Dreams for Women project into the larger internet community. Editor Amanda Reaume even took the project to the UN 52nd meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women where she was a delegate. Since then, the Dreams for Women project has been featured by our friends over at Feministing.com and in Ms. Magazine. It has received attention from The International Museum of Women, local Vancouver groups including women's studies classes, and is even popular in Germany! All postcards are viewable on our blog (www.antigonemagazine.blogspot.com). It currently has over 5 500 views on YouTube. We still want submissions from all over the world - so forward this on!

C'mon Mom. Vote!


By: WomenVote USA
Submitted: 09/15/2008

We used children's voices because focus groups, which I had asked to be done in various parts of the country, indicate that children are the prism through which women see the issues of interest to them -- economic security so they can bring money home to their families; health care not for themselves but for their children; safe environment for the future world their children will line in...etc. So, in all the PSAs I had done -- whether radio, magazine or news paper ads, we used images of mothers and children.

In the last election cycle, we focused specifically in turning out women of color voters, given the browning of America. The states with the largest number of electoral votes are states that have large minority populations, and among those, women vote in larger numbers. California, for instance, is a majority minority state, so are New Mexico and Hawaii. But the states with large populations are headed in that direction -- Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Illinois -- states with a great deal of electoral clout and where people of color are increasing in numbers.

Our Future: You Hold the Power


By: Tandis Alizadeh
Submitted: 10/08/2008

I believe this is the most important election of our lifetime!

If you feel as impassioned, we would be grateful for your participation:

1) Please Watch the video and post a comment on our blog
--> http://www.youholdthepower08.com/

2. Please Spread the video to your networks of women
--> http://www.youholdthepower08.com/

3) Moreover, please engage in conversations with the women you know, especially in the battle ground states (Ohio, Penn, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada).

JULIANA REYMER - GESTOR PROFESIONAL DE INTERSES


By: JULIANA EDITH REYMER RODRIGUEZ
Other authors: Juliana Edith Reymer Rodriguez
Submitted: 11/10/2008

Juliana Edith Reymer Rodríguez
Gestor Profesional de Intereses
En el Periodo Legislativo 2001 - 2002 siendo presidente de la Mesa Directiva del Congreso de la República el Doctor, Carlos Ferrero, el Poder Legislativo recibe por primera vez un préstamo directo del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, BID, para implementar la pagina web, mejorar el sistemas de comunicación en Red de las computadoras de todas las oficinas y capacitar a los asesores en evaluación (costos – beneficios) de Proyectos y Dictámenes, por lo que se diseño la curricula de un Diplomado en Técnica Legislativa y Procesos Parlamentarios para los asesores parlamentarios de manera que se logre contar con Secretarios Técnicos para cada Comisión.

En el Periodo Legislativo 2002 -2003 siendo presidente de la Comisión de Constitución y Reglamento el Doctor Henri Peasse, se elaboro un dictamen de la Ley que Regula la Gestión de Intereses en la Administración Pública. Siendo presidente de la Mesa Directiva del Congreso de la República el Doctor Carlos Ferrero se aprobó la Ley de Lobby Lega, el 23 junio del año 2003 se promulga y se publica en el Diario El Peruano la Ley N° 28024 “Ley que Regula la Gestión de Intereses en la Administración Pública”, en el mismo día la Presidencia del Consejo de Ministro expide la Resolución Ministerial R.M. N°! 270-2003-PCM que crea la Comisión Multisectorial, presidida por la Secretaria de Gestión Pública, el 18 de diciembre del año 2003 se publica en el Diario El Peruano el Decreto Supremo N° 099-2003 PCM Reglamento de la Ley N° 28024 Ley que Regula la Gestión de Intereses en la Administración Pública donde se crea el Tribunal Administrativo Especial, conformado por: un representante del Presidente de la República, que lo presidirá; un representante del Presidente del Congreso de la República y un representante del Presidente de la Corte Suprema de la República, y El Código de Ética del Gestor Profesional de Intereses, el 15 de enero del 2004 se publica en El Diario El Peruano la Resolución de la Superintendencia Nacional de los Registros Públicos N° 013-2004 –SUNARP/SN donde se crea el Registro Nacional de Gestión de Intereses de la Superintendencia Nacional de los Registros Públicos SUNARP que estaría dentro del Registro de Personas Naturales y Personas Jurídicas, registros donde se inscribirán los Gestores de Intereses otorgándoseles una Partida Registral y en la Resolución de la Superintendencia Nacional de los Registros Públicos R. N° 013-2004-SUNARP, se crean los formatos (inscripción de Gestor Profesional de Intereses, constancia de relación jurídica con su representado, constancias de actos de gestión, informe semestral, solicitud de prorroga, inscripción de persona jurídica Gestor Profesional de Intereses). También esta previsto que todo registro y/o inscripción tiene que ser legalizada la firma por Notario Público y con copia a la Contraloría General de la República, quien supervisa la transparencia de la realización de las funciones del Gestor Profesional de Intereses, teniendo sanciones para el mal uso de sus facultades.

Desde marzo del 2004 se realiza las primeras convocatorias de inscripción, se realiza la evalúan, el permiso para el respectivo registro y el otorgamiento de la Partida Registral de manera de iniciar la ejecución de las Función de Gestor Profesional de Intereses. De acuerdo a la Ley el Gestor Profesional de Intereses realiza sus funciones a nivel nacional y puede gestar los intereses de sus representados ante el Poder Ejecutivo y el Poder Legislativo, dentro de toda la Estructura de El Estado (desde el Presidente de la República hasta un funcionario del gobierno municipal, etc.) y la Administración Pública: también realiza sus funciones en todos sus niveles de gobierno tanto regional, provincia o distrital. En el desarrollo de sus funciones el Gestor Profesional de Intereses tiene acceso a toda tipo de información de carácter reservado en la Administración Pública, pero debe de guardar reserva y confiabilidad si involucra temas de Defensa Nacional, pero además dentro de sus funciones tiene la obligación de denunciar si encuentra indicios de acto doloso.

En el año 2005 siendo presidente de la Comisión de Constitución y Reglamento el Dr. Aurelio Pastor, se elaboro un dictamen de modificación del reglamento de la la Ley N° 28024 “Ley que Regula la Gestión de Intereses en la Administración Pública”, siendo el 23 de mayo promulgada el Decreto Supremos DS N° 040-2005-PCM que modifica varios artículos del reglamento

Juliana Edith Reymer Rodríguez, en junio del 2004 se inscribe y el 07 de julio del mismo año se expende su Partida Registral en el Registro Nacional de Gestión de Intereses de la Superintendencia Nacional de los Registros Públicos SUNARP, Partida N° 11663290, siendo la primera mujer Gestor Profesional de Intereses en el Perú. En agosto del mismo año decide presentarse ante la Mesa Directiva y registrarse ante la Oficialía Mayor del Palacio Legislativo del Congreso de la República, siendo en ese momento la primera mujer empresaria Gestor Profesional de Intereses, registrada en ese ámbito. De acuerdo a sus funciones debe de estar presente en el Proceso de Instalación y Cierre de las Legislaturas Ordinarias y Extraordinarias, (Mesa Permanente), en el Proceso de Elección de la Mesa Directiva y en la Instalación y Elección de la Presidencia de las Comisiones.

En el primer periodo julio del 2004, julio 2006, Juliana Reymer inscribió 19 Asientos de Lobbys Legales por gestar los intereses de sus representados, gremios y/o empresas del Sector MyPE, realizando Actos de Gestión ante la Comisión de Producción y PyMEs, Comisión de Economía, Comisión de Salud, Comisión de Trabajo, Comisión de Presupuesto, Comisión de Comercio Exterior y Turismo y ante el Ministerio de la Producción, Ministerio de Trabajo, Ministerio de Economía y Ministerio de Comercio Exterior y Turismo. Ante la Municipalidad de Villa El Salvador y la Municipalidad de Jesús María.

En agosto del 2006 Juliana Reymer prorrogo su inscripción y se le expide la Partida Registral N° 11914744, en el periodo 2006 -2008 inscribió solo 10 Asientos de Lobbys Legales de Lobbys Legales por gestar los intereses de sus representados, gremios y/o empresas del Sector MyPE, porque de julio del 2007 a julio 2008 estuvo de permiso por haber obtenido una beca del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo BID.
En julio del 2008 Juliana Reymer prorrogo su registro de Gestor Profesional de Interes, Partida Registral N° 11914744, por lo cual esta apta para realizar sus funciones.

Juliana Reymer Rodríguez fue invitada por la institución Fundación en Igualdad de Argentina para participar en calidad de expositora en el I Foro Interamericano de Mujeres Contra la Corrupción que se realizo en la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Buenos Aires los días 29 de septiembre al 1° de octubre del año 2008 con la ponencia “Ciudadana Empresaria contra la Corrupción”

El 12 de octubre del 2008 ante un escándalo de corrupción en el Perú, se llevo acabo una investigación periodística, donde se le declaro a Juliana Reymer como la única Gestor Profesional de Intereses que cumple con la Ley N° 28024 “Ley que Regula Gestión de Intereses en la Administración Pública. http://www.elcomercio.com.pe/edicionimpresa/Html/2008-10-12/ecpl121008a12.html / http://www.elcomercio.com.pe/edicionimpresa/Html/2008-10-12/ecin121008a8.html


Juliana Reymer
julianareymer@yahoo.es

IndieGoGo - Where Independent Happens


By: Danae Ringelmann
Submitted: 12/04/2008

I was fresh out of college working in investment banking in New York City when I ventured out to a mysterious networking event entitled "Where Hollywood Meets Wall Street" - pulled by fascination with independent film and the hopes that I could find a connection between my new profession and personal passion. I knew no one, but somehow my introverted nature didn't stand in the way of meeting handfuls of wonderful inspiration filmmakers that night. All I had was a name tag that said "JPMorgan." Who knew networking could be so easy?

It wasn't until two days later when I understood why I was the most popular girl at the party. I had scripts sitting on my desks, one of which came from of the very nice filmmakers I met that night who was 50 years my senior. Shock hit; then confusion set in. There was a tinge of excitement, but then anger overwhelmed me. I was a 22-year naive finance newbie with numbers to crunch. He was 72 year old filmmaking veteran with a 50 year track record. There was nothing right about that situation and all I could think about was how the world could've let itself get this upside down.

I spent the next six years talking to filmmakers and hearing the same complaint endlessly - how impossible fundraising was. I co-produced an off-Broadway play and quickly learned myself the difficulty in raising financing. Pertubed by the reality that every other industry had an efficient and risk-mitigated way of deploying capital to its players except independent film, I left Wall Street and headed to business school at UC Berkeley with one goal - to launch a company that would democratize film finance.

After two years of business school, which brought endless resources and most importantly my two co-founders, IndieGoGo was born. Less than a year later, over 900 films are building their audience and raising money through their fans on IndieGoGo.

We have filmmakers like Michealene Christini Risley raising a good portion of the budget for her documentary "Tapestries of Hope" which exposes the myth about virgin sex curing HIV - a myth driving a rape crisis in Zimbabwe. Through IndieGoGo her fans taken the opportunity to take actions (contribute, promote, endorse, provide feedback) which have helped Michealene bring her film to life.

The future of independent filmmaking and film finance rests in the direct relationship between filmmakers and their fans. It excites me that IndieGoGo is helping to carve out that path to the future.

IndieGoGo is not a photo, nor a film, nor a piece of art to hang on the wall... but a website created from scratch, built by passionate film lovers to provide filmmakers the tools to help them make a living making their art. Birthing IndieGoGo was a creative process for sure.

Bell Bajao


By: Breakthrough
Submitted: 12/05/2008

It’s time to remove those earplugs. The campaign asks you to take a stand. Kill the “it’s not my business” mentality. Tell your Mom. Tell your friends. And more importantly, speak out and tell all to the World Wide Web. Your speaking out against domestic violence will give a voice to one out of every three women who face domestic violence behind closed doors. World over, domestic violence is a serious concern. It's not just happening to the woman who's beaten by her husband; it's also happening to the girl whose brother curses her and calls her names, and the elderly lady whose son won't give her money because, "she doesn't need it". Only men and women acting together can make a difference.

Bell Bajao is an awareness and intervention campaign against domestic violence. It uses media, education and pop culture to reach out and cause change in the zeitgeist.

The campaign launched on August 20, 2008. This is a 360 degree media campaign with TV and radio spots, print ads, mobile video vans and an online campaign. It was released in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development, India. It has been created pro bono by Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai, India.

This media campaign is being supported by on the ground force of youth and community leaders. Breakthrough reaches out to thousands of youth and members of NGOs and community based organisations. Our intensive training on human rights, gender, sexuality, prevention of HIV, and right of HIV positive people has equipped 70,000 people to be change agents in their community. Going forward, all new leaders will carry with them the pledge to Ring the Bell and violence against women.

SHINE


By: YVONNE MCCALLA
Submitted: 12/05/2008


SHINE

Never let others define…
Just who you are in this space and time

You’ve got to shine sista shine!

Don’t let small town mentality
Leave you in a pall of misery
cloud your vision in apathy

and limit your horizons
shine on sista shine on!

Allow no one to come along
To halt your voice stop your song
Steal the power from your throne

Reclaim your own and
Shine sista shine

Can’t let cut eye competition
become part of your condition
trade intelligence for suspicion?

Vanquish the opposition
And shine daughter shine!

Not to say you won’t be deceived
Learn your lessons well and believe!
The only limits to what you can achieve

Are in the mind girl….
The boundaries of your mind

Let the whispers float over your head
Keep your eye on the prize
Not what was said

Getting caught up in useless argument
No! don’t dip that head hold it
Hold it and shine!

Walk down the street like you own it
Cos you do you know
With those hips you throw

So sweetly in tune to the
Rhythm of the earth

YOU

Are the singularity that gave Genesis birth!

The Alpha and Omega

Your renaissance is overdue
What you’ve got to learn to do

Is shine sista
Simply shine!

ã Yvonne McCalla 28/02/01





















Identity


By: Iman Shaggag
Submitted: 12/09/2008

The main idea behind my work "Identity" is, what if every one thought about if they were born in a different place and time!? How would that affect or may affect their appearances and most likely their lives, as appearances for one reason or another affects the way people treat each other!

Using a discarded over exposed photograph that was taken by artist Ahmed Elmardi in April 2008, while he was adjusting his camera. The photograph was perfect for me, in terms of loss of details, more over the neutral pose allowed for broader possibilities to experiment and explore the idea to it's maximum at this point in time.
Using etching ink, tempera and acrylics. I was able to alter my features using the same photo, after printing it out, posing as Sudanese women from different parts of the country. With different hair styles, tribal facial marks and accessories. I could have easily been any of them. But my life definitely wouldn't be the same, because of bias and racism wouldn't allow for equal lives.

Iman Shaggag 2008

The Waterfall Chronicles


By: Rhonda Richmond
Other authors: Rhonda Richmond
Submitted: 12/13/2008

In the summer of 2008, women were asked to write letters about subjects that were difficult to talk about. Seven women took on the challenge. They wrote in about relationships, cancer, rape, drugs, parents, ect. Those stories were ultimately turned into a journal that will help all women to take another look at the other females in their lives.

This is a spiritual journey for any woman that wants to consider how she loves, is loved and hopes to continue to love another.

Renee's test


By: Renee Gasch
Submitted: 12/23/2008

test

Renee's test 2


By: Renee Gasch
Submitted: 12/23/2008

text

Renee's test 2


By: Renee Gasch
Submitted: 12/23/2008

text

testing again


By: Renee Gasch
Submitted: 12/24/2008

test

test


By: Renee Gasch
Submitted: 12/24/2008

test

Lost in Translation


By: Maxine Olson
Submitted: 12/26/2008

In 1931, I was born to Portuguese Catholic parents in a rural farming community in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Their parents had immigrated to America in the late 1800's from the Islands of Faial, Flores, and Pico, in the Acores. My father was very domineering and my grandmother who in those early years needed her sons to help her on the farm believed that education corrupted the mind. So, as a woman, we never questioned our male authority figures, the church, or it's rules to live by. Also, if you were a woman, heaven help you if you ever discussed the subject of "sex."
Early on I was baptized Catholic, studied Catechism and finally through Holy Communion, and Confirmation became a follower of the Catholic law. In one of my images entitled In the Name of the Father, I try to show that we are all born with a cultural belief system and a pattern of life that is imposed upon us from the very beginning. We are therefore, required to conform. If we don't, there are consequences.
James Joyce in his book, Portrait of the Artist states: "When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, and religion. I shall try to fly by those nets."
By the age of 17, conforming to the Old World Traditions, I made the mistake of marrying a very domineering and abusive man. I soon divorced him, but by the age of 39, I had remarried and divorced once again. Finally realizing that I had failed at the first half of my life, I decided to go back to college as I now had two children and needed a good job to support them.
By 1975, I received a Master of Arts Degree from Fresno State University. Becoming an artist and a professor was the final turning point that enabled me to pursue a much happier, creative, and self-fulfilling life. After graduation, I taught at Fresno State University, Fresno City College, College of Sequoias, Corcoran State Prison, and at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Finally in 1986, I received a Visiting Artist position with the University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia. During that time I was also invited to teach for their Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. As a result I was able to visit Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Ravena, Venice, and London. As an artist, the experiences of traveling in Italy and teaching for the University of Georgia were the most inspirational and transformative years of my life. I was also able to exhibit my artwork in galleries and museums nationally and internationally.
My recent work Lost in Translation was exhibited at the Fresno Arts Museum. Later, I was invited to exhibit the series in Ponta Delgado in the Azores during UMAR's and Portugal's Year of the Woman.
In February of this year I was invited to exhibit the series at the University of Calgary in Canada during their 3-day symposium given by the Department of German, Slavic and East Asian Studies Department. This symposium included scholars and artists in Drama, Literature, Music, and Fine Arts from Universities in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. The different points of view examined the concept of Tolerance (Inclusion-Exclusion) as it applies to our cultural and religious differences today. As one of the Keynote speakers, I gave a paper entitled: Revisiting Original Sin.
I believe in a personal God. I also respect the gift of life by that force that has brought me here with all the resources I need for my survival and life's journey. What I take issue with are the traditional and misogynist writers of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions who along with very inspiring thoughts have also been responsible for instilling fear and hatred between our cultures and religions. In so doing they have, "demeaned women and condemned them for bringing sin into the world, condemned homosexuality and yet condoned incest, and most but not least, assured their martyrs and heroes a place in heaven when they wage wars and kill innocent people, in the name of their Prophets and Gods."
Hopefully my art work can be one small voice questioning those who continue to believe in the old laws and religious beliefs that continue to punish, condemn, and kill millions of people of all walks of life, because "it's God's will."



Lost in Translation


By: Maxine Olson
Submitted: 12/26/2008

In 1931, I was born to Portuguese Catholic parents in a rural farming community in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Their parents had immigrated to America in the late 1800's from the Islands of Faial, Flores, and Pico, in the Acores. My father was very domineering and my grandmother who in those early years needed her sons to help her on the farm believed that education corrupted the mind. So, as a woman, we never questioned our male authority figures, the church, or it's rules to live by. Also, if you were a woman, heaven help you if you ever discussed the subject of "sex."
Early on I was baptized Catholic, studied Catechism and finally through Holy Communion, and Confirmation became a follower of the Catholic law. In one of my images entitled In the Name of the Father, I try to show that we are all born with a cultural belief system and a pattern of life that is imposed upon us from the very beginning. We are therefore, required to conform. If we don't, there are consequences.
James Joyce in his book, Portrait of the Artist states: "When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, and religion. I shall try to fly by those nets."
By the age of 17, conforming to the Old World Traditions, I made the mistake of marrying a very domineering and abusive man. I soon divorced him, but by the age of 39, I had remarried and divorced once again. Finally realizing that I had failed at the first half of my life, I decided to go back to college as I now had two children and needed a good job to support them.
By 1975, I received a Master of Arts Degree from Fresno State University. Becoming an artist and a professor was the final turning point that enabled me to pursue a much happier, creative, and self-fulfilling life. After graduation, I taught at Fresno State University, Fresno City College, College of Sequoias, Corcoran State Prison, and at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Finally in 1986, I received a Visiting Artist position with the University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia. During that time I was also invited to teach for their Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. As a result I was able to visit Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Ravena, Venice, and London. As an artist, the experiences of traveling in Italy and teaching for the University of Georgia were the most inspirational and transformative years of my life. I was also able to exhibit my artwork in galleries and museums nationally and internationally.
My recent work Lost in Translation was exhibited at the Fresno Arts Museum. Later, I was invited to exhibit the series in Ponta Delgado in the Azores during UMAR's and Portugal's Year of the Woman.
In February of this year I was invited to exhibit the series at the University of Calgary in Canada during their 3-day symposium given by the Department of German, Slavic and East Asian Studies Department. This symposium included scholars and artists in Drama, Literature, Music, and Fine Arts from Universities in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. The different points of view examined the concept of Tolerance (Inclusion-Exclusion) as it applies to our cultural and religious differences today. As one of the Keynote speakers, I gave a paper entitled: Revisiting Original Sin.
I believe in a personal God. I also respect the gift of life by that force that has brought me here with all the resources I need for my survival and life's journey. What I take issue with are the traditional and misogynist writers of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions who along with very inspiring thoughts have also been responsible for instilling fear and hatred between our cultures and religions. In so doing they have, "demeaned women and condemned them for bringing sin into the world, condemned homosexuality and yet condoned incest, and most but not least, assured their martyrs and heroes a place in heaven when they wage wars and kill innocent people, in the name of their Prophets and Gods."
Hopefully my art work can be one small voice questioning those who continue to believe in the old laws and religious beliefs that continue to punish, condemn, and kill millions of people of all walks of life, because "it's God's will."



Lost in Translation


By: Maxine Olson
Submitted: 12/26/2008

In 1931, I was born to Portuguese Catholic parents in a rural farming community in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Their parents had immigrated to America in the late 1800's from the Islands of Faial, Flores, and Pico, in the Acores. My father was very domineering and my grandmother who in those early years needed her sons to help her on the farm believed that education corrupted the mind. So, as a woman, we never questioned our male authority figures, the church, or it's rules to live by. Also, if you were a woman, heaven help you if you ever discussed the subject of "sex."
Early on I was baptized Catholic, studied Catechism and finally through Holy Communion, and Confirmation became a follower of the Catholic law. In one of my images entitled In the Name of the Father, I try to show that we are all born with a cultural belief system and a pattern of life that is imposed upon us from the very beginning. We are therefore, required to conform. If we don't, there are consequences.
James Joyce in his book, Portrait of the Artist states: "When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, and religion. I shall try to fly by those nets."
By the age of 17, conforming to the Old World Traditions, I made the mistake of marrying a very domineering and abusive man. I soon divorced him, but by the age of 39, I had remarried and divorced once again. Finally realizing that I had failed at the first half of my life, I decided to go back to college as I now had two children and needed a good job to support them.
By 1975, I received a Master of Arts Degree from Fresno State University. Becoming an artist and a professor was the final turning point that enabled me to pursue a much happier, creative, and self-fulfilling life. After graduation, I taught at Fresno State University, Fresno City College, College of Sequoias, Corcoran State Prison, and at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Finally in 1986, I received a Visiting Artist position with the University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia. During that time I was also invited to teach for their Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. As a result I was able to visit Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Ravena, Venice, and London. As an artist, the experiences of traveling in Italy and teaching for the University of Georgia were the most inspirational and transformative years of my life. I was also able to exhibit my artwork in galleries and museums nationally and internationally.
My recent work Lost in Translation was exhibited at the Fresno Arts Museum. Later, I was invited to exhibit the series in Ponta Delgado in the Azores during UMAR's and Portugal's Year of the Woman.
In February of this year I was invited to exhibit the series at the University of Calgary in Canada during their 3-day symposium given by the Department of German, Slavic and East Asian Studies Department. This symposium included scholars and artists in Drama, Literature, Music, and Fine Arts from Universities in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. The different points of view examined the concept of Tolerance (Inclusion-Exclusion) as it applies to our cultural and religious differences today. As one of the Keynote speakers, I gave a paper entitled: Revisiting Original Sin.
I believe in a personal God. I also respect the gift of life by that force that has brought me here with all the resources I need for my survival and life's journey. What I take issue with are the traditional and misogynist writers of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions who along with very inspiring thoughts have also been responsible for instilling fear and hatred between our cultures and religions. In so doing they have, "demeaned women and condemned them for bringing sin into the world, condemned homosexuality and yet condoned incest, and most but not least, assured their martyrs and heroes a place in heaven when they wage wars and kill innocent people, in the name of their Prophets and Gods."
Hopefully my art work can be one small voice questioning those who continue to believe in the old laws and religious beliefs that continue to punish, condemn, and kill millions of people of all walks of life, because "it's God's will."



Lost in Translation


By: Maxine Olson
Submitted: 12/26/2008

In 1931, I was born to Portuguese Catholic parents in a rural farming community in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Their parents had immigrated to America in the late 1800's from the Islands of Faial, Flores, and Pico, in the Acores. My father was very domineering and my grandmother who in those early years needed her sons to help her on the farm believed that education corrupted the mind. So, as a woman, we never questioned our male authority figures, the church, or it's rules to live by. Also, if you were a woman, heaven help you if you ever discussed the subject of "sex."
Early on I was baptized Catholic, studied Catechism and finally through Holy Communion, and Confirmation became a follower of the Catholic law. In one of my images entitled In the Name of the Father, I try to show that we are all born with a cultural belief system and a pattern of life that is imposed upon us from the very beginning. We are therefore, required to conform. If we don't, there are consequences.
James Joyce in his book, Portrait of the Artist states: "When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, and religion. I shall try to fly by those nets."
By the age of 17, conforming to the Old World Traditions, I made the mistake of marrying a very domineering and abusive man. I soon divorced him, but by the age of 39, I had remarried and divorced once again. Finally realizing that I had failed at the first half of my life, I decided to go back to college as I now had two children and needed a good job to support them.
By 1975, I received a Master of Arts Degree from Fresno State University. Becoming an artist and a professor was the final turning point that enabled me to pursue a much happier, creative, and self-fulfilling life. After graduation, I taught at Fresno State University, Fresno City College, College of Sequoias, Corcoran State Prison, and at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Finally in 1986, I received a Visiting Artist position with the University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia. During that time I was also invited to teach for their Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. As a result I was able to visit Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Ravena, Venice, and London. As an artist, the experiences of traveling in Italy and teaching for the University of Georgia were the most inspirational and transformative years of my life. I was also able to exhibit my artwork in galleries and museums nationally and internationally.
My recent work Lost in Translation was exhibited at the Fresno Arts Museum. Later, I was invited to exhibit the series in Ponta Delgado in the Azores during UMAR's and Portugal's Year of the Woman.
In February of this year I was invited to exhibit the series at the University of Calgary in Canada during their 3-day symposium given by the Department of German, Slavic and East Asian Studies Department. This symposium included scholars and artists in Drama, Literature, Music, and Fine Arts from Universities in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. The different points of view examined the concept of Tolerance (Inclusion-Exclusion) as it applies to our cultural and religious differences today. As one of the Keynote speakers, I gave a paper entitled: Revisiting Original Sin.
I believe in a personal God. I also respect the gift of life by that force that has brought me here with all the resources I need for my survival and life's journey. What I take issue with are the traditional and misogynist writers of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions who along with very inspiring thoughts have also been responsible for instilling fear and hatred between our cultures and religions. In so doing they have, "demeaned women and condemned them for bringing sin into the world, condemned homosexuality and yet condoned incest, and most but not least, assured their martyrs and heroes a place in heaven when they wage wars and kill innocent people, in the name of their Prophets and Gods."
Hopefully my art work can be one small voice questioning those who continue to believe in the old laws and religious beliefs that continue to punish, condemn, and kill millions of people of all walks of life, because "it's God's will."



Lost in Translation


By: Maxine Olson
Submitted: 12/26/2008

In 1931, I was born to Portuguese Catholic parents in a rural farming community in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Their parents had immigrated to America in the late 1800's from the Islands of Faial, Flores, and Pico, in the Acores. My father was very domineering and my grandmother who in those early years needed her sons to help her on the farm believed that education corrupted the mind. So, as a woman, we never questioned our male authority figures, the church, or it's rules to live by. Also, if you were a woman, heaven help you if you ever discussed the subject of "sex."
Early on I was baptized Catholic, studied Catechism and finally through Holy Communion, and Confirmation became a follower of the Catholic law. In one of my images entitled In the Name of the Father, I try to show that we are all born with a cultural belief system and a pattern of life that is imposed upon us from the very beginning. We are therefore, required to conform. If we don't, there are consequences.
James Joyce in his book, Portrait of the Artist states: "When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, and religion. I shall try to fly by those nets."
By the age of 17, conforming to the Old World Traditions, I made the mistake of marrying a very domineering and abusive man. I soon divorced him, but by the age of 39, I had remarried and divorced once again. Finally realizing that I had failed at the first half of my life, I decided to go back to college as I now had two children and needed a good job to support them.
By 1975, I received a Master of Arts Degree from Fresno State University. Becoming an artist and a professor was the final turning point that enabled me to pursue a much happier, creative, and self-fulfilling life. After graduation, I taught at Fresno State University, Fresno City College, College of Sequoias, Corcoran State Prison, and at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Finally in 1986, I received a Visiting Artist position with the University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia. During that time I was also invited to teach for their Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. As a result I was able to visit Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Ravena, Venice, and London. As an artist, the experiences of traveling in Italy and teaching for the University of Georgia were the most inspirational and transformative years of my life. I was also able to exhibit my artwork in galleries and museums nationally and internationally.
My recent work Lost in Translation was exhibited at the Fresno Arts Museum. Later, I was invited to exhibit the series in Ponta Delgado in the Azores during UMAR's and Portugal's Year of the Woman.
In February of this year I was invited to exhibit the series at the University of Calgary in Canada during their 3-day symposium given by the Department of German, Slavic and East Asian Studies Department. This symposium included scholars and artists in Drama, Literature, Music, and Fine Arts from Universities in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. The different points of view examined the concept of Tolerance (Inclusion-Exclusion) as it applies to our cultural and religious differences today. As one of the Keynote speakers, I gave a paper entitled: Revisiting Original Sin.
I believe in a personal God. I also respect the gift of life by that force that has brought me here with all the resources I need for my survival and life's journey. What I take issue with are the traditional and misogynist writers of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions who along with very inspiring thoughts have also been responsible for instilling fear and hatred between our cultures and religions. In so doing they have, "demeaned women and condemned them for bringing sin into the world, condemned homosexuality and yet condoned incest, and most but not least, assured their martyrs and heroes a place in heaven when they wage wars and kill innocent people, in the name of their Prophets and Gods."
Hopefully my art work can be one small voice questioning those who continue to believe in the old laws and religious beliefs that continue to punish, condemn, and kill millions of people of all walks of life, because "it's God's will."



Lost in Translation


By: Maxine Olson
Submitted: 12/26/2008

In 1931, I was born to Portuguese Catholic parents in a rural farming community in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Their parents had immigrated to America in the late 1800's from the Islands of Faial, Flores, and Pico, in the Acores. My father was very domineering and my grandmother who in those early years needed her sons to help her on the farm believed that education corrupted the mind. So, as a woman, we never questioned our male authority figures, the church, or it's rules to live by. Also, if you were a woman, heaven help you if you ever discussed the subject of "sex."
Early on I was baptized Catholic, studied Catechism and finally through Holy Communion, and Confirmation became a follower of the Catholic law. In one of my images entitled In the Name of the Father, I try to show that we are all born with a cultural belief system and a pattern of life that is imposed upon us from the very beginning. We are therefore, required to conform. If we don't, there are consequences.
James Joyce in his book, Portrait of the Artist states: "When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, and religion. I shall try to fly by those nets."
By the age of 17, conforming to the Old World Traditions, I made the mistake of marrying a very domineering and abusive man. I soon divorced him, but by the age of 39, I had remarried and divorced once again. Finally realizing that I had failed at the first half of my life, I decided to go back to college as I now had two children and needed a good job to support them.
By 1975, I received a Master of Arts Degree from Fresno State University. Becoming an artist and a professor was the final turning point that enabled me to pursue a much happier, creative, and self-fulfilling life. After graduation, I taught at Fresno State University, Fresno City College, College of Sequoias, Corcoran State Prison, and at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Finally in 1986, I received a Visiting Artist position with the University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia. During that time I was also invited to teach for their Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. As a result I was able to visit Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Ravena, Venice, and London. As an artist, the experiences of traveling in Italy and teaching for the University of Georgia were the most inspirational and transformative years of my life. I was also able to exhibit my artwork in galleries and museums nationally and internationally.
My recent work Lost in Translation was exhibited at the Fresno Arts Museum. Later, I was invited to exhibit the series in Ponta Delgado in the Azores during UMAR's and Portugal's Year of the Woman.
In February of this year I was invited to exhibit the series at the University of Calgary in Canada during their 3-day symposium given by the Department of German, Slavic and East Asian Studies Department. This symposium included scholars and artists in Drama, Literature, Music, and Fine Arts from Universities in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. The different points of view examined the concept of Tolerance (Inclusion-Exclusion) as it applies to our cultural and religious differences today. As one of the Keynote speakers, I gave a paper entitled: Revisiting Original Sin.
I believe in a personal God. I also respect the gift of life by that force that has brought me here with all the resources I need for my survival and life's journey. What I take issue with are the traditional and misogynist writers of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions who along with very inspiring thoughts have also been responsible for instilling fear and hatred between our cultures and religions. In so doing they have, "demeaned women and condemned them for bringing sin into the world, condemned homosexuality and yet condoned incest, and most but not least, assured their martyrs and heroes a place in heaven when they wage wars and kill innocent people, in the name of their Prophets and Gods."
Hopefully my art work can be one small voice questioning those who continue to believe in the old laws and religious beliefs that continue to punish, condemn, and kill millions of people of all walks of life, because "it's God's will."



Lost in Translation


By: Maxine Olson
Submitted: 12/26/2008

In 1931, I was born to Portuguese Catholic parents in a rural farming community in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Their parents had immigrated to America in the late 1800's from the Islands of Faial, Flores, and Pico, in the Acores. My father was very domineering and my grandmother who in those early years needed her sons to help her on the farm believed that education corrupted the mind. So, as a woman, we never questioned our male authority figures, the church, or it's rules to live by. Also, if you were a woman, heaven help you if you ever discussed the subject of "sex."
Early on I was baptized Catholic, studied Catechism and finally through Holy Communion, and Confirmation became a follower of the Catholic law. In one of my images entitled In the Name of the Father, I try to show that we are all born with a cultural belief system and a pattern of life that is imposed upon us from the very beginning. We are therefore, required to conform. If we don't, there are consequences.
James Joyce in his book, Portrait of the Artist states: "When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, and religion. I shall try to fly by those nets."
By the age of 17, conforming to the Old World Traditions, I made the mistake of marrying a very domineering and abusive man. I soon divorced him, but by the age of 39, I had remarried and divorced once again. Finally realizing that I had failed at the first half of my life, I decided to go back to college as I now had two children and needed a good job to support them.
By 1975, I received a Master of Arts Degree from Fresno State University. Becoming an artist and a professor was the final turning point that enabled me to pursue a much happier, creative, and self-fulfilling life. After graduation, I taught at Fresno State University, Fresno City College, College of Sequoias, Corcoran State Prison, and at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Finally in 1986, I received a Visiting Artist position with the University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia. During that time I was also invited to teach for their Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. As a result I was able to visit Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Ravena, Venice, and London. As an artist, the experiences of traveling in Italy and teaching for the University of Georgia were the most inspirational and transformative years of my life. I was also able to exhibit my artwork in galleries and museums nationally and internationally.
My recent work Lost in Translation was exhibited at the Fresno Arts Museum. Later, I was invited to exhibit the series in Ponta Delgado in the Azores during UMAR's and Portugal's Year of the Woman.
In February of this year I was invited to exhibit the series at the University of Calgary in Canada during their 3-day symposium given by the Department of German, Slavic and East Asian Studies Department. This symposium included scholars and artists in Drama, Literature, Music, and Fine Arts from Universities in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. The different points of view examined the concept of Tolerance (Inclusion-Exclusion) as it applies to our cultural and religious differences today. As one of the Keynote speakers, I gave a paper entitled: Revisiting Original Sin.
I believe in a personal God. I also respect the gift of life by that force that has brought me here with all the resources I need for my survival and life's journey. What I take issue with are the traditional and misogynist writers of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions who along with very inspiring thoughts have also been responsible for instilling fear and hatred between our cultures and religions. In so doing they have, "demeaned women and condemned them for bringing sin into the world, condemned homosexuality and yet condoned incest, and most but not least, assured their martyrs and heroes a place in heaven when they wage wars and kill innocent people, in the name of their Prophets and Gods."
Hopefully my art work can be one small voice questioning those who continue to believe in the old laws and religious beliefs that continue to punish, condemn, and kill millions of people of all walks of life, because "it's God's will."



Lost in Translation


By: Maxine Olson
Submitted: 12/26/2008

In 1931, I was born to Portuguese Catholic parents in a rural farming community in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Their parents had immigrated to America in the late 1800's from the Islands of Faial, Flores, and Pico, in the Acores. My father was very domineering and my grandmother who in those early years needed her sons to help her on the farm believed that education corrupted the mind. So, as a woman, we never questioned our male authority figures, the church, or it's rules to live by. Also, if you were a woman, heaven help you if you ever discussed the subject of "sex."
Early on I was baptized Catholic, studied Catechism and finally through Holy Communion, and Confirmation became a follower of the Catholic law. In one of my images entitled In the Name of the Father, I try to show that we are all born with a cultural belief system and a pattern of life that is imposed upon us from the very beginning. We are therefore, required to conform. If we don't, there are consequences.
James Joyce in his book, Portrait of the Artist states: "When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, and religion. I shall try to fly by those nets."
By the age of 17, conforming to the Old World Traditions, I made the mistake of marrying a very domineering and abusive man. I soon divorced him, but by the age of 39, I had remarried and divorced once again. Finally realizing that I had failed at the first half of my life, I decided to go back to college as I now had two children and needed a good job to support them.
By 1975, I received a Master of Arts Degree from Fresno State University. Becoming an artist and a professor was the final turning point that enabled me to pursue a much happier, creative, and self-fulfilling life. After graduation, I taught at Fresno State University, Fresno City College, College of Sequoias, Corcoran State Prison, and at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Finally in 1986, I received a Visiting Artist position with the University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia. During that time I was also invited to teach for their Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. As a result I was able to visit Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Ravena, Venice, and London. As an artist, the experiences of traveling in Italy and teaching for the University of Georgia were the most inspirational and transformative years of my life. I was also able to exhibit my artwork in galleries and museums nationally and internationally.
My recent work Lost in Translation was exhibited at the Fresno Arts Museum. Later, I was invited to exhibit the series in Ponta Delgado in the Azores during UMAR's and Portugal's Year of the Woman.
In February of this year I was invited to exhibit the series at the University of Calgary in Canada during their 3-day symposium given by the Department of German, Slavic and East Asian Studies Department. This symposium included scholars and artists in Drama, Literature, Music, and Fine Arts from Universities in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. The different points of view examined the concept of Tolerance (Inclusion-Exclusion) as it applies to our cultural and religious differences today. As one of the Keynote speakers, I gave a paper entitled: Revisiting Original Sin.
I believe in a personal God. I also respect the gift of life by that force that has brought me here with all the resources I need for my survival and life's journey. What I take issue with are the traditional and misogynist writers of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions who along with very inspiring thoughts have also been responsible for instilling fear and hatred between our cultures and religions. In so doing they have, "demeaned women and condemned them for bringing sin into the world, condemned homosexuality and yet condoned incest, and most but not least, assured their martyrs and heroes a place in heaven when they wage wars and kill innocent people, in the name of their Prophets and Gods."
Hopefully my art work can be one small voice questioning those who continue to believe in the old laws and religious beliefs that continue to punish, condemn, and kill millions of people of all walks of life, because "it's God's will."



Extreme Expedition: The reality show that tanked because of a death.


By: Bobbi4Freedom
Submitted: 12/27/2008

Aug 2003 I was on my way to Veracruz, Mexico to be apart of an expedition on two teams of women on a reality TV show I had auditioned for and got. Four women in each team Red Team, and Blue Team. I had no idea what to expect, and I certainly had no idea I would come home within inches of my life.

We had been cast by Valerie McCaffrey Casting and went to Sunset Studios in Glendale, California on July 20th to do our title shoot-which I thought came out really hot. We all signed our contracts and we were ready to go.
They were flying us coach to an undisclosed location in Veracruz. We were composed of athletes, and professional cheerleaders, ex-cops (me), bike racers, and tri-athletes. Chris Corabi, one of the producers, the legal eagle on the team sat next to me on the plane and away we flew after handing over our cell phones to him.

The show was an off shoot of Survivor and was one of the earliest and only show of it’s kind at the time. Two teams of women (total of eight) were told we were going to be dropped off on this remote island and take boat, and truck into the boonies of the jungles of Mexico, by Veracruz. We were to happen upon two ‘survivalist’ men. One was a young decorated American Navy Seal, Pentathlon winner, Scott Helvenston, and the other was smuggled in from a European country, Milo. However he was a ‘live off the land’ type of guy, and was rugged.
These men thought they were on an expedition and having a competition amongst themselves. So, when we show up they were shocked. They were then told we will be joining them on the competition and they will be coaching us; not participating, so immediately there was already tension and slight confusion. Us women were in on it, so we thought it was pretty humorous. Since the official show’s title was called: Extreme Expeditions: Models Behavior, we were supposed to embody the ideal ‘bimbo-model’ type women. So being sexy was a requirement and attitudes a must.


After walking off the truck and boat from a long two or three hour trip into the jungle, we started to see ‘tree people’ as we called them, because they lived at the foot of the trees. We were far from town. It was hot and steamy and very humid. We arrive in mini skirts, and high heels with our hair and nails done to perfection. So, here was the twist: we were supposed to rough it on the jungle floor in cheap Kmart pop-up tents, and thin nylon sleeping bags. We had plastic bags as toilets, and a couple cans of tuna and peanut butter to get us started (with no can opener) and we were supposed to endure extreme heat and humidity and compete...and win.
As soon as the Host, Jerry Penicoli (Extra Host) ? introduced us to the two men who were already there, who became our team Captains, we were put into groups (Red & Blue). I was grouped with Scott Helvenston, the Blue Team. It took me about 2 seconds to know I got the wrong guy with the expression on his face. First I towered over him, at my height of 5’10’ (6 ft in heels) and he was about 5’7 I think. He gave a wrinkled up nose to me, but I did not care-I was not there to make friends, but to win.
The cast was: Bobbi Miller-Moro (ex-cop and single mother of three), Anita Marks (ESPN reporter, The Anita Marks Show, and Female Quarterback for The Miami Fury), Levis Francis (Sentinel cheerleader), Krista (beauty queen-professional singer, and motor cross rider), Jes (a tall Latina model), Melissa (beautiful, sweet blonde girl from the south that wouldn’t hurt a flea) and Destiney Moore; that I don’t really remember….and others that are on the promo piece.


The competitions were mixed with treasure hunts (with skills that included a dollar compass, make a foot stint, and rapid, quick coordination) which included rappelling across water, scaling down cliffs, white water rafting races in thunderstorms into caves with bats, riding donkey’s, and racing Hummers to name a few. The intention was to break us down mentally, physically, and emotionally. With very little food, and amenities that included being eaten up every night with dime-size mosquitoes, and spiders that went thru any type of mesh, showers that were a thin hose, pump and a bag…tempers were high very soon, especially mine.
With the blazing heat, and arduous events we were in survivor mode within a few days. I somehow had the role of the ‘bad girl-Shannon Dougherty-type’, and I was teamed up with Melissa, the beautiful, sweet blonde girl from the south that wouldn’t hurt a flea, and Krista, the tom-boy, beauty queen-professional singer, and motor cross rider, and a professional dancer. I got along with only the dancer and was enemies with Scott and his fans which were Krista and Melissa.
Anita Marks

He spoke very rude to us women, including saying things like: ‘Shut your pie-hole’, which had me in his face in about a second. We were yelling at each other for ten minutes with about 13 camera’s on us and the entire camera crew watching.
I was more than a little aggravated with many things. The lack of safety and non-union type hardships that were totally out of control; like when I got attacked by jelly fish and was laying at the foot of the medic trailer, outside in the rain with only B-12 shots to keep me alive-they refused to send me home. They thought I was trying to jump ship after winning 6 out of 6 competitions. I was covered with insect bites of every kind, from head to toe and I had cuts, scrapes, bruises, burns, rope burns, dehydration and anaphylactic shock from the jelly fish stings.
Chris Corabi was our liaison, or friend-the guy we can go to for everything; just to hear: “What part of Extreme don’t you understand?” followed by an outburst of laughter.

Tony was one of the camera guys, or editor from the Survivor shows, and a handful of other professional camera guys and girls from Survivor show as well. My personal favorite, and later friend was one of the Field Producers and co-creators Denise (Miami Ink). She had the best sense of humor and I feel did the best interviews.
The crew was about 500, with most of them coming from Mexico. There were mud slides, injuries, and moments were we were not sure if we would ever make it home. After two weeks with this 5 million dollar project, from the creator Sean Donegan; we were finally allowed to leave messages for loved ones who wanted to make sure we were alive after signing away our life in a 23 page release form. We were supposed to have our weekly pay which was $1,000 directly deposited into our account. My roommate was counting on having that many coming in while I was in the boonies so she can pay rent and utilities. It came three weeks after we got home. I heard a lot of girls suffered financially for that set back. I was given an eviction notice and utilities were going to be shut off, and my mom thankfully covered the fees until I got back.
We had opportunities to go into town to see how the natives lived and we were able to sneak snacks (real food). We were given 100 pesos a day for food if we wanted to buy, but it was rare that we were in town. One of the little breaks we got is going to a hotel were we all showered and slept on white sheets. We all loved it so much, we begged for more of that. But, to torment us more, they would the next day put us back in the mud to sleep on our sweaty cots and be bitten all night.
I made some friends with the girls, but more enemies because of how extreme my character was. So I played it up. They wanted drama-I gave them drama. They encouraged me to play full-out and go nuts. So, I did. I went to the bathroom in the bushes and the ocean after we ran out of plastic bags. I did yoga on the top of a cliff as the sun rose by myself. I jumped into a river off of a 15 ft embankment and my top flew off, I fought with other members of my team, and saw all the camera people sleeping on my cots one day and I tore down the entire tent and threw all of the cots over the edge of the cliff. I cursed like a sailor. I was told in confidence before the show started that I was the show's lead. That the girls think the competitions were going to be filmed and that's it-but not that we will be filmed 24/7 round the clock. I knew this in advance.
Scott and I hated each other. I see in the promo piece him yelling, and complaining-that was to me. I was cursing-that was to him. I thought he was demeaning to women, and he thought I was just a bitch. Before our next competition he would train the girls on our team how to do all the activities, but he wouldn’t train me (which was weird since I was on his team), so I taught myself and ended winning all the competitions I was in anyway. The director Rod Spence and producers Dave Thorton and others pulled me aside and asked me to allow the other team to win so that it would be more interesting. Hell no, why? So they started rigging my games (wrong cordinences, etc) But, I won anyway.
On the day of the fight with Scott, he started to yell, “It’s either me or Bobbi!” He was threatening to leave if I wasn’t thrown off the show. He was calling me a lesbian, and dyke (which I am not) and he really hated me. He was the trainer for Demi Moore in G.I Jane (loved that movie) and has done a number of reality shows. I thought he was full of himself. More than I was.

The production team huddled and decided that he has to go. I never saw a man pack so fast. He packed all his things together and left in a huff. He walked down the hill and walked miles to the nearest town to hail a taxi. The camera crew followed him. So, now we had no team leader for the Blue team. Krista and I were vying for position. We were both tough as nails and both not wanting to give in to each other.
The prize we were all fighting for was $8,000, then it changed to $18,000, then I believe $80,000 after the show was over. The smaller prizes for each competition was a chance to get treated like a queen by the other exhausted, sweaty team and gloat while they served you. Then you get a photo shoot all glammed up on top of 35 ft water falls in next-to-nothing bathing suits, and the like. We were supposed to be able to keep all of those photo’s, to which I haven’t seen a single thing. That was what all the competition was about.
One warm afternoon, we took a break and swam in the most beautiful aqua-lavender Gulf of Mexico. I floated for two hours under the dark grey skies, and unbeknownst to me was getting bit by small jelly fish.

Within four hours, I knew something was wrong because I started to stiffen up. My joints started to hurt and I was starting to be consumed with how I was feeling. My first thought was because I played like a monster for the 6 episodes out of the 10, but this was different. I started to cry. I hung onto Rod the director’s arm as he walked me back to base camp. He said, “Oh, c’mon-your fine.” But, after the 15 min walk and me sobbing, he was silent. The medic laid me down and gave me B-12 shots. No one took me serious, and I knew something was very wrong. I balked, I complained, I whined, I begged to go home. We changed locations and I was walking around aimlessly looking for a solution, or a way out. I knew I had to leave Mexico, and go home.
I immediately called home from the producer’s room in the new accommodations, which was a hotel. They let me rest there while everyone was unpacking. I called my new boyfriend Luis Moro, (now husband) and told him quickly and quietly what was happening. I felt as if I was held against my will. He wrote down the hotel information and phone numbers and I devised a game plan. I was going to call for a taxi myself. The night before I tried to get the front desk to call the police at 2am in Spanish but they said it would be worse for me, so I went back to my room. No one knew what was wrong with me, or cared, and I knew this was life or death as I was starting to run a fever.
The producers finally came in and told me I could go, and gave me my cell phone back-but only if I walked off the show on tape, like if I was quitting. I had to put my back pack on and walk off after a fake altercation with the host and say that I was leaving. They filmed three takes on the beach with me walking away. ‘How much more of this hell do I need to endure?’ It started to become a nightmare that I could not wake up from.
Back at the hotel, a taxi was waiting. I crawled in with swollen purple ankles, infected wounds, sandy, sweaty, pale and in shock. The driver looked at me strange and said something about the airport and I started to cry. Then I passed out. He woke me up at the airport and I walked like a zombie to the plane. As I sat on my way to my connecting flight in Mexico City, I had to count the entire way to keep myself from totally passing out. I did not think I was going to wake up. I had to have my swollen legs out stretched out in front of me in order to sit, because they could hardly bend from the pain.
Once in Mexico City, I departed the plane and walked with determined purpose. I kept telling myself, I have to make because of my three babies. I cannot go down here in the middle of nowhere. I have to make it home. I kept repeating, and repeating phrases in my head to stay conscience. I arrived at LAX, and my dear, sweet boyfriend was waiting for me. He knew a little of what to expect but not what he saw. I looked at him and smiled weakly as he walked me to his car quietly I sat and started to shake. I went home and got in the tub and soaked as I reviewed my injuries. I still wasn’t sure what was wrong with me, but I was not myself. My jaw started to tighten up that night, and I thought maybe I was just overly sore. I was so stiff. I was thinking strange thoughts, like deliriously as I continued to itch more than ever in the warm water.
My boyfriend came in and saw me covered with tiny red bumps and immediately went on line and discovered it was Jelly Fish poisoning. The scratching was re-infecting or re-stinging myself as I was scratching. He started to pour pineapple juice on me to break down the enzymes and nothing was working. I started to burn up that night, in the morning Luis was working and I drove myself to the Emergency Room exactly on the third day from returning from Mexico. They admitted me and while on the examining table, as I was telling them what happened I passed out. I woke up 8 hours later and they had saved my life. They told me I was suffering from anaphylactic shock, and considering how many bites I had that I could have died. They had given me an I.V steroid flush and sent me home.
Days and weeks later, I would get phone calls from the girls (I called my friends boyfriend to say she was ok) as they would come home. They told me of the field of wheat that had just been cut down that they slept in the night I had left and the spiders where out of control and no one slept. They told me of the girls that got dry rot on their feet, and one went to the emergency room for dysentery. I believe four days after I left; two cast and four crew got a stomach virus and was sent to the hospital. I heard two flew home early. I also found out that from the producers down to the cast, they had said I had ‘quit’, that I ‘abandoned my team’, and all sorts of vicious rumors. Even after calls to the director Rod later, I don’t think he even believed me. I heard that Destiney Moore replaced me. Then I moved on with my life, got married to Luis and had two more babies. Then I got an email from Denise.
Scott, my ex-team leader was one of the four American soldiers killed in Iraq. Here’s the report:
‘On (March 31st, 2004) Wednesday, the 38 year-old man was among four U.S. civilian military contractors burned to death, hanged and mutilated in Fallujah, Iraq by Iraqi beasts. An angry mob dragged his body and three others through the streets of downtown Fallujah. Two of the victims were strung on the side of a bridge.’
I realized then, that no matter what happened on the show, that Scott was a tremendously great man that left behind children. I included his bio and some information about him below.
After speaking with Denise, and Rod I discovered the show was ‘shelved’. That the footage was beautiful, the show was dramatic and would have been a hit. No one knows why the show cannot sell, and in speaking with Chris Corabi last year, it was a mess and he has moved on. It is hard for me to let go of the amazing, trepidations, expedition that I was on in Veracruz, Mexico. I hope someday the show will be picked up, especially since it was in the can, and totally ready to air. To give tribute to Scott and let his memory live on.

Scott Helvenston Bio-
Date of Birth
21 June 1965, Ocala, Florida, USA
Date of Death
31 March 2004, near Fallujah, Iraq. (gunshot wounds)
Mini Biography
Scott Helvenston was born in 1965 in Ocala, Florida and raised in Leesburg, Florida. In 1982, he received special permission to join the U.S. Navy and, at 17, he became the youngest Navy SEAL in U.S. history. After graduating BUD/S, he deployed with SEAL Team Four, served for 2 years, and later moved to San Diego, California, where he deployed with SEAL Team One. Since his early years, Scott always excelled at physical fitness and athletics. As a result, he applied and became an instructor at BUD/S, leading PT (Physical Training) every morning for 4 years. With a fond memory for his airborne training, Scott later became an AFF (Accelerated Freefall) Instructor for 4 years until he was medically discharged from the Navy in 1994 for back, wrist, and ankle injuries due to a partially collapsed canopy malfunction.
With high aspirations, Scott recovered, resumed his fitness regimen, and became an actor and stuntman in Hollywood. His many credits include "Face-Off" and "G.I. Jane." Scott was the man who got Demi Moore into that incredible physical shape for the film. In 1997, Scott founded Amphibian Athletics, a Navy SEAL Training and fitness company with the goal of teaching people the skills to excel in outdoor activities, and life, in general. His Navy SEAL Training Camps became quite popular and frequently were spotlighted on television and in the newspaper. Due to the success of the training camps, Scott drew from his PT background and designed a video workout series, allowing greater access to his fitness education. With 11 videos to his credit, Scott became quite well known in the fitness world. In 2003, after the United States led a coalition to remove Saddam Hussein from power, Paul Bremer was named the head of the Provisional Coalition Authority. With a demand for experienced operators in Iraq, Scott was asked to join the security team tasked with protecting Ambassador Bremer. After heading back East to sharpen all his combat skills, Scott deployed to Iraq. Then, on March 31, 2004, the news returned to the States that Scott was one of four American contactors who were ambushed, brutally murdered, and set aflame in Fallujah, Iraq, while an angry Iraqi mob cheered on live TV. Scott left behind two young children. In a short amount of time, Scott Helvenston accomplished many goals that we can all admire. In addition to his success as a Navy SEAL, he was a two-time, gold medal-winner in the pentathlon, and to this day, Scott remains the only human contestant on the popular TV program "Man against the Beast" to win, racing against three different chimpanzees on an obstacle course. Scott also represented the Navy SEAL Teams on the television program "Combat Missions." He always seemed to be the last man standing.
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0375893/board/threads/




Anita Marks
http://www.theredhotsportschick.com/index.htm
anitamarks@espn1300.com

Bobbi Miller-Moro
http://www.MoroFilms.com
http://WomenWithoutBorders.us
http://www.ThankGodForMommy.com
View Article
http://www.amazines.com
"Those who enjoy accountability usually get it; those who merely like exercising authority usually lose it."
- Malcolm Forbes



My personal story of Autism inspired by book Mother Warriors by Jenny McCarthy.


By: Bobbi4Freedom
Submitted: 12/27/2008

In light of the recent Hannah Poling decision, in which the federal court conceded that vaccines could have contributed to her autism, we think the tide is finally turning in the direction of parents like us who have been shouting concerns from our rooftops for years.

Autism is a debilitating disorder, which according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is suffered by 1 in 150 kids, making it more common than childhood cancer, diabetes and AIDS combined.
Recently, England and Ireland reported that autism is affecting one in 58 individuals.


My personal story:

I have five children. With my first three children I followed the Government issued schedule of vaccines from the first day, in the clusters they suggest. I was young, and I was trying to 'be a good parent' and do the right thing for my children.

Those three children suffered these side effects. I have one child who has mild Asperger Syndrome, a form of Autism. I have another child who suffered Selective Mutism and severe Asthma until the 8th grade, where she did not speak in public. And my third child suffered severe Eczema and where she scratched until she bled, hives, and childhood Anemia. Plus, they were always sick, always with colds, it seemed they had a low immune system.

I did not link the two, I thought it was genetic. However, in looking at both sides of the family, I saw no correlation. When I decided to have children again after 9 years, I studied, read and researched everything I could about vaccines. What I found out scared me to death. The cover-ups, the pharmaceutical kick-backs to the medical community, doctor and pediatric lies, the public schools with their kick backs and rewards. I could not believe what I discovered. The Mercury in the vaccinations (which causes causes neurotoxicity in humans, especially in fetuses and small infants and is illegal in CA now), the Mercury from thimerosal in vaccines is linked to increase in autism in a confidential CDC study. It is used for preserving the vaccination when it is made in the laboratories in large vats. You could link all non-independent studies-which shows that there is no Mercury in vaccinations, and that it has no correlation to Autism directly to Pharmaceutical companies who paid for the study.

Story after story from parents who saw their normal child go in to get a series of shots in one visit, and 'lose' their child to the horrific side effect of Autism. This is no joke, and I was taking no chances. My last two children are healthy, smart and vibrant. No Autistic symptoms, and no side effects. My older children are almost fully recovered, but still have traces of the disorders. Here's what I did differently. I demanded no shots when my babies were born, and I signed a waiver. Their little 7 lb bodies should not be subjected to early vaccination. I waited almost a year before they had their first shots. I chose the shots (Polio, Rubella, Measles, Mumps). They did not get the DTP until over 18 months. (The DTP shot is a combination inoculation against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. It is given at 2, 4, 6, and 15 to 18 months of age-This vaccine is recommended for immunizing children 6 weeks of age through 6 years of age). I never took them in within a month of being sick or with a cold. I refuse the chicken pox vaccine, and still have yet to get caught 'up to date' on the Government schedule. And I am thankful.

I have gotten into heated arguments with pediatricians, nurses, and doctors. I have questioned them, I have presented facts, I have demanded them to break up the shots and not give so many clusters of vaccines in one 'series' or 'clump'. And I am glad I did. They fought me every step of the way. (However, I have discovered pediatricians who do not believe in scheduled vaccines).

I know I saved my children by a healthy diet, being educated and refusing to be following blindly what pediatricians, doctors and nurses say to me about anything. I have turned down antibiotics when they are sick, and in any high fever emergencies, which they almost rarely get, I grill the doctor that wants to administer a shot, and ask what are the ingredients, what are the side effects, what are the preservatives? I even have them give me the information pamphlet that was included with the drug when sold to the doctor.
I tell the preschools I have chosen, that I follow A 'Parent's Right to Choose'. We have a right to say no to vaccines.

Be weary if you hear from a nurse or doctor, "No, she needs ALL of her 15 and 18 month vaccines at the next appointment." Survey: 98% Say Parents Should Have Right to Refuse Vaccination. If you hear a parent defend the vaccination schedule, ask where they received their information from. If you read a pro vaccination article, read the fine print. Follow the yellow brick road, see who wrote it, who was quoted and do research. It all goes back to the laboratories, a huge $58.8 billion industry that is very powerful.

I hope this story has helped a mother or father to encourage you to study, be informed, know what people are putting into your children's bodies.

Follow your heart, and do what is best for your child, you could be saving their life.

I strongly recommended reading Jenny McCarthy's new book, 'Mother Warriors' it will force America to wake up.

* I strongly believe critics of Jenny McCarthy's outspoken, and public views are protecting the CDC, and are not educated in the reality of Autism, or are in denial.







The Secret: How I lost 50 lbs after my fifth child & worked out in less time.


By: Bobbi4Freedom
Submitted: 12/27/2008

People ask me all the time, “How do you look like that after having five children!?” I must say I enjoy this response every time I hear it, for many reasons. One, is because I enjoy the compliment. Two, I know that I have an education that can work for anyone, at anytime, anywhere. I want to share it with you.

First, I am going to share my journey with you, on how I discovered this incredible ‘secret’…that is no secret. I am 34 years old, and I live in Woodland Hills, California. I am a filmmaker, writer, and artist. I had three children by the time I was 24 years old and I stopped having babies for nine years. During this time I took inventory of my body and noticed what having three children (including nursing) could do to a body-a young one at that!

I did not feel strong, and I got tired easily. I felt as though I had not recuperated from my pregnancies fully, and the last one was the hardest one since my body was suffering from fatigue and depletion of all my vital minerals and vitamins. I looked anemic, and I was for the most part unhealthy. I did not like who I was in the mirror, and I was only 24 years old.

I did not have the first clue about diet and exercise. My dad was tipping the scales at 320 lbs, and my mom had good genes, so she rarely gained weight, but she was active. I looked at magazines, and talked to people at my local gym. I bought exercise equipment, and I started walking. I began to eat healthier, and I noticed my body responded. As I begun to get healthier, I wanted to also get fit and toned. I then became obsessed with being thin. I was working in Hollywood all the time, and to be a size zero was the norm.

I then started taking diet pills, and I started to get thin. I starved myself, and I would binge. I would work out on the stair-climber for hours. I got down to a size four. I am five foot nine, and if I got to that size in a healthy way, I would say this was great news. But, it wasn’t. I cheated, and short cut my way to that size.

Any new diet, or fad…I did it. I read fitness magazines, and watched late night infomercials. I bought equipment. But, I felt dark inside. I knew I was cheating, and there was no way to deny it to myself. I also had a sneaky suspicion that I would gain it all back, if I stopped the starvation, and the diet pills. I was right.

I was tired of my racing heart, and my jittery nerves. I was unhappy about not being able to eat. I wasn’t happy. So, I stopped the diet pills and gained almost 30 lbs in three months. My adrenal gland was exhausted, (the gland responsible for producing adrenaline, and fluid balance) and my metabolism was out of wack.

I started studying the negative side effects to diet pills and I saw that I was suffering from side effects from using ephedrine based diet pills, and ‘all natural weight loss pills’. And that’s just the beginning. I will go in more detail with this in another article, but for now I will stick to my road to victory.


I thought if I hiked and ate salads, and healthy foods I will get into shape, as well as working out at the gym. I began to work-out, but noticed right away it was a lot of work! There was some suffering involved, I missed eating foods with protein, and I was not losing weight to any noticeable degree.

I would walk into the gym and would be so intimidated by all the machines, and bar bells. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. So, I went to the easy machines, and would swing my weights around a couple times, call it reps and went home, once again unfulfilled. This went on for at least three years. I was now 29 years old, and I figured that I might as well get used to the body I have because I was going into my thirties, and that meant to me…there was no hope.

I then met my current husband, and he was an ex football player for Rutgers University, and he was in great shape for 39 years old. I figured he had good genes, never asked him about how he stays fit, and continued what I thought was best for me. I was healthy at least, so I was content. But I was not totally happy with my weight, or body.

I got pregnant with our first child together, which would make this my fourth child. The pregnancy went smooth, I gained 35 lbs and I noticed I was much more active with this baby than with any others. I had three older children to keep up with, and I had a lot of activities to do, especially it was summer. I thanked my body for being strong from all the years that I did stay active.

I heard about pregnancy Yoga, and I signed up. I walked into the Zen pregnancy haven, and a new world opened up to me. Needless to say the next eight months were about yoga, yoga, yoga. I learned about breathing, and all the meditation you can imagine. I read books, and websites, went to classes and work shops. I loved it. I had a peaceful pregnancy and an emergency c-section. My first one. I was disappointed, but more than that I was scared about the cutting of my abdomen, and the ability to strengthen those muscles again. The baby was perfect, but my body was far from it.

I had gained 35 lbs, and was about 175 lbs walking out of the delivery room. After 6 weeks, my doctor gave me the green light, and I started working-out my way, but this time, I added yoga to the routine. I was healthy, but no where where I wanted to be after nine months post partum.

I started to fit into my size 10 pants again, when I found out I was pregnant with baby number five. We were thrilled, but I was nervous. I wasn’t sure about how my body was going to handle this next pregnancy. This one was a little tougher, and I was older now at thirty-two years old.

I felt more aches and pains this time around, I wasn’t as active, although I worked 3 times as hard. I was exhausted, and we planned another c-section. This time I gained 50 lbs! I saw the scale creep up all thru my pregnancy reaching numbers they have never reached before. This was not the time to diet, and I was not eating unhealthy. I maxed out at 200 lbs on the day of the birth. I had a 48 inch stomach, and I knew every single one of those inches I gained; I was going to have to lose.

Six weeks later, my doctor gave me his blessing to start working out again. This time, I was 180 lbs, and I was a size 14 easily on a good day. I had my second c-section, this one was in a new place on my tummy, so I had two separate scars. I was beyond desperate. I was scared. Was I ever going to lose this weight? How was I going to do this with five children? I can’t keep up with the demands of the household, and I was worried I would have no time. I had to get help. We could not afford to go get a personal trainer which I dreamed about night and day, so I started reading on-line classified ads.

I was looking for something, anything to help me. I was so beyond lost in this world of health and fitness. My body had grown and shrunk five times 48 inches around. I was mentally exhausted, and physically torn down. I felt like an old lady. I did not look healthy once again, and I was trying not to go into ‘the feeling sorry for myself after baby blues’. I knew being active was the only way out. But how?

I saw an ad for a fitness infomercial show that was casting. Free personal training for 6 weeks. I couldn’t believe it. After my story compelled the casting director to call me in for an interview, I almost jumped on her desk convincing her that she would not regret picking me. I will not let her down, I will lose the weight. She’ll see. I was so excited about the possibility.

I was picked. I showed up on the first day scared to death. The class had a variety of people in all age ranges and sizes. I painfully sweat in the corner for 6 weeks. I cried during the first few weeks and the cardio was just torture. For two weeks I could not swing my legs over the bed in the morning. I wanted to quit, but then I started to see the pounds melting away. The cardio training was melting the fat. I was so relieved. I lost 20 lbs in that class. So, now I was only tipping the scales at 165 lbs.

But, the class was over now. I panicked once again. I had to find something equivalent, quick! I started hunting down gyms with classes. I never took a class before like this, so the closest I could find was an intense power-kick class. I joined and went every other day, if not every day, and it was so grueling. My relationship to working out was clear. I hated it, but I had to do it. The fitness instructor even backed that theory up. Why did working out have to be so miserable? For the next three months my weight fluxuated, but would not break 160 lbs. I felt a little tighter, and toner but for the amount of time and sweat I put in the results were not measuring up.

I was giving it all I had. I wasn’t cheating in class, and I ate properly too. But I was experiencing the ever famous plataue. So, I started training in the gym with the machines. I had no idea what I was doing, and would watch people practically, and literally asleep on the machines they were so lethargic. I was not inspired to say the least.

I thought maybe I had to take different classes, mix it up. So I took the cycling class. Well, I almost passed out the first day, and the second day, and the third day. I did not like the dark, sweaty, loud room so I quit. I tried the boxing class. I don’t care how many gloves I was wearing, for my long fingers, I thought for sure were going they were going to snap off. My hands hurt more than anything, so I quit. I tried swimming with a friend a few times, but that meant I take the two babies and it became too much work. So I did the cardio machines; the stationary bike, the treadmill, and the stair climber. They were doing something, and I kept my suffering down to a minimum so I did not change my routine.

I still wasn’t inspired, and I felt that I will always stay at 160 and a size 10 pants. I still had a lot of jiggle, and for all this work I was doing I was a little disappointed. Then looking in the casting notices one day, I saw another opportunity to be on a show. This time it was a make-over show. I thought this would be perfect. I sent the letter, and a picture and I met with the casting directors. Well, I got it! I think they felt sorry for me or something, so they thought I would be perfect. But, there was a catch. I would be show-casing some lingerie on a runway. What?! I didn’t even own lingerie. I panicked again. I ran to my husband and asked him about this work-out he’s been telling me about for years.

I didn’t have anything to lose because I had tried it all. I thought that this ‘work-out’ he talked so highly of was really only for men. I thought that way because it derived from a strength training coach, Dr. Paul Kennedy, a strength coach at Penn State University & Rutgers University. He was also a second alternate in the Olympics in his division for strength training. My husband trained under this man, and this system he developed was called ‘The Kennedy System’.

I hesitantly walked into the gym with my husband. I had 45 days to get lean, mean and hot enough to walk on a runway, on a national TV show…in lingerie. I was mentally ready. I never worked out at the gym with my husband before like this. I watched the DVD’s at home of the 13 episodes that DR. Paul had done, and was so amazed how the littlest variations in a rep was crucial to the results. I also learned how I was doing my work outs wrong on the machines. I saw where I was waiting time. I finally learned how my muscles work. Finally.

Within the first three days, I knew there was something very, very different going on here. I was actually happy at the end of the work out. I also was able to do a total body work out (from neck to ankles) in 30 minutes. With my husband, it was an hour (for two people). I had fun doing it, and I’ll tell you why. You start out doing your 8-12 reps on the weight amount that you can handle. You do it exactly how DR. Paul demonstrates. Positioning is KEY.

Then after a couple minutes resting time you do the reps again, at a lesser weight. You do your rep until your muscles goes to momentary fatigue (you can’t do it anymore). You then have your partner help you lift, then he will resist you while you do your rep. (So you go against each other). Do it three times if possible. Your muscle will go to temporary fatigue.

You do this in a systematic way, starting from your large muscle groups, and working your way to the smaller. Now, this is the part that is no joke. I saw results right away.

You take a day off in between to rest. The next time you go in, you can actually lift more weights. I would be stunned as my husband pulled the pin out and went to the next one, and I lifted it. Every day I was stronger than the day before. My chest started to get that nice cut, lifting my bosom and my abs started to appear on the sides. I was so excited, I could not wait to get back to the gym! I was excited to go in, and happy when I left. During the day off in between I felt incredible. I was walking taller, and I felt stronger. I could lift my baby with one arm and carrying groceries in the other with no problem.

This must be a miracle, How was this possible? People were constantly asking me how did I do this? The Kennedy System. The best part, I ate as much as I wanted, because the muscles-being the biggest and the hungriest had to replenish themselves, so eating good is recommended. Dr. Paul also has included a nutritional guide, and smoothie recipes to support your new fun way of eating.

I say ‘fun’ because that is exactly what it has become. People stop us in the gym, and ask us what we are doing, and we tell them. I am morphing in front of my very eyes. I have lost a total of 17 inches, and I am down to a healthy 150. I have a 60 day plan where I will continue to work out and my goal is to get ripped. Yes, ripped. Not out of control, competitor ripped…but can you believe I know it is possible with this education.

And that is all it is, an education. No pills. No fads. No gimmicks. This is simply an education showing you how to PROPERLY work out. It is simple, and effective and my favorite words: FAST & FUN.

I became the spokesperson for The Kennedy System, and I also enjoy so much talking to Dr. Paul Kennedy because he is literally a walking encyclopedia on fitness. He is in his 50’s with a body of a 25 year old. He has such a passion, and drive for educating the public on how the body responds to working out, and strength training. He even has done 100’s of hours of radio broadcasts, talking phone calls from the public.

My husband and I own an independent film production company, and we love the product so much, we bought it! So, now with my utmost pleasure and joy, we bring you The Kennedy System for yourself, your family, your friends and anyone you see that has an interest in becoming the fittest they have ever been with less time, and less energy, and less money.

Once you purchase the 4 DVD set, you will see that not only could you watch it over and over, but there’s nothing else more to buy. That’s it. Dr. Paul’s 30 years of education in 13 episodes, so that you can understand how to work your body, and have your body work for you.

____

Bobbi is a mother of five children. She weighed 200 pounds walking out of the hospital after the birth of her fifth child in Woodland Hills, Ca. After years of various workouts, Bobbi learned The Kennedy System. She sculpted her body in 45 days for a national lingerie TV show. She is the spokesperson for The Kennedy System for the dramatic results she achieved. She now is consulting women, and writes articles on losing weight. www.TheKennedySystem.com














A Women's Voice


By: Bobbi4Freedom
Submitted: 12/27/2008

“Her voice was ever low, gentle and soft—an excellent thing in woman.” – King Lear.

In history, a women’s voice has been revered in poetry and song. “It is a woman's voice, sire, which dares to utter what many yearn for in silence.” (Unsent letter to Napoleon III re: Victor Hugo) by poet Aurora Leigh.

We know that every culture brings a different set of standards for how women are considered or related to. The United States has been known to lead the way in Women’s Rights. However, in Europe there is also a long history of powerful women creating the road map for the civility of women.

For many years Women have been leaders in developing countries around the world. More are taking the lead in becoming powerful political leaders such as Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf who has been sworn in as Africa's first elected female leader in Liberia. In Ireland, a little boy asks his mother, "Do you think a man could ever be President?" All his life he has only seen women presidents.

It is inspiring to see how far we have come. However, we still have a ways to go. Women being president in Unites States is not really an issue of women’s rights, but character. In the case of Hilary Clinton, we will be voting on her character and her ability to lead after the election in November 2008. Creating a unified, strong voice and courage, is what our future needs.

Finding your voice.

In a tribute to Benazir Bhutto, a woman who’s voice impacted the world, we explore our own voice.

As we mourn for Bhutto, 54 after her recent horrific assassination on December 27, 2007, we reflect on the impact women have in the world right now. Her message was clear, she refused to be quiet and allow extremism to continue to destroy her beloved country, Pakistan. Her heroic stand for democracy has become her legacy. As we reflect on our own voice, are we being heard?

Let’s explore a radical yet simple, approach to how to uncover your voice-and be heard, in honor of Bhutto. No matter what the country, or what culture you are from; your voice can make a difference.

If it is in your belief that your voice cannot speak for you, or for your children, or the belief that your voice cannot make a difference, this is the heart of the suffrage you may be facing.



Your passions are clear, but do you speak them? Your opinions are valuable, but do you sing them from the rooftops? It is your ‘holding back’, where the change you want to see will not take place. The change you want to see in your life, and in the world around you.

Mrs. Bhutto saw what she wanted to change. She was a valiant, passionate and loving mother and wife. A mother of three children who loved her country of Pakistan so much, she became Prime Minister twice. Bhutto's persecution began after the dismissal of her father, Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977 and his execution by hanging in the city of Rawalpindi. She intensified her denunciations of Zia and sought to organize a powerful political movement against him.

After the hanging of her father, her mission was clear, "I told him on my oath in his death cell, I would carry on his work", to free the people of Pakistan; once and for all; from the communist and extremist violence that has plagued her country.

Bhutto was born June 21, 1953, in Karachi, Pakistan. Her name means "one without equal." She was educated at Harvard's Radcliffe, College in the United States at 16 years old, and at the University of Oxford in England, where she excelled in studies as well as other activities. She was the first Asian woman to be elected president of the Oxford Union, an elite debating society.

In a country where women’s rights, are almost non-existent, and neighboring countries follow cultural and religious beliefs that women are not supposed to be educated, or work, She said, "What I really need to ask myself is: do I give up, do I let the militants determine the agenda?"

The "Times" and the "Australian Magazine" (May 4, 1996) have drawn up a list of 100 most powerful women and have included Benazir Bhutto as one of them. This magnetic woman, who came out of exile in London after repeatedly being under house arrest, was finally imprisoned under solitary confinement in a desert cell in Sindh province during the summer of 1981. Released in 1984, she went into exile in Britain until 1986, when martial law was lifted in Pakistan. Bhutto returned with a huge crowd numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

Her voice gave hope where no hope existed. Her words and her actions pulled generations of Pakistani closer to freedom than they had ever seen in history. In an interview with Ann Curry in Feb 22, 2007 for the Today show she so passionately reveals her reasons for coming back. “I have a choice to keep silent, and allow the extremist to do what they are doing or I could stand up and say this is wrong, and I am going to try to save my country. And I have taken the second choice.”

Her voice rings loud and clear, especially in the ears of her children. She brought her children up to their teenage years, and before her death; she undoubtedly taught them about the importance of not being silent, not sitting back, and allowing inhumane actions to persist around them. Her first-born son speaks out (from the New York Times, Dec 31st 2007) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, 19, states; "My mother always said democracy is the best revenge." After he was chosen to succeed his mother, as leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party.




Pakistanis across the United States, regardless of whether they supported Benazir Bhutto or not, worry about the impact of her assassination in destabilizing their homeland and threatening the safety of family members living here. We hope Bhutto did not die in vain. As an immigrant in exile she never stopped her concern about her country. Her death is a call to action for immigrants abroad to touch base with their home and lend their voice to their future of their motherland.

In the spirit of Bhutto not holding back her voice, look to your own voice, your own power, your own ability to make a difference, and let’s explore what it really takes to be heard, and make an impact in the world.

Powerful Communication
Leaders agree that in their desire to be heard, they would have to listen first. By listening to the points of views of others it is a critical competency for success. Listening to others, and asking for their input, we enhance our leadership abilities. Our effectiveness goes the roof. Why?

Communication in relationships is a skillful art that begins with listening. Listening is getting the other person’s world. Allowing them to contribute to you is not about strategy, this is about contribution. We all have value to contribute to each other, when you allow yourself to be contributed to by another, you can make a more effective decision and results.
Some simple changes can make the world of a difference.

Instead of using the word ‘problem’, for example; try using the word ‘challenge’, or ‘circumstance’ in it’s place. See what happens. I noticed immediately that the ‘problem’ I thought I was having became less daunting and easier to solve when I saw it as an opportunity.

Begin with distinguishing what really matters to you? If anyone messed with what really matters to you, would you let them? Would you stand by and watch? You would probably take a stand, standing up for that someone or that something that you believe in. You would end up doing the right thing…even when it is the toughest thing to do.

Another great tool is being accountable. It is the greatest freedom that we can create for ourselves.
You will start to notice your power in your life.


"Those who enjoy accountability usually get it; those who merely like exercising authority usually lose it."
- Malcolm Forbes
_____________________________________________________________

Bobbi Miller-Moro is an award winning, history making filmmaker and artist with five children. Being an advocate of women’s rights, she is a spokesperson women and children and for eco-friendly solutions. Check out her blogs at WomenWithoutBorders.us and ThankGodForMommy.com.

Stand Up for Women's Rights


By: Honors Senior English, Oakland School for the Arts
Other authors: Ryan Schaeffer
Submitted: 01/12/2009

Lyrics to my song

Chorus:
Get up, Stand Up
Stand up for women’s rights
Get Up, Stand Up
Fight for your right


Verses:
What we find in this world today
Is women not being treated the same
Equal rights and lives are deprived
Lets bring an end to lives contrived

Throughout time some women have felt the same
Thinking that life is just a man’s game
But no, this is not the case
Because no one is different in the human race

So please heed my words
We all need to change our ways
Some women have started fighting
But we need to keep the fire ablaze

So now we see the light
We got to stand up for women’s rights

Throughout time their have been fighting women
From Victoria Woodhull to Shirley Chisholm
Some women need to find what they oppose
While other women just take off their clothes

From Mexico to India
And Morocco to Nigeria
All women around the globe
It does not matter what is your wardrobe

So please log on to IMOW
Because that’s where the truth be told
Doesn’t matter if you’re young or old
Standing up is our goal

So now we see the light
We got to stand up for women’s rights

The Power of the Woman


By: Honors Senior English, Oakland School for the Arts
Other authors: Poem by: Ari Stachel Power Point and Graphics by: Tessa Cruz Ari Stachel, Tessa Cruz
Submitted: 01/12/2009

Women

Women,
So many we have studied,
From Firdaus, to kindred, to Rigoberta Menchu,

Women
Bringing people together, creating global change,
Being the voice the men are to weak to share,
Couples I want to mention are
Nawal, and Shirley Chisholm,

November 30th, 1924 was a special day,
The day the first minority of the minority came to play
Shirley Chisholm stood there to say
I’m running to rep the USA
The first black woman running for the house
Trying to make a man the first spouse
While she didn’t seal the deal,
She made many women like her feel,
That they too could appeal
To the people who wanted real
Politics that they could feel
She was in congress,
And started the congressional black caucus,
Many feats she did we remember to this day,
Before she sadly passed away
We clap away
We cry today
For January 1st, 2005
The day she said goodbye
She made us feel like we could never fall
An inspiration too us all,

Now lets talk about Nawal
October 27th, 1931,
Was the day she said she could be the one
To make sure that women across her land,
Could feel equal and walk hand and hand
With the oppressors in her culture
It started with her father
A rare radical in that time
He gave her the confidence to shine
Inspired by her female genital mutilation
She decided at the moment to create a revolution
Dismissed from her later jobs due to her activism
She inspired the idea called feminism
Now, many years later, and death threats after,
She continues to write,
And fights her fight
Thanks you girl,
For changing the world.

These women are inspiration
And have transcended this nation
I thank them for opening my mind,
And growing through the grind
To show us all that it can be done
And in the process, makes life more fun

And thank you ladies,
In the class,
Thank you ms. Svidler,
My teaching my ass
For opening it up to me.
And most of all, thank you sista G!

The Power of the Woman


By: Honors Senior English, Oakland School for the Arts
Other authors: Poem by: Ari Stachel Power Point and Graphics by: Tessa Cruz Ari Stachel, Tessa Cruz
Submitted: 01/12/2009

Women

Women,
So many we have studied,
From Firdaus, to kindred, to Rigoberta Menchu,

Women
Bringing people together, creating global change,
Being the voice the men are to weak to share,
Couples I want to mention are
Nawal, and Shirley Chisholm,

November 30th, 1924 was a special day,
The day the first minority of the minority came to play
Shirley Chisholm stood there to say
I’m running to rep the USA
The first black woman running for the house
Trying to make a man the first spouse
While she didn’t seal the deal,
She made many women like her feel,
That they too could appeal
To the people who wanted real
Politics that they could feel
She was in congress,
And started the congressional black caucus,
Many feats she did we remember to this day,
Before she sadly passed away
We clap away
We cry today
For January 1st, 2005
The day she said goodbye
She made us feel like we could never fall
An inspiration too us all,

Now lets talk about Nawal
October 27th, 1931,
Was the day she said she could be the one
To make sure that women across her land,
Could feel equal and walk hand and hand
With the oppressors in her culture
It started with her father
A rare radical in that time
He gave her the confidence to shine
Inspired by her female genital mutilation
She decided at the moment to create a revolution
Dismissed from her later jobs due to her activism
She inspired the idea called feminism
Now, many years later, and death threats after,
She continues to write,
And fights her fight
Thanks you girl,
For changing the world.

These women are inspiration
And have transcended this nation
I thank them for opening my mind,
And growing through the grind
To show us all that it can be done
And in the process, makes life more fun

And thank you ladies,
In the class,
Thank you ms. Svidler,
My teaching my ass
For opening it up to me.
And most of all, thank you sista G!

The Power of the Woman


By: Honors Senior English, Oakland School for the Arts
Other authors: Poem by: Ari Stachel Power Point and Graphics by: Tessa Cruz Ari Stachel, Tessa Cruz
Submitted: 01/12/2009

Women

Women,
So many we have studied,
From Firdaus, to kindred, to Rigoberta Menchu,

Women
Bringing people together, creating global change,
Being the voice the men are to weak to share,
Couples I want to mention are
Nawal, and Shirley Chisholm,

November 30th, 1924 was a special day,
The day the first minority of the minority came to play
Shirley Chisholm stood there to say
I’m running to rep the USA
The first black woman running for the house
Trying to make a man the first spouse
While she didn’t seal the deal,
She made many women like her feel,
That they too could appeal
To the people who wanted real
Politics that they could feel
She was in congress,
And started the congressional black caucus,
Many feats she did we remember to this day,
Before she sadly passed away
We clap away
We cry today
For January 1st, 2005
The day she said goodbye
She made us feel like we could never fall
An inspiration too us all,

Now lets talk about Nawal
October 27th, 1931,
Was the day she said she could be the one
To make sure that women across her land,
Could feel equal and walk hand and hand
With the oppressors in her culture
It started with her father
A rare radical in that time
He gave her the confidence to shine
Inspired by her female genital mutilation
She decided at the moment to create a revolution
Dismissed from her later jobs due to her activism
She inspired the idea called feminism
Now, many years later, and death threats after,
She continues to write,
And fights her fight
Thanks you girl,
For changing the world.

These women are inspiration
And have transcended this nation
I thank them for opening my mind,
And growing through the grind
To show us all that it can be done
And in the process, makes life more fun

And thank you ladies,
In the class,
Thank you ms. Svidler,
My teaching my ass
For opening it up to me.
And most of all, thank you sista G!

The Power of the Woman


By: Honors Senior English, Oakland School for the Arts
Other authors: Poem by: Ari Stachel Graphics by: Tessa Cruz Ari Stachel, Tessa Cruz
Submitted: 01/12/2009

Women

Women,
So many we have studied,
From Firdaus, to kindred, to Rigoberta Menchu,

Women
Bringing people together, creating global change,
Being the voice the men are to weak to share,
Couples I want to mention are
Nawal, and Shirley Chisholm,

November 30th, 1924 was a special day,
The day the first minority of the minority came to play
Shirley Chisholm stood there to say
I’m running to rep the USA
The first black woman running for the house
Trying to make a man the first spouse
While she didn’t seal the deal,
She made many women like her feel,
That they too could appeal
To the people who wanted real
Politics that they could feel
She was in congress,
And started the congressional black caucus,
Many feats she did we remember to this day,
Before she sadly passed away
We clap away
We cry today
For January 1st, 2005
The day she said goodbye
She made us feel like we could never fall
An inspiration too us all,

Now lets talk about Nawal
October 27th, 1931,
Was the day she said she could be the one
To make sure that women across her land,
Could feel equal and walk hand and hand
With the oppressors in her culture
It started with her father
A rare radical in that time
He gave her the confidence to shine
Inspired by her female genital mutilation
She decided at the moment to create a revolution
Dismissed from her later jobs due to her activism
She inspired the idea called feminism
Now, many years later, and death threats after,
She continues to write,
And fights her fight
Thanks you girl,
For changing the world.

These women are inspiration
And have transcended this nation
I thank them for opening my mind,
And growing through the grind
To show us all that it can be done
And in the process, makes life more fun

And thank you ladies,
In the class,
Thank you ms. Svidler,
My teaching my ass
For opening it up to me.
And most of all, thank you sista G!

Brilliant, Gorgeous, Talented & Fabulous


By: Barbara J Hunt
Other authors: Marianne Williamson
Submitted: 01/20/2009

As Marianne has pointed out, this quote is only a tiny part of a whole book "A Return To Love" - her commentary on "A Course In Miracles" - a fundamental spiritual guide.

This quote, however, is a call to us all to honour what is truly great in each of us - our common authentic selves, each of part of which, expressed through us as individuals, is miraculously unique.



Books


By: fuzzy.shah
Other authors: HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Eckhart Tolle Gregg Braden
Submitted: 01/20/2009

Books containing info that helps us live with nature, naturally and with ourselves, selflessly.

Blanca Oraa's artwork


By: Blanca Oraa
Submitted: 05/06/2009

I used to paint oil on canvas satnding but one yer ago I brake my leg so That I have to be seated.
Since then I work on my computer , my blog ans also taking pictures and doing performances.

Summertime


By: Andrea Annunziata
Other authors: This song was composed by George Gershwin.
Submitted: 05/12/2009

Summertime is story of a women who tries to restablish her life away from her parents. The caracter looks for identity. The series Art&Audio&VideoTape is a mix of interpretation, digital art and video. This piece has the same essence of Agua de Beber.

Los hijos y el ritual del poder masculino


By: Mujeres Creando
Submitted: 05/13/2009

Los muñecos representan al actual Presidente de Bolivia, Evo Morales, cargando con una niña: una referencia a la responsabilidad paterna que se huye. Una integrante del movimiento Mujeres Creando explica, “Evito {Evo Morales, actual presidente de Bolivia}, el Che Guevara {guerrillero y político difunto}, y Hugo Chávez {actual presidente de Venezuela} conforman una lista de estos personajes populares que tienen muchos hijos no reconocidos”.
La idea de representar al “Evito” surgió de otro proyecto que también gestiona el movimiento Mujeres Creando: una sintontía radial. Desde uno de los micro espacios de esta radio, se llama tres veces al día una lista de padres irrresponsables, por nombre y apellido, que no cumplen con sus obligaciones paternas. Esta misma lista- que se pronuncia en el espacio público de la radio- es encabezada por Evo Morales padre de muchos hijos, algunos de los cuales no han sido reconocidos. A su vez, “el reconocimiento de estos hijos, forma parte del mismo ritual de poder masculino que muchos cientos de niños y niñas en la sociedad ya conocen, y es la base de inspiración para esta feria de miniaturas. Ya que esta feria de pequeñas estatuillas también se plantea como una feria de deseos”.

ARTBYJO


By: artbyjo
Submitted: 06/11/2009

Artist Statement
ARTBYJO

I started my career as a photographer, but was drawn to assemblage sculpture by way of experiments with various materials and fabrics. My assemblage sculptures, which I call "My Girls", are unique and exceptional examples of contemporary Surrealism,

The beaded sculptures prompt questions about beauty, femininity, identity, loss, grief and redemption. Journalist Burton Wasserman wrote that my work is "deeply rooted layers of personal memory, thought and feeling, joined with reflections on the various roles played by women in society, past and present."

ARTBYJO


By: artbyjo
Submitted: 06/11/2009

Artist Statement
ARTBYJO

I started my career as a photographer, but was drawn to assemblage sculpture by way of experiments with various materials and fabrics. My assemblage sculptures, which I call "My Girls", are unique and exceptional examples of contemporary Surrealism,

The beaded sculptures prompt questions about beauty, femininity, identity, loss, grief and redemption. Journalist Burton Wasserman wrote that my work is "deeply rooted layers of personal memory, thought and feeling, joined with reflections on the various roles played by women in society, past and present."

Scriabin prelude


By: nancy Herman
Submitted: 05/15/2009

This is a translation of music to color using Flash. Part of a series of work I am doing in order to try and develop an instrument that will play colors in time.

Blossoms of Silence: A Short Movie


By: Ola Eliwat
Other authors: Mohammed Eliwat
Submitted: 04/24/2009

Blossoms of Silence is Fekra's second short movie. It was filmed in December 2008. Blossoms of Silence tells the story of Dalia, a story relevant to the lives of many girls who choose to live in silence to avoid the possibly dire consequences of their judgmental societies

ABSENT SPACES


By: LAILA HOTAIT SALAS
Submitted: 04/25/2009

In the summer of 2006, during the continuous attacks over Lebanon, a young Lebanese artist receives a phone call that makes her want to protect her own space and personal project safe from the outside threats.

Summertime


By: Andrea Annunziata
Other authors: This song was composed by George Gershwin.
Submitted: 05/12/2009

Summertime is story of a women who tries to restablish her life away from her parents. The caracter looks for identity. The series Art&Audio&VideoTape is a mix of interpretation, digital art and video. This piece has the same essence of Agua de Beber.

Summertime


By: Andrea Annunziata
Other authors: This song was composed by George Gershwin.
Submitted: 05/12/2009

Summertime is story of a women who tries to restablish her life away from her parents. The caracter looks for identity. The series Art&Audio&VideoTape is a mix of interpretation, digital art and video. This piece has the same essence of Agua de Beber.

Woman to Woman


By: nuruL H.
Submitted: 05/26/2009

my conversations with women have evolved along the course of my life. i grew up with my mother as my sole narrative reference. my worldview shaped by hers. and then, grandmothers, aunts, and soon, girlfriends. each contributing a piece. a story. a lesson. and as we all grew up, we start conversing with many other different women, each motivated by their own life experiences, their own stories. and so, the conversations change, and will continue to change. what then becomes important is whether or not, we document these conversations, pass them along, with the hope that women will continue to speak to each other, about themselves, about others. shaping themselves. and shaping our own sense of self.

THE ROPE LESS TRAVELLED


By: Namita Kulkarni
Submitted: 10/21/2009

As I watched 10-year-old Rajnandini work the tightrope like she was born on it, the mind struggled to make sense of the logic-defying agility. Clearly, ‘child’s play’ to her connoted things far removed from what the more fortunate amongst us could guess.
The place was a “tourist-oriented” reconstruction of the generic Rajasthani village, where I had seen the same girl displaying her acrobatic skills in pretty much the same manner the previous year. Rope-walking is to her a basic necessary life skill, acquired and mastered early,to feed her family.
What struck me while I watched her was the sheer extremity of her skill, which flew in the face of everything I’d ever known/believed/assumed about gravity and almost all other laws of nature for that matter.
However, what stayed with me for days after, was the notion that her feats were in a way the physical embodiment of the efforts and accomplishments of women around the world and over the ages. Back on the rope every evening, that little girl unwittingly personified the struggles of countless women who strive every day to strike an increasingly elusive balance, whether between work and home, or between being true to their potential and conforming to socially accepted standards of female competence. Living up to their potential in all its glory while living down, at least ostensibly, to narrow manmade stereotypes that fit snugly in a male-oriented world. Being true to themselves amidst pressures of expectations unilaterally imposed on them by the mindlessness that all the reason in the world cannot counter. Soaring for their goals while sidestepping landmines that threaten to explode in the form of easily irked egos. No less a display of her extreme dexterity, her feats mirrored the countless unsung heroines for whom life hinges on that crucial balance between irreconcilable adversaries of all kinds.
Getting back on the rope every new day, yet again using the pole of self-reliance to strike that perfect balance, is perhaps the quintessential act of resilience – a quality that the female half of humanity knows only too well.

Seaweed Farmers (new line) Women in Zanzibar


By: Joanna Lipper
Submitted: 11/05/2009

As a filmmaker and photographer, I was interested in capturing the isolation of the seaweed farmers who at times appear dwarfed in relation to the sea and the horizon. There is something sublime about the way in which the women looking outwards towards the horizon line across the vast expanses of ocean and sandbars at low tide seem so distant, so detached and so protected from the intrusive technology and architecture of modern life. There is something sacred about the seaweed farmers’ proximity to nature and something deeply spiritual about the total absence of intrusive mechanical machinery, something reassuringly pure and uncomplicated about the direct contact between their hands, the water and the seaweed, evocative of timeless images of women laborers such as Francois Millet’s Gleaners. The truth is that the thin thread that connects these seaweed farmers to the global economy of the 21st Century is growing thinner by the day as poverty levels rise and environmental and economic activities like seaweed farming become increasingly unsustainable.

Seaweed farming in Zanzibar started in the 1980’s. Today roughly 3% of the population of Zanzibar is involved in seaweed cultivation, and it provides approximately 20% of Zanzibar’s export earnings. Seaweed farming is an occupation dominated by women who live in rural villages and it is one of the few jobs accessible to women that pays them in cash. One seaweed broker in Zanzibar reported that he paid seaweed farmers seven US cents per kilogram of seaweed. According to another report that looked at Tanzania as a whole including Zanzibar, farmers harvest seaweed every two months, earning about $500 per family. “That is equivalent to six months of work for fishermen,” said Jeremiah Daffa of the Tanzania Coastal Management Partnership, a U.S.-funded initiative.

One major problem currently facing Seaweed Farmers in Zanzibar is the absence of infrastructure and hardware needed to process raw materials like seaweed and the total dependence on industrialized countries when it comes to that crucial step. After the seaweed has been laid out in the sun to dry it is transported from rural villages to Stone Town and from there it is exported to Europe and the United States. Often local brokers provide tools such as ropes and pegs on the condition that the seaweed farmers sell their seaweed exclusively to them. Many seaweed farmers are illiterate and have limited leverage when it comes to these kinds of negotiations. Within the isolated confines of Zanzibar’s rural villages, these factors contribute to depressing prices for the raw commodity.

On a global level, the import and export of seaweed is a $200 billion business, with the United States importing nearly $50 billion worth each year. Seaweed is prized for the chemicals it produces in the form of algae extracts and also for its remarkable ability to absorb tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide. Algae’s valuable extracts are widely used in food (such as processed dairy, meat, and fruit products), in cosmetics (such as lipstick and mascara), in paint, toothpaste, air fresheners, pharmaceuticals and in agriculture, a sector in which farmers have seen great improvements in their harvests, thanks to products like Kelpak. Fuels derived from Algae have demonstrated great potential in the arena of transportation as alternative green biofuels, with molecular structures that resemble those found in gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Exxon recently announced that they are planning to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in genetically engineering synthetic strains of algae.

For the Seaweed Farmers in Zanzibar, what are the implications of these significant economic, technological and environmental leaps forward in the industrialized world? Without adequate microfinance loans, and without the building of large-scale infrastructure and hardware, improved education, and community organization amongst laborers, seaweed farming as a cash-generating, economically empowering occupation for rural village women, runs the risk of becoming increasing obsolete on the islands of Zanzibar.

Bibliography for Seaweed Farmers
Anderson, Robert J. Seaweed and monsoon rains: The SeaweedAfrica workshop in Zanzibar. The University of the Western Cape: Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, published online Newsletter 60, December, 2005.
Dickenson, Daniel. Tanzania’s New Seaweed Farmers. BBC: published online 18 March, 2005.
MOUAWAD, Jad. “Exxon to Invest Millions to Make Fuel From Algae.” The New York Times, July 13, 2009
Msuya F.E. 2006. The Impact of Seaweed Farming on the Social and Economic Structure of Seaweed Farming Communities in Zanzibar, Tanzania. In A.T. Critchley, M. Ohno and D.B Largo (Eds) World Seaweed Resources, Version: 1.0, ISBN: 90-75000-80-4, 27 pp. (www.etiis.org.uk).
Msuya F.E. 2006. The Seaweed Cluster Initiative in Zanzibar, Tanzania. In Mwamila B.L.M. and A.K. Temu, Proceedings of the 3rd Regional Conference on Innovation Systems and Innovative Clusters in Africa, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, September 3-7, 2006. pp 246-260.
RODRIQUE NGOWI ZANZIBAR, Tanzania, African News, AP, 2004

Seaweed Farming Helps Women in Tanzania

Smit, AJ, AT Critchley, D. Keats, E. Nic Donncha, M. Cocks, FJ Molloy, RJ Anderson, JJ1 Bolton, and MD Guiry. SeaWeed - Some useful “weeds,” from SeaweedAfrica: an Internet database for the sustainable use of seaweed biodiversity in Africa. Science in Africa, October 2002.

My Reasons for Living


By: Cheryl Braganza
Submitted: 11/16/2009

“IT IS IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GENUINE CONDITIONS OF OUR LIVES THAT WE MUST DRAW OUR STRENGTH TO LIVE AND OUR REASONS FOR LIVING”.

These poignant words of Simone de Beauvoir are as pertinent now as when she quoted them. In the shadow of those words, I will share with you my life story.

I was born in Bombay, India but grew up in Pakistan. The name Braganza is Portuguese because our ancestors were from Goa. Goa was occupied by the Portuguese for 400 years. We were originally Hindus, but our names and religion were actually imposed on us by Portuguese colonizers.

My father owned Braganza Hotel , right across from the historic railway station in Lahore, built in the time of the Raj. During the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 , our hotel was used as the headquarters for the Muslim League and by the British army. Hindu and Sikh women and men would hide in the hotel for days. Many of them were massacred as soon as they stepped outside. My parents were so traumatized by what they saw that they never spoke about it.

My childhood exposed me to extremes - of those who were affluent enough to come to the the hotel and those who had to beg right outside the iron gates. When I was 6, I remember an old woman who would beg on the road outside and smile at me every day on my way to school. I used to wonder how this woman who had nothing, was still able to smile. Then one day, she lay there, crumpled up . People were gathered around her and stared. So did I. She was dead . No one picked her up for a long time. And the smile I had got used to on my way to school was gone forever.

I grew up Roman Catholic in a Muslim country . There was a mosque right outside our door and the plaintiff Call to Prayer of the mullah three times a day indelibly marked me.
Growing up in Pakistan, I was shy and very reserved in front of my Muslim friends. I don’t remember ever meeting a Muslim boy and even though I had a brother, I never met his friends. In school, I was never asked to give my opinion on anything. Never. We learned textbooks by heart and the closer one got to the exact text, the higher the marks. Home was not that different. No one asked for my opinion. I just obeyed. I kept close to the text.
Respect and family values were so important that even if I had different ideas on anything, I remained silent. At 5, my mother taught me the piano. And it opened up a new world.
I remember when I was 14 years old, a professor from the Juilliard School of Music came to Lahore and I auditioned for him. I never heard anything back. 6 months later my piano-teacher mentioned almost in passing that I had been offered the scholarship to study in New York , but that my parents had refused it and chosen not to tell me.
One year later, nuns with whom I studied, suggested a study year in a Rome convent. This time, my parents raised no objection.
Much to my dismay, all the young women I met in Rome questioned everything. When I was asked a question, I became dumbfounded. I didn’t know what to say. I really didn’t know what I thought about anything because up to then, textbooks and elders had spoken for me.
I thought back to the way traditional South Asian society regarded daughters. In a general sense, we were considered burdens to families. A common expression among parents who had daughters was: WE ARE RAISING FLOWERS FOR SOMEONE ELSE’S GARDEN . Even though my family broke that barrier by sending me away on my own, I couldn’t help feel the weight of an oppressive tradition.
It was a confusing time for me. I announced to my parents that I wanted to become a nun. Based on their previous responses, they reacted quite irrationally. They enrolled me in Trinity College of Music located in the heart of London in the Swinging Sixties.
I remained shy and awkward in front of my new friends who knew so much more about Western classical music than I did. I admired their bluntness and that they felt so comfortable about speaking their mind. I wanted so much to be like them, but I couldn’t. I did not dare. I was afraid of being ridiculed. I turned inward and started to write and to paint. I retreated in silent moments into another world.
Anton Chekhov wrote “ If you want to work on your art, work first on your SELF.” Easily said, Mr. Chekhov, but what if you didn’t have a SELF to express ?
In August 1966, I arrived in Montreal on the Empress of Canada. I remember the scene vividly. Hundreds of people hanging over the edge of the ship waving into the waiting crowd on the pier. I felt like a pilgrim.
At the girls hostel run by nuns, I would meet other women arriving from countries I had never heard of, embarking on similar journeys of discovery. While we sat and shared stories, I would sketch their faces in pastels.
And Montreal was Nirvana. I loved the fertile environment, especially seeing the astonishment when I spoke in French. I understood then that language was, and is such a powerful key to dialogue and understanding. It flung open doors to another wonderland.
When the twin towers crashed in 2001, I began to step on memory mines, these pockets of memory that suddenly explode, that explode inside us all. In September of that year, the Montreal Gazette published an article I wrote about a racist incident my family had experienced 20 years ago in the suburbs in the 1970’s where the word PAKI was burned on our front lawn . The most frightening part of that experience was that no one came forward to acknowledge it had happened.
It’s what the experience did to me – the feelings of inadequacy that arose, the fear I had for my 3 sons. My self esteem was at an alltime low.
I took a course in Assertive Training for Women where I felt the comfort and support of other women. We learned the antidote to shame. The moderator made us write down our strengths. I wrote down my p’s: PIANO , POETRY PAINTING.
That young girl in Pakistan who never spoke up then, now galvanized herself to speak out and speak up, through writing, through music, through poetry and through art.
Two decades later came divorce and with it all the ramifications and ostracism that accompany such an upheaval. From nice Indian wife and mother, I was an outcast who had to fend for herself
Divorce turned into a life-changing event. I was able to strengthen parts of me that I had forgotten existed. I was able to share with other women in similar situations, able to branch out and do the things I had always longed for, able to become the woman I really am.
I understood that we women, we hide so much under mantles of lace, under sarees of silk, under burquas, under apple pies and strawberry tarts. We hide until we no longer can.
Many of us live as if we are going to live forever. I know I did. But four years ago, something happened that reminded me that my life was indeed finite. I was diganosed with cancer of the bone marrow,, which crushed my spine. I spent 5 months in hospital watching as the seasons slithered by silently. Depression grabbed at my throat and I was choking. I forgot who I was. I believed my hallucinations.
After a year of aggressive treatment, I was declared in remission. For me, suddenly being forced to face my own mortality brought a realization. I wanted to find out why I had been given another chance. I was convinced there was a very good reason.
In November 2008, the Montreal Council of Women selected me as Woman of the Year . The recognition helped me to look deeper into the path of the immigrant woman which I almost forgot I had travelled. I learned more about who I was and who I have become, how every gasp of happiness, every tiny discovery, every painful disappointment had brought me to where I was now.
So when I read about women, from the love that moves us, to the heartaches that bring us to our knees, I am able stir that with my own experiences and create a new work of art.
We know there are no shortcuts for us women to the rainbow. There never have been.
Simone de Beauvoir was right. Only by looking back can we draw our own strengths and our own reasons for living.

FIRST VAHID


By: Jalaliyyih Quinn
Submitted: 01/09/2010

FIRST VAHID

Before our universe…
There were other forms of existence…
Not as we know existence today….

With out sound or syllable,
The word, KUN, was uttered,
“BE”

When that was spoken the Singularity…
A dot came into existence
A dot of infinite heat
Radiation

And then the Single Point moved
And became a line…

Then the Creator
Split the line into two.
One line was wrapped around the other.

Gravity separated from the Unified Forces
The Unified Forces became three.
The Universe inflated.

Space-time began.
Energy filled the space
and Gravity pulled.

The Forces
Transmitting-receiving,
creating heat.

Matter and Form
B and E, Kaf and Nun
Arising together
Atomic composition
Our universe comes into being.

Jalaliyyih Quinn

Baby Carriages


By: Fulvia Zambon
Submitted: 01/30/2010

Painting baby carriages is not so different to me than painting human forms or abstract images.  My process is to find a way to make a widely recognizable object more interesting through the use of color and light. 
I continue to paint the figure, the involucre of body, dresses without bodies, like missing humans.  In the past I found three baby carriages in the street.  Without creatures inside, these carriages came across my path one after the other.  Seeing these carriages on the street in such random places they took the shape of automobiles or a shell.  The wheels related with a complicated mechanical system and the frame was the skeleton with a soft interior, like the human body.

The addition of babies or partial babies came after looking for some action or gesture. 

It is important to accurately paint the objects and faces while keeping the setting obscure.  This is my way to keep the focus of my work on the subject. 

The world in which I live is the scene in which I create. From the inside of my Brooklyn studio I have a few baby carriages and pieces of dolls that live with the sharp presence of deadly conflict in opposite parts of the world.  Shortage of food and water, animals skinned alive in the factory for their fur, the horror of the factory farm.  There is not so much that one person can say, as a painter I choose to paint few baby carriages, what I can.

Chul and Mul


By: Anjali Butley
Submitted: 02/07/2010

Keeping this in mind, Modern Indian women are now choosing “Cooking” as a profession which they can do from home. They started providing ‘Dabbas’ means ‘Tiffin’ to needy one. This is a big source of earning money by which she can support her family. She started earning money. She does not have to go out to earn money. She can cook food during her own families food cooking activity.
Another profession she is choosing to run ‘Crèche’ which is related to ‘Mul’ means ‘Children’. Inside home she started running ‘Crèche’ and earning good money.

Both the profession based on the traditional thinking with modern flavor.

Women of All Races


By:
Submitted: 03/09/2010

Unfortunately, there's only so much a one woman can do, and even though it takes only one to star we still need more. I happen to be creative with a steady hand. The is a program that is offered on most computers called Paint. That little program transformed my creative mindset. Thus I created faces of women, all different colors, and races pulled out from the threads of my imagination. I found them amusing and uplifting, of course any artist would say that about they're own work. However, if I could use them as a visual promotion of an event or fundraiser, then my time spent drawing these would not be a waste. Here they are.

my photography


By: kshipra
Submitted: 03/15/2010

I love my photography ! I love taking pictures of people, places, scenery, events, items, faces!!!! I take photos so that I can draw things later.

my photography


By: kshipra
Submitted: 03/15/2010

I love my photography ! I love taking pictures of people, places, scenery, events, items, faces!!!! I take photos so that I can draw things later.

my photography


By: kshipra
Submitted: 03/15/2010

I love my photography ! I love taking pictures of people, places, scenery, events, items, faces!!!! I take photos so that I can draw things later.

Sacala Las Lomas


By: Robert Cortlandt
Submitted: 03/18/2010

In tiny, wooden, children’s desks, scribbled with graffiti and etched with the notches of time, we sat in a large circle around the perimeter of the schoolroom. About 300 in all - the women entered in brightly colored huipils and the room became awash in blues, reds, greens and oranges.
We’re in Sacala Las Lomas, a tiny hamlet of only 1300 inhabitants. Translated it means "white spirit of the hills". It was at this place in the early 1980’s that what is known throughout Guatemala as the "armed conflict" began. As we gather, Mayan women tell us stories of massacre, napalm bombs, kidnapping and torture at the hands of the army. Millions were killed and hundreds of villages destroyed.
They told of the day when all the men in the village were abducted and taken to the cathedral square at San Martin. The day when informer in a mask points out the fifteen men that he says are the guerilla. The women and children are rounded-up like cattle and are forced to watch as the fifteen are executed on the steps of the cathedral. No one is allowed to claim or touch the bodies. They lay rotting for six days. The people are told that this is the fate of the guerilla.
A council member tells us that she was 13 at the time and as she watched, her father became a corpse. We hear from 30 women. They all have stories of helicopters flying overhead with machine guns firing widely at anything that moves. Parents, husbands and fathers, dragged away and assassinated. We are now sitting in the schoolroom where they stored the bodies.
There are no men left. They wonder how they are to survive in a two-cultured land where both the Mayan and Spanish traditions say that a woman cannot survive without a man.
Yet, the women find that they are stronger than they were led to believe. They form the Association Femenia Para el Desarollo Rural, AFEDER, or the Women’s Association for Rural Development. The Sacala women have large ideas, their plan is to construct schools, clinics, create jobs, and educate the younger generation. They look for ways to become self-sufficient. In 2004, through donations and with the help of volunteers, a well is built in the village. The women no longer have to travel two hours down the mountain for water. They begin growing medicinal herbs to sell at the market. The way to self-sufficiency begins to emerge.

Women in India: Our Journey


By: Thinking Beyond Borders
Other authors: Mariann Brady, Genevieve Moss-Hawkins
Submitted: 03/18/2010

TBB 2009-10 students Marianna Brady and Genevieve Moss-Hawkins created this video recently to explore the experiences of women in rural India. Among other things, they found that their own assumptions about personal freedom and community culture may not apply to everyone.

Private Places


By: Alyson Aliano
Other authors: Alyson Aliano
Submitted: 03/26/2010

Project Competition
The influences of my most recent project, working title, “Adult Entertainers, “ are as varied as the women I have been photographing.
A Native New Yorker, I am struck by everything that LA is and is not. It is bright and sunny; people are aware, and often surprisingly unaware, of how the industry of Hollywood plays into all of our lives.
We come here for specific reasons often motivated by our careers. Here, however, it is peppered with the desire to be famous, however that may happen.
Call it flashy, glamorous, showy, or trashy, these women are not afraid to be themselves.
Confidence mixed with naiveté, many of the younger women, ages 19-21, are motivated by the need to make money and independence from their families. For them, it is what it is and they are along for the ride.

Picturing power & potential


By: Kellyann
Other authors: Kellyann Gilson Lyman | kellyannart.com
Submitted: 03/31/2010

Hello International Museum of Women,

I do enjoy your exhibition requests & feel them worthy of reply.
Your economica exhibition profiled, my piece, in the white spaces | icons, The President's Stimulus. It exemplified one's hope in the future.

This exhibition submission for Picturing Power & Potential had me pull from my photographic archive to respond with my world of power & potential. I live in the San Francisco Bay & photograph awe inspiring bridges & design with their structural design thinking behind them & my work as an artist & mother.

Children are the potential & the architecture around the bay & beyond is picturing power. Enjoy the visual feast. I inspire the youth by showing them the nature & design in my bay town. The world is vast & children exposed early onto beauty in nature & architecture will see the world in a grand way. Perhaps, even inspire goodness through their work someday. My work is reflects humanity in a positive way.

Kind regards, Kellyann

Jeju Grannies of the Sea


By: Brenda Paik Sunoo
Other authors: Brenda Paik Sunoo
Submitted: 04/07/2010

For centuries, the Korean women divers of Jeju Island have faced the tempestuous tides of history and struggle for economic survival. Their intimate relationship to the land and sea, their shaman beliefs, and communal village life have protected them throughout their entire lives. In return, many have established a continuous life of purpose and resiliency well into their 90s. They illuminate a steady, fearless course—most of all, an enduring legacy.

Women in Oaxaca, Mexico, 2006-2007


By: francisco
Submitted: 04/07/2010

While I was a Fulbright Research Scholar (2005-2007) in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, I witnessed a popular uprising where the local women had a mayor role in trying to bring peaceful change in a repressive society.

I lived three blocks from the main square of the city where hundreds of striking teachers had established an encampment of peaceful protest and were demanding pay parity with the rest of Mexico, better schools, textbooks, shoes and meals for their students. As an artist and New York City public school teacher, I was greatly affected by these events. One day in passing I commented to a teacher, “You are giving Oaxaca a lesson about peaceful protest.” She looked at me and responded, “We are giving the world a lesson.”

The Governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, consistently refused the teachers’ demands. The peaceful demonstration on the square continued for months. Early in the morning of Wednesday, June 14, 2006, the teachers were forcefully removed; tear gassed, and brutally attacked by the police. Their encampment destroyed, the teachers were forced to abandon their protest.

On the following day, the teachers returned to the square and the city became the scene of daily marches, demonstrations and protests that lasted more than a year. The teachers and their supporters demanded the resignation of the governor. Women marched, artists performed, street art and protest graffiti appeared everywhere and about a half a million people participated in one of several massive marches. Radio stations and the government television station were taken over by peaceful women protestors. For the first time in modern Mexican history the indigenous people of Oaxaca were able to voice their grievances on the radio and TV.

In one of the demonstrations, individuals later identified on national television as government officers, murdered the U.S. journalist Brad Will. President Vicente Fox sent the Federal Police in to finally end the Oaxaca uprising. As of January 2007, there were at least 21 documented deaths of teachers or their sympathizers, and hundreds of participants and leaders disappeared or jailed.

These photographs express the strength and the resilience of the women of Oaxaca who struggled for a better life.

Parisar Vikas: The Wastepicking Women of Mumbai


By: Gigie Cruz
Other authors: GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives)
Submitted: 04/10/2010

Based on a study conducted by Stree Mukti Sanghatana, about eighty five percent of wastepickers in urban Mumbai are composed of women while ninety percent are breadwinners of their respectively families. Often ignored, wastepickers provide the city a significant contribution by keeping the areas in cater clean as well retrieve valuable resources like paper, plastics and metals which would have end up in Mumbai’s large dumpsites.

Parisar Vikas was established by Stree Mukti Sanghatana in 1998 to organize and empower wastepicking women in Mumbai. Provided with training, this increased the bargaining power of this often marginalized sector of the society. Women were encouraged to participate in microsaving initiatives which made them more financially secure and confident in improving their situation.

The project didn’t only help address the garbage problem but also empowered financially-challenged and discriminated women in Mumbai to improve not just their lives but including their families.

Iran Revisited


By: Sanaz Mazinani
Other authors: Sanaz Mazinani
Submitted: 04/10/2010

With this project, I aim to discuss the impact of pictorial representation, a tool that is forever assembling our visual language, manifesting culture and identity. I explore the physical landscape and human faces of contemporary Iran through large-scale color photographs.

The history of Iran dates back to millennia, although it is best known by modern media’s depiction of the Islamic Revolution, its fundamentalist leaders, and current political strife. This illustration is only a partial picture of an incredibly diverse country, and represents a narrow understanding of the rich history and culture of Iran.

2009 marked the 30th year anniversary of the Revolution, and now with more than fifty percent of the country’s population under the age of twenty-five, a new generation is steadily pushing against set boundaries. Some are fighting against the clergy while working hard to hold on to their traditions, and others are fighting against the surge of western popular culture as they struggle to find their own identities, depicting the multitude of ideologies that overlap Iran’s contemporary landscape.

The women in the photographs are treated as individuals rather than archetypes: an elderly Matriarch in her home, a group of young girls on a school trip, a child panhandler on the street selling gum. While each image contains its own narrative qualities, juxtaposed, they create a complex portrait of Iran, its landscape, and the people who inhabit it.

In the context of Iran’s current political climate, juxtaposed against western media’s obsessive attraction to images of war and conflict, the absence of real portraits of Iranians who work hard daily to make their communities better places to live compels me to promote greater understanding of my country of origin.

It is important to me to show the complex relationships that lay beneath the surface of the image. In this work, I deliberately refuse to romanticize my culture, and try to strip away the prevailing imagery of The Other – the desert, the veiled woman. Here, the complexity of Iranian society refuses to be reduced to the question of hejab, but instead must be understood in terms of the competing forces of tradition and change. In exploring the multiplicity of political attitudes, I aim to reveal the reality of life in Iran with all its contradictions and ambiguities, exploring the trans-cultural attitudes and habits that exist as a result of the expanse of globalization.

Nil


By: dipti desai
Submitted: 04/10/2010

Nil

Figuring Out A Place


By: jenz
Other authors: Jenn Hernandez
Submitted: 04/10/2010

I tend to go against the grain a lot. Considering I was born to a woman who refused to buy Barbies because they didn't look like me, it's safe to say that I come from a lineage of strong women, and that my ideas about egalitarianism and equity are strong rooted.

In photography, it's common to look for the 'moment,' that exact place and time that is captured on film for all to see, the instance where a revelation, intimacy, or enlightment is acheived. I picked the below images that show strength in fields not always dominated by women. In "Direction," a female figure shows her counterpart the way - which way being up to the viewer. She is not only a reference, but also a guide. In "Sleepy Power," Rachel from Santa Cruz band Sleepy Sun commands a presence on stage at a national music conference. And in "Shift," we don't know the relationship between the two parties featured in the photograph, but we do know the electricity present and that she is in control.

In all, I see a transference not only in power, but also independence both personally, spiritually, and even sexually. For me, positive change can be elucidated in many arenas running the gamut to intimate to professional; people and women in particular are a multi-faceted type of being where one thing affects, conflicts, and compliments the other. My hope is to submit photos for consideration that both challenge and illustrate that.

Penny wise.


By: dipti desai
Submitted: 04/11/2010

In a country where 70% of people live in rural villages, 42% of them below what world bank calls poverty-line, most of them 'non-bankable' and and half of them women, the importance of micro-lending to women cannot be overstated. Rural micro-finance to women coverts the non-bankable people with zero creditworthiness or collateral assets into a bankable lot, while liberating them from the clutches of village money-lenders. In an Indian rural scenario, characterised by significant gender based discrimination against women, it also empowers women by helping them earn significantly for the family, earning them respect that they never had before. Multitudes of women who have found their voice can do a lot of good to the rural communities; together, they take up social issues such as birth-control, education, sustainable environment etc., acting as a powerful instrument of social change.
The following images are from my exploration of microfinance in Tanjavoor, and Ganjam, in the Indian states of Tamilnadu and Orissa respectively.

Voices of Women in the Workplace


By: Wiley, Women in US
Other authors: Ethan, Nick
Submitted: 05/27/2010

Our project is an attempt to give a face and a voice to a number of women with whom we interact on a daily basis, but whose stories we do not necessarily know. Every person has a voice, and it is our hope that these interviews can provide you, the listener, with a better of understanding of what makes these women unique, how their life experiences have helped to shape their worldviews, the choices that they have made, and their current position in society.
These interviews are the original opinions of those being interviewed. While we crafted the questions, we had no intention of evoking any specific response. The questions fall under the umbrella of the themes we explored over the duration of this course. It is our hope and belief that these answers stem from the lives and experiences of those women that we interviewed and are not influenced in any way by the interviewer.

PR consultant of Co GEORGIAN FELT


By: Nina Pirtskhalava
Other authors: We are very happy to share news and participate in all international activities focudes on women's issues. Felt designers from leading Georgian Feltmaking Co ,,Georgian Felt"
Submitted: 06/12/2010

Felting is one of the oldest activities in wool processing. It is spread among many peoples in the world. Felt is a product made out of sheep wool (by means of felting). It is noteworthy that when eceiving the raw material (wool) the animal does not suffer at all. Felt has a long historical tradition in Georgia. Fragments of felt, according to discoveries, are dated to second millennium BC. As for the written sources, in medieval centuries felt was exported from Georgia together with
cloth. The product of felted wool had many applications. Garment and accessories made of felt as products for everyday use as well as work of art are actual even today. Lately felt acquired new meaning again; the features that make it unique as ecologically clean product were enlivened in its new forms. The transformed society displayed much interest to old technologies and it became possible to more or less restore its technology and transform it into a concrete
creative activity of applied art. The felt products enjoy the possibility of going beyond the boundaries of art and becoming commercial output. The technology of making felt is traditional and it requires natural ingredients. For the society that is facing environmental catastrophe, in the age of imitations and surrogate it can fulfill protective and healing function. Each procedure of making felt items is performed manually. The artist is working individually and every specimen is exclusive compositionally as well as by color resolution. Sequence of work – a sketch is drawn; palette of wool is chosen and laid on the net (core part of wool holding the wool fibers when felted).

Guatemala: Women & Environment


By: Lee Lee
Submitted: 06/27/2010

Starting with stone lithographs of lush forest, these mixed media works on paper were truck-tracked with fresh tar, then torn into small squares. They serve as a foundation that speaks to the situation imposed on the Maya: pushed off their land and treated like slaves on plantation style agricultural production facilities owned by multinational corporations. They fill US demands for cheap commodities which comes at a severe cost to both people and the environment. The texture of tar is an echo of the continuing destructive influence of these corporations. Tar is made from oil which also makes up the petrochemicals used in the style of agriculture that is decimating the environment.

Somehow, Mayan culture is not decimated. They maintain an incredible dedication to tradition, working in harmony with the environment. Ancient customs are manifested through the colorful and intricate weavings which are worn with pride. These portraits are of Mayan women from the highlands market in Chichicastenango. Exploring a wide range of human emotion from being weary and hurt to looking forward with hope, the vignettes are intended to explore the breadth and range of emotional textures in this community.

Guatemala: Women & Environment


By: Lee Lee
Submitted: 06/27/2010

Starting with stone lithographs of lush forest, these mixed media works on paper were truck-tracked with fresh tar, then torn into small squares. They serve as a foundation that speaks to the situation imposed on the Maya: pushed off their land and treated like slaves on plantation style agricultural production facilities owned by multinational corporations. They fill US demands for cheap commodities which comes at a severe cost to both people and the environment. The texture of tar is an echo of the continuing destructive influence of these corporations. Tar is made from oil which also makes up the petrochemicals used in the style of agriculture that is decimating the environment.

Somehow, Mayan culture is not decimated. They maintain an incredible dedication to tradition, working in harmony with the environment. Ancient customs are manifested through the colorful and intricate weavings which are worn with pride. These portraits are of Mayan women from the highlands market in Chichicastenango. Exploring a wide range of human emotion from being weary and hurt to looking forward with hope, the vignettes are intended to explore the breadth and range of emotional textures in this community.

"El Prospecto Ideal"


By: Aleja
Submitted: 07/20/2010

“Ninguna madre dice que lo mejor en la vida es la independencia económica, todas siempre quieren que sus hijas encuentren el príncipe azul; que vivan el cuento encantado… Aunque el precio por ello, represente en muchas ocasiones la omisión y la opresión de su libertad”.
Ninguna mujer en este mundo globalizado podría negar dos valiosos y preciados recuerdos de su infancia: la muñeca Barbie y los cuentos de hadas, los cuales eran indispensables antes de dormir.
Ser una princesa en peligro, capturada por un temible dragón o hechizada por una poderosa bruja y, finalmente (siendo la mejor parte del cuento) rescatada por el hermoso y valiente príncipe, representó para muchas niñas, hoy mujeres adultas, un estereotipo a replicar; un sueño que cristalizar.
Sin embargo no sé puede culpar a los cuentos de hadas de la propia obstinación de las féminas por querer vivir en el cobijo masculino. En realidad existen más variables que intervienen en la conciencia de las mujeres y, es aquí, donde entra en acción un personaje fundamental en el desarrollo de cualquier ser humano: mamá.
Sí damiselas en peligro, no son tanto los cuentos leídos antes de dormir los responsables de la construcción de esa conciencia colectiva… Nuestra madre ha jugado un papel relevante en esta tragedia griega.
Sé que en esta parte, muchas de ustedes deben de estar pensando que:
a) Estoy blasfemando.
b) Todo esto es el invento de una loca o;
c) Es producto de un odio hacia la mujer que me dio la vida.

La verdad es que ninguna de las tres opciones es correcta… La cruda realidad es que un día simplemente lo descubrí y noté que ahí estaba en la mundana cotidianidad, tan simple como respirar, pero tan dañino como un amor obsesivo… Lo descubrí en la universidad, en las pláticas con las compañeras y amigas, en las que el motivo de estarse preparando profesionalmente era el de encontrar un mejor prospecto, un mejor nivel de vida, lógicamente sostenido por un hombre. Pocas veces encontré la respuesta de ser alguien en la vida y NUNCA encontré a una desquiciada mental que dijera que quería no sólo ser alguien, sino que además ambicionaba tener un puesto de importancia, un puesto predominado por el género masculino.

Pero ¿cuál era la razón para que en la mentalidad femenina siguiera predominando el rancio concepto de dependencia masculina? Es ahí donde entra el factor mamá.

No sé a ciencia cierta si esta participación es inocente o con un toque de culpabilidad, porque lo he escuchado hasta de madres profesionistas. Cuantas de nosotras no se ha topado con el discurso materno, tan viejo como el propio capitalismo, de que se debe de buscar un buen prospecto. ¡Un buen prospecto! Pero no en el sentido de valores, sentimientos o acciones sino en el rubro económico, por la simple y sencilla razón de mantener el status económico conocido o por subir en la escala social.

Es con estas y sencillas palabras que a las mujeres se nos limita en el deseo de superar, de ser independientes. ¿Por qué nuestras madres no nos dicen que en vez de buscar un buen prospecto, estudiemos más o que seamos ambiciosas, que soñemos en desempeñar puestos monopolizados el sexo masculino?

Tal vez sea el miedo a lo desconocido, miedo que ha ocasionado que el avance profesional femenino no sea tan prominente como se desea y, peor aún, que no exista en la praxis la tan anhelada igualdad de género.

Sin embargo la lucha no debe de acabar debe de reforzarse con nuevas generaciones de mujeres, ya que hoy más que nunca se vive una contrarrevolución, lucha que sé vive y se siente cuando los hombres no respetan las leyes establecidas, y sobre todo, cuando las mismas féminas se unen a ella, siendo las principales en negar aceptar la libertad ganada por generaciones atrás, la posibilidad a las generaciones actuales de decidir y de avanzar, las que critican el deseo de ser científicas, intelectuales, empresarias, políticas, gerentes o líderes y las atan al fatal destino de creer en el príncipe azul, aunque ello represente un destino marcado por la violación de sus derechos y el corte de las alas de la libertad.

No sé en qué momento las madres continuaron y continúan con ese discurso, pero si esta generación es capaz de descubrir la letalidad de éste, se habrá dado un gran paso para acabar con el círculo vicioso y crear generaciones de mujeres más seguras de sí mismas y decididas. Porque será sólo con la eliminación del mito del “prospecto ideal” que a las futuras niñas se les podrá leer sin culpabilidad cuentos de hadas, sin pesar en que se está transmitiendo un dogma de sometimiento y de limitación, porque las futuras madres también sabrán transmitir la existencia de la libertad y del derecho de lograr imposibles.

MIGRATION AND IDENTITY


By: Cecilia Paredes
Submitted: 07/26/2010

In summer of 1983, my family and I left Peru with an ache in the heart that never healed.
I renamed the departure: exile.
Starting from this experience, I have worked most of the time, using my body as a blank
canvas to be transformed into a new image that reveals only after careful observation, addressing issues of migration, belonging, “the other,” and adjustment.
The body is being used as an object of ritual. The "ground" I camouflage in, have relation with the places I have lived.
The fact of being almost invisible talks about the long process of adaptation.

Mujer, Economìa y Violencia


By: Vanessa Biasetti
Submitted: 08/02/2010

La mujer juega un rol más que importante en la economía de los países ya que desempeña múltiples roles en un hogar en donde se construyen los hombres y las mujeres del mañana y que de la modelación que reciban en el hogar dependerá el desempeño en el ámbito social, económico, político y espiritual que se resumirán en bien o mal hacia la sociedad a la que pertenezcan.

La mujer administra una pequeña pero gran y particular empresa que conocemos como Hogar, en él se requiere de finanzas, de administración, de cumplimiento de horarios, de actividades concretas, de educación, de respeto, de integración de equipo, de servicio, de nutricionista y cocinera, de enfermera, de consejera, psicóloga, de comunicadora y de un sinfín de profesiones.
Pero la más importante es la que exige equilibrio mental y físico para no enloquecer con tantos cargos en un solo puesto con tan escasa remuneración. Ese control de sí misma para lograr enrolar todas las actividades que competen a su género y su posición dentro de un hogar y que es considerado comúnmente como solo los deberes de la ama de casa sin sumar el de ser una profesional que labora fuera de ella.
El desequilibrio en las finanzas del hogar, sea este ocasionado por desempleo, por baja escolaridad o por el motivo que sea puede redundar en actitudes violentas entre la pareja, porque cuando las mujeres no tienen trabajo, se preocupan y buscan qué hacer, pero cuando los hombres están desempleados, tienden a la violencia.
Costa Rica reporta cada año cerca de 46.012 denuncias por violencia doméstica y en lo que va del año cuantifica un total de siete mujeres asesinadas a mano de sus parejas o compañeros.
A lo largo de un año, un estudio realizado en Costa Rica reveló las siguientes cifras de inversión en la atención de situaciones derivadas de actos de violencia en contra de las mujeres en cuatro sectores clave:

Servicios sociales/educación: $2.368.924.297
Administración de justicia: $ 871.908.583
Trabajo y empleo: $ 576.764.400
Salud: $ 408.357.042
Estos costos corresponden en un 87.5% al Estado, un 11.5% a la persona afectada y 0.9% a terceras personas.

Mi obra plástica intenta reflejar la violencia doméstica a través de los instrumentos habituales del hogar.

Vanessa Biasetti
Costa Rica.

Mujer, Economìa y Violencia


By: Vanessa Biasetti
Submitted: 08/02/2010

La mujer juega un rol más que importante en la economía de los países ya que desempeña múltiples roles en un hogar en donde se construyen los hombres y las mujeres del mañana y que de la modelación que reciban en el hogar dependerá el desempeño en el ámbito social, económico, político y espiritual que se resumirán en bien o mal hacia la sociedad a la que pertenezcan.

La mujer administra una pequeña pero gran y particular empresa que conocemos como Hogar, en él se requiere de finanzas, de administración, de cumplimiento de horarios, de actividades concretas, de educación, de respeto, de integración de equipo, de servicio, de nutricionista y cocinera, de enfermera, de consejera, psicóloga, de comunicadora y de un sinfín de profesiones.
Pero la más importante es la que exige equilibrio mental y físico para no enloquecer con tantos cargos en un solo puesto con tan escasa remuneración. Ese control de sí misma para lograr enrolar todas las actividades que competen a su género y su posición dentro de un hogar y que es considerado comúnmente como solo los deberes de la ama de casa sin sumar el de ser una profesional que labora fuera de ella.
El desequilibrio en las finanzas del hogar, sea este ocasionado por desempleo, por baja escolaridad o por el motivo que sea puede redundar en actitudes violentas entre la pareja, porque cuando las mujeres no tienen trabajo, se preocupan y buscan qué hacer, pero cuando los hombres están desempleados, tienden a la violencia.
Costa Rica reporta cada año cerca de 46.012 denuncias por violencia doméstica y en lo que va del año cuantifica un total de siete mujeres asesinadas a mano de sus parejas o compañeros.
A lo largo de un año, un estudio realizado en Costa Rica reveló las siguientes cifras de inversión en la atención de situaciones derivadas de actos de violencia en contra de las mujeres en cuatro sectores clave:

Servicios sociales/educación: $2.368.924.297
Administración de justicia: $ 871.908.583
Trabajo y empleo: $ 576.764.400
Salud: $ 408.357.042
Estos costos corresponden en un 87.5% al Estado, un 11.5% a la persona afectada y 0.9% a terceras personas.

Mi obra plástica intenta reflejar la violencia doméstica a través de los instrumentos habituales del hogar.

Vanessa Biasetti
Costa Rica.

Mujer, Economìa y Violencia


By: Vanessa Biasetti
Submitted: 08/02/2010

La mujer juega un rol más que importante en la economía de los países ya que desempeña múltiples roles en un hogar en donde se construyen los hombres y las mujeres del mañana y que de la modelación que reciban en el hogar dependerá el desempeño en el ámbito social, económico, político y espiritual que se resumirán en bien o mal hacia la sociedad a la que pertenezcan.

La mujer administra una pequeña pero gran y particular empresa que conocemos como Hogar, en él se requiere de finanzas, de administración, de cumplimiento de horarios, de actividades concretas, de educación, de respeto, de integración de equipo, de servicio, de nutricionista y cocinera, de enfermera, de consejera, psicóloga, de comunicadora y de un sinfín de profesiones.
Pero la más importante es la que exige equilibrio mental y físico para no enloquecer con tantos cargos en un solo puesto con tan escasa remuneración. Ese control de sí misma para lograr enrolar todas las actividades que competen a su género y su posición dentro de un hogar y que es considerado comúnmente como solo los deberes de la ama de casa sin sumar el de ser una profesional que labora fuera de ella.
El desequilibrio en las finanzas del hogar, sea este ocasionado por desempleo, por baja escolaridad o por el motivo que sea puede redundar en actitudes violentas entre la pareja, porque cuando las mujeres no tienen trabajo, se preocupan y buscan qué hacer, pero cuando los hombres están desempleados, tienden a la violencia.
Costa Rica reporta cada año cerca de 46.012 denuncias por violencia doméstica y en lo que va del año cuantifica un total de siete mujeres asesinadas a mano de sus parejas o compañeros.
A lo largo de un año, un estudio realizado en Costa Rica reveló las siguientes cifras de inversión en la atención de situaciones derivadas de actos de violencia en contra de las mujeres en cuatro sectores clave:

Servicios sociales/educación: $2.368.924.297
Administración de justicia: $ 871.908.583
Trabajo y empleo: $ 576.764.400
Salud: $ 408.357.042
Estos costos corresponden en un 87.5% al Estado, un 11.5% a la persona afectada y 0.9% a terceras personas.

Mi obra plástica intenta reflejar la violencia doméstica a través de los instrumentos habituales del hogar.

Vanessa Biasetti
Costa Rica.

Mujer, Economìa y Violencia


By: Vanessa Biasetti
Submitted: 08/02/2010

La mujer juega un rol más que importante en la economía de los países ya que desempeña múltiples roles en un hogar en donde se construyen los hombres y las mujeres del mañana y que de la modelación que reciban en el hogar dependerá el desempeño en el ámbito social, económico, político y espiritual que se resumirán en bien o mal hacia la sociedad a la que pertenezcan.

La mujer administra una pequeña pero gran y particular empresa que conocemos como Hogar, en él se requiere de finanzas, de administración, de cumplimiento de horarios, de actividades concretas, de educación, de respeto, de integración de equipo, de servicio, de nutricionista y cocinera, de enfermera, de consejera, psicóloga, de comunicadora y de un sinfín de profesiones.
Pero la más importante es la que exige equilibrio mental y físico para no enloquecer con tantos cargos en un solo puesto con tan escasa remuneración. Ese control de sí misma para lograr enrolar todas las actividades que competen a su género y su posición dentro de un hogar y que es considerado comúnmente como solo los deberes de la ama de casa sin sumar el de ser una profesional que labora fuera de ella.
El desequilibrio en las finanzas del hogar, sea este ocasionado por desempleo, por baja escolaridad o por el motivo que sea puede redundar en actitudes violentas entre la pareja, porque cuando las mujeres no tienen trabajo, se preocupan y buscan qué hacer, pero cuando los hombres están desempleados, tienden a la violencia.
Costa Rica reporta cada año cerca de 46.012 denuncias por violencia doméstica y en lo que va del año cuantifica un total de siete mujeres asesinadas a mano de sus parejas o compañeros.
A lo largo de un año, un estudio realizado en Costa Rica reveló las siguientes cifras de inversión en la atención de situaciones derivadas de actos de violencia en contra de las mujeres en cuatro sectores clave:

Servicios sociales/educación: $2.368.924.297
Administración de justicia: $ 871.908.583
Trabajo y empleo: $ 576.764.400
Salud: $ 408.357.042
Estos costos corresponden en un 87.5% al Estado, un 11.5% a la persona afectada y 0.9% a terceras personas.

Mi obra plástica intenta reflejar la violencia doméstica a través de los instrumentos habituales del hogar.

Vanessa Biasetti
Costa Rica.

Las joyas en tiempo de crisis: el diseño sustentable


By: irene jaievsky
Other authors: "Gabriela Horvat"
Submitted: 08/09/2010

Soy Gabriela Horvat, diseñadora de joyas en Buenos Aires.
Cuando creo una joya establezco una relación particular en donde los sucesos sociales y económicos que me rodean interactúan con mis sentimientos y emociones.
Las crisis recientes que hemos sufrido en nuestro país han dejado una huella en mis colecciones, entre ellas la serie "Cacerolas" creada a fines del 2001.
El choque de los metales, entre aros y anillos, me recuerdan los sonidos de los cacerolazos de la gente enfurecida, que reunidas en las calles o frente a los bancos golpeaban con furia sus cacerolas manifestando su impotencia al perder todos sus ahorros.
Sin embargo estos avatares económicos no impidieron mi desarrollo económico por lo que frente a mi propio negocio sigo creando y tambien enseñando a mujeres y hombres las técnicas que utilizamos dando lugar a que desarrollen piezas de belleza y carácter unicos.

SUPER HEROES & BOTH SIDES


By: Mtra. Silvana Gesualdo
Other authors: DULCE PINZON
Submitted: 08/14/2010

El trabajo de Dulce Pinzón refleja las secuelas de la imigración, sus efectos como la abuela que se queda al frente y cargo de los nietos. Las mujeres que se van siguiendo al marido o una mejor oportunidad de vida como es el caso de Maria Luisa y Minerva, que trabajan para enviarle a sus familias en México dinero. Gracias a la participación económica de estas mujeres fuera de sus pueblos, sus familias han podido construir una casa, ir a la escuela, tener comodidas.
Y es así como la astucia de Dulce Pinzon captan estas historias de la cotidianidad mexicana.

GUARDARROPA DE LA AMA DE CASA PERFECTA


By: Mtra. Silvana Gesualdo
Other authors: MARIA EZCURRA
Submitted: 08/14/2010

Las obras seleccionadas para esta exposición muestran la inquietud de María Ezcurra por visibilizar a la mujer, a la mujer que se dedica a la faena del hogar, al servicio del marido.Dónde su identidad depende de las circunstancias y acciones del hogar. Aquí presentamos tres de sus trabajos: "Guardaropa del ama de casa perfecta", "Mesera" y "Mitología doméstica".

GUARDARROPA DE LA AMA DE CASA PERFECTA


By: Mtra. Silvana Gesualdo
Other authors: MARIA EZCURRA
Submitted: 08/14/2010

Las obras seleccionadas para esta exposición muestran la inquietud de María Ezcurra por visibilizar a la mujer, a la mujer que se dedica a la faena del hogar, al servicio del marido.Dónde su identidad depende de las circunstancias y acciones del hogar. Aquí presentamos tres de sus trabajos: "Guardaropa del ama de casa perfecta", "Mesera" y "Mitología doméstica".

Ocean View


By: Ana Isabel Marten
Other authors: Ana Isabel Martén
Submitted: 08/15/2010

OCEAN VIEW.Term used in Real Estate to describe properties in front of the ocean only accesible to the financially endowed.
In Costa Rica before the notion of "Ocean View Properties",our beaches both Atlantic and Pacific coasts were inhabited by the locals for various generations along with their micro but sustainable economic structure. When the influx of foreign real estate flooded our country these locals were ilegally dispossessed from their land, and in many cases this also implied the exploitation of natural resources, flora and fauna. This situation is still prevalent today, this video reflects the sounds and images of human survival and the
struggle to obtain fertile land for basic food production.

Juego con Petróleo


By: Ana Isabel Marten
Other authors: Ana Isabel Martén
Submitted: 08/16/2010

Contaminación sin fronteras y sin control.
La representación del Planeta Tierra como el Cuerpo de una Mujer ha sido una de las imágenes mitológicas más antiguas de la historia y compartida por todas las culturas del mundo.
En este escenario la "mujer" está inmersa en un medio tóxico, sus movimientos manifestan lucha.
La exposición de la contaminación y derrames de petróleo en lagos, ríos y océanos, también en aguas subterráneas afectando poblaciones y sistemas biológicas y vidas humanas...hasta contaminar el aire que respiramos. La salud y el desarrollo en un medio ambiente sano y balanceado debe ser un derecho fundamental de todo ser vivo.

Rigoberta Menchú en el Foro Social de las Américas


By: La Ciudad de las Diosas
Other authors: Daniela Andrade Zubia
Submitted: 08/16/2010

La premio nobel de la paz de Guatemala (1992), Rigoberta Menchú en la ponencia del “Buen Vivir y Derechos de la Madre Tierra: Avances y propuestas hacia el mundo” en que llamó a cuidar a nuestro seguro útero de la vida “Nuestra Tierra” y en sus palabras a “Globalicemos la lucha, Globalicemos la esperanza”.

Voces de Diosas en el IV Foro Social de las Américas, Paraguay 2010.


By: La Ciudad de las Diosas
Other authors: Daniela Andrade Zubia
Submitted: 08/16/2010

A mediados de la presente semana, con una gran marcha de la esperanza y la solidaridad se abren las principales calles de la ciudad de Asunción, para dar la bienvenida IV Foro Social de las Américas, espacio que se caracteriza por la diversa participación de la sociedad civil y las organizaciones sociales, para gestar y desarrollar un de profundo debate y reflexión sobre los ejes que en esta ocasión se vinculan en el contexto de los países de América con: (i) Los alcances y desafíos de los procesos de cambio en el hemisferio: post-neoliberalismo, integración, socialismos, Buen Vivir / Vivir Bien y cambios civilizatorios; (ii) Las estrategias de militarización y dominación imperial, y alternativas de resistencia de los pueblos; (iii) La defensa y transformación de las condiciones y modos de vida frente al capitalismo depredador. (iv) Las disputas hegemónicas: comunicación, culturas, conocimientos, educación. (vi) Los Pueblos y nacionalidades indígenas originarios y afrodescendientes: el reto de la plurinacionalidad y; (vi) La memoria y justicia histórica.


En que cabe decir, que para este proceso fueron trabajados transversalmente junto con la perspectiva de la igualdad de Género y las Diversidades. Y ahondando, en este marco y sus protagonistas, es que, las Voces de Diosas dieron seguimiento a las actividades realizadas en relación al movimiento de Mujeres y Feminista de las Américas, a través de la Carpa Feminista y LGTBI, la Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres y la Red Latinoamericana de Mujeres Transformando la Economía (Remte) en el transcurso de la semana.

En una primera instancia, recorriendo la marcha conversamos con María Liz Román, quien es una de las anfitrionas de la carpa Feminista y LGTBI, e igualmente, parte del “Colectivo de Mujeres 25 de Noviembre” Paraguay.

Con posterioridad, encontramos a Mafalda Galdámez de la Asociación Nacional de Mujeres Indígenas de Chile (Anamuri) y de la Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres, para preguntarle sobre la significancia de la realización del Foro.

Consecutivamente, tuvimos la oportunidad de entrevistar a la presidenta de Anamuri que en la presentación relacionó la actual situación de las mujeres temporeras en Chile.

Y nos encontramos con María Ester de Remte y le preguntamos sobre el quehacer de la organización a nivel regional.

Voces de Diosas en el Foro Social de las Américas. Asunción, 2010


By: La Ciudad de las Diosas
Other authors: Daniela Andrade Zubia
Submitted: 08/16/2010

En el contexto del Foro Social de las Américas realizado este mes de Agosto en Asunción, las Voces de Diosas entrevistaron a las representante de las organizaciones de mujeres y feminista.

Economica -


By: Mtra. Silvana Gesualdo
Other authors: María Ezcurra, Dulce Pinzón
Submitted: 08/17/2010

these are the pictures missing...

DULCE PINZON´S STATEMENT FOR SUPER HEROES

After September 11, the notion of the “hero” began to rear its head in the public consciousness more and more frequently. The notion served a necessity in a time of national and global crisis to acknowledge those who showed extraordinary courage or determination in the face of danger, sometimes even sacrificing their lives in an attempt to save others. However, in the whirlwind of journalism surrounding these deservedly front-page disasters and emergencies, it is easy to take for granted the heroes who sacrifice immeasurable life and labor in their day to day lives for the good of others, but do so in a somewhat less spectacular setting.

The Mexican immigrant worker in New York is a perfect example of the hero who has gone unnoticed. It is common for a Mexican worker in New York to work extraordinary hours in extreme conditions for very low wages which are saved at great cost and sacrifice and sent to families and communities in Mexico who rely on them to survive.

The Mexican economy has quietly become dependent on the money sent from workers in the US. Conversely, the US economy has quietly become dependent on the labor of Mexican immigrants. Along with the depth of their sacrifice, it is the quietness of this dependence which makes Mexican immigrant workers a subject of interest.

The principal objective of this series is to pay homage to these brave and determined men and women that somehow manage, without the help of any supernatural power, to withstand extreme conditions of labor in order to help their families and communities survive and prosper.

This project consists of 20 color photographs of Mexican and Latino immigrants dressed in the costumes of popular American and Mexican superheroes. Each photo pictures the worker/superhero in their work environment, and is accompanied by a short text including the worker’s name, their hometown, the number of years they have been working in New York, and the amount of money they send to their families each week.

SUPER HEROES & BOTH SIDES


By: Mtra. Silvana Gesualdo
Other authors: DULCE PINZON
Submitted: 08/17/2010

After September 11, the notion of the “hero” began to rear its head in the public consciousness more and more frequently. The notion served a necessity in a time of national and global crisis to acknowledge those who showed extraordinary courage or determination in the face of danger, sometimes even sacrificing their lives in an attempt to save others. However, in the whirlwind of journalism surrounding these deservedly front-page disasters and emergencies, it is easy to take for granted the heroes who sacrifice immeasurable life and labor in their day to day lives for the good of others, but do so in a somewhat less spectacular setting.

The Mexican immigrant worker in New York is a perfect example of the hero who has gone unnoticed. It is common for a Mexican worker in New York to work extraordinary hours in extreme conditions for very low wages which are saved at great cost and sacrifice and sent to families and communities in Mexico who rely on them to survive.

The Mexican economy has quietly become dependent on the money sent from workers in the US. Conversely, the US economy has quietly become dependent on the labor of Mexican immigrants. Along with the depth of their sacrifice, it is the quietness of this dependence which makes Mexican immigrant workers a subject of interest.

The principal objective of this series is to pay homage to these brave and determined men and women that somehow manage, without the help of any supernatural power, to withstand extreme conditions of labor in order to help their families and communities survive and prosper.

This project consists of 20 color photographs of Mexican and Latino immigrants dressed in the costumes of popular American and Mexican superheroes. Each photo pictures the worker/superhero in their work environment, and is accompanied by a short text including the worker’s name, their hometown, the number of years they have been working in New York, and the amount of money they send to their families each week.

PUBLIC NOTARY


By: Mtra. Silvana Gesualdo
Other authors: GABRIELA LEON
Submitted: 11/22/2010

Notaría Pública s/n°. Titular C. Lic. Gabriela León
En el mundo realmente invertido, lo verdadero es un momento de lo falso. Guy Debord.
Considerando que la libertad, la justicia y la paz en el mundo tienen por base el reconocimiento de la dignidad y de los derechos iguales e inalienables de todos los miembros de la familia humana, la Notaría Pública s/n° es un proyecto móvil que se inserta en distintas situaciones para recordarnos, a través de acciones sencillas e irónicas, los Artículos de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos.
Actividad recientes de la Notaría Pública s/n°
- El 27 de septiembre 2009 en Oaxaca de Juárez dentro del marco de la Marcha por la Vida de las Mujeres la C. Titular Gabriela León y la Srita. Taquimecanógrafa Isabel Rojas repartieron Actas de Titularidad del Cuerpo a más de cien solicitantes, con base en los Artículos 1, 2, 3, 4, 17 de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos.
- El 28 de noviembre de 2009 dentro del marco del Festival Cultural en Defensa del Río Verde en San Antonio Río Verde, Tututepec, fueron entregadas 157 Actas Tonalli, también llamadas Contrato de Titularidad de Tono, para adquirir un compromiso de respeto y protección se su Tono, Tona o Tonalli (como se le conoce a la entidad gemela con quien se comparte el destino
- La Notaría Pública s/n° continuará con la expedición de Actas dentro de situaciones donde la presencia de un Documento, sin valor legal que recuerda un Derecho Humano fundamental, se convierta en una ironía.
Se planea entregar Actas basadas en diversos Artículos de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos.

Movimiento de Mujeres y Feminista en el Foro Social de las América, Paraguay 2010


By: La Ciudad de las Diosas
Other authors: Daniela Andrade Zubia
Submitted: 11/26/2010

Con una gran marcha de la esperanza y la solidaridad se abren las principales calles de la ciudad de Asunción, para dar la bienvenida IV Foro Social de las Américas, espacio que se caracteriza por la diversa participación de la sociedad civil y las organizaciones sociales, para gestar y desarrollar un de profundo debate y reflexión sobre los ejes que en esta ocasión se vinculan en el contexto de los países de América con: (i) Los alcances y desafíos de los procesos de cambio en el hemisferio: post-neoliberalismo, integración, socialismos, Buen Vivir / Vivir Bien y cambios civilizatorios; (ii) Las estrategias de militarización y dominación imperial, y alternativas de resistencia de los pueblos; (iii) La defensa y transformación de las condiciones y modos de vida frente al capitalismo depredador. (iv) Las disputas hegemónicas: comunicación, culturas, conocimientos, educación. (vi) Los Pueblos y nacionalidades indígenas originarios y afrodescendientes: el reto de la plurinacionalidad y; (vi) La memoria y justicia histórica.



En que cabe decir, que para este proceso fueron trabajados transversalmente junto con la perspectiva de la igualdad de Género y las Diversidades. Y ahondando, en este marco y sus protagonistas, es que, las Voces de Diosas dieron seguimiento a las actividades realizadas en relación al movimiento de Mujeres y Feminista de las Américas, a través de la Carpa Feminista y LGTBI, la Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres y la Red Latinoamericana de Mujeres Transformando la Economía (Remte) en el transcurso de la semana.

En una primera instancia, recorriendo la marcha conversamos con María Liz Román, quien es una de las anfitrionas de la carpa Feminista y LGTBI, e igualmente, parte del “Colectivo de Mujeres 25 de Noviembre” Paraguay.

Con posterioridad, encontramos a Mafalda Galdámez de la Asociación Nacional de Mujeres Indígenas de Chile (Anamuri) y de la Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres, para preguntarle sobre la significancia de la realización del Foro.

Durante el segundo día comenzaron las ponencias donde tuvimos la oportunidad de asistir a la Mesa de diálogo en el contexto del eje cuarto enunciado y su análisis en “La subalternidad y la colonización a través del cuerpo de las mujeres” con la organización del Observatorio Feminista las Virginias y el Centro de Servicios de Estudios Rurales (CSER).

Seguidamente, nos trasladamos a la invitación del conversatorio dentro del eje tres del FSA vinculado con “Feminismo y CEDAW: Incidencia en clave Global” que estuvo directamente relacionado con la Campaña de la reconocida politóloga, feminista y luchadora por los derechos humanos “Line Bareiro” de Paraguay y su equipo de trabajo, para conseguir el cargo de experta el Comité de la CEDAW en junio de este año.

El tercer día de Foro, las actividades continuaron intensas desde muy temprano en la Carpa Feminista y LGTBI, y en el marco del eje uno, concurrimos a la “Presentación Red de mujeres ciudadanas en la cooperación para el desarrollo y la igualdad de género” desde la Red de Mujeres Ciudadanas y el Colectivo Mujeres 25 de Noviembre.
Consecutivamente, tuvimos la oportunidad de entrevistar a la presidenta de Anamuri que en la presentación relacionó la actual situación de las mujeres temporeras en Chile.

Luego, durante la misma tarde fue posible concurrir a la exposición organizada por la Remte acerca de “Economía para la vida: Las mujeres en la construcción del Buen vivir” que contó con la participación de Magdalena León, del Consejo Hemisférico del FSA – Ecuador, Juana Mulul de Guatemala y Graciela López de Bolivia, con una mirada a partir desde la crisis del capitalismo y la capacidad de las mujeres para transformar la economía, la política y la cultura con la articulación de nuestras experiencias y el cotidiano vivir.

También, nos encontramos con María Ester de Remte y le preguntamos sobre el quehacer de la organización a nivel regional.

Y por último, al cierre de este día quisiéramos destacar la intervención de la premio nobel de la paz de Guatemala (1992), Rigoberta Menchú en la ponencia del “Buen Vivir y Derechos de la Madre Tierra: Avances y propuestas hacia el mundo” en que llamó a cuidar a nuestro seguro útero de la vida “Nuestra Tierra” y en sus palabras a “Globalicemos la lucha, Globalicemos la esperanza”.

Por Daniela Andrade Zubia

Coordinadora de La Ciudad de las Diosas

Voces de Diosas “Haciendo historia en Femenino

Movimiento de Mujeres y Feminista en el Foro Social de las América, Paraguay 2010


By: La Ciudad de las Diosas
Other authors: Daniela Andrade Zubia
Submitted: 11/26/2010

Con una gran marcha de la esperanza y la solidaridad se abren las principales calles de la ciudad de Asunción, para dar la bienvenida IV Foro Social de las Américas, espacio que se caracteriza por la diversa participación de la sociedad civil y las organizaciones sociales, para gestar y desarrollar un de profundo debate y reflexión sobre los ejes que en esta ocasión se vinculan en el contexto de los países de América con: (i) Los alcances y desafíos de los procesos de cambio en el hemisferio: post-neoliberalismo, integración, socialismos, Buen Vivir / Vivir Bien y cambios civilizatorios; (ii) Las estrategias de militarización y dominación imperial, y alternativas de resistencia de los pueblos; (iii) La defensa y transformación de las condiciones y modos de vida frente al capitalismo depredador. (iv) Las disputas hegemónicas: comunicación, culturas, conocimientos, educación. (vi) Los Pueblos y nacionalidades indígenas originarios y afrodescendientes: el reto de la plurinacionalidad y; (vi) La memoria y justicia histórica.



En que cabe decir, que para este proceso fueron trabajados transversalmente junto con la perspectiva de la igualdad de Género y las Diversidades. Y ahondando, en este marco y sus protagonistas, es que, las Voces de Diosas dieron seguimiento a las actividades realizadas en relación al movimiento de Mujeres y Feminista de las Américas, a través de la Carpa Feminista y LGTBI, la Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres y la Red Latinoamericana de Mujeres Transformando la Economía (Remte) en el transcurso de la semana.

En una primera instancia, recorriendo la marcha conversamos con María Liz Román, quien es una de las anfitrionas de la carpa Feminista y LGTBI, e igualmente, parte del “Colectivo de Mujeres 25 de Noviembre” Paraguay.

Con posterioridad, encontramos a Mafalda Galdámez de la Asociación Nacional de Mujeres Indígenas de Chile (Anamuri) y de la Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres, para preguntarle sobre la significancia de la realización del Foro.

Durante el segundo día comenzaron las ponencias donde tuvimos la oportunidad de asistir a la Mesa de diálogo en el contexto del eje cuarto enunciado y su análisis en “La subalternidad y la colonización a través del cuerpo de las mujeres” con la organización del Observatorio Feminista las Virginias y el Centro de Servicios de Estudios Rurales (CSER).

Seguidamente, nos trasladamos a la invitación del conversatorio dentro del eje tres del FSA vinculado con “Feminismo y CEDAW: Incidencia en clave Global” que estuvo directamente relacionado con la Campaña de la reconocida politóloga, feminista y luchadora por los derechos humanos “Line Bareiro” de Paraguay y su equipo de trabajo, para conseguir el cargo de experta el Comité de la CEDAW en junio de este año.

El tercer día de Foro, las actividades continuaron intensas desde muy temprano en la Carpa Feminista y LGTBI, y en el marco del eje uno, concurrimos a la “Presentación Red de mujeres ciudadanas en la cooperación para el desarrollo y la igualdad de género” desde la Red de Mujeres Ciudadanas y el Colectivo Mujeres 25 de Noviembre.
Consecutivamente, tuvimos la oportunidad de entrevistar a la presidenta de Anamuri que en la presentación relacionó la actual situación de las mujeres temporeras en Chile.

Luego, durante la misma tarde fue posible concurrir a la exposición organizada por la Remte acerca de “Economía para la vida: Las mujeres en la construcción del Buen vivir” que contó con la participación de Magdalena León, del Consejo Hemisférico del FSA – Ecuador, Juana Mulul de Guatemala y Graciela López de Bolivia, con una mirada a partir desde la crisis del capitalismo y la capacidad de las mujeres para transformar la economía, la política y la cultura con la articulación de nuestras experiencias y el cotidiano vivir.

También, nos encontramos con María Ester de Remte y le preguntamos sobre el quehacer de la organización a nivel regional.

Y por último, al cierre de este día quisiéramos destacar la intervención de la premio nobel de la paz de Guatemala (1992), Rigoberta Menchú en la ponencia del “Buen Vivir y Derechos de la Madre Tierra: Avances y propuestas hacia el mundo” en que llamó a cuidar a nuestro seguro útero de la vida “Nuestra Tierra” y en sus palabras a “Globalicemos la lucha, Globalicemos la esperanza”.

Por Daniela Andrade Zubia

Coordinadora de La Ciudad de las Diosas

Voces de Diosas “Haciendo historia en Femenino

Los Movimientos de Mujeres y Feminista en el Foro Social de las América, Paraguay 2010


By: La Ciudad de las Diosas
Other authors: Daniela Andrade Zubia
Submitted: 11/26/2010

Con una gran marcha de la esperanza y la solidaridad se abren las principales calles de la ciudad de Asunción, para dar la bienvenida IV Foro Social de las Américas, espacio que se caracteriza por la diversa participación de la sociedad civil y las organizaciones sociales, para gestar y desarrollar un de profundo debate y reflexión sobre los ejes que en esta ocasión se vinculan en el contexto de los países de América con: (i) Los alcances y desafíos de los procesos de cambio en el hemisferio: post-neoliberalismo, integración, socialismos, Buen Vivir / Vivir Bien y cambios civilizatorios; (ii) Las estrategias de militarización y dominación imperial, y alternativas de resistencia de los pueblos; (iii) La defensa y transformación de las condiciones y modos de vida frente al capitalismo depredador. (iv) Las disputas hegemónicas: comunicación, culturas, conocimientos, educación. (vi) Los Pueblos y nacionalidades indígenas originarios y afrodescendientes: el reto de la plurinacionalidad y; (vi) La memoria y justicia histórica.



En que cabe decir, que para este proceso fueron trabajados transversalmente junto con la perspectiva de la igualdad de Género y las Diversidades. Y ahondando, en este marco y sus protagonistas, es que, las Voces de Diosas dieron seguimiento a las actividades realizadas en relación al movimiento de Mujeres y Feminista de las Américas, a través de la Carpa Feminista y LGTBI, la Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres y la Red Latinoamericana de Mujeres Transformando la Economía (Remte) en el transcurso de la semana.

En una primera instancia, recorriendo la marcha conversamos con María Liz Román, quien es una de las anfitrionas de la carpa Feminista y LGTBI, e igualmente, parte del “Colectivo de Mujeres 25 de Noviembre” Paraguay.

Con posterioridad, encontramos a Mafalda Galdámez de la Asociación Nacional de Mujeres Indígenas de Chile (Anamuri) y de la Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres, para preguntarle sobre la significancia de la realización del Foro.

Durante el segundo día comenzaron las ponencias donde tuvimos la oportunidad de asistir a la Mesa de diálogo en el contexto del eje cuarto enunciado y su análisis en “La subalternidad y la colonización a través del cuerpo de las mujeres” con la organización del Observatorio Feminista las Virginias y el Centro de Servicios de Estudios Rurales (CSER).

Seguidamente, nos trasladamos a la invitación del conversatorio dentro del eje tres del FSA vinculado con “Feminismo y CEDAW: Incidencia en clave Global” que estuvo directamente relacionado con la Campaña de la reconocida politóloga, feminista y luchadora por los derechos humanos “Line Bareiro” de Paraguay y su equipo de trabajo, para conseguir el cargo de experta el Comité de la CEDAW en junio de este año.

El tercer día de Foro, las actividades continuaron intensas desde muy temprano en la Carpa Feminista y LGTBI, y en el marco del eje uno, concurrimos a la “Presentación Red de mujeres ciudadanas en la cooperación para el desarrollo y la igualdad de género” desde la Red de Mujeres Ciudadanas y el Colectivo Mujeres 25 de Noviembre.
Consecutivamente, tuvimos la oportunidad de entrevistar a la presidenta de Anamuri que en la presentación relacionó la actual situación de las mujeres temporeras en Chile.

Luego, durante la misma tarde fue posible concurrir a la exposición organizada por la Remte acerca de “Economía para la vida: Las mujeres en la construcción del Buen vivir” que contó con la participación de Magdalena León, del Consejo Hemisférico del FSA – Ecuador, Juana Mulul de Guatemala y Graciela López de Bolivia, con una mirada a partir desde la crisis del capitalismo y la capacidad de las mujeres para transformar la economía, la política y la cultura con la articulación de nuestras experiencias y el cotidiano vivir.

También, nos encontramos con María Ester de Remte y le preguntamos sobre el quehacer de la organización a nivel regional.

Y por último, al cierre de este día quisiéramos destacar la intervención de la premio nobel de la paz de Guatemala (1992), Rigoberta Menchú en la ponencia del “Buen Vivir y Derechos de la Madre Tierra: Avances y propuestas hacia el mundo” en que llamó a cuidar a nuestro seguro útero de la vida “Nuestra Tierra” y en sus palabras a “Globalicemos la lucha, Globalicemos la esperanza”.

Por Daniela Andrade Zubia

Coordinadora de La Ciudad de las Diosas

Voces de Diosas “Haciendo historia en Femenino

Devotion


By: hannah kozak
Submitted: 01/18/2011

The Western Wall (in Hebrew – HaKotel HaMa’aravi) The only fragment of the Great Temple to survive the Roman destruction. The center of Jewish yearning and memory for more than two thousand years as well as a universal center of spirituality.

Doves flying between cracks in the wall, sounds of prayer, davening, heads leaning, cries, pleas, singing, tiny birds, prayers, runny noses, children crying and silent as their mothers hold them, flapping of birds wings, torn scraps of paper tucked wherever there is a spot, closed eyes, prayer books .“We don’t laugh at G-d” a woman explains when I ask why they walk backwards without their backs to the wall.

What do we have like devotion in the West? The word love is tossed around loosely. What we call love isn't even love. Someone will say I love coffee with half and half, I love potato chips, I love you (that is until you leave me). That is not love. It is purely attachment. But devotion is constant. It doesn’t change with the seasons of time.

As I leaned towards the wall I began a silent prayer. I felt the prayers of all those who have come before me and I felt my own tears begin to fall. It felt as if someone was listening. I felt the energy of my inner connection with G-d. The Wall embodies holiness of space. Yogi Bhajan; master of Kundalini Yoga and my spiritual teacher said the only constant is G-d and guru. These people in prayer, they have found devotion in the divine.

My reasons for doing this project was to connect with the palpable touch of the divine at the wall. I hope to accomplish and convey that G-d is within reach for all of us; that all we have to do is reach out and believe.

Sacred Space: (Re)Constructing the Place of Gender in the Space of Religion


By: Maryam
Submitted: 02/20/2011

A Photographic Installation by Maryam Eskandari, SMArchS (Islamic Architecture)
Opening reception: February 17, 2011, 5:30-7:30pm
On view: February 1-March 21, 2011

With 6 million observant Muslims residing in the United States, there is an ever-present demand for construction of mosques in U.S. cities. The architectural design of community mosques in the U.S. emerges as a particularly understudied problem in the aforementioned encounter between Middle Eastern architecture and American religious practice. Numerous case studies and investigations of a diverse set of mosques were conducted and studied, indicating an overwhelming majority of diverse Muslim communities across the U.S., articulating the ideal space between a “Modern Mosque” versus a “Traditional Mosque.”

All images are now part of the the Aga Khan Visual Archive.

Sponsored by: The Aga Khan Program in Islamic Architecture, Harvard and MIT Libraries, School of Architecture + Planning.

La polygamie dans unes ociété


By: Dr. Betty Baba
Other authors: Betty Baba
Submitted: 02/21/2011

Le Africain chrétien est à priori considéré comme monogame. La réalité est qu’il partage certaines valeurs avec ces frères musulmans, notamment les rites ancestraux animistes pendant les cérémonies traditionnelles. Il partage aussi des caractéristiques sociaux et culturelles purement africaines qui n’ont rien à voir avec la religion chrétienne. Le processus de liaisons polygamiques est en effet très complexe. Nous avons souvent confronté avec une société où la dichotomie musulmane polygame et chrétien monogame n’a pas beaucoup de sens même si la religion chrétienne interdit la polygamie. En Afrique, la tradition, la culture et la société dans l’ensemble (avec ses codes et usages) règlent son fonctionnement.

La polygamie est encore très répondu en Afrique occidentale, particulièrement dans les pays francophones (tel que la cote d’ivoire, le Sénégal le mali, etc.) par rapport aux anciennes colonies britanniques.

En ce qu’il concerne la cadence du mariage polygame par rapport au mariage monogame le Bénin et le Cameroun restent contant. Citons l’exemple du Ghana (pays anglophone) où on constante une diminution forte de la polygamie ; un cas exceptionnel parmi les pays subsahariens.

Toutefois il n’est pas démontré qu’il y un rapport entre l’histoire coloniale de l’Afrique subsaharienne, L’évolution ou le taux de polygamie.

Par contre il est certain que là où il y a développement social et économique la polygamie est en baisse. Et par conséquent le nombre d’enfants par famille est moins important en dépit des problème économiques, les bouleversements sociaux et culturels liés à la mondialisation l’évolution de la polygamie ne semble pas affectée en Afrique de l’ouest en général.

Les motifs souvent évoqués en matière de polygamie sont la religion, (tout particulièrement l’islam), la tradition et l’agriculture. L’islam tolère la polygamie à condition que l’homme trait toutes les épouses de la même manière. Dans la tradition africaine celui qui a plusieurs femmes et enfants est respecté. Une autre explication fréquemment avancée par les anthropologues est la nécessité de constituer une manœuvre suffisante pour cultiver la terre, dans des familles polygames.




Il semble que les pays pauvres ou dits en voie de développement constituent un terrain particulièrement favorable à la pratique de la polygamie en dépit de l’influence du christianisme et du modernisme. En Afrique noire la polygamie est quasi généralisée en dépit des variations géographiques liées aux spécificités locales.

La question qu’on se pose aujourd’hui dans notre société moderne est les suivants :

Les mutations économiques, socio-économiques et démographiques, ont-elles des conséquences significatives et durables sur le devenir de la polygamie en Afrique noire ? Quels seraient les variables qui déterminent l’évolution de la polygamie en temps et espace ? Quelles sont les conséquences sur le devenir de la femme africaine ?

Le modernisme crée des nouveaux besoins et des charges jadis inconnues. Le citadin polygame a de plus en plus du mal à assumer ses responsabilités. Il y a aussi l’effritement de la solidarité légendaire des Africaines à cause de la pauvreté.

Certaines femmes profitent de la conjoncture économique pour nouer des relations basées sur l’argent avec des hommes. Qu’il s’agisse de la prostitution stricto sensu, de la prostitution déguisée ou de l’amitié intéressée, beaucoup de femmes en tirent profit à cause de la pauvreté grandissante. Ce phénomène est hélas repérable dans beaucoup de pays en développement où la pauvreté sévit.

Les conséquences de la rigueur économique démontrent que lorsqu’une société est contrainte à subir des difficultés elle s’adapte un mode de vie qui lui permet d’atténuer les difficultés. C’est la seule raison qui expliquerait la baisse progressive de la polygame au Ghana.

La baisse de la polygamie ne signifiera pas forcement que la condition de la femme changera subitement. Non seulement elle doit remplir son rôle d’épouse en assumant toutes les taches qui lui reviennent par la coutume, elle doit aussi être mère et pourvoyeuse.

L’évolution en cours ne lui est guère favorable qu’elle soit en foyer polygame ou monogame. La polygame n’est que le sommet de l’iceberg car les difficultés de la condition féminine sont plus complexes. Ces difficultés semblent liés ses rôles sexués. Le modernisme en tant que nouvelle idéologie des sociétés en développement ne fait qu’aggraver la condition féminine puisque parce qu’elle n’a guère changée depuis des siècles.

Pour anticiper la condition de la femme en Afrique à long terme il serait souhaitable de promouvoir l’émancipation de la femme. L’éducation de la femme Africaine, son autonomie financière, et le développement économique du milieu en développement nous paraissent indispensables pour qu’elle puisse s’épanouisse totalement.

Elle a la capacité de s’épanouir parce qu’elle est déjà très activement engagée dans beaucoup de métiers. Elle est aussi responsable, et un soutient indispensable du mari lorsqu’elle travail. Il n’est pas étonnant que les ONG qui œuvrent dans les micros projets capitalisent sur les femmes en Afrique noire.

En réalité ce que les hommes ont du mal à accepter est la capacité de la femme à ne plus subir aveuglement l’autorité masculine. Les reproches des hommes interrogés envers les femmes d’aujourd’hui sont la preuve que les changements profonds sont en cours. Le citadin africain est en train de subir des transformations à cause du modernisme et la mondialisation.

Il lui manque certainement du recul historique qui lui permettrait de savoir avec suffisamment de précision comment il maîtrisera les mutations en cours et son devenir. La polygamie est certainement en train de subir les mutations encours. Le meilleur espoir pour la femme serait l’éducation. Se sont les couples instruits qui se respectent le plus et sont farouchement contre la polygamie.

Plus la femme africaine est instruite moins elle a tendance à se laisser aliéné et abusé. Son avenir serait aussi dans ses mains. Elle est à la fois femme enfant ou femme objet convoitée par l’homme. Elle joue parfois avec ses charmes et tir profit de son corps. « Elle ne deviendra sujet que lorsqu’elle fera jouer paradoxalement les ressorts qui la constituent en objet»

Fainzang Sylvie et Odile Journet, la femme de mon mari, anthropologie du mariage polygamique en Afrique et en France, Edition L’harmattan, Paris, 1989 p.161, 174p.




A long terme, l’éducation, le développement, le recadrage de la pratique de l’Islam et la prise en charge de la femme de son propre destin nous paraissent des voies intéressantes. Elles pourraient la permettre de s’épanouir et affirmer sa place dans une nouvelle société qui semble lui ouvrir des portes. Nous pensons qu’elle a tout a fait des chances de sortir de sa situation aliénante dans une société d’hommes par excellence.





En Afrique noire se sont les enfants qui subviennent aux besoins des parents âgés car la protection sociale n’existe pas. Avoir plusieurs enfants est une garantie de survie. Que les problèmes économiques et sociaux dans la société moderne constituent des facteurs déterminants en ce qui concerne le devenir de la polygamie en Afrique noire ou pas, seule l’avenir nous le dira.










Bibliographie


Elizabeth Ardayifo Schandorf, The changing family in Ghana, Ghana University press, 1996, 245p.

Goody J, Polygyny, economy and the role of women, London, Cambridge University press, 1973.

Boserup E, Women in the urban hierarchy, in Women’s role in economic development, St. Martin’s Press, New york, 1970, pp.139-156.

Klomegah R., Socio-economic characteristics of Ghanaian Women in polygynous marriages, Journal of comparative family Studies 28 (1): 73-88, 1997. Lasch C, Haven in a heartless world, Basic books, New York, 1977.

Jejeebhoy, S.I, Women’s Education, Autonomy, and Reproductive Behavoir : Experience from Developing Countries, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1995.

Clignet Remi, Many Wives, many powers: Authority and Power in polygymous families, Evanston, Illinois, North western University press, 1970.

Fainzang Sylvie et Journet Odile, La femme de mon mari, Anthropologie du mariage polygamique en Afrique et en France, Edition l’Harmattan, Paris, 1989, 174p.

Simon David Yana, Statut, rôles féminins au Cameroun, in Politique Africaine (Revue no. 65) l’Afrique des femmes, Edition Khartala Mars 1997.

CEPED (Centre français sur la population et le développement. Janvier. Mars 1998- No 28 La polygamie en Afrique, quoi de neuf ?.

Jacques Vallin, La polygamie est–elle une nécessité en Afrique ? (Article), Jeune Afrique (N°1986), 1998.

Philippe Antoine et Marc Pilon, La polygamie en Afrique, Quoi de neuf ? La chronique du CEPED, n° 28 Janvier /mars 1998.

Making Myself (Up)


By: Jessica Glennon-Zukoff
Submitted: 03/14/2011

I was inspired to create a photo series featuring products and objects used to get ready in the morning from ten different women in my life, including myself.

The products/objects were laid out on a flat surface by participants and photographed as an array of items that are part of our everyday rituals, representing choices and constraints both economic and aesthetic. These photos highlight the tools and practices by which we prepare/create ourselves to navigate our world(s).

This became a study in an aspect of identity-creation: as consumers, women, students, and workers.

As you view the series, I hope you're inspired to think of how those “little” choices, techniques, and habits perhaps represent some of the most significant elements of oneself.

I’m fascinated by the process of personal presentation and especially interested in examining details of our often second-nature routines through artistic projects. In this series, I came to see and appreciate an interweaving of economics, art, sociology, history, gender, and subculture.

(Featuring: Kate Nash's "Mouthwash" from her 2007 album Made of Bricks)

Stance of Women around the world.


By: Bayan El-Bashier
Submitted: 03/15/2011

People often tend to be mistaken in their assumptions about women in certain parts of the world. This powerpoint presentation will give the audience a clear image of the status of young women in 3 different countries-sudan, the UK, and Saudi Arabia, with special focus on young women in sudan and the opportunities/obstacles that they are presented with.

"Economic Impact of Female genital mutilation (FGM) in Sudan"


By: Ola Faisal Hassan
Submitted: 03/15/2011

In the middle Ages, Arabs named the area that is present-day Sudan "Bilad al-Sudan," or "land of the black people." The north is primarily Arab Muslims, whereas the south is largely black African, and not Muslim. There is strong animosity between the two groups and each has its own culture and traditions. While there is more than one group in the south, their common dislike for the northern Arabs has proved a uniting force among these groups.

Sudan has a population of 33.5 million. Fifty-two percent of the population is black and 39 percent are Arab. Six percent are Beja, 2 percent are foreign, and the remaining 1 percent is composed of other ethnicities. There are more than fifty different tribes. These include the Jamala and the Nubians in the north; the Beja in the Red Sea Hills; and several Nilotic peoples in the south, including the Azande, Dinka, Nuer, and Shilluk. Despite a devastating civil war and a number of natural disasters, the population has an average growth rate of 3 percent. There is also a steady rural-urban migration.

Sudan has 597 ethnicities that speak over 400 different languages and dialects split into two major ethnic groups: Sudanese Arabs of the largely Muslim Northern Sudan versus the largely Christian and animist Nilote Southern Sudan of the south.[These two groups consist of hundreds of smaller ethnic and tribal divisions, and in the latter case, language groups.


What is FGM?

Most writers seem to agree on the definition of female genital mutilation (FGM), infibulations, excision, or clitoridectomy, which is called Khafd (reduction) in classic Arabic and is more popularly known in the Sudan by the term Tahara (purification). It is the ablation of the clitoris, which partial or complete removal of the external female genitalia, varying from removal of the prepuce of the clitoris, the labia minoria, and the labia majora. The total dissection of the labia minoria and the internal part of the labia majora leaves a small opening. The two sides of the vulva are stitched together with catgut, sutures or thorns, thus obliterating the vaginal opening, except for a very small part, just enough to allow the exit of urine and menstrual blood.
FGM was declared illegal in Sudan in 1941, but the practice has continued with little interruption.
Successive national surveys between 1979 and 1983 recorded that 96% of women have undergone FGM. In 1991, this percentage dropped to 89%. And now, in 2009, the UNICEF World Report on Children shows a drop of only 7.3%. This gradual shift in public attitudes toward FGM has been due in large part to efforts led by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) like Babikir Badri Scientific Studies Association on Women Studies (BBSAWS) in coordination with many other autonomous organizations and individuals. It is worth noting that BBSAWS was the first local NGO to shoulder the struggle against FGM in Sudan.
*The causes of female genital mutilation include a mix of cultural, religious and social factors within families and communities;

•Where FGM is a social convention, the social pressure to conform to what others do and have been doing is a strong motivation to perpetuate the practice.
•FGM is often considered a necessary part of raising a girl properly, and a way to prepare her for adulthood and marriage.
•FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behavior, linking procedures to premarital virginity and marital fidelity. FGM is in many communities believed to reduce a woman's libido, and thereby is further believed to help her resist "illicit" sexual acts. When a vaginal opening is covered or narrowed, the fear of pain of opening it, and the fear that this will be found out, is expected to further discourage "illicit" sexual intercourse among women with this type of FGM.
•FGM is associated with cultural ideals of femininity and modesty, which include the notion that girls are “clean” and "beautiful" after removal of body parts that are considered "male" or "unclean".
•Though no religious scripts prescribe the practice, practitioners often believe the practice has religious support.
•Religious leaders take varying positions with regard to FGM: some promote it, some consider it irrelevant to religion, and others contribute to its elimination.
•Local structures of power and authority, such as community leaders, religious leaders, circumcisers, and even some medical personnel can contribute to upholding the practice.
•In most societies, FGM is considered a cultural tradition, which is often used as an argument for its continuation.
•In some societies, recent adoption of the practice is linked to copying the traditions of neighboring groups. Sometimes it has started as part of a wider religious or traditional revival movement.
•In some societies, FGM is being practiced by new groups when they move into areas where the local population practices FGM.


*I have conducted several peer investigations among females subjected to FGM and non circumcised ones.
I have selected two salient cases representing each of the above said two categories;

(FGM victim):

"The hard lesson"

Mona is a middle aged housewife, circumcised and a mother of a non-circumcised girl.
I've taken the vital decision not to subject my daughter to the horrific FGM I've gone through. I have suffered the physiological and psychological effects of the FGM before my marriage during the delivery of my daughter .My abnormal delivery have incurred a lot of cost for hiring a gynecologist and the check into a private clinic to avoid any health consequences.
The worst result was that my daughter was bicep by the doctor because of the circumcision of my genitals leading to a catastrophically physical result in my newly born daughter her right hand was almost paralyzed due to the hard pulling of her.
This has resulted in extremely high financial expenses during the following years in trying to cure her feeble right hand, we have tried physiotherapy. We even had to travel abroad seeking cure of her hand which represented an added cost for our family. Her handicap case has even cost her a lot of psychological problems especially during her primary study which I'm afraid negatively affect her educational future. Thus, it would represent a loss of effective and productive element of human resources in my society.


(Non-FGM victim):

"Joyful Life"

Nada is a newly university graduate working as an accountant in a bank and was recently married. She was mostly fortunate not to experience the horrific FGM process. She attributed this to the fact that her parents are educated and enlightened persons.
Because the majority of females in our community were circumcised at the age of seven I have felt like a freak among them and sometimes persecuted.
However, when I grow up to become a teenager I was totally content and resolved to the odd situation I thought I was in. I had a normal menstruation without any pain or infections which the circumcised girls were susceptible to. This normal feminine physiological life proved to be an asset for me when I started my work in career. My female colleagues at work had to take sick leaves for several days each month because of the menstruation period which reflected negatively on their attendance and thus job evaluation and therefore they were subject to non-promotion, demotion or in some cases redundancy.


Finally i would conclude that Circumcision is a burden on families in our society as well as on the health Service system by the state. Such females consume a considerable share of budgets for government hospitals in treating side effects caused by the FGM for unmarried females and special maternity care (post natal).
Women and girls are the back bone human resource in the traditional agriculture in the rural societies in my vast country ( one million square miles ) ,there fore the side effects of the FGM and the health deterioration that follows in most case impedes economic growth of these areas.

"Economic Impact of Female genital mutilation (FGM) in Sudan"


By: Ola Faisal Hassan
Submitted: 03/15/2011

In the middle Ages, Arabs named the area that is present-day Sudan "Bilad al-Sudan," or "land of the black people." The north is primarily Arab Muslims, whereas the south is largely black African, and not Muslim. There is strong animosity between the two groups and each has its own culture and traditions. While there is more than one group in the south, their common dislike for the northern Arabs has proved a uniting force among these groups.

Sudan has a population of 33.5 million. Fifty-two percent of the population is black and 39 percent are Arab. Six percent are Beja, 2 percent are foreign, and the remaining 1 percent is composed of other ethnicities. There are more than fifty different tribes. These include the Jamala and the Nubians in the north; the Beja in the Red Sea Hills; and several Nilotic peoples in the south, including the Azande, Dinka, Nuer, and Shilluk. Despite a devastating civil war and a number of natural disasters, the population has an average growth rate of 3 percent. There is also a steady rural-urban migration.

Sudan has 597 ethnicities that speak over 400 different languages and dialects split into two major ethnic groups: Sudanese Arabs of the largely Muslim Northern Sudan versus the largely Christian and animist Nilote Southern Sudan of the south.[These two groups consist of hundreds of smaller ethnic and tribal divisions, and in the latter case, language groups.


What is FGM?

Most writers seem to agree on the definition of female genital mutilation (FGM), infibulations, excision, or clitoridectomy, which is called Khafd (reduction) in classic Arabic and is more popularly known in the Sudan by the term Tahara (purification). It is the ablation of the clitoris, which partial or complete removal of the external female genitalia, varying from removal of the prepuce of the clitoris, the labia minoria, and the labia majora. The total dissection of the labia minoria and the internal part of the labia majora leaves a small opening. The two sides of the vulva are stitched together with catgut, sutures or thorns, thus obliterating the vaginal opening, except for a very small part, just enough to allow the exit of urine and menstrual blood.
FGM was declared illegal in Sudan in 1941, but the practice has continued with little interruption.
Successive national surveys between 1979 and 1983 recorded that 96% of women have undergone FGM. In 1991, this percentage dropped to 89%. And now, in 2009, the UNICEF World Report on Children shows a drop of only 7.3%. This gradual shift in public attitudes toward FGM has been due in large part to efforts led by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) like Babikir Badri Scientific Studies Association on Women Studies (BBSAWS) in coordination with many other autonomous organizations and individuals. It is worth noting that BBSAWS was the first local NGO to shoulder the struggle against FGM in Sudan.
*The causes of female genital mutilation include a mix of cultural, religious and social factors within families and communities;

•Where FGM is a social convention, the social pressure to conform to what others do and have been doing is a strong motivation to perpetuate the practice.
•FGM is often considered a necessary part of raising a girl properly, and a way to prepare her for adulthood and marriage.
•FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behavior, linking procedures to premarital virginity and marital fidelity. FGM is in many communities believed to reduce a woman's libido, and thereby is further believed to help her resist "illicit" sexual acts. When a vaginal opening is covered or narrowed, the fear of pain of opening it, and the fear that this will be found out, is expected to further discourage "illicit" sexual intercourse among women with this type of FGM.
•FGM is associated with cultural ideals of femininity and modesty, which include the notion that girls are “clean” and "beautiful" after removal of body parts that are considered "male" or "unclean".
•Though no religious scripts prescribe the practice, practitioners often believe the practice has religious support.
•Religious leaders take varying positions with regard to FGM: some promote it, some consider it irrelevant to religion, and others contribute to its elimination.
•Local structures of power and authority, such as community leaders, religious leaders, circumcisers, and even some medical personnel can contribute to upholding the practice.
•In most societies, FGM is considered a cultural tradition, which is often used as an argument for its continuation.
•In some societies, recent adoption of the practice is linked to copying the traditions of neighboring groups. Sometimes it has started as part of a wider religious or traditional revival movement.
•In some societies, FGM is being practiced by new groups when they move into areas where the local population practices FGM.


*I have conducted several peer investigations among females subjected to FGM and non circumcised ones.
I have selected two salient cases representing each of the above said two categories;

(FGM victim):

"The hard lesson"

Mona is a middle aged housewife, circumcised and a mother of a non-circumcised girl.
I've taken the vital decision not to subject my daughter to the horrific FGM I've gone through. I have suffered the physiological and psychological effects of the FGM before my marriage during the delivery of my daughter .My abnormal delivery have incurred a lot of cost for hiring a gynecologist and the check into a private clinic to avoid any health consequences.
The worst result was that my daughter was bicep by the doctor because of the circumcision of my genitals leading to a catastrophically physical result in my newly born daughter her right hand was almost paralyzed due to the hard pulling of her.
This has resulted in extremely high financial expenses during the following years in trying to cure her feeble right hand, we have tried physiotherapy. We even had to travel abroad seeking cure of her hand which represented an added cost for our family. Her handicap case has even cost her a lot of psychological problems especially during her primary study which I'm afraid negatively affect her educational future. Thus, it would represent a loss of effective and productive element of human resources in my society.


(Non-FGM victim):

"Joyful Life"

Nada is a newly university graduate working as an accountant in a bank and was recently married. She was mostly fortunate not to experience the horrific FGM process. She attributed this to the fact that her parents are educated and enlightened persons.
Because the majority of females in our community were circumcised at the age of seven I have felt like a freak among them and sometimes persecuted.
However, when I grow up to become a teenager I was totally content and resolved to the odd situation I thought I was in. I had a normal menstruation without any pain or infections which the circumcised girls were susceptible to. This normal feminine physiological life proved to be an asset for me when I started my work in career. My female colleagues at work had to take sick leaves for several days each month because of the menstruation period which reflected negatively on their attendance and thus job evaluation and therefore they were subject to non-promotion, demotion or in some cases redundancy.


Finally i would conclude that Circumcision is a burden on families in our society as well as on the health Service system by the state. Such females consume a considerable share of budgets for government hospitals in treating side effects caused by the FGM for unmarried females and special maternity care (post natal).
Women and girls are the back bone human resource in the traditional agriculture in the rural societies in my vast country ( one million square miles ) ,there fore the side effects of the FGM and the health deterioration that follows in most case impedes economic growth of these areas.

Women in Sudan


By: Eman Asim
Submitted: 03/15/2011

It shows the Sudanese women under different situations and unbalancing ..

A global view on standards


By: AnniDK
Submitted: 03/20/2011

As a part of the project Young Women Speak the Economy, the presentation will be based on how local girls experience eceonomic effect on their everyday lift in their respective country. This will be backed with data of different kinds.

A global view on standards


By: AnniDK
Submitted: 03/20/2011

As a part of the project Young Women Speak the Economy, the presentation will be based on how local girls experience eceonomic effect on their everyday lift in their respective country. This will be backed with data of different kinds.

Forgiveness & Compassion


By: hannah kozak
Submitted: 04/12/2011

Artist Statement/Forgiveness and Compassion: When I was a child my mother abandoned my family to have an affair. The man she left us for turned out to be violent; he beat her so badly that she suffered permanent brain damage and had to be moved into an assisted living facility where she still lives today. Of her five children, only my younger sister has visited her
regularly over the years.
I have early, fond memories of my mom as a beautiful, passionate, vivacious, and fiery, Guatemalan Sophia Loren. But since she left us, I have had tremendous feelings of abandon-
ment and rage towards her. Her actions led me to judge her as impetuous, selfish, reckless,
and a negligent mother. I resented what she did to herself and her family. I carried so much anger, yet whenever I saw her, I was overcome with pity and sadness. Just looking at her
gnarled hand from the brain damage brought forth more emotion than I could bear. For these reasons, I have virtually ignored my mother to try and distance myself from my own pain.
But the pain remained, and it became clear to me that our relationship needed healing. Thankfully, through my graduate work in Spiritual Psychology and the work I did with a
healer, I was able to dissolve the judgments I carried about her and myself, and begin to forge
a relationship with her. On this road to acceptance, I can experience my raw emotions through the safe distance of a camera lens.
These photos tell my mother’s story of isolation, loneliness, abuse, connection,
compassion, and above all, love.
My long term goal is to return with my mother to Guatemala for the first time since
she left fifty-three years ago. No one from her original family in Guatemala has seen her since
she moved, including a brother she was once very close with. It’s been a decade since her sister has seen her. I believe the story will continue to reveal itself when I photograph her and her family in her homeland.

Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Piece


By: Anahi DeCanio
Submitted: 06/01/2011

I was chosen as one of twelve women participating in the Amnesty International campaign to Stop Violence Against Women. The show opened in San Francisco and traveled through six other cities in California.
The project was important to me so I decided to do additional research. Simply stated the most salient fact is horrifically simple - 1 in 3 women are victims of violence. There are several other equally startling statistics that periodically change a bit without moving the needle in the right direction nearly fast enough. UNIFEM puts out an online quarterly newsletter that provides important updated facts (http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/index.htm ). I decided facts and figures were not enough and went out searching for individual stories. I must admit, I was not prepared to deal with the range of emotions I experienced intimately getting to know these women, if only from the printed page since the chance of meeting them has been mutilated, obliterated and killed in the name of honor, dowries or some other form of female genocide. As an artist, I was creatively stopped dead on my feet. How do I portray the two teenage girls buried by their fathers and uncles because they dared to wear lipstick, or the woman burned alive because she burned her husband's shirt with an iron? What about the one who was killed because her husband's dinner was too salty? What about the one who run over by her father because she was becoming "too westernized"? I knew any effort I made to portray the actual horror would fall short.
"Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Piece" therefore turned out to be symbolic of how as a society we have skirted and sanitized this issue for decades. The genesis is the promise of what should be a happy beginning as represented by the wedding dress. On closer inspection, the icons on the dress, however, symbolize the real tale of millions of women.
"Forever hold your Piece" hopes to lure the viewer into taking a second look and provoke us into action to speak up for those who have been silenced.

The DES (Diethylstilbestrol) Drug Disaster, 40 Years Later: The Tragedy is Far From Over


By: Caitlin McCarthy
Submitted: 08/03/2011

April 2011 marked the 40th anniversary of the DES cancer link being made at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital. DES (diethylstilbestrol), a toxic and carcinogenic synthetic estrogen, is considered the world's first drug disaster. It was prescribed to millions of pregnant women for decades: from 1938 until 1971 (and in a small number of cases for several years thereafter) in the United States; and until the mid-1980s in parts of Latin America, Europe, Australia, and the Third World. The currently proven effects of exposure include a rare vaginal cancer in DES Daughters; greater risk for breast cancer in DES Mothers; possible risk for testicular cancer in DES Sons; abnormal reproductive organs; infertility; high-risk pregnancies; and an increased risk for breast cancer in DES Daughters after age 40. There are a number of other suspected effects, including auto-immune disorders, but many of these effects are still awaiting further research.

I'm a DES Daughter who was born at the tail end of the tragedy in the U.S. My mother was unknowingly prescribed a prenatal vitamin which contained DES. I didn't discover my DES exposure until 2005, when a doctor made the connection during a colposcopy. How scary is that?

What's even scarier is that I'm not alone. Around the world, there are thousands – maybe even millions – of people walking around today, totally unaware that they, too, were exposed to DES. All of these people are not receiving proper medical treatment, or making truly informed decisions about their healthcare, as a result.

In an effort to raise awareness about DES, I wrote a feature film screenplay entitled WONDER DRUG (www.wonderdrugthemovie). Set in Boston, Massachusetts, WONDER DRUG interweaves the lives of a Big Pharma executive, feminist doctor, and thirtysomething newlywed across different decades. The script has won awards or received nominations in over 20 international film festival screenplay competitions and labs, including selection as an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation script for the prestigious Hamptons Screenwriters Lab, and a live staged reading of select scenes at the 15th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival, sponsored by the Sloan Foundation and starring Steve Guttenberg (THREE MEN AND A BABY) and Alysia Reiner (SIDEWAYS).

I also worked jointly with the offices of US Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Scott Brown (R-MA) on obtaining an apology from the FDA for the DES drug disaster. That effort was picked up by renowned media outlets such as The Huffington Post.

The FDA declined to apologize, but did send a three-page letter to Senators Kerry and Brown acknowledging DES as a "tragedy" on February 22, 2011.

Upon reading the FDA acknowledgement, I immediately emailed Jeanne Ireland (who signed the FDA's letter), asking the FDA to remove DES from its webpage touting DES as one of its milestones in "100 Years of Promoting and Protecting Women's Health."

Jeanne Ireland didn't respond to me. Instead, she palmed me off on Marsha B. Henderson, Associate Commissioner for Women's Health (Acting) for the FDA. Below is Ms. Henderson's email to me, which must be read in its entirety to fully appreciate the spin job:

"Thank you for your email. Please be assured that we acknowledge the tragedy of DES. However, it marks an important historical step when FDA took action to stop the use of DES in pregnancy, and to limit its use. This was a real benefit to the health of women and their children. You will notice other milestones described on our website that detail FDA's authority in response to major tragedies such as Elixir Sulfanilamide, Thalidomide, and the Dalcon Shield. We do not consider the highlighting of these milestones as accolades, but rather learning milestones for the medical community, the public and the world. They serve to make FDA even more vigorous and proactive in implementing strategies to identify products that may have hidden cancer causing potential or serious long-term health problems. In light of this historical record our description will remain on the FDA/OWH website."

Below is what I sent Ms. Henderson, along with the two women she copied on her email to me (Terrie Crescenzi and Deborah Kallgren). Note I also included Jeanne Ireland.

"You are clearly hoping that the general public thinks a 'contraindication for pregnancy' was a 'real benefit to the health of women and their children.' Hardly. BANNING the toxic, carcinogenic DES would have been the 'real health benefit.' The FDA is lying by omission.

"DES should have been banned. There were some doctors in the US who continued to prescribe it after the FDA’s 'important historical step,' up until 1980 in some places. And DES continued to be prescribed until the mid-1980s in parts of Latin America, Europe, Australia, and the Third World.

"Some advice: When writing to DES victims moving forward, don't use phrases like 'learning milestone.' That is dismissive of the currently proven effects of exposure which include a rare vaginal cancer in DES Daughters; greater risk for breast cancer in DES Mothers; possible risk for testicular cancer in DES Sons; abnormal reproductive organs; infertility; high-risk pregnancies; and an increased risk for breast cancer in DES Daughters after age 40. There are a number of other suspected effects, including auto-immune disorders, but many of these effects are still awaiting further research.

"I’ll be sure to share the FDA's response with others, seeing how you’re sending this canned response out to others who asked the FDA to remove the offensive DES 'milestone.'

"Thanks for caring about women's health (not!)."

To this day, the offensive item about DES remains on the FDA's website. And to this day, not one drug company has ever apologized or accepted responsibility for the DES tragedy. Nevertheless, they have paid millions in verdicts and out-of-court settlements to DES Daughters and Sons who suffered injuries from their exposure.

I am grateful that the 40th anniversary of the DES cancer link has triggered a flurry of press coverage. The Boston Globe recently ran a feature story about concerns for third generation effects; WCVB-TV Boston's "Chronicle" newsmagazine aired a DES segment; Reuters published an item about DES Grandsons; New England Journal of Medicine ran an article about living with DES exposure; and Psychology Today features a story about remembering DES's "tragic chapter in American childbirth."

Even the old "Lou Grant" TV episode about DES is making the rounds on Hulu.

On April 25, 1985, Ronald Reagan was the only US President to proclaim a National DES Awareness Week. No other president has ever done that. Why? DES is far from a dead issue.

I will continue my fight to raise awareness about the DES drug disaster. DES victims are the canaries in the coalmine when it comes to synthetic estrogen. The reproductive abnormalities, cancers, and infertility we deal with daily show what could happen to the human race if we don't employ the precautionary principle. It suggests we act to protect public health when there is credible evidence of harm, rather than wait for absolute proof. What we do now clearly has an impact on future generations.

Please join this fight with me. To learn more about DES, visit DES Info's official blog site: http://desinfo411.wordpress.com.

Voyager


By: Donia Gobar
Submitted: 08/03/2011

Voyager

Ye' life, show me your cards;
empty hands do not scare me anymore.

And you—the winding roads ahead,
your slippery twists and turns
do not weary me anymore.

O darkness!
Show me the darkest of sights,
and the creepiest of nights!
My heart does not
race in fear anymore.

And you, the cowardly powers of hypocrisy,
your calculated and evil harmony,
your fierce dark symphony,
and the slippery, shapeless nature
of your two-faced face
do not deceive me anymore.

And ah, disaster,
your unpredictable hit and run cruelty
does not astonish me anymore;
and your raving, blindfolded tyranny
does not stop me anymore…

But oh, you—memories from the past,
and hopes of tomorrow
rain on me, softly, softly!
You are the only pleasures I would ask for,
more and more…

By: Donia Gobar

Fireflies


By: Fiamma Montezemolo
Submitted: 08/05/2011

2011
Videoinstallation
(7 minutes)

Life is what happens while we are trying to plan it...

Fireflies is the result of a sudden event - and its transformation/translation into an art work - that errupts within a life, altering its flow, suspending it, creating momentary intensity and deviation of the flow, channeling it somewhere unexpected. This unforeseen deviation is dissected in terms of affects in the time frame of 5 minutes, a violent pure present time. The affects that emerge in the piece are characterized by a sense of movement between pain and hope, and a work of association between cancer and EXPECTANCY. The political relevance of the survival of fireflies is used here as a metaphor for the importance of an intermittent, fragmented, resistance as opposed to an absolute, single one

black woman


By: AbramovichpPatricia
Submitted: 08/06/2011

I love clay and I love making women sculptures.
I think there is something wonderful in pregnant women.

growing free


By: Antje Rook
Submitted: 08/16/2011

My mother always hated girls, she told me every day of my life, that she would have prefered to have just boys and not a girl, like me. She decided to ignore that I and my sister have been abused by my father and when I confronted her as an adult, she threw me out of her house and never spoke to me or my sister again. That was 20 years ago and I haven't seen her since.I left the country and tried to forget her. But I still feel followed, judged and devaluated by her. I always expressed myself through painting. Just recently I did a series of paintings which helped me leaving my mother behind me. I feel free since then!
Sorry for any mistakes in my writing, I'm german and english is not my mothertongue.

NO WOMAN SHOULD DIE PREMATURELY


By: Chinomnso
Other authors: Daniel Obi peters, Dr. uche anyanwagu
Submitted: 08/20/2011

While I was working as a nurse in a rural community, I visited a village to see some young (girls)women who their husband restricted from visiting the hospital due to cultural belief . On that faithful day, I met this pregnant woman cracking palm kernel, we exchanged greeting and while talking she said to me that she does not want her expected date of delivery to reach. I asked her why she was so reluctant to say. After much conversation she started telling her about the various harmful practices that they are been forced on during pregnancy and delivery. Below are the listed practices.
• Dry sex and vaginal drying: This entails the insertion of herbal leaves or powders, commercial products (for example, toothpaste, antiseptics, or soap), ground stones, or cloth into the vagina either on a regular basis or before sexual intercourse. It is a common belief in some parts of Eastern Nigeria that the insertion of herbs and objects into the vagina helps to beautify the baby.
• Grinding of tobacco leaves for sexual hygiene, artistic reasons, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and vaginal infections, itching, and discharge. She said that this happens mostly anytime the husband want to have sex with her, so that he will enjoy the sex very well as the tobacco makes the vagina Drinking of concoctions some days before the expected date of delivery to hasten deliveries
• Smoking of hemp and weeds to produce heat at the uterus for quick expulsion of the fetus
• Hitting the pelvic region with the bone of a particular animal to expand the pelvis for easy passage of fetus
• Insertion of herbs and object into the vagina to beautify the baby
• Placing of hot water bottles on the belly to make the baby strong after birth
• Cooking with the placenta and drinking its water for a particular period to produce breast milk and lot more.
I could not stand on her feet after she listed all this harmful practices. She said that her concern is that most of the women after doing this , dies before one year due to effect of the practice . And they attribute it that the gods are angry with the women of there community.
I could not do much at this time, but was only monitoring her . chinomnso became friendly with the husband so that she can convince him to allow her do home ANC for the woman and also conduct the delivery for her. After all effort the man refused. After my midwifery I left that village only to come back for my nursing result and heard that the woman died before her EDD. I cried like she was my sister and could not do anything at that point
During part of my outreaches I met also a young girl of about 14 years old who just delivered practicing some harmful practices , she was placing cow dung on the umbilical stump of neonates to fall off; in that same community she met another that was conducting delivery on by herself using unsterilized equipments in cutting the placenta.
In a riverine community in the Niger-Delta that she once shared revealed that women forcefully sit and exert their weight on the fundus of the uterus of a woman in labour in other to relieve any obstruction and induction of postpartum haemorrhage to clear the uterus of impure blood.
Sadly, women in the rural communities see conducting deliveries at home by themselves as a means of showing off their strength and womanhood thereby neglecting the care and support meant to be offered to them during pregnancy and after childbirth by specialized health care workers.
After this I registered my organization known as TRAFFINA FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH. I started working specifically on womens health, I went to that village to do a sensitization programme titled “ NO WOMAN SHOULD DIE PREMATURELY” This programme brought light and breakthrough to the women of this community. We had a road walk and a football tournament titled “ kicking of maternal death” this programme ended with a lecture on the effect of harmful cultural practices . Their husbands all came and could not stop crying that day on how ignorance has made them to lose their precious wives.
This programme has been going on in other communities too. We are still on our research and also rendering care and they testimony is that these women now attends ANC and delivers in the hospital with their husbands full support and the maternal death rate has reduced a lot.
We are now moving to more communities to find out the harmful cultural practices the engage during pregnancy and childbirth and as well do our own work to pull them out of it

FOR THOSE WOMEN WHO HAVE NO VOICE & WHO HAVE NO HOPE


By: MAG
Submitted: 09/08/2011

This is not a story but a very powerful presentation where I am trying to make the world aware of the plight of women who are forced to undergo female genital mutilation and the repercussions following such practice especially during childbirth. Another issue which I wanted people to know about is the child bride marriage - why should a girl as young as 12 years old be forced to marry??? What will the repercussions be on such a fragile body of a 12 year old??? The issue of Stoning & women is another factor which I want the world to be aware of. We cannot have any more Sakineh Ashtianis to make the world know - and perhaps act to prevent such horrible punishments on women. Finally the very hot and realistic issue of Honour Killing which is taking place also in Europe and in many countries of the world such as Canada - where integration into a multi-cultural society, accepting norms and rules of a host country are not being adhered to and as usual the victims of such circumstances are women!!! Four issues which I wholeheartedly believe that the world has to really get to know about - and most important - not to remain silent about!!!

Running Scenarios


By: Margaret Silverman
Submitted: 09/09/2011

Margaret Silverman’s 9 minute experimental video documentary, Running Scenarios, considers the complex question: What does it mean to be Jewish? Through a five window split screen we view intimate familial Jewish experience through a Bar Mitzvah and the ritual making of challah, multi-media paintings of youth and Israeli military, and documentary interviews of the Jewish Diaspora, all which flank the central figure of a runner, Silverman herself. The runner is at once an American, a woman, a mother, and Jewish who struggles to reconcile the multi-faceted and non-hierarchical nature of her Jewish identity.
This work provides no easy answers, giving viewer the freedom to be with the question and reconcile the issues for themselves.

In Her Mother's Image


By: Cecilia Gaerlan
Other authors: Jonathan Florido, video editor
Submitted: 09/14/2011

In Her Mother’s Image is the story of a mother and daughter, Consuelo and Chiquita, who are entangled in a web of longing and antipathy set amidst the chaos of World War II in the Philippines and thirty years later in 1971. The war is seen through the eyes of a headstrong eight-year-old child, Chiquita, who bears witness to an act of betrayal committed by her formidable mother, Consuelo. A betrayal that will be revisited thirty years later when Chiquita goes back to the land of her birth to face the source of her lifelong torment – her own mother.

In Her Mother's Image


By: Cecilia Gaerlan
Other authors: Jonathan Florido, video editor
Submitted: 09/14/2011

In Her Mother’s Image is the story of a mother and daughter, Consuelo and Chiquita, who are entangled in a web of longing and antipathy set amidst the chaos of World War II in the Philippines and thirty years later in 1971. The war is seen through the eyes of a headstrong eight-year-old child, Chiquita, who bears witness to an act of betrayal committed by her formidable mother, Consuelo. A betrayal that will be revisited thirty years later when Chiquita goes back to the land of her birth to face the source of her lifelong torment – her own mother.

In Her Mother's Image


By: Cecilia Gaerlan
Other authors: Jonathan Florido, video editor
Submitted: 09/14/2011

In Her Mother’s Image is the story of a mother and daughter, Consuelo and Chiquita, who are entangled in a web of longing and antipathy set amidst the chaos of World War II in the Philippines and thirty years later in 1971. The war is seen through the eyes of a headstrong eight-year-old child, Chiquita, who bears witness to an act of betrayal committed by her formidable mother, Consuelo. A betrayal that will be revisited thirty years later when Chiquita goes back to the land of her birth to face the source of her lifelong torment – her own mother.

In Her Mother's Image


By: Cecilia Gaerlan
Other authors: Jonathan Florido, video editor
Submitted: 09/14/2011

In Her Mother’s Image is the story of a mother and daughter, Consuelo and Chiquita, who are entangled in a web of longing and antipathy set amidst the chaos of World War II in the Philippines and thirty years later in 1971. The war is seen through the eyes of a headstrong eight-year-old child, Chiquita, who bears witness to an act of betrayal committed by her formidable mother, Consuelo. A betrayal that will be revisited thirty years later when Chiquita goes back to the land of her birth to face the source of her lifelong torment – her own mother.

In Her Mother's Image


By: Cecilia Gaerlan
Other authors: Jonathan Florido, video editor
Submitted: 09/14/2011

In Her Mother’s Image is the story of a mother and daughter, Consuelo and Chiquita, who are entangled in a web of longing and antipathy set amidst the chaos of World War II in the Philippines and thirty years later in 1971. The war is seen through the eyes of a headstrong eight-year-old child, Chiquita, who bears witness to an act of betrayal committed by her formidable mother, Consuelo. A betrayal that will be revisited thirty years later when Chiquita goes back to the land of her birth to face the source of her lifelong torment – her own mother.

In Her Mother's Image


By: Cecilia Gaerlan
Other authors: Jonathan Florido, video editor
Submitted: 09/14/2011

In Her Mother’s Image is the story of a mother and daughter, Consuelo and Chiquita, who are entangled in a web of longing and antipathy set amidst the chaos of World War II in the Philippines and thirty years later in 1971. The war is seen through the eyes of a headstrong eight-year-old child, Chiquita, who bears witness to an act of betrayal committed by her formidable mother, Consuelo. A betrayal that will be revisited thirty years later when Chiquita goes back to the land of her birth to face the source of her lifelong torment – her own mother.

More


By: Chantelle Tibbs
Submitted: 09/16/2011

"More" is a song about the three major ways in which I believe my mother was wronged. In the chorus I pull our strength together in the hopes of overcoming all three of these things. Thanks for listening and hope you enjoy.

The picture shows a Community Health Worker visiting an expecting couple to inform them about Birth preparedness.


By: MKC
Submitted: 09/22/2011

As mentioned above, the submitted picture shows a Community Health Worker visiting an expecting couple to inform/train them about "Birth Preparedness"

Yogawoman


By: Kate Clere
Other authors: Directors: Kate Clere McIntyre, Saraswati Clere Producers Michael McIntyre, Kate Clere McIntyre, Saraswati Clere
Submitted: 09/27/2011

From Yogawoman With Love

By Kate Clere McIntyre, Filmmaker, YOGAWOMAN

I have always seen yoga as a close friend, helping me balance life as a mother, wife and filmmaker. Even though yoga first began thousands of years ago, it still fits seamlessly into modern life. Yoga meets my zest for life, the quiet breath draws me inside, giving space from the business of my day.

For Yogawoman, we were inspired by women as leaders in the yoga movement worldwide. It appeared that it was women who had really taken the spirit of yoga into the heart of the community. They had turned yoga into a multi billion-dollar industry. We wanted to capture their collective wisdom and find out how and why yoga works for women.

Women have woven a new feminine sense into yoga, responding to the changing cycles of a women’s life. Through the women pioneers, yoga is changing shape to meet women where they are, supporting them to live fully and gracefully within the midst of daily life.

In making YOGAWOMAN we met girls, mothers, grandmothers, CEOs, prisoners, dying women, women living in dire poverty – each one had found a way to make yoga work for them. The tools of yoga create a conscious life: conscious breathing, conscious movement, conscious mind, conscious eating and conscious actions.

Women have gained much from earlier generations, including the right to work outside the home, becoming presidents, doctors, entrepreneurs. Sadly this has often come at a cost to women's health. Multitasking has become the way women thrive and survive in modern society. Women, myself included, often try to do everything and be there for everybody, losing sight of our own wellbeing in the process.

YOGAWOMAN introduces inspiring yoga teachers who are leading women across the world to live a more balanced life. They are taking yoga to African villages, urban streets, senior centers, and incarcerated teens. They are shaping yoga classes for women facing cancer, disfiguring surgeries, chemotherapy and dying, to help them find a way through their pain.

Each time we interviewed the women in this film, we were captivated by their insights, compassion and commitment to serve other women. Yoga makes so many things in life possible and the film is full of so many heartrending stories that teach us how to live fully as women, celebrating our lives.

Bringing this group of women together in one film to shed light on this life-changing path of yoga has been the journey of a lifetime.

###

Kate Clere McIntyre is the producer/director/writer of YOGAWOMAN, www.yogawoman.tv. Throughout her adult life, Kate has practiced and taught yoga, bringing balance and strength into her roles as filmmaker, wife and mother. Her first international documentary What to do about Whales? has been broadcast in 13 countries. Kate wrote and directed A Hard Place, about the childcare struggles of modern women and families, wrote and directed Gaining Ground, an investigation into dwindling wildlife populations, and co-directed Anusara Yoga: The Heart of Transformation, about the development and principles of Anusara Yoga.

Yogawoman


By: Kate Clere
Other authors: Directors: Kate Clere McIntyre, Saraswati Clere Producers Michael McIntyre, Kate Clere McIntyre, Saraswati Clere
Submitted: 09/27/2011

From Yogawoman With Love

By Kate Clere McIntyre, Filmmaker, YOGAWOMAN

I have always seen yoga as a close friend, helping me balance life as a mother, wife and filmmaker. Even though yoga first began thousands of years ago, it still fits seamlessly into modern life. Yoga meets my zest for life, the quiet breath draws me inside, giving space from the business of my day.

For Yogawoman, we were inspired by women as leaders in the yoga movement worldwide. It appeared that it was women who had really taken the spirit of yoga into the heart of the community. They had turned yoga into a multi billion-dollar industry. We wanted to capture their collective wisdom and find out how and why yoga works for women.

Women have woven a new feminine sense into yoga, responding to the changing cycles of a women’s life. Through the women pioneers, yoga is changing shape to meet women where they are, supporting them to live fully and gracefully within the midst of daily life.

In making YOGAWOMAN we met girls, mothers, grandmothers, CEOs, prisoners, dying women, women living in dire poverty – each one had found a way to make yoga work for them. The tools of yoga create a conscious life: conscious breathing, conscious movement, conscious mind, conscious eating and conscious actions.

Women have gained much from earlier generations, including the right to work outside the home, becoming presidents, doctors, entrepreneurs. Sadly this has often come at a cost to women's health. Multitasking has become the way women thrive and survive in modern society. Women, myself included, often try to do everything and be there for everybody, losing sight of our own wellbeing in the process.

YOGAWOMAN introduces inspiring yoga teachers who are leading women across the world to live a more balanced life. They are taking yoga to African villages, urban streets, senior centers, and incarcerated teens. They are shaping yoga classes for women facing cancer, disfiguring surgeries, chemotherapy and dying, to help them find a way through their pain.

Each time we interviewed the women in this film, we were captivated by their insights, compassion and commitment to serve other women. Yoga makes so many things in life possible and the film is full of so many heartrending stories that teach us how to live fully as women, celebrating our lives.

Bringing this group of women together in one film to shed light on this life-changing path of yoga has been the journey of a lifetime.

###

Kate Clere McIntyre is the producer/director/writer of YOGAWOMAN, www.yogawoman.tv. Throughout her adult life, Kate has practiced and taught yoga, bringing balance and strength into her roles as filmmaker, wife and mother. Her first international documentary What to do about Whales? has been broadcast in 13 countries. Kate wrote and directed A Hard Place, about the childcare struggles of modern women and families, wrote and directed Gaining Ground, an investigation into dwindling wildlife populations, and co-directed Anusara Yoga: The Heart of Transformation, about the development and principles of Anusara Yoga.

Yogawoman


By: Kate Clere
Other authors: Directors: Kate Clere McIntyre, Saraswati Clere Producers Michael McIntyre, Kate Clere McIntyre, Saraswati Clere
Submitted: 09/27/2011

From Yogawoman With Love

By Kate Clere McIntyre, Filmmaker, YOGAWOMAN

I have always seen yoga as a close friend, helping me balance life as a mother, wife and filmmaker. Even though yoga first began thousands of years ago, it still fits seamlessly into modern life. Yoga meets my zest for life, the quiet breath draws me inside, giving space from the business of my day.

For Yogawoman, we were inspired by women as leaders in the yoga movement worldwide. It appeared that it was women who had really taken the spirit of yoga into the heart of the community. They had turned yoga into a multi billion-dollar industry. We wanted to capture their collective wisdom and find out how and why yoga works for women.

Women have woven a new feminine sense into yoga, responding to the changing cycles of a women’s life. Through the women pioneers, yoga is changing shape to meet women where they are, supporting them to live fully and gracefully within the midst of daily life.

In making YOGAWOMAN we met girls, mothers, grandmothers, CEOs, prisoners, dying women, women living in dire poverty – each one had found a way to make yoga work for them. The tools of yoga create a conscious life: conscious breathing, conscious movement, conscious mind, conscious eating and conscious actions.

Women have gained much from earlier generations, including the right to work outside the home, becoming presidents, doctors, entrepreneurs. Sadly this has often come at a cost to women's health. Multitasking has become the way women thrive and survive in modern society. Women, myself included, often try to do everything and be there for everybody, losing sight of our own wellbeing in the process.

YOGAWOMAN introduces inspiring yoga teachers who are leading women across the world to live a more balanced life. They are taking yoga to African villages, urban streets, senior centers, and incarcerated teens. They are shaping yoga classes for women facing cancer, disfiguring surgeries, chemotherapy and dying, to help them find a way through their pain.

Each time we interviewed the women in this film, we were captivated by their insights, compassion and commitment to serve other women. Yoga makes so many things in life possible and the film is full of so many heartrending stories that teach us how to live fully as women, celebrating our lives.

Bringing this group of women together in one film to shed light on this life-changing path of yoga has been the journey of a lifetime.

###

Kate Clere McIntyre is the producer/director/writer of YOGAWOMAN, www.yogawoman.tv. Throughout her adult life, Kate has practiced and taught yoga, bringing balance and strength into her roles as filmmaker, wife and mother. Her first international documentary What to do about Whales? has been broadcast in 13 countries. Kate wrote and directed A Hard Place, about the childcare struggles of modern women and families, wrote and directed Gaining Ground, an investigation into dwindling wildlife populations, and co-directed Anusara Yoga: The Heart of Transformation, about the development and principles of Anusara Yoga.

Yogawoman


By: Kate Clere
Other authors: Directors: Kate Clere McIntyre, Saraswati Clere Producers Michael McIntyre, Kate Clere McIntyre, Saraswati Clere
Submitted: 09/27/2011

From Yogawoman With Love

By Kate Clere McIntyre, Filmmaker, YOGAWOMAN

I have always seen yoga as a close friend, helping me balance life as a mother, wife and filmmaker. Even though yoga first began thousands of years ago, it still fits seamlessly into modern life. Yoga meets my zest for life, the quiet breath draws me inside, giving space from the business of my day.

For Yogawoman, we were inspired by women as leaders in the yoga movement worldwide. It appeared that it was women who had really taken the spirit of yoga into the heart of the community. They had turned yoga into a multi billion-dollar industry. We wanted to capture their collective wisdom and find out how and why yoga works for women.

Women have woven a new feminine sense into yoga, responding to the changing cycles of a women’s life. Through the women pioneers, yoga is changing shape to meet women where they are, supporting them to live fully and gracefully within the midst of daily life.

In making YOGAWOMAN we met girls, mothers, grandmothers, CEOs, prisoners, dying women, women living in dire poverty – each one had found a way to make yoga work for them. The tools of yoga create a conscious life: conscious breathing, conscious movement, conscious mind, conscious eating and conscious actions.

Women have gained much from earlier generations, including the right to work outside the home, becoming presidents, doctors, entrepreneurs. Sadly this has often come at a cost to women's health. Multitasking has become the way women thrive and survive in modern society. Women, myself included, often try to do everything and be there for everybody, losing sight of our own wellbeing in the process.

YOGAWOMAN introduces inspiring yoga teachers who are leading women across the world to live a more balanced life. They are taking yoga to African villages, urban streets, senior centers, and incarcerated teens. They are shaping yoga classes for women facing cancer, disfiguring surgeries, chemotherapy and dying, to help them find a way through their pain.

Each time we interviewed the women in this film, we were captivated by their insights, compassion and commitment to serve other women. Yoga makes so many things in life possible and the film is full of so many heartrending stories that teach us how to live fully as women, celebrating our lives.

Bringing this group of women together in one film to shed light on this life-changing path of yoga has been the journey of a lifetime.

###

Kate Clere McIntyre is the producer/director/writer of YOGAWOMAN, www.yogawoman.tv. Throughout her adult life, Kate has practiced and taught yoga, bringing balance and strength into her roles as filmmaker, wife and mother. Her first international documentary What to do about Whales? has been broadcast in 13 countries. Kate wrote and directed A Hard Place, about the childcare struggles of modern women and families, wrote and directed Gaining Ground, an investigation into dwindling wildlife populations, and co-directed Anusara Yoga: The Heart of Transformation, about the development and principles of Anusara Yoga.

Yogawoman


By: Kate Clere
Other authors: Directors: Kate Clere McIntyre, Saraswati Clere Producers Michael McIntyre, Kate Clere McIntyre, Saraswati Clere
Submitted: 09/27/2011

From Yogawoman With Love

By Kate Clere McIntyre, Filmmaker, YOGAWOMAN

I have always seen yoga as a close friend, helping me balance life as a mother, wife and filmmaker. Even though yoga first began thousands of years ago, it still fits seamlessly into modern life. Yoga meets my zest for life, the quiet breath draws me inside, giving space from the business of my day.

For Yogawoman, we were inspired by women as leaders in the yoga movement worldwide. It appeared that it was women who had really taken the spirit of yoga into the heart of the community. They had turned yoga into a multi billion-dollar industry. We wanted to capture their collective wisdom and find out how and why yoga works for women.

Women have woven a new feminine sense into yoga, responding to the changing cycles of a women’s life. Through the women pioneers, yoga is changing shape to meet women where they are, supporting them to live fully and gracefully within the midst of daily life.

In making YOGAWOMAN we met girls, mothers, grandmothers, CEOs, prisoners, dying women, women living in dire poverty – each one had found a way to make yoga work for them. The tools of yoga create a conscious life: conscious breathing, conscious movement, conscious mind, conscious eating and conscious actions.

Women have gained much from earlier generations, including the right to work outside the home, becoming presidents, doctors, entrepreneurs. Sadly this has often come at a cost to women's health. Multitasking has become the way women thrive and survive in modern society. Women, myself included, often try to do everything and be there for everybody, losing sight of our own wellbeing in the process.

YOGAWOMAN introduces inspiring yoga teachers who are leading women across the world to live a more balanced life. They are taking yoga to African villages, urban streets, senior centers, and incarcerated teens. They are shaping yoga classes for women facing cancer, disfiguring surgeries, chemotherapy and dying, to help them find a way through their pain.

Each time we interviewed the women in this film, we were captivated by their insights, compassion and commitment to serve other women. Yoga makes so many things in life possible and the film is full of so many heartrending stories that teach us how to live fully as women, celebrating our lives.

Bringing this group of women together in one film to shed light on this life-changing path of yoga has been the journey of a lifetime.

###

Kate Clere McIntyre is the producer/director/writer of YOGAWOMAN, www.yogawoman.tv. Throughout her adult life, Kate has practiced and taught yoga, bringing balance and strength into her roles as filmmaker, wife and mother. Her first international documentary What to do about Whales? has been broadcast in 13 countries. Kate wrote and directed A Hard Place, about the childcare struggles of modern women and families, wrote and directed Gaining Ground, an investigation into dwindling wildlife populations, and co-directed Anusara Yoga: The Heart of Transformation, about the development and principles of Anusara Yoga.

Woman is the Creator of Society


By: Ms Nilanjana Sanyal (INDIA)
Submitted: 09/29/2011

-‘Even the Declaration’s opening sentence “All men are created equal”, caused problems. The delegate from India pointed out that women should also be included and another UN committee lobbied for the word “People” to be used instead of “men”. The final compromise was “human beings”...’
- From J. William T. Youngs, “Eleanor Roosevelt: A Personal And Public Life”

The media has reported that in some of the poorest villages of Orissa, India, the position of women is such that their husbands do not give them anything to eat. I do not know how much of this is true but if it is true, it is very shocking to note that this is how some parts of India work.

What is the 21st Century woman? What are we talking about? Are we talking about those lean, thin women who are dieting for the upcoming beauty pageant, or, are we talking about those lean, thin women who know not a word of numeracy or literacy and who have to walk miles and miles in parched heat to fetch drinking water?

Women are giving birth in POVERTY, can there be a greater disaster than this?

At a very crucial period in their lives... women (particularly, working or poor Third World women) get bogged down with conception, pregnancy, breastfeeding and parental responsibility... and worse still, later... with menopause....

For us coming from the Third World, reproductive rights don’t form the central issue in the lives of millions of women in our countries... The burning issues are social and economic problems....

WHAT DID OTHER WOMEN TELL ME?
They said, girl, women are powerless, because they can get pregnant. Women are powerless because they can conceive. It is a beautiful gift of God; this ability to conceive and give birth, it is a right given to women only. But in a highly perverted society, in a society in which there is an inequitable social structure, in a society in a state of transition, many other issues come to the forefront and power relations between men and women remain lopsided. In such a society, deep perversions arise and members of the species get the right to harm or exploit each other.

My mother said labor is a very painful process, and I understand that I gave her much pain (I should say “Trauma”) when I was born. I have often felt guilty about this. But it is not your fault, she said. The labor of love brought you into the world. I loved your father and you were born. With time, I grew up. I watched “The Blue Lagoon” with her. When I got my first menses, I was not scared. However, I still did not feel like the Complete Woman. I wanted to self-actualize…

I concluded that there is something called “Sex”, and that this thing is largely responsible for much of the imbalance in the gender power structure…

Actually, the sexuality that has been freed is male sexuality. Men are still controlling the world. Sex, reproduction, crime (e.g. rape) and hunger are very important issues and most of these issues affect women across the globe. We live in a perverted society and power relations between men and women are still lopsided. A society can progress only if its women progress and lopsided progress across the globe can have serious repercussions…

The human race has been gifted the ability to speak and express itself. Trees cannot. Dogs and cats cannot. Both constructive and destructive behaviors are in the hands of men and women. Promoting a more equitable power structure (and this goes for all castes, creeds and faiths) will help restore harmony to the world, allow for more constructive behavior and greatly reduce or even alleviate destructive behavior…

Is the English Dictionary to blame? It may seem so. Most of our current thinking on these issues largely conforms to our stereotyped notions of “Masculine” and “Feminine”. “Food for Thought” really?

“Recall a typical village situation in any of the states in Northern or Central India. The woman is in an advanced stage of pregnancy. She is going to be a mother for the fourth time in nine years and her youngest CHILD is just a year old. In fact, she did not want this pregnancy and did not know how to avoid it. She is pale and tires easily, yet she works at home and continues to help out in the fields to supplement her husband’s meager income as a landless agricultural worker. There is no one to help her. But once she is in labor, the people around call in the Dai (traditional birth attendant). The woman starts bleeding but the Dai is unable to cope with the situation. The woman needs to be taken where maternity care is available. This happens to be the district headquarters about 40 kilometers away. The health sub- center is nearer but does not have the necessary facility. Neighbors are ready to accompany her but transportation is difficult and the roads are bad. Along with the unborn CHILD, the mother faces grave risks…”

In developing countries, maternal mortality accounts for the largest or near largest proportion of deaths among women in their prime years.

To deliver or not to deliver under water is the dilemma: – The controversy is erupting again in the Western world. Should modern mothers deliver babies under water or go back to the safety and security of the delivery-bed in the conventional maternity ward? Let us examine the question in the light of one such experience.
Eia was born at the Black Sea. No, not at a Black Sea resort. She was born in the sea. Yes, in the sea. When she was born, she was affectionately blanketed by the warm waves of the sea from head to foot, just like a mother would wrap her baby in the warmth and motherhood of her own pulsating body.

MEG SOUTHERN in her discussion of LABOR AS A SEXUAL EVENT and in her role as a student midwife has written (and this is very important, because most deliveries in the rural and slum areas take place with the help of midwives, most have no access to hospitals): –
“Since I was a student midwife, I have assumed that labor is a sexual event, but recently I have been discussing, usually in the context of the debate about male midwives, and it has become evident that others do not see labor in this way. So I have begun to question what I really mean when I make this assertion.

My first experience of birth was of hearing my mother tell me how I was born. Her story was of pain; humiliation and a final need for surgery. Then I saw a number of television programs about birth. This was in the mid 1970s. I found these images of birth exciting and moving, but it was the emergence of the baby, which touched me. So I had no preconception of labor as a sexual act when I came to witness my first birth as a student midwife.

It was an entirely typical hospital birth of the time-the woman, disinhibited by pethidine, lay in the lithotomy position, pubis completely shaved, being enthusiastically exhorted to push with every contraction. In between contractions, she begged for her legs to be taken down from the stirrups (they were not, it was unthinkable). As the baby came closer to delivery her cries became more intense, and, after the birth, changed with dramatic speed to gasping, relieved acceptance as she repeated, ‘Oh Baby, Oh my baby’. The rhythm of her response to the contractions and the sudden release and change seemed orgasmic to me, though I accept that they may not have felt like that to the woman. But some women have reported feeling sexual arousal in labor, and Ina May Gaskin famously encourages women and their partners to ‘smooch’ to augment labor, advice reiterated by Caroline Flint. I have personal experience as midwife to a woman who, late in second stage, was begging the student midwife to masturbate her.
PREVIOUS SEXUAL EXPERIENCES OF A WOMAN (ANY WOMAN) ARE VERY IMPORTANT. Because if labor does not directly evoke sexual feeling in the woman, the process of CHILD-bearing must surely indirectly evoke sex. How are babies conceived? And how are they born? The reproductive organs are sexual organs and I do not believe that women can expose themselves and open up to give birth without making this connection.

The hormones of CHILD birth are sex hormones. Oxytocin, which we know is produced in response to nipple stimulation, causes the uterus to contract in orgasm as well as in labor and later in after pains.
The impact that this inevitable evocation of the sexual will have for women in labor will vary depending on her personal sexual experience. Some women’s experience of sex will have been invasive and traumatic as a result of sexual violation, incest or some other sexual abuse.
In general, women’s relationship with their sexuality is more complex than that of men for a combination of reasons – physical, psychological and social – it is comparatively common for women not to experience orgasm during sexual activity. Women’s experience of sexuality is influenced by a male dominated society through social norms which inhibit women, for instance, by encouraging girls to be quiet and passive, and allowing images which exploit the female body to sell products.

Women’s experiences in labor often further underline this distancing from their bodies. They are expected to give birth away from their own territory and surrounded by people, who, however caring, remain strangers. For a sensitized woman, the whole of labor, and particularly procedures such as vaginal examination, application of foetal monitor requiring immobility, and the sensations of birth, will evoke pain and trauma. Therefore, any woman would need safety and privacy.” It was heard at a Feminist convention: ‘I do not have to give birth to a CHILD from my uterus to love it. Do I? There are so many CHILDREN around. What’s stopping me from loving them?’

But giving birth is not the same as having a smear test. It is the beginning of what is probably the strongest relationship in any society – that of mother and CHILD.

I remember having watched a beautiful television series: ‘Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman’: a lady doctor in a rural environment (played by Jane Seymour) in which there is this very touching image of a lady doctor attending a cow giving birth. Male attendants aided the doctor. The emergence of the calf touched me. Such is the close, ‘touching’ bond between a mother and her CHILD that it crosses all barriers, including time.

So, what is a mother like? A famous primatologist has offered the definition of a mother: –
Sarah Blaffer Hrdy of the University of California at Davis writes: ‘Everybody knows what a good mother is. She is a lot like apple pie: firm on the outside, but soft, sweet, warm and bland within. A good mother gets pleasure from the comfort and pleasure of others. A good mother gets pleasure from being sliced, diced and eaten alive.

“We are worrying about global warming, the destruction of the rain forest, the ozone layer. But nobody is worrying about the future of Homo sapiens in terms of women, CHILDREN and day care issues. We really should. If we care about the future of the human race, and the future of the planet, this is the place to start,” Hrdy says.

As always, mother knows best.

Bajo mínimos


By: Harmo
Submitted: 09/30/2011

Mercé Gost is a visual artist. She is becoming old. And with no resources. But, even with this bad perspective, she is looking for inspiration and ways to express herself. The video explain in just few minutes how she found a very little, simple and poetic way to express herself... love is the gift to inspiration.

motherhood


By: jennifer
Submitted: 09/30/2011

My mother always loved me she is an angel who knows when iam in trouble who counsels me pray for me that is the gift she always give me.
LOVE YOU MOM

meditations/from the ash


By: Denise Kumani Gantt
Submitted: 09/30/2011

meditations/from the ash
an utterance with motion



























By Denise “Kumani” Gantt


Production History
meditations/from the ash was first produced as part of Baltimore Artscape Festival in July 1997 and was directed by Amini Courts. The play received a second production at Baltimore Theater Project in April 1998 with Rebecca Rice as director. A reading of a revised script was held in Philadelphia at the Performance Garage in May 2007. meditations received the Best New Play Award in 1997 from Artscape and was also voted Best New Play by the Baltimore Alternative in 1997.

Kumani Gantt’s plays and performance pieces also include anatomy/lessons selected as part of Penumbra Theater’s Cornerstone Project; angels & ancestors; and Communion produced in 2004 and 2006 by Horizons Theater. In 2003, her collection of poetry, conjuring the dead, was published by WordHouse Press and awarded the Maryland Emerging Writers Award by Pew Fellow Afaa Michael Weaver.

Note about the Production
The singing in the work can be done by a choir of 3 to 4 additional voices or by the Seraphs.

[The four Seraphs are located in different areas of the stage, in different actions. Seraph 2 is struggling with someone. Seraph 3 is engaged in a warm embrace. Seraph 1 is enraged and Seraph 4 is giving birth. All of the women’s faces are covered in transparent fabric, muttering to themselves (speaking in tongues). The sound crescendos as Seraph 4 finally gives the last screams of childbirth and rips the veil from her face]

Singers
(Begins with the drum that crescendos into a vocal “OM” from singers)


Seraph 4
It is said, it was our mother’s sadness that birthed the world,
that made the Nile bleed, that caused the trees to bloom from her solar plexus,
her longing,
that urged the rivers to burst forth from her breast,
that made the heaven and earth that caused the angels
to trumpet her cries, that blew wind into the hollows
as her children, fell one by one from her belly
like grains of sand burning toward Nirvana.

(beat)

It was her emptiness that created the world
that made her ache dark dreams into the hushed screams
of the multitude

Singers
(underscoring Seraph 4)

Oh, the water flows, the water flows through me
Oh, my children flow, my children flow through me
Oh my burdens, my burdens flow like the water
Oh my burdens, my burdens flow like the water

Seraph 4
I am the way
all must come through the darkness of this delta
no exception
I am alpha omega the beginning the end
the paradox enclosed between these dark and fertile thighs
all strong and gentle hearts must pass through these gates.

She was the great chasm.

From her belly she birthed everything, and when her womb
exploded, the emptiness poured onto the earth 7 oceans
thick with her lamentations

her sighs,

her moans

her tribulations

And we gave her 10,000 names:

Nyame, and Yemeya
Oya and Oshun
Kali Ma
Seshat, Quan Lin
Isis and Astarte
Momma

And when she finally flung us into the light
we learned the meaning of loss

to no longer be one, but to be many,

to be taken from inside our mother

and to be stolen to this world


Singers reprise
Let the waters flow through me, let the waters flow through me . . .


[Lights shift. Other Seraphs slowly rise while Seraph 4 is talking and end up huddled around her. Seraph 4 begins singing “Motherless child”, rocking her “imaginary” child to sleep. Seraph 2 moves downstage, hesitant.]

Seraph 2
I can still remember thinking when he slammed the door in my face
“Girl, this is the beginning of your life.”

When he left
All I could do was go on.

I didn’t really have a choice—
There wasn’t any point when I felt,
Yes,
I can crumble now–

You see for me,
cracking up was never an option.

So, like my mother,
And her mother,
And her mothers before her
All I knew how to do was to go on

[Seraph 4 stops singing]

I was seven months pregnant when he walked out.
He has never returned. No hesitation. No backward glances.

[Pause]


To hide my shame
(staring at belly)
I whispered sweet nothings
Worked —
Bought diapers and the little one piece outfits
Designed with lions,
and tigers,
and bears,
Oh my,
How I loved you from the beginning
Perhaps this is the only truth I’ll know,
A mother’s love,
all it’s imperfection.

So often, I pretended
just like my mother,
and her mother,
and her mothers before her,
that I didn’t need to deal with the dark places

I foolishly hid my anger behind smiles and indifference.

Forgot that I understood the sphinx,
and her famous riddle
[Seraph 2 whispers a mystery to the other women]

That once I knew how to fly,
that I soared for 10,000 years

That I knew how to dance
Shake my hips.
Press my hands against your skin

Recall the soft ,indelible impressions of flesh

[Pause]

But now, these fingertips have lost their finesse
All points of entry closed
My walls are well constructed.
I’m wounded. Damaged. Armed.
So like my mother,
and her mother,
and her mothers before her
I’m a pillar,
a willow flourishing alone

a stone

But unlike them, my knees shake on slippery ground
I’m praying for shade

Please god, no more illumination.


[Seraph 2 places her head in her hands. Seraph 1 removes her veil, gazes at Seraph 2 and begins.]

Seraph 1
And here I live with the consequences of our actions

[Seraph 1 shakes her head]

Single/motherhood has been,
How do they say–
A life-altering experience.
I’ve mutated, permutated, metastasized, changed.
Do you understand?

As you stroke your canvas, and make your paintings
That I, too, wake up in the morning
Sweaty with images, blood-soaked in my brain.
I still need to fill my well and tell my story,
No matter how many children drop from this tree or
Fill this belly

Your seed is not the be-all-end-all of existence!

I just want to know how you reckon this cognitive dissonance of living
and not seeing your child.

Unlike you,
I have no place to put my pictures because
I’m running so fast just to keep up
With the day to day actions of living and raising our child
That before I can grab all those beautiful images and place
them on my canvas—
They’ve begun to fade away

[sarcastic]
But I’m not bitter
Really, I’m not. . .
I wish I had such incredible powers of denial.

[Seraph 1 goes over to Seraph 2 and places her hands on her shoulder, looking off into the distance. Seraph 3 removes her veil.]

Seraph 3
And yes, sometimes denial brings certain gifts
Especially in the moonlight
In the dark
When its been way too long since you’ve been touched by
Another human body.
You lie next to your imperfect lover,
In the midst of rapture cross your fingers and pray,
Hope that maybe this one/this time might call you salvation
And no matter how hard you try to yank it from your soul
there’s always this melancholy,
that goes back further than the grave and placenta stew

(bluesy hum)

Seraph 4
Like when Billie or Bessie or Etta or Koko
Wraps her voice, husky
’Round a melody as ancient as Eve


(bluesy, ala Koko Taylor, I’m down at the insane asylum)

[ Other Seraphs sing a bluesy melody underscoring Seraph 4]

Talkin bout how this one did this,
and this one did that
and you know girl,
they can all be dogs
If you let them
But my man

Seraph 3
My man

Seraph 2
My man

Seraph 1
My man

Seraph 4
He sure do love me

Seraph 2
Blues women
Tellin it like it is
While swinging their hips
thunderous to the beat
of their own
pa
ti
cu
lar
kind ’o heat
hardy,
no bullshit
Tell your mama
Sadies in town
kinda language

Seraph 1
And as I listen to them crooning on my beatup CD player
I know the truth–

Seraph 3
I need to stay the hell away from you

Seraph 2
But I still wrap these lonely arms round your shoulders

Seraph 3
One more time
lay this body down
with a man
who acts like
comfort
but moves like shade

Seraph 2
And I know you’re nothing but trouble--
Bad medicine
But it feels so good
To have someone
Laying his melody on top of you

Seraph 3
So instead of getting
Down and correcting
my own bullshit
I slide on over for one
more fix. . .

(beat)

Seraph 1
In my memoirs I write–
orgasms are not love

Don’t be fooled next time. . . .

[TRANSITION. Lights shift . Vocal soundscape underscores the story]

Seraph 4
The baby’s eyes were damn near black. Just like hers. And the woman gazed at her daughter, amazed. The child, having screamed her way from heaven into the cold, sterile light of day grew quiet against her mother’s chest, calmed by the voice that had caressed her for 9 months. Together, they would note this day that would stand as a marker for all the rest. The child didn’t know that from this moment, in every pursuit, she would remember the time when she could breathe underneath water and would always be reaching back again, for that love, in every hand, she would be searching,

The woman didn’t notice her family and the nurses. There was only one small life in the room. All ten fingers and toes. No blemishes. No regret. . . yet. Years later, the mother would yearn for this day when the air held no shadows, when she was able to love the child with no conditions, no demands.

[BEAT]

Seraph 2
I still don’t know how I ended up here

Seraph 3
Do you remember how we use to talk ?

Seraph 1
Yeah girl

Seraph 4
Before we had children


Seraph 1
In darkened rooms

Seraph 3
Full of smoke

Seraph 1
our eyes bloodshot

Seraph 2
Red

Seraph 1
From puffing on too many cigarettes

Seraph 2
Kools

Seraph 3
Weed

Seraph 4
Espousing Nietzche

Seraph 3
Franz Fanon

Seraph 2
Saying our prayers to ‘zake

Seraph 3
For exposing our souls

Seraph 4
Our rainbows were never enuf

Seraph 2
We always spoke in compound sentences

Seraph 3
Our alliteration fatal. I could kill with words.

[Chatty, conversational]


Seraph 2
Last year,
I was at this dinner party
and everyone was talking about their latest reads,
of course I hadn’t read any of the books,
so I smiled slyly, sucked in my gut and said,
“Well, I just finished, Spot goes to the Circus. It was sublime .”

[seraphs laugh]

Seraph 1
Deadly how that dog
just kept running after
that ball

[Sarcastic]

Seraph 2
Well for me, the book examined the epistemology of the human spirit,
the red of the ball symbolizing the ontological angst of the post-modern symbolism

blah, blah blah.

[interrupts Seraph 2]

Seraph 3
I loved to banter with you
brilliant metaphors
trickling from my lips

Seraph 1
Hell, I knew how to have a good time. Hot buttered love just dripping off my lips. C’mon baby, I just want to whip it up and slap it down. Who’s your mama?

Seraph 3
What I need is a seven day kiss.

Seraph 4
Yes Lord.

Seraph 3
Long, enraptured, sensuous, complete.
Safely assumed, of course, with condom and spermicide in hand.

[very sarcastic]

Seraph 2
I’m too tired for that nonsense. What’s sex? I have a vague memory. It’s how you make a baby right?

[All seraphs look at Seraph 2 as if she has lost her mind]

Seraph 3
Well, I may be tired, and exhausted, and not as cute as I use to be in my preternatural, prematernal days, but I’m still waiting for my man.

Mmm hmm
That’s right, this is my birthright
I want -
no --
I demand that
my prince, my bashir, my beloved
Come to me -- right now.
No I’m serious. Right now. And I don’t think I’m being impatient about it. Hell, I’ve been waiting for years for this fine brother I’ve been conjuring to walk up into my space. I CAN SEE HIM RIGHT NOW, in my third eye. I’ve seen the Secret. O.K.

I’ve been saying my prayers every night, and informing god quite specifically of the kinds of lovers who do not need to pass this way again!

Are you stable? Are you sane? You know I don’t really want to ask (sheepishly), but do you have a job? No mother or grandmother fixations? Monogamous? Believe romance is more than plopping your behind on my futon, turning on the T.V. and ordering pizza. Carry no concealed weapons... or women.

No more crazies, control freaks, philanderers, sexual neophytes, or the self-involved!

Now.

[She closes her eyes reminiscent of Dorothy clicking her heals in The Wizard of Oz]

Gonna click these heels three times and I want the most sensitive, articulate, attractive, sensuous, evolved, single, employed, spiritual, imaginative, creative. . . did I get them all?

Seraph 2
non-paternalistic

Seraph 3
Right. Non-paternalistic. . . holistic brother to lay his soul up on me, and to send me the message through the movement of his hips. Plain and simple. I don’t need any rhetoric or politics, tonight. Just love.

[Seraph 3 shifts. The conversation is no longer so funny]

Little doses can feed me forever, a song sung off key in the shower. A hand outlining mine as I knead a loaf of bread. The smell of Egyptian musk on the nape of his neck. Oooh! entangled on a mattress doing crossword puzzles for hours . . .

I don’t need much. . .
but I need a little

[Seraph 3 pauses.]

For one moment love me like I love.

With patience,
passion,
forgiveness. . .
little expectation.

Seraph 1
But what are you going to do, Cinderella?
Whither and die if he doesn’t come
Be asleep forever under a dome of glass
just because you haven’t lived that particular fantasy?

I simply refuse to do that anymore

I have been abandoned
over and over again
left,
detached,
rejected.
Because I’m not this
and I’m not that
or I’m too much
or not enough
Too dark too white
or too large
or too small
FAT!
Indiscreet.
Inconsiderate.
A doormat

You have a big mouth
You can’t communicate
You’re shut off
Shut down
SHUT UP!

You care too much,
You’re irresponsible
Careless
Sexual,
Asexual,
Oversexed.

Can’t you stop being so demanding,
Controlling,
Out of control,
Condescending,
Arrogant
Smart
Stubborn,
Malleable,
Affectionate,
weak

Why are you so --
Independent
Co-dependent
Wimpy
Constrained
Clingy
Spiritual
Immoral
Stupid

JUST FUCKED UP!

I refuse to listen anymore.
Incongruities –
they’re ultimately what’s messing with me.

[TRANSITION. The women start singing a random collection of childhood and double-dutch songs. On screen appears the phrase, “this place full of sepia and gray”]

(music: down down baby)

[Evolves into a dance, by Seraph 4]

Seraph 3
When I was a little girl
I sat on my daddy’s lap
and he counted my toes
and we played pick up sticks
and sang in the car on the way home from nursery school
and we watched all of the Apollo launches on TV together at 7:00 o’clock
in the morning from Cape Canaveral
and my mother combed my hair and placed bright plastic barrettes in my braids,
and sometimes she would hold me so close
that for an instant I felt holy, sacred
I remember how sweet my daddy smelled,
a combination of old spice,
coffee, and tears.

Seraph 4
When I was 3
I fell down the steps of my grandmomma’s house
I had to get 20 stitches
I got a scar right here
on my third eye
helps me see better



Seraph 2
This is my first memory
I’m driving in the car with my mom and dad
they’re sitting in the front seat,
I’m sitting in the back,
with these big yellow cat eye glasses on.
Suddenly my eyes pop open
I realize, for the first time in my little life,
I’m not them . . .
. . .and they’re not me

Seraph 1
When that haint sat
by the edge of my bed and watched me
intently from the corner of her eyes
I stared right back at her
as if ghosts were as natural as rain

Seraph 4

[rises]

But as I grew into a woman
other things became more important

Seraph 2
The color of my skin
size of my hips
texture of my hair
shape of my lips
perkiness of my breasts
inches of my waist
These became the doctrines to live by

Seraph 3
Nothing made sense

Seraph 4
I couldn’t feel my myths

Seraph 2
My metaphors

Seraph 3
I sank into the earth

Seraph 1
And there in the darkness

Seraph 4
God said,
I’m always here
dancing with you

Seraph 2
Writhing in the garden
holding the serpent in her hands

Seraph 1
She showed us the apple,
and we ate greedily. . .
Adam never understood

Seraph 2
What it feels like to be dark, mysterious

Seraph 4
Listen, she said,
There’s no more time
to be silent,
Feel your wings exploding on air
Be the sphinx and share your famous riddle
dance

Know what I know

Seraph 4
So with my wings I began to crawl out of the earth

Seraph 1
Ashes to ashes
dust to dust

Your life passed through me

Seraph 4
I had a child. I became a child
Felt the swell of my belly.
The dark, round fullness of myself.
I danced in the shadows, sang.
felt my vocal chords join
with the hollowed out sounds of the earth

Seraph 3
Listened.

Seraph 1
Intently.

Seraph 2
To the ground.

Seraph 4
Now I understand.

Seraph 1
Love is what I try to distill everything down to
Love, is my mantra
Even my anger,
My hope,
My lust unrequited,
is tainted with love
How can I be more than this
When this is all there is
Compelled to make the inside outside
To be consumed by the contradictions love defines.

Seraph 3
If we talk enough
If our lies are filled with
words that sound hypnotic
will this change the heart of what there is?
the truth,
wake up!


Seraph 1
To love is all I know
but to love you my child
requires more. Will I ever show you
what is essential-
what is the sacrifice?

Seraph 3
I just want you to know why I have this insatiable need to fly.

Seraph 1
And I will go through this darkness
walk on hot coals
pirouette
deftly
by the edge of a cliff
this is what I have been dreaming of
to be fearless
and close to you

Seraph 3
I’m stretching my hands out,
yearning to be within your nakedness.
Touch me.

All seraphs
[whisper]
Touch me
touch me
touch me

me touch

[TRANSITION . On screen appears the phrase, “infinitesimal spaces”]

Seraph 4

I want to caress another soul.
[Seraph 4 starts to move]

Dance these hips to freedom. Place my lips on your soft and
ever present eccentricities. Feel your endless body wrap itself ‘round me
drift through your ripples and tears. Drink.
Be fearless. Full. Content.
Your love trickling over my flesh.

Seraph 1
But I’ve been betrayed by lovers
who don’t speak the language.
In the darkness they whisper that I’m beautiful
in the moonlight they moan. . .

Seraph 2,3,4
Let me be inside you one more time

Seraph 1
This is how they say, I love you

Seraph 2,3,4
Let me be inside you one more time

Seraph 1
And for a moment I actually believe them --
I even think they love like we do

Deliberate, lusty, full.

Seraph 2
WRONG!

Seraph 3
Now, I’m growing serpents in my hair.
I can turn any man’s love to stone
Look beyond my veils
to see,
a woman taming snakes for a living.

Seraph 1
[very broad and exaggerated]
That’s right.
I’m Medusa
I’m not even goin to be metaphorical about it!
I’m a man-hating, ball-breaking, intimidating, emasculating, scintillating,
ain’t-taking-no-bullshit, sapphire, cold-as-ice, turning-to-stone, tired-of-the-rat- race kind of sister.
I eat wimpy-assed men like you for a midday snack.
I’m not trying to be mother earth–
Got it!
I’m not your mother
or your sister
I’m not even your brother!

[Laughs sardonically]

That’s what you would like to believe at least
Rationalizes all of your trifling behavior
and then we don’t have to deal with what’s really going on.

[beat]

If I let go of my anger,
what will I have?

And if I take my armor off
who’s to guarantee
you won’t punch a few more holes
in my heart?

Seraph 3
Don’t you understand?
that tiny compartment in your left ventricle
that spot where you placed your love for me
was not enough.

How did you ever think that such a small space could contain me?

Why did I think I would be content living
in infinitesimal spaces?

[TRANSITION]

Seraph 2
I keep telling myself,
too much pressure makes a diamond,
right?

And I remember my grandmothers,
Blues women –
Leather-skinned sisters sitting in rocking chairs schooling me about the world.
Even if their tongues were a little scorched, they loved me.
And told me I was smart, and wiser than my years.
When I was a little girl I would sit with all these women,
My Aunts:
Annie, Lillian, Mary, and Grace
Grandma Taylor, my mother, sometimes Cousin Cheryl,
for Sunday dinner on Wednesday, promptly served at noon.
Turkey and greens and ham. Sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, apple pie.
Every Wednesday I listened like a voyeur to their conversations. Stared at a pallet so rich,
from the buttermilk of Aunt Annie
to the dark chocolate brown of my mother.
And mused
How did all these wonders get here?

Seraph 1
(sarcastic)
But were they lonely?
After putting their babies to sleep, ironing their clothes for the next day, watching a little TV, did they secretly cry at night?

Seraph 4
People sing the blues for a reason

Seraph 3
Did anyone topple the walls they erected for survival?

Seraph 1
Walls of flesh, acid tongues.

Seraph 2
Did anyone see their tears?

Seraph 1
Listen to their rage as they waited at the bus stop or talked about washing white women’s clothes.

Seraph2
After a day on their feet
Did anybody say,
Baby, I know you’re tired. Let me give you a hand.

Seraph 4
Wash your hair

Seraph 3
Scrub your back

Seraph 4
Make you dinner

Seraph 1
Did anyone ever out survive them?

Seraph 2
Were all their lovers crazy, or just unable to understand the concept of fidelity?

Seraph 3
Or did they just need somebody every now and then to ward off starvation?


[Dreamlike for all the seraphs. Delicious memories of sex]


Seraph 1
Did anyone lay next to them
in their dark and lonely rooms
weave tales about the edge of the universe

Rolled up next to them talkin about quasars and pulsars and black holes
Quantum mechanics and the multiverse. . .

Seraph 3
Kiss them hungrily on the mouth

Seraph 4
No language
But the vocabulary of bodies

Seraph 3
Locked inside each other

Seraph 1
The pressure of skin

Seraph 4
Dreaming of common denominators

Seraph 2
But no one came.

Even after a multitude of prayers. Petitions. Proposed bribes. Why are so many black women by themselves. At church. At work. In the supermarket. With their kids. Yes we’re strong, but does that mean we can never be soft? Is our only recourse to become a handmaid of the Lord. Screaming thank you Jesus. And hallelujah Jesus. And Jesus you are my salvation.

But Jesus can’t fill my bed tonight.

[Moves into a dance where the Seraphs are constantly entwined and moving between each other]

Seraph 2
when did it begin

Seraph 1
I don’t remember

Seraph 4
when I crawled from underneath the earth

Seraph 2
when I began to feel full

Seraph 3
filled up

Seraph 4
free

Seraph 2
when the world become my world


Seraph 3
and the struggle to find my voice

Seraph 1
vocal cords unearthed

Seraph 3
was no longer a struggle

Seraph 1
the echo of my dismembered heart raging

Seraph 4
all of me adrift, walking on a path of pink and purple pebbles

Seraph 2
almost floating

Seraph 3
dancing in air

Seraph 4
becoming more of myself than myself

Seraph 2
I don’t remember when I found myself sitting

Seraph 3
sitting at the table, at the feast

Seraph 1
always full

Seraph 2
never hungry

Seraph 1
never wanting

Seraph 2
quenched

Seraph 1
filled up

Seraph 3
satisfied

Seraph 2
satiated

Seraph 4
supremely happy

Seraph 1
no longer alone

Seraph 2
I had become so tired
of being alone

Seraph 1
the crone standing on the edge of a cliff, staff in hand

Seraph 2
owl by her shoulder

Seraph 4
desperate to tell the secrets

Seraph 1
so strong

Seraph 3
yet lonely

Seraph 2
Staring at the sky,
and lingering

Seraph 3
I was scattered electrons on a graying plane


Seraph 2
was it you who gave me back my name?

Seraph 1
my daughter, my sister, my child, was it you
who filled my well,
your laughter shaking my tears away?

Seraph 3
what can I tell you, daughter, as I
rock you to sleep

Seraph 4
My arms round and sweltering

Seraph 2
“how did you find god, mommy?”

Seraph 1
in between that hollow, dull ache in the corner of my heart

seraph 4
when I looked into the serene darkness of your eyes

Seraph 2
“when did you begin to see?”

Seraph 1
when I was tired and hungry and desperate,

Seraph 3
when I felt you deep within my insides

Seraph 2
“where did you find the strength?”

Seraph 1
inside deep dark, blue places

Seraph 3
within your tiny, powerful hands

Seraph 2
“how did you sing?”

Seraph 3
I don’t remember songs anymore

Seraph 1
I was born azure, dark like coal, cerulean

Seraph 3
demons knew my name

Seraph 2
I was in my bed, tearful

Seraph 4
praying to god, underneath the covers

Seraph 2
through clenched hands

Seraph 1
I’m so tired

Seraph 2
tired

Seraph 3
tired

Seraph 2
do you hear me down here?

Seraph 1
do you hear me ---

Seraph 4
and I felt a hand

Seraph 2
after years of struggling in the dirt

Seraph 1
a hand wiping away the ashes

Seraph 2
a hand on my heart

Seraph 3
wiping away the tears

Seraph 2
fragile like mine

Seraph 4
so I could see me

Seraph 3
she took away the veil

Seraph 2
so I could see me

Seraph 3
I don’t remember

Seraph 1
when I began to feel

Seraph 3
your words indenting themselves on my
soul

Seraph 4
love

Seraph 1
I love you

Seraph 2
I love you mommy

Seraph 4
be love

Seraph 3
make yourself known
say your name

Seraph 2
over and over again

Seraph 4
my mantra,
my prayer

Seraph 3
I am

Seraph 4
dare to say it

Seraph 3
the I am

Seraph 1
I am love

Seraph 4
become more you than you

Seraph 1
human

Seraph 3
whole

Seraph 2
essential

Seraph 1
complete

Seraph 3
when did it begin?

Seraph 1
I don’t remember anymore
its like a dream
all I knew was sadness, parts of me reaching for
love
the sadness would consume me

Seraph 3
I became the sadness

Seraph 2
I was sad

Seraph 1
so sad

Seraph 2
the sadness was my malady

Seraph 4
J’avais mal

Seraph 3
Why did this happen?

Seraph 4
Why do you hate me?

Seraph 3
I became so crazy down here

Seraph 1
inside the sanity

Seraph 2
insane

Seraph 3
dance fast girl

Seraph 2
make quick feet

Seraph 1
I’m scared

Seraph 3
am I like everyone else?
slow. Methodical. Mediocre.

Seraph 4
forgetting everything I’ve learned

Seraph 3
did it begin with you

Seraph 2
dancing inside my belly

Seraph 1
my daughter, saying my name

Seraph 2
reminding me

Seraph 4
to breathe

Seraph 1
you’re everything, complete,

Seraph 4
nothing

Seraph 2
now

Seraph 4
breathe

Seraph 2
I don’t remember anymore
when did I no longer feel

Seraph 3
agitated

Seraph 1
satiated

Seraph 3
quenched

Seraph 2
I’m dancing now

Seraph 1
dance fast girl

Seraph 3
but I can’t remember anymore

Seraph 2
keep up

Seraph 1
but I don’t remember,
I don’t remember anything anymore

Seraph 2
when did I begin to feel free

Seraph 1
filled up

Seraph 4
breathe

[The Seraphs all take a deep breath, sink in and transition, they depart as singers sing, beat]

Singers

I want to die easy
I wanna die easy
I wanna die easy
When I die

PART II

[On screen, “full understanding of our carnal knowledge” Each Seraph enters sharing a different poem about making love.]

Seraph 4
[Seraph 4 enters on stage alone]

Today, the sun straddles evening just enough
so the light makes you young in the orange flames,
my first love rising to greet you.
Tongue tied –
I slip into the dusk-filled air,
imagine this will be the night when your large
arms float against my blue skin
and I drown inside your holy waters.
My mouth a million rivers
waiting to be uncultivated.
I come with fire,
but you, you are the caldron of all things—
no end to your thighs. Or the sickle
alighted above my head,
the Mystery stanchioned
inside you a thousand water lilies—
each consecrated and named.

let me be inside you one more time


[Seraph 1 enters.]


Seraph 1
In love’s coil, all is veiled with tenderness
and heat. I am blood and ice,
rise to greet him
bold, then bowed,
renewed by terror.

Only his thumbprints smudge my name.

This man a constant coming. A broken vessel.
I fill the cracks, an offering, to lead
him into temptation. With thunderclaps,
he caresses my thighs, then climbs
inside the altar that birthed him.
I ache for his 10,000 recitations of skin,
taste the honey cakes twisted in his mouth.
He sings from Sappho’s sweet lyre.
I blow the reed. Together, we ignite a lamplight
with our dark oil, make a tender bed by the olive
groves. Our copper body a tangled obelisk,
lingering in azure waters.

Come to me Eros, shoot me with Your bow.
I am Psyche overflowing from Vesuvius
ready to be lifted by your exquisite wing.


Seraph 3
You are the soul I am seeking,
a dangerous
rendezvous upon us, my mysterious
and eternal friend.

Come to me naked and already satisfied
I am the cloud that names you rain. Come.

A spinster cocooned,
waiting for butterfly kingdoms,
last night you woke me from my sleep.

Your eyes a mist-filled mountain, a waterfall,
a wanderer unable to find this playground.
The wind. Elusive. Someone else's lover.

I feel you like a body knows its limb
See you as shadow in sleep
your residue shakes the light down
our body the revelation and the amen

Let me smoke you in my dream

not for salvation,
or even sweat

it is verification I am seeking

in this love that has stalked me for 12 billion years.



[TRANSITION. on the screen “felt the zygote spinning. . . .” music underscores]

Seraph 2
O.K. everybody. This is how it went down.

[Seraphs begin to do an exaggerated rap personifying the guys]

Seraph 4
I was born a seven,
age of Aquarius
spiritual,
intellectual,
the most sacred of number -- perfection --
air
seven vials for the seven plagues
seven deadly sins
seven brides for seven brothers
Matthew chapter 7 verse 7
ask, and it shall be given to you,
seek and ye shall find
knock and it shall be opened up unto you

7 words Jesus spoke from the cross,
My god, why have you forsaken me

Seraph 2
I knew I was pregnant
I know exactly when it happened
a Sunday night in Baltimore,
Easter weekend --
rebirth
beginnings
regeneration
7 kinds of things
and you were saying

Seraph 1,3,4
I want to feel you

Seraph 2
and we were getting married in a few months any ways

Seraph 1,3,4
c’mon baby

Seraph 2
and I didn’t want anything between us

Seraph 1,3,4
let me be inside you one more time

Seraph 2
and I said “O.K.”:
and that was that.

when you left
I sat on my bed,
looked out the window and knew something was
different,
I could feel the zygote spinning
and splitting again

Seraph 1
[underscores Seraph 2]
2 makes 4 makes 8 makes 16 makes 32 makes 64
makes 128 makes 256 makes 512 makes 1024 makes 2048 makes 4096

Seraph 2
I was scared
but I was going to make this work.

Seraph 4
breathe

Seraph 2
[turns into a fight between a man and a woman]
I thought you wanted this baby

Seraph 4
[as a man]
pregnant

Seraph 3
[as a man]
prison. a baby will tie you down

Seraph 1
[as a man]
are you ready for this?

Seraph 2
I don’t know?
how can I know
what it feels like to
hold this being inside me
to feel it
swimming inside

I don’t know
if I’ll ever be ready


[Seraph 2 rolls her eyes]
Seraph 1
[as a man]
Look --
a child’s pressure
I’m an artist and I need the time
to create and I’m sorry but a child’s
a distraction
I love you
but I can’t love you and paint at the same time
and be a father
I don’t know what I want
but to have your life not be your own
to be someone else’s lifeline
no, uh uh, I don’t want this

Seraph 2
There was regret in your voice
You made some point about being a man.
You were going to do the right thing.
move back to Baltimore

When you returned you withdrew from my hugs
I withdrew too. I had to protect the baby. So I just chose not to feel.
I couldn’t hold your hand,
It was the hand that had trapped you

Seraph 4
[as a man]
No, uh, uh, I’m not ready for this

Seraph 2
you complained
my belly grew bigger
I became nauseous
cried
I was tired
in denial
Ate too much. You became depressed
We fought
my language lost its metaphors
nothing made sense
you became reticent,
I was shrill
you said you couldn’t love me
and paint at the same time

One night I yelled:
be here now
or get out!

you left

Seraph 3
no backward glances

Seraph 2
turned the corner

Seraph 1
I thought you would call my bluff
You never returned.


[All of the seraphs do a soft freeze as Seraph 4 gives an aside, lights shift.]


Singers

(humming)

Seraph 4
Years later, after the delivery room was a dim memory, she confronted the man who fathered her child. Her daughter cried one night that she wanted to meet her daddy, and the woman, hoping times had changed, phoned him saying, “Our baby turned 8 today. Black children need their fathers. Call.” Six months later, the man and the woman and the child found themselves in a stuffy, windowless room in child social services, a medical technician swabbing the inside of their cheeks. The woman wondered: can a father really be proved by DNA.

As the technician ran cotton through her mouth she looked at the child who looked just like her father except for those black eyes, and realized little had changed since Pharaoh had let her people go. She felt the tears of men raising children that were not their own rising against her cheeks, the fracture of families scattered on plantations, men tied to barnyard poles and used as studs, the violence of her legs parted eagerly by Massa.

Until that moment, she had thought slavery days were over.

The little girl, not believing her momma’s lie about why they were there, simply stared at the stranger.

Upon leaving she would remark, “Who was that man?”

[solemnly]

[TRANSITION. On the screen appears the phrase “PUSH. . .” Each seraph appears in a different phase of labor]
All seraphs
PUSH


Seraph 4
In the delivering room
I felt the hush of women around me touching the miracle
and the doctor
said
PUSH and
I PUSHed
and I there was this great
relief
and power
from PUSHing

seraphs 1,2,3
All must come through the darkness of this delta
no exceptions

Seraph 4
And the women
surrounded me. Ruth took charge, while my mother looked worried
and the doctor said
PUSH

PUSH

And I wanted to do was lift myself off the table and peer down
but everybody kept saying
PUSH
and I PUSHed. . .

when I finally tugged you from my belly,
you flew out
my stomach shrunk and the doctor
laid you on top of me
and you looked nothing like I had pictured you
and were perfect

that night
while they tested you in the nursery
I watched the sky
everything was crisp and clear
I was hungry
and the food was like manna
and the taste of juice trickling down my throat
was joy
and the music somberly playing in the background
was the message
and though I couldn’t
walk I could
see
everything
so clearly

[TRANSITION. Seraph 1 breaks the joyful mood]

Seraph 1
But I also wondered--
who makes a baby and walks away?
Even after all these years I still haven’t figured out
how you’ve been able to do it?

When she asks me about her daddy
all I can say is that sometimes mommies and daddies
can’t live together but you have a daddy and he loves you very much
And that use to work
but she’s older now. Last week she said my daddy hates me doesn’t he?
and what am I suppose to say -- yes he does? This is not her problem -- it’s yours.

I just want to know -- when did parenthood become optional?

This is my famous riddle
for the sphinx --
do you see?
this is why I’ve fallen down

[ TRANSITION. Seraphs 1,3,4 exit. Images appear on the screen of children. On the screen appears, going up, the up escalator]

Seraph 2
I was in Value City,
Eastpoint mall jammed on a Saturday
carrying her in my arms
our daughter asleep,
ragged
from too much bargain shopping
going up, the up escalator

I saw you, standing in the return line

you saw me

your dreads longer
but I immediately
knew your stance
the way your shoulders slouch
and you jut out your chin as if to protect
yourself against the world
and here I was in Value City
going up, the up escalator
with our daughter in my arms
and there you were
on the ground standing in the return line
the first time you had seen your child so close
yes, your daughter, your child,
you.
hard to think in those terms, huh
but denial doesn’t change shit

Why did you listen to everyone else but me
your momma asking
is the child yours. . .are you sure?
how can you be sure?
you know a man can never be sure
you don’t owe that girl nothin’

When I saw you as I was going up, the up escalator
all I could hear were those questions
I felt something pure unadulterated, unfiltered, boiling inside me

I wasn’t thinking as
I was tripping up the up escalator
in an instant I planned your retribution
I remembered all the times when I simply needed some help
or some money
a hand

but nothing..... nothing.

what if I had decided to simply leave, Hmm? Hmm?
where would the child be now?

but see for me
cracking up was never
an option

so,
I wasn’t thinking as
I was tripping up
the up escalator,
acting only on impulse
and I held my daughter
high against my chest
and said

take a look
take a look,
a look at your daughter
the child you help to create
creation in my arms.

[Screams]

Go ahead, paint --

[Seraph 2 crumbles]

[ TRANSITION. Seraoh 2 breaks down. Seraph 3 enters. On the screen appears, “Deal with me now. Deal with me later. The following is a dance prayer, perhaps chanted to Seraph 2.]


Seraph 1
[very distant, like a goddess]

Why is it that when men search for meaning
they run from us?
don’t you know who we are?

[outlines her body]

Sacred envoys of Eros
Oshun, Oya, Yemeja drink from these veins
don’t you wanna find your salvation in these hips?

yes, I’m as muddy as the Mississippi
kali-ma swirls naked in my heart,
the fire in this yoni
can kill you
if I let it,
sometimes, you have to burn on this funeral pyre
to breathe

but if you let me love you,
I will hold you in the sacredness of this womb . . .forever

why don’t you give it up
to the infinity of this void
here is where all your transgressions can be forgiven
I’m the sacrament and the sacrifice
and you can swallow the sweet nectar of this shade tree
but you better give me everything
even your skin

don’t be afraid now
fire purifies

I’m your other whole
the eternity that completes you
no matter how hard you try to avoid this
you can’t
you’re gonna deal with me now
or deal with me later

so come to momma. . .

Don’t be afraid.

I won’t poison you with another apple.
we all know Eve was framed,
and Sehkmet was the original mother, anyway
in the darkness I utter all the names of my angry,
angry sisters,
we’ve been quite for too long
ashamed for too long
frightened of our blood and our sex

So, I scream for you mother
Lupa
and Mammu
Hymen
and Nemesis, Maat
Shakti
Zenobia
Mensa
Momma

What is it about this body that scares the hell out of you?


(nonverbal singing underscores)

Seraph 3

When my daughter was two, I had a nightmare. I was by a glowing, purple river in the grass with her father. As we danced by the riverbank all he said was open wider. When I fell into his body, his voice was clear, open wider. . . . So in an effort to affirm my love, to keep my man, I unpeeled myself until I was barren. Finally satisfied, he crawled inside and disappeared.

In that dream, I sat a long time by that river wondering where he had gone. So much of me departed with him. My tibia, hemoglobin, right ear lobe. Ambition. Dreams. The left corner of my neck.

[For a moment Seraph 2 revels in the sweet memories of her lover.]

But I prayed and prayed and prayed. Eventually, god arrived, late, but on time. She, a dark angel, who looked remarkably like me. Just better. Sexier. Happy. Thin. She crawled inside me too -- but instead of trying to rip me open, simply said – Grow. Bloom. Receive. My belly changed shapes. My nipples darkened, and my skin changed colors. All I wanted to do was to eat the dirt and grass around me. And I was happy.

Yet, when my daughter came into the world the umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around her neck. Indeed, she was born blue, too.

[pause]
Seraph 2
Later, the dream went from vivid color to black and white. I couldn’t deal. I felt caged in by my daily routine. At the end of the day, there was nothing left, to open or unpeel or reveal. I was tired. I went back to that river. Built a fire of hot coals and placed my baby on it. I blamed her for everything. For my inability to love. Or dream. Or be whole. I tried to make her the sacrifice.

But she refused to burn.

On her funeral pyre she looked up at me, her eyes, wet, her smile indented all the way up to her earlobes and simply whispered,
Its OK mommy
Its OK
We all fall down sometimes.
What matters is how we get up

[All Seraphs go into a soft freeze, lights focus on Seraph 2, a direct address to the audience. Time has passed]

Seraph 2
An EPILOGUE of sorts . . . for now.

Last night, the child tells me, that her father,
is writing a letter. A letter of apology. To me.
She moved in with him when she was 18; he
kicked her out when she turned 20.

(reflective)

Times change. Remain the same. Apologies.

Who knew it would take years for this phoenix to bury
the dead and finally raise her wings toward heaven.
The child is nearly 22 now, becoming her own Phoenix
wings fluttering against her shoulders
in their distinctly red flame. How she rages down the stairs
with her own heart birthed differently than mine
a fire child, insisting on touch, while I still finger the embers
wounded by the weapons I hid underneath the mattress,
and the violence of my father, and his father and his father before him.

But I would not be a poet, if I had
not become a mother, so even here I share a secret
to unhook a desperate man’s heart
we must seek out children’s forgiveness
before we can demand their love.

Children need their fathers. Call.

Now the ashes have lost their glow, and like other mothers,
I want my child to avoid all that made me tumble.

So I leap. I burn. I fly.

Last night I told her there could be no better
child for me, this hungry butterfly demanding flight.
A meeker soul would have withered in my self-absorption,
but god blessed me with a fury. And soon,
like all those mothers before me, I will be Demeter,
wild haired and waiting, waiting for Hades to snatch
my woman child to the underworld,
and then she will understand all these women/secrets,
why we cry so, and we stare at the moon
as we hiss dark dreams each month our bodies drain
the blood intended for a child.



[Singers, begin to hum a nonverbal lullaby. During the following speech all of the seraphs are moving back to their original positions at the top of the show]

All Seraphs
I am the way,
all must come through the darkness of
this delta

no exceptions
I am
alpha
omega
the beginning, the end
the paradox
enclosed between these
soft and fertile thighs,
all strong and gentle hearts
must pass through these gates.

[joyous]

dive in
the WA
ters cool.

[Their children pass through them. They hold them up to the sky,
whisper. . . ]

All Seraphs
PER. . . MU. .. .TA. . . TIONS

BirthMarkings


By: Margaret Lazarus
Other authors: Camera/Editor Sarah Ledoux Producer/Editor Renner Wunderlich
Submitted: 09/30/2011

Twelve women show us their post birth bodies. They tell us about them with love, ambivalence and understanding. The relationship between nature, time and the body of a women who has given birth is explored.

Protective Custody: Within a Prison Nursery


By: Cheryl Hanna-Truscott
Submitted: 09/30/2011

I believe being pregnant and incarcerated is just about as vulnerable as it gets. Prison nursery programs accommodating the special needs of pregnant, incarcerated women are few in our nation. Washington Corrections Center for Women created the Residential Parenting Program in 1999 allowing select, non-violent, pregnant inmates with relatively short sentences to maintain custody of their babies after giving birth. The mother-baby pair shares a room, supported by volunteer doulas, inmate caregivers, and an Early Head Start program. Conditions for healthy maternal-infant attachment are provided in a safe, enriched environment: protective custody.

PROTECTIVE CUSTODY: Within a Prison Nursery has been a natural outgrowth of both professional and personal interests. I had been a practicing nurse-midwife before being recruited to perform medical evaluations of children who are victims of abuse. Empowerment of women, birth, and the critical importance of healthy newborn attachment are at the heart of midwifery. Working in the pediatric abuse clinic put me face-to-face with childhoods traumatized by domestic violence, addictions, neglect, and physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Such histories are risk factors for subsequent drug use and criminal behavior.

Most pregnant women entering prison are separated from their babies after giving birth. Or, from the infants' point of view, separated from their mothers for crimes they did not commit. These early years are critical for forming healthy attachment, the foundation of all aspects of a child's development. Healthy babies have a chance to grow into healthy adults. As Frederick Douglass said, "It is easier to build strong children, than to repair broken men."

There is a decreased recidivism rate from the women who have participated in the RPP, and preliminary findings from research done on two similar programs in New York shows that infants met all developmental mental and motor milestones within the prison setting. Continued support in the community after release is critical to solidify gains made during confinement. This is where any one of us can make a difference.

The women who qualify for the Residential Parenting Program realize what a gift they have been given: a place where they can begin to rethink their lives. I have had a deeply moving and thought-provoking experience working with these mothers who are consciously searching for a better way to live. They already know first-hand what the alternative is.


Cheryl Hanna-Truscott
http://protectivecustody.org/

Protective Custody: Within a Prison Nursery


By: Cheryl Hanna-Truscott
Submitted: 09/30/2011

I believe being pregnant and incarcerated is just about as vulnerable as it gets. Prison nursery programs accommodating the special needs of pregnant, incarcerated women are few in our nation. Washington Corrections Center for Women created the Residential Parenting Program in 1999 allowing select, non-violent, pregnant inmates with relatively short sentences to maintain custody of their babies after giving birth. The mother-baby pair shares a room, supported by volunteer doulas, inmate caregivers, and an Early Head Start program. Conditions for healthy maternal-infant attachment are provided in a safe, enriched environment: protective custody.

PROTECTIVE CUSTODY: Within a Prison Nursery has been a natural outgrowth of both professional and personal interests. I had been a practicing nurse-midwife before being recruited to perform medical evaluations of children who are victims of abuse. Empowerment of women, birth, and the critical importance of healthy newborn attachment are at the heart of midwifery. Working in the pediatric abuse clinic put me face-to-face with childhoods traumatized by domestic violence, addictions, neglect, and physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Such histories are risk factors for subsequent drug use and criminal behavior.

Most pregnant women entering prison are separated from their babies after giving birth. Or, from the infants' point of view, separated from their mothers for crimes they did not commit. These early years are critical for forming healthy attachment, the foundation of all aspects of a child's development. Healthy babies have a chance to grow into healthy adults. As Frederick Douglass said, "It is easier to build strong children, than to repair broken men."

There is a decreased recidivism rate from the women who have participated in the RPP, and preliminary findings from research done on two similar programs in New York shows that infants met all developmental mental and motor milestones within the prison setting. Continued support in the community after release is critical to solidify gains made during confinement. This is where any one of us can make a difference.

The women who qualify for the Residential Parenting Program realize what a gift they have been given: a place where they can begin to rethink their lives. I have had a deeply moving and thought-provoking experience working with these mothers who are consciously searching for a better way to live. They already know first-hand what the alternative is.


Cheryl Hanna-Truscott
http://protectivecustody.org/

Protective Custody: Within a Prison Nursery


By: Cheryl Hanna-Truscott
Submitted: 10/02/2011

I believe being pregnant and incarcerated is just about as vulnerable as it gets. Prison nursery programs accommodating the special needs of pregnant, incarcerated women are few in our nation. Washington Corrections Center for Women created the Residential Parenting Program in 1999 allowing select, non-violent, pregnant inmates with relatively short sentences to maintain custody of their babies after giving birth. The mother-baby pair shares a room, supported by volunteer doulas, inmate caregivers, and an Early Head Start program. Conditions for healthy maternal-infant attachment are provided in a safe, enriched environment: protective custody.

PROTECTIVE CUSTODY: Within a Prison Nursery has been a natural outgrowth of both professional and personal interests. I had been a practicing nurse-midwife before being recruited to perform medical evaluations of children who are victims of abuse. Empowerment of women, birth, and the critical importance of healthy newborn attachment are at the heart of midwifery. Working in the pediatric abuse clinic put me face-to-face with childhoods traumatized by domestic violence, addictions, neglect, and physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Such histories are risk factors for subsequent drug use and criminal behavior.

Most pregnant women entering prison are separated from their babies after giving birth. Or, from the infants' point of view, separated from their mothers for crimes they did not commit. These early years are critical for forming healthy attachment, the foundation of all aspects of a child's development. Healthy babies have a chance to grow into healthy adults. As Frederick Douglass said, "It is easier to build strong children, than to repair broken men."

There is a decreased recidivism rate from the women who have participated in the RPP, and preliminary findings from research done on two similar programs in New York shows that infants met all developmental mental and motor milestones within the prison setting. Continued support in the community after release is critical to solidify gains made during confinement. This is where any one of us can make a difference.

The women who qualify for the Residential Parenting Program realize what a gift they have been given: a place where they can begin to rethink their lives. I have had a deeply moving and thought-provoking experience working with these mothers who are consciously searching for a better way to live. They already know first-hand what the alternative is.


Cheryl Hanna-Truscott
http://protectivecustody.org/

Pink is for Monica


By: DK
Submitted: 10/03/2011

Since I just celebrated a five-year death anniversary, I thought it was time to make "Pink is for Monica."

You see, the first time I was pregnant, it didn't work out.

I lost a five-month old fetus. When I found out it was a girl, I named her Monica. I know she liked tomatoes, cucumbers, and Havarti cheese.

In my journal for Monica I wrote, "To be human is to falter, stand up, press on."

There is a lot more I could say, but I hope the video tells it better.

Supermom


By: Sari
Other authors: Sara Cohen - lyrics Sari Miller - music
Submitted: 10/04/2011

Sari Miller and Sara Cohen have been friends and songwriting partners since meeting in college in the 1980s. Now both mothers, Sari and Sara were inspired to write about the experience of motherhood. "Supermom" is a comedic take on a mother's impulse to try to get everything done perfectly and without breaking a sweat. Also, it is a comment on how mothers tend to use each other as a barometer to see how well we are doing.

Protective Custody: Within a Prison Nursery


By: Cheryl Hanna-Truscott
Submitted: 10/04/2011

I believe being pregnant and incarcerated is just about as vulnerable as it gets. Prison nursery programs accommodating the special needs of pregnant, incarcerated women are few in our nation. Washington Corrections Center for Women created the Residential Parenting Program in 1999 allowing select, non-violent, pregnant inmates with relatively short sentences to maintain custody of their babies after giving birth. The mother-baby pair shares a room, supported by volunteer doulas, inmate caregivers, and an Early Head Start program. Conditions for healthy maternal-infant attachment are provided in a safe, enriched environment: protective custody.

PROTECTIVE CUSTODY: Within a Prison Nursery has been a natural outgrowth of both professional and personal interests. I had been a practicing nurse-midwife before being recruited to perform medical evaluations of children who are victims of abuse. Empowerment of women, birth, and the critical importance of healthy newborn attachment are at the heart of midwifery. Working in the pediatric abuse clinic put me face-to-face with childhoods traumatized by domestic violence, addictions, neglect, and physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Such histories are risk factors for subsequent drug use and criminal behavior.

Most pregnant women entering prison are separated from their babies after giving birth. Or, from the infants' point of view, separated from their mothers for crimes they did not commit. These early years are critical for forming healthy attachment, the foundation of all aspects of a child's development. Healthy babies have a chance to grow into healthy adults. As Frederick Douglass said, "It is easier to build strong children, than to repair broken men."

There is a decreased recidivism rate from the women who have participated in the RPP, and preliminary findings from research done on two similar programs in New York shows that infants met all developmental mental and motor milestones within the prison setting. Continued support in the community after release is critical to solidify gains made during confinement. This is where any one of us can make a difference.

Cheryl Hanna-Truscott
http://protectivecustody.org

How Do You Tell Somebody That You're HIV+?


By: Hima B.
Submitted: 10/05/2011

HOW DO YOU TELL SOMEBODY THAT YOU'RE HIV+? follows a day in the life of Haneefa, a young African American woman from New Jersey, as she struggles to disclose her HIV+ status to the father of her daughter. As Haneefa travels to refill her AIDS medication & relates her fear in how her daughter will be impacted, she reflects on how her quality of life is sustained through Medicaid.

Altered State


By: LaDonna Witmer
Submitted: 10/05/2011

ALTERED STATE

This is not where it begins.

This is only where you start to notice
there is no going back. Everything
is already different.

And would I change it,
if I could?

Would I rearrange the molecules
and realign the stars
just to go on the way we always did?

It’s true I did not know
what I was getting into.
(No one does.)

And the fairy tales I’ve fabricated
will most certainly remain fictional.

I cannot predict our ever after.
But everywhere I go, you
are with me now.

And for this small fact alone,
I welcome revolution.

Altered State


By: LaDonna Witmer
Submitted: 10/05/2011

ALTERED STATE

This is not where it begins.

This is only where you start to notice
there is no going back. Everything
is already different.

And would I change it,
if I could?

Would I rearrange the molecules
and realign the stars
just to go on the way we always did?

It’s true I did not know
what I was getting into.
(No one does.)

And the fairy tales I’ve fabricated
will most certainly remain fictional.

I cannot predict our ever after.
But everywhere I go, you
are with me now.

And for this small fact alone,
I welcome revolution.

Altered State


By: LaDonna Witmer
Submitted: 10/05/2011

ALTERED STATE

This is not where it begins.

This is only where you start to notice
there is no going back. Everything
is already different.

And would I change it,
if I could?

Would I rearrange the molecules
and realign the stars
just to go on the way we always did?

It’s true I did not know
what I was getting into.
(No one does.)

And the fairy tales I’ve fabricated
will most certainly remain fictional.

I cannot predict our ever after.
But everywhere I go, you
are with me now.

And for this small fact alone,
I welcome revolution.

Women, our life givers...


By: Sikiliza
Submitted: 10/07/2011

“Women as life-givers”

I would like to reflect on the beauty, the radiance and resilience of women as life-givers. Many times, pregnant women find themselves sheltered and kept away; clothed or covered up. There is always a struggle with the changes in our bodies. We never get to see that this process does bring out a beautiful and unique part of our womanhood. My intention with these images is to show a bit of skin, a bit of curve, a bit of color and illustrate how in spite of radical changes in our bodies and form, we still hold immense beauty and presence, as any women should.

In Her Mother's Image


By: Cecilia Gaerlan
Submitted: 10/07/2011

In Her Mother’s Image by Cecilia Gaerlan, is the story of a mother and daughter, Consuelo and Chiquita, who are entangled in a web of longing and antipathy set amidst the chaos of World War II in the Philippines and thirty years later in 1971. The war is seen through the eyes of a headstrong eight-year-old child, Chiquita, who bears witness to an act of betrayal committed by her formidable mother, Consuelo. A betrayal that will be revisited thirty years later when Chiquita goes back to the land of her birth to face the source of her lifelong torment – her own mother.

In Her Mother's Image


By: Cecilia Gaerlan
Submitted: 10/07/2011

In Her Mother’s Image by Cecilia Gaerlan, is the story of a mother and daughter, Consuelo and Chiquita, who are entangled in a web of longing and antipathy set amidst the chaos of World War II in the Philippines and thirty years later in 1971. The war is seen through the eyes of a headstrong eight-year-old child, Chiquita, who bears witness to an act of betrayal committed by her formidable mother, Consuelo. A betrayal that will be revisited thirty years later when Chiquita goes back to the land of her birth to face the source of her lifelong torment – her own mother.

Piece of many pieces


By: Esther Solonka
Other authors: Diana Whitten of ford foundaion inernational, Ben Wolford of The columbus Dispatch
Submitted: 10/10/2011

I grew up in a small village in Kajiado District in Kenya on the African continent. I am the last daughter of the second wife of my father, Solonka ole Langa. My mother passed away when I was only seven years old, so I had to be moved to live with my stepmother who at that time was my father’s third wife. Life was never the same again; I became the subject of arguments between my father and my stepmother in his efforts of trying to protect me. Struggling in that situation/environment was very difficult in itself; it was even harder to get through primary school, but I did.
When I was in grade 8 my dad thought he had gone through enough battles with my stepmother in trying to protect me and, so, he thought that marrying me off could relieve him of the burden. I was to get married, at the age of 13, to a man I had never seen and who was over two and one-half times my age. Accompanying this proposed union was the requirement of female circumcision, a practice that helped motivate me to later pursue higher education so that I could help to change this part of my culture. I was saved from the marriage, but not from the circumcision, by Celina Wambui Muturi, the then principal of the Siakago School for girls, who came to my rescue.
Mrs. Muturi stated that she was influenced by a trip a group of principals had taken to the Magadi Soda Company in Kajiado. She saw a group of young Maasai girls who she thought should be going to school, but, who instead, were looking after animals in a field. She later said to me that she thought the following: “if I could educate one of them, maybe she can be a role model to the others”.
Being from a different tribe, it was very difficult for her to identify that specific girl of her vision; but she was a determined person and so, after much investigation and communication with a female friend in a nearby town, I was the fortunate pick for this educational offer. I had just completed the eighth grade and the marriage arrangements for me were in full gear; dowry was already paid, and only the official marriage ceremony remained. Miraculously, out of nowhere, came Mrs. Wambui to the rescue. She shared with my dad her vision and informed him that she was ready to pay my school fees for high school and give me a home to stay if he agreed to stop the marriage.
Mrs Muturi got me that age of a teenager with all the anger from my step mother that I had, it was not easy for her. But she became the mother I never had. She did not have kids of her own but yet she was that mother to me.
Today I m a mother of three girls and lessons i learned from Celina Wambui keeps me going.

Mother and Childn an Iconic Relationship


By: Claudette Dean
Submitted: 10/11/2011

The mother and child relationship is at the root of who we are as members of the human race and although that relationship now comes in many different packages, the word that comes to mind for me as an artist when I consider this dynamic is "iconic" and this is often reflected in the aesthetics of my paintings. In order to convey the idea of this relationship as inseperable from life itself, mother and child are always depicted as one solid figure and line and composition echoe the concept of the circle of life. In The Feminine Bond the connection between mother and daughter is explored while Precious Bond and Mother and Child Mosaic evoke the spiritual. Hearstring and My Little Treasure simply convey the sweetness and the tenderness of the bond.

Mother and Childn an Iconic Relationship


By: Claudette Dean
Submitted: 10/11/2011

The mother and child relationship is at the root of who we are as members of the human race and although that relationship now comes in many different packages, the word that comes to mind for me as an artist when I consider this dynamic is "iconic" and this is often reflected in the aesthetics of my paintings. In order to convey the idea of this relationship as inseperable from life itself, mother and child are always depicted as one solid figure and line and composition echoe the concept of the circle of life. In The Feminine Bond the connection between mother and daughter is explored while Precious Bond and Mother and Child Mosaic evoke the spiritual. Hearstring and My Little Treasure simply convey the sweetness and the tenderness of the bond.

Mother's Day for an Infertile Woman


By: Mara {A Blog About Love}
Submitted: 10/13/2011

Mother’s Day
May 8, 2011

I am happy to be able to speak on Mother's Day - one reason is I can stand and tell each one of you women how much I love you and admire you for all that you do. You really are women of God and I feel blessed that I get to associate with each of you and that we get to be in this together as we all try to be the best women we can be.

Also, I'm just personally happy that I could feel so at peace with speaking on Mother's Day & celebrating this day. You should know that this is significant for me! There were years when I did not enjoy this day and didn't even want to be near this building on Mother's Day as it was too sad for me to be around so many mothers, when I couldn't be one myself. But, because of some spiritual truths working so beautifully in my life, I am not the same woman that I was back then. And so, it is quite a miracle to me that I could speak to you today so willingly. I’m grateful that I can now celebrate this day, not because I am a mother, but because of what the desire for motherhood has done to my life.

Just like all of you moms who want to be the best you can be for your children, I do too. And I’ve had a long time to think about what it means to be a good mom and to be a good influence.

I’ve come to the conclusion that being at one with our Heavenly Father (& all his goodness) is the way I can become the kind of mother I want to be – it is the way to have the healthiest heart and mind, which I consider the greatest offering of love I could ever offer a child. About four years ago, for the first time ever, I finally decided to really try to be a woman of God and to try to be the kind of woman that I would want to be as a mother. This decision has changed my life more than any other decision I’ve ever made.

Being at one with our Heavenly Father includes so much – to have his heart and his mind means we must work to surrender our natural selves/ego. I didn’t always know how to do this. But I finally realized that it was more than just attending church, saying prayers or reading ancient scripture, as they are simply tools to help us accomplish something greater. Being at one with our Heavenly Father means having our heart aligned with His. It even means giving up the tendency to be full of fear, frustration, anger, selfishness, doubt, or worry in our day to day experiences (& even in our worst trials!) and instead - adopting His attributes of love, patience, kindness, forgiveness, hope & charity.

It is a huge sacrifice for most of us to give up our natural selves/ego! We feel entitled to suffer and worry and blame. But many years ago, I realized that it was a CHOICE I could make. If I wanted to, I could truly choose to align my ways with those of my Heavenly Father, and choose liberty. Or, I could conduct my life in the way my natural self (or ego) would and choose captivity and spiritual death by succumbing to negativities, fears, and anxieties (which I had previously been doing for years).


Prior to figuring this out, there were a few sources of great sadness in my life. I had already faced a couple of years of infertility, and my former husband began letting me know that he didn’t know if he wanted to be married any longer. At the time, I didn't realize this, but because I was reacting to my circumstances with sadness, fear & loss of hope, it was preventing me from being at one with Heavenly Father. But I began to realize that I was choosing that – my distance from God wasn’t just a result of my unfortunate circumstances, it was a result of how I chose to react to my circumstances. In the face of criticism, I was letting harsh words ruin my soul & self-worth. In the face of an uncertain marriage, I was letting my fear of losing my husband & being alone destroy my peace. In the face of infertility, I was letting the fear of not being able to conceive bring me remorse & loss of purpose. In the face of a life that was not what I had envisioned for myself, I felt so much sadness. I looked at other mothers' lives with envy. And I wondered how I could ever have meaning or purpose in my life if I didn’t have a husband and a family. For years, these reactions compounded and affected me so greatly that I did not feel the influence of God in my life and I certainly did not have peace & happiness deep within my soul. I did not even have the strength nor the energy to serve another, because I thought my plate was already “so full” and I was already spread so thin because of my own unfortunate circumstances.

BUT, I was blessed to have a wake-up call. A wise woman pointed out to me that if this was the way I chose to live my life, I would be teaching my children to live this way as well. She also pointed out to me that being a mother itself would bring a lot of trials, and if I couldn’t handle my trials now, how on earth would I be able to be the mother that I wanted to be?!? Once my eyes became open to the fact that I had the power to choose a better way to live, my long-time desire to be a good mother kicked in full force and I deliberately began practicing living in a better way. And I mean it when I say I practiced! I would actually look for little opportunities in my life where I could try to have the heart and mind of God & put this to the test. (I even prayed to have some of those opportunities come my way so I could try it out.) It didn’t come as naturally in the beginning, but little by little, I began conquering all that I had before me. If there was a reason for me to be deeply offended & hurt, I remained still and took no offense. If there was a reason for me to be angry, I responded with a heart full of love and compassion. If there was a reason for me to be impatient, I remained hopeful and calm. If there was a reason for me to blame, I had compassion for another's state of life and forgave with no conditions. If there was a reason to feel hopeless about my future & the loss of my marriage, I trusted that adversity could be for my greater good. If there was a reason to feel insecure or humiliated by being rejected by my husband or being newly divorced, I believed that it was my divine right to be full of confidence and worth as a daughter of God. If there was a reason to judge, I prayed for another’s weaknesses. And if there was a reason to feel sorry for myself & my circumstances, instead I actually felt grateful for the privilege of learning from this mortal experience, no matter how grim my life seemed. This time of my life was amazing & sanctifying. My existence had changed. And today I celebrate why this process began – it was because I wanted to be a good mother.

I believe that Heavenly Father has chosen women to carry out a great work. It is so much more than making meal after meal, providing clean laundry, and trying to put your little ones to sleep. The work that mothers do is divine. It is about teaching your children how to live and teaching them how to turn their hearts to our Heavenly Father.

Elder Jeffrey Holland said:

"Mothers, cherish that role that is so uniquely yours and for which heaven itself sends angels to watch over you and your little ones. Yours is the work of salvation and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are, better than you are and better than you ever have been."

We each have the divine right to this blessing – not only those who are mothers, but those who are preparing to become one. I have felt that blessing in my own life. And I believe that this blessing can be bestowed upon each and every one of us.

I am thankful for my own mother on this day, who in my darkest hour, was a woman of God. She was in tune to my needs before she even knew what they were. She instilled confidence in me that I could handle my trials with grace and strength. She was an example of love and forgiveness as the details of my divorce unfolded. She was an example of prayer, faith and fasting as she summoned the blessings of Heavenly Father on my behalf, that I would be able to start a new life with confidence. The blessings from my mother's example did not end when I left home. They have been been long lasting throughout my adult years.

In closing, Elder Jeffrey Holland said to Mothers:

"There is nothing more important in this world than participating so directly in the work and the glory of God. The very fact that you have been given such a responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust Heavenly Father has in you. He is blessing you and He will bless you - especially when your days and your nights may be the most challenging. Rely on Him...... and press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope."

I have spoken to you every bit of truth I can muster from my heart! I believe these things to be true and I believe that if we turn to Him and become at one with Him, our lives can be transformed and we can raise our children to carry on His banner.

Mother's Day for an Infertile Woman


By: Mara {A Blog About Love}
Submitted: 10/13/2011

Mother’s Day
May 8, 2011

I am happy to be able to speak on Mother's Day - one reason is I can stand and tell each one of you women how much I love you and admire you for all that you do. You really are women of God and I feel blessed that I get to associate with each of you and that we get to be in this together as we all try to be the best women we can be.

Also, I'm just personally happy that I could feel so at peace with speaking on Mother's Day & celebrating this day. You should know that this is significant for me! There were years when I did not enjoy this day and didn't even want to be near this building on Mother's Day as it was too sad for me to be around so many mothers, when I couldn't be one myself. But, because of some spiritual truths working so beautifully in my life, I am not the same woman that I was back then. And so, it is quite a miracle to me that I could speak to you today so willingly. I’m grateful that I can now celebrate this day, not because I am a mother, but because of what the desire for motherhood has done to my life.

Just like all of you moms who want to be the best you can be for your children, I do too. And I’ve had a long time to think about what it means to be a good mom and to be a good influence.

I’ve come to the conclusion that being at one with our Heavenly Father (& all his goodness) is the way I can become the kind of mother I want to be – it is the way to have the healthiest heart and mind, which I consider the greatest offering of love I could ever offer a child. About four years ago, for the first time ever, I finally decided to really try to be a woman of God and to try to be the kind of woman that I would want to be as a mother. This decision has changed my life more than any other decision I’ve ever made.

Being at one with our Heavenly Father includes so much – to have his heart and his mind means we must work to surrender our natural selves/ego. I didn’t always know how to do this. But I finally realized that it was more than just attending church, saying prayers or reading ancient scripture, as they are simply tools to help us accomplish something greater. Being at one with our Heavenly Father means having our heart aligned with His. It even means giving up the tendency to be full of fear, frustration, anger, selfishness, doubt, or worry in our day to day experiences (& even in our worst trials!) and instead - adopting His attributes of love, patience, kindness, forgiveness, hope & charity.

It is a huge sacrifice for most of us to give up our natural selves/ego! We feel entitled to suffer and worry and blame. But many years ago, I realized that it was a CHOICE I could make. If I wanted to, I could truly choose to align my ways with those of my Heavenly Father, and choose liberty. Or, I could conduct my life in the way my natural self (or ego) would and choose captivity and spiritual death by succumbing to negativities, fears, and anxieties (which I had previously been doing for years).


Prior to figuring this out, there were a few sources of great sadness in my life. I had already faced a couple of years of infertility, and my former husband began letting me know that he didn’t know if he wanted to be married any longer. At the time, I didn't realize this, but because I was reacting to my circumstances with sadness, fear & loss of hope, it was preventing me from being at one with Heavenly Father. But I began to realize that I was choosing that – my distance from God wasn’t just a result of my unfortunate circumstances, it was a result of how I chose to react to my circumstances. In the face of criticism, I was letting harsh words ruin my soul & self-worth. In the face of an uncertain marriage, I was letting my fear of losing my husband & being alone destroy my peace. In the face of infertility, I was letting the fear of not being able to conceive bring me remorse & loss of purpose. In the face of a life that was not what I had envisioned for myself, I felt so much sadness. I looked at other mothers' lives with envy. And I wondered how I could ever have meaning or purpose in my life if I didn’t have a husband and a family. For years, these reactions compounded and affected me so greatly that I did not feel the influence of God in my life and I certainly did not have peace & happiness deep within my soul. I did not even have the strength nor the energy to serve another, because I thought my plate was already “so full” and I was already spread so thin because of my own unfortunate circumstances.

BUT, I was blessed to have a wake-up call. A wise woman pointed out to me that if this was the way I chose to live my life, I would be teaching my children to live this way as well. She also pointed out to me that being a mother itself would bring a lot of trials, and if I couldn’t handle my trials now, how on earth would I be able to be the mother that I wanted to be?!? Once my eyes became open to the fact that I had the power to choose a better way to live, my long-time desire to be a good mother kicked in full force and I deliberately began practicing living in a better way. And I mean it when I say I practiced! I would actually look for little opportunities in my life where I could try to have the heart and mind of God & put this to the test. (I even prayed to have some of those opportunities come my way so I could try it out.) It didn’t come as naturally in the beginning, but little by little, I began conquering all that I had before me. If there was a reason for me to be deeply offended & hurt, I remained still and took no offense. If there was a reason for me to be angry, I responded with a heart full of love and compassion. If there was a reason for me to be impatient, I remained hopeful and calm. If there was a reason for me to blame, I had compassion for another's state of life and forgave with no conditions. If there was a reason to feel hopeless about my future & the loss of my marriage, I trusted that adversity could be for my greater good. If there was a reason to feel insecure or humiliated by being rejected by my husband or being newly divorced, I believed that it was my divine right to be full of confidence and worth as a daughter of God. If there was a reason to judge, I prayed for another’s weaknesses. And if there was a reason to feel sorry for myself & my circumstances, instead I actually felt grateful for the privilege of learning from this mortal experience, no matter how grim my life seemed. This time of my life was amazing & sanctifying. My existence had changed. And today I celebrate why this process began – it was because I wanted to be a good mother.

I believe that Heavenly Father has chosen women to carry out a great work. It is so much more than making meal after meal, providing clean laundry, and trying to put your little ones to sleep. The work that mothers do is divine. It is about teaching your children how to live and teaching them how to turn their hearts to our Heavenly Father.

Elder Jeffrey Holland said:

"Mothers, cherish that role that is so uniquely yours and for which heaven itself sends angels to watch over you and your little ones. Yours is the work of salvation and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are, better than you are and better than you ever have been."

We each have the divine right to this blessing – not only those who are mothers, but those who are preparing to become one. I have felt that blessing in my own life. And I believe that this blessing can be bestowed upon each and every one of us.

I am thankful for my own mother on this day, who in my darkest hour, was a woman of God. She was in tune to my needs before she even knew what they were. She instilled confidence in me that I could handle my trials with grace and strength. She was an example of love and forgiveness as the details of my divorce unfolded. She was an example of prayer, faith and fasting as she summoned the blessings of Heavenly Father on my behalf, that I would be able to start a new life with confidence. The blessings from my mother's example did not end when I left home. They have been been long lasting throughout my adult years.

In closing, Elder Jeffrey Holland said to Mothers:

"There is nothing more important in this world than participating so directly in the work and the glory of God. The very fact that you have been given such a responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust Heavenly Father has in you. He is blessing you and He will bless you - especially when your days and your nights may be the most challenging. Rely on Him...... and press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope."

I have spoken to you every bit of truth I can muster from my heart! I believe these things to be true and I believe that if we turn to Him and become at one with Him, our lives can be transformed and we can raise our children to carry on His banner.

Prophetess Prayer - Soared the Highest - Shine


By: Akua Kariamu
Submitted: 10/14/2011

My story is about recovery from living in a home and family clouded by domestic abuse, a community ridden with drugs, and a family patterned with secrets. I chose to follow my heart and do music and attempt to create a way to discuss my trauma of abusive relationships through music. The typical way in which black women have been socialized to deal with abuse is the reason so many of us have not been doing well and it continues. My hope is to inspire young women to seek out help no matter where they are in there lives and get help immediately before it is too late. Do not hold onto secrets.

Prophetess Prayer - Soared the Highest - Shine


By: Akua Kariamu
Submitted: 10/14/2011

My story is about recovery from living in a home and family clouded by domestic abuse, a community ridden with drugs, and a family patterned with secrets. I chose to follow my heart and do music and attempt to create a way to discuss my trauma of abusive relationships through music. The typical way in which black women have been socialized to deal with abuse is the reason so many of us have not been doing well and it continues. My hope is to inspire young women to seek out help no matter where they are in there lives and get help immediately before it is too late. Do not hold onto secrets.

"a married woman in front of the mediterranean


By: imren Tüzün
Submitted: 10/16/2011

“ a married woman in front of the mediterranean”


‘’In the cities one is sometimes too busy. And so one feels like rushing out to the countryside. One dreams to be in the nature, far away from the city, by the sea side, because this is where one finds the possibility to express one’s inner emotions.’’
Synopsis : Imren Tüzün

Faith


By: Alysha Coleman
Submitted: 10/25/2011

A digital painting inspired by my niece Faith. The photograph was taken while on an outing with her mother, and she looked so angelic in her white dress.

WONDERBRA


By: ALEJANDRA GUTIERREZ
Submitted: 10/25/2011

The Wonderbra
Throughout the ages, the female body has been revered as a work of art and beauty and as a source of life, from which human beings are born. The breast is one of the most predominant features of a woman and stands out as a symbol of womanliness and livelihood. Eroticism, nourishment, abundance, hunger, feminine power, as well as feminine subservience, are different contradicting themes that the breast played out in time.
From the binding of the breasts in male-dominated Ancient Greece, to the large breasts of the 1980's, the way society treats the breasts reflects the customs of society at the time.
From motherhood to women who choose to augment their breasts and do not want to feed their offspring, we find a gap caused by the media paradigm of being a woman nowadays. The global embodiment of beauty is the thin, muscular actress with unnaturally large breasts. And no matter how attractive they appear to others, many women feel they fall short, because body image is really the way we see our external appearance in our mind.
My proposal, “the Wonderbra” is named after the tradename for an underwired bra with side padding that is designed to uplift and add cleavage to breasts. That is why I chose this title for my art work, representing the intriguing values history holds regarding womanhood, throughout motherhood, implants, Virgins and contemporary Madonnas, all interlaced by the traditional needle work we women share throughout time and space.

WONDERBRA, by Alejandra Gutiérrez Moya


By: ALEJANDRA GUTIERREZ
Submitted: 10/25/2011

The Wonderbra
Throughout the ages, the female body has been revered as a work of art and beauty and as a source of life, from which human beings are born. The breast is one of the most predominant features of a woman and stands out as a symbol of womanliness and livelihood. Eroticism, nourishment, abundance, hunger, feminine power, as well as feminine subservience, are different contradicting themes that the breast played out in time.
From the binding of the breasts in male-dominated Ancient Greece, to the large breasts of the 1980's, the way society treats the breasts reflects the customs of society at the time.
From motherhood to women who choose to augment their breasts and do not want to feed their offspring, we find a gap caused by the media paradigm of being a woman nowadays. The global embodiment of beauty is the thin, muscular actress with unnaturally large breasts. And no matter how attractive they appear to others, many women feel they fall short, because body image is really the way we see our external appearance in our mind.
My proposal, “the Wonderbra” is named after the tradename for an underwired bra with side padding that is designed to uplift and add cleavage to breasts. That is why I chose this title for my art work, representing the intriguing values history holds regarding womanhood, throughout motherhood, implants, Virgins and contemporary Madonnas, all interlaced by the traditional needle work we women share throughout time and space.

Tragedia en Barrika.


By: Blanca Oraa
Submitted: 10/27/2011

A los 23 años ya había tenido tres hijos y me encontraba totalmente desamparada, sin ayuda y muy asustada porque desconocía lo que supone des madre.
Aun así, crié a mis hijos lo mejor posible porque les quería muchísimo.
;i matrimonio no funcionaba y me encontraba muy sola.
Cuando mis hijos tenían 7, 8 y 9 años, un día fuimos a la playa y el pequeño se ahogó.
prefiero no entrar en los detalles porque me revuelven demasiado.
Así que fuimos a la playa con 3 hijos y volvimos a casa con dos.
Aconsejada por un amigo sacerdote, me quedé embarazada y me separé.
Nació mi hijo pequeño que ha sido la alegria de mi vida y me ha dado una nieta muy especial que me ha reconciliado con la maternidad.

The Price Of Motherhood In The Wrong Jurisdiction For My Life!


By: Helen Oyekan
Submitted: 10/27/2011

My children are Annabel 25yrs girl & Andrew 21yrs. I never planned to have either, because the relationship I was in at the time was pretty much one sided. Like one day am renting a flat, the next the guy is separating me from my long term boyfriend and forcing a relationship with me, like becoming the phantom of my operatic. And the next marriage of convenience where he was never faithful to me, the next I was pregnant twice within seven years of the said failed marriage.

My first pregnancy ever led to me saying yes to a marriage of convenience when I should had run for dear life, but was too ill, having never been pregnant before at just over age 26yrs at the time. So going into motherhood was a whole new territory for me, I had helped baby sat every kid younger than me, when I was growing up and I come from a large family, but it is never the same until you become a mother yourself do you feel the real impact of motherhood.

To make life easier for myself, I joined the national child birth trust in Ealing where I lived at the time, so I could connect and share easily and ask questions outside of the mid wife and health visitors that normally visits when one just became a mother.

So the national child birth trust was a very healthy club to join for any new mother and all mothers of infants and toddlers as a whole. I helped touched every subjects, apart from socialising than be isolated on your own. We chat about hormonal issues, breast feeding our kids, developmental stages of our kids, food we eat and feed them and back to breast feeding, a most insightful club to join, it certainly helped me a great deal, I breastfed Annabel for eighteen months, although she walked at just eight months, and I breastfed Andrew for nine months and he too walked at just eight months and two weeks.

Shortly before I became pregnant with Andrew my ex had prostituted a lot and it had bothered me because all he slept with kept ringing me, whilst I looked after my daughter, I didn't want the guy, so I didn't care who slept with, but I also didn't like being bothered by his crew, his late parents respected and liked me was what kept me around him that long, it also hurt that once I put my daughter in nursery school, I was not getting jobs that I applied for and I used to be the apple of the eye of every job agents before his era in my life.

So that surely hurts, and most probably what helped fast track the divorce, apart from being forced into motherhood on my own my and my mother being refused entry visa to come visit me in London where she herself had me when she was a student. So that was not all that hurts, my youngest brother was also deported two weeks after I had my daughter for allegedly over staying his visa in the UK, all this hurts like hell cause he was not born in London as I was. I was literally going into labour when this happened to him and I took my first born child to go visit him in detention where they kept him before deporting him.

Raising kids on my own was something I had to do once everyone dear to me had either been deported for not being British like me or they are not given entry visa, for not being British like me, and since I was not getting jobs to have money, I could not fight for them, so I just concentrated on raising my two kids alone, especially after my divorce.

Now the most hurtful part of motherhood for me was not only at the beginning, when racial apartheid was being used to get rid of everyone dear to me, from my mum to my brother, but also in my divorce when sides were being taken against me, to try and ruin my life and make both my kids spoils of racial war against my life.

The British life limiting human right abusers instigated my ex husband or he himself is just clearly mentally sick, cause he came to New York, where I had gone to restart my life to un-sit me and both my kids with war of lies he brought from England which was not funny at all, because I lost fifteen jobs in New York, during his war of lies litigation there for child custody, someone who had never taken care of both my kids more than two weeks on his own before, even then my brother and his girlfriend I sent to sit in for me that two weeks, I had to go home to sort out some housing issues pending my divorce at the time.

That one suddenly decided he can change his mind if he wishes from helping me as I left the UK with my kids in September 1994, and got on the plane to the USA to go restart my life, he can than do what he said he would bring our left luggage after paying for some excess luggage in 1994 and we still had a bag left, he promised to bring it over when he visits us in New York, to then randomly change his mind because we had limited funds my kids and I and begun a custody litigation, that led to me losing fifteen jobs in total and my kids being publicly embarrassed and I being humiliated repeatedly when I did nothing wrong, is insane suffer a mother who cannot randomly abandon her kids and run for dear life will suffer any day anywhere.

And even whilst my ex husband and his war of lies litigation for child custody failed outright from the family court in New York, to the Federal Supreme Court in New York, where the insane ex husband continued to insult the law department in the US telling them if that was UK they will gang up against Helen and make her life hell till she gives up on motherhood and the two kids she raised alone, but the American's will not agree with him to be abusive and instruct them to help abuse my human, civil constitutional right as a mother.

So he took the opportunity to attack me again in 1996, when my kids and I visited London and were staying at a temporary accommodation in Longford. he came there accusing me of child abduction again of my own two life children, when all his lies had failed in the USA. and that again when on for another over ten years from 1996 to 2006 in the UK, where every office again was being forced to put my name and life record under shadow of doubt, negatively wrongly judging me and rocking the cradle of both my two kids as they grew a very cruel crime to me and both my kids, assuming guilt for me and to me just because he is white and working and I keep losing jobs, every time I am wrongly accused by the most wicked man I divorced.


He had visitation rights and took my kids to all his friends house and even had my brother as an accomplice after the fact to help him hurt me, by being used as his support group than mine, because they prostitute together, and they felt am foolish for keeping my values when no one is actually helping me. This hurts my kids lives as they were growing, being given court papers litigation and court orders than birthday or Christmas present to be spoils of racial and financial war, and be challenged over love between them and the mother that gave up nearly twenty years of her life to care for them during this times.

It was tough on both my kids as well as on me, whose life was being literally ruin for motherhood purposes, the crime world and the whorish world become me to be free of the demonic ex husband and his evil world, but my making, my values, my origin and my blessings will not allow me go with the wrongs even for company and this made them mad for years and they spite me in totality, they got so fed up with me that they even bare false witness against me to show their spite, telling me to choose side, either go be your ex husband slave or join the wicked world, but neither is of any value to me, am used to one on one dating, and it also became clear anyone who likes me and wishes to embrace my life, but is not empowered to beat down the racial apartheid groups after my life and especially after my kids, does take their lives in their own hands and run the risks of being hurt, for favouring or trying to like who racist set an evil siege upon.

So motherhood for me was the most challenging era of my existence so far at least for the entirety of motherhood, became I encountered the saddest man in living history that every worker of iniquity, the underworld, the life limiters, the racist apartheid groups, the sadist and the haters of innocent lives all supports, they hated my uniqueness and abused every office, locally, nationally and internationally to make life almost impossible for both my kids and I, in between him snatching my kids from school to drive me insane.

No mother on earth can pretend this could be described as an easy motherhood ever! to have someone that was supposed to help you for wasting your time in life and career set back in life to have his own way with you, to live his dream and you in turn looked after with sincere dedication the kids that came out of the encounter and he set out to hurt and frighten both kids to death and threaten their lives throughout their childhood, whilst he and his family push you the mother aside for divorcing his hell on earth and related to your kids and made you watch, and people who never baby sat either of your kids once or helped when they were growing up bear false witness against you and photograph and eat with your kids in his company lie repeatedly as if there is no God, surely is a price of motherhood most challenging because you cannot lie you never had those two kids as your first two issues in life.

And after all said and done, even when the courts ask him to return the kids he kidnapped from school to you the mother who raised them, he still hounded them to every club, every school, every friend and put himself and his war between him and all this places and people causing mayhem he only life life for and a mother watching all this helplessly and mother being judged by everyone else saying damn her those kids are all she cared for, you tried to match make her with him, him and him and she wriggled out crying after her kids, but the lunatic knows how to get her by scattering her kids all over the place and using is criminal network allies to make her life hell from the housing association that housed her and the council to make sure even when kids grew a little and she went to university, they made her life hell even there and they never gave her the degree to merit her hard work, but a malicious result to ruin her life and show her who ever they take on, supposed to live in fear of them not keep progressing with her life whilst they block every part of progress f0r her.

So motherhood for me had been quite daunting and most challenging for the very fact that I was cheated, ill treated, shown racial apartheid war against me and both my kids who childhood cradle was rocked by the cruellest human right abusers using their English system of negative adversarial hate to torment me locally, nationally and internationally through it all, I was never given any child support legally for either of my kids, when the child support agency asked for it, my ex husband begun his war of lies litigation, telling social services he will wear her and her two kids out so much, money is the last thing on their mind to ever ask him to support those kids.

He also lied he was not giving her nothing so he can pay for the kids university when they grew up, but he never did, the financial demise position he puts me is what is being used to help complete the form of the boy that eventually went to university, the girl said she did not want to owe on student loan to had gone to university and he did not pay for her to had gone, even when many universities welcome her to study there.

I was never given any divorce settlement either, instead my ex husband reminded me of how much evil had had done to me and both my kids and told me to sign over to him the indemnity policy of every property in his name and mind joint if I do not want him to spend the rest of his sad life ruining mine, with claims that during the failed marriage, all I did was looked after my kids and he went to work, therefore the mortgage and the policies were his, that he only put my name there in case I chose to choke on him for life and since I took my freedom in divorce, I get nothing and he claim all or nothing, reminding me of all the hell he had been raising round me and both my kids since my divorce from him in 9th October 1992.


So I signed the polices to him at Hayes County Court in March 2003, where he took me to sign everything over to him, ironically speaking of motherhood, a mother who went through all that because she had kids today, cannot say to either of her kids, fetch me a glass of water? because they had been hounded out by the same pressure group their father used to make sure he paid them no child support, paid mother no divorce settlement, and made sure mother lost over twenty years in income as regards her job applications, to make sure mother cannot compete as equal financially.

He is scattered both kids over the last seven years away from mother, so she can be isolated and be made to regret her life for ever being a mother, and sparing her kids and putting herself through all that to had raised her two mixed kids alone, for the past seven years my daughter now 25yrs, my first born child in life, I can count how many times I had seen her and hug her, and she is not a major executive commissioned abroad with huge income or anything, just being hounded from pillar to post by my ex husband and his evil crew, at the end of which she is now in Hackney with a white boy two to three years older than she who runs a funeral plan company and is from the same area of north of England as my ex husband, they had my poor daughter sharing a one bedroom flat with him and his dog and my daughter sees me less than two hours a month over the last eight months, since they begun this new saga on my daughter's life, I tried to tell my daughter with self respect, value and tradition, you are not engaged to this guy, not married to him and certainly not his property, you had lived independently away from me since you turned 18yrs first being lured to go live at my ex husband house and working around his area in Uxbridge, whilst I was forced to watch this, yet you were legally registered with me at the time, but soon as you begun seeing me even from my ex husband house, they came up with another saga forcing me to pay over 3thousand pounds in tax for my daughter than had my ex husband pay this, with claims that she was once a part time student and they felt she was full time therefore I owed them.

My same ex husband then went to change my daughter's legal residence with me to his address, allegedly to stop the council forcing more money I do not have off me on my daughter's account, so a daughter they did not pay child support, whose entire life they threaten racially from age four years to present day now she is twenty five years, they put her in one of their men's flat to be sharing to completely collapse her credibility and make the mother watch?

That is my first born child it hurts like a spear to the heart, but if you know your enemies are trying to kill you and kill is all they ever did for 26ys solid you learn to find something to be happy about like your daughter is well, she goes to work and she is trying to get on her career ladder and you pray a lot for her success in life.

My son for the past five years is strangely banished to my ex husband house and my son only comes to when ever he needs college or university forms signed by me who had financial challenges to enable him apply for grants from the government and of course every time he is seen to be doing more than that, his life is threatened by my ex husband mother killing machine allies, they gave my son three near death car crash to hurt him for going to see his mum and their threats on his dear life continues regardless.

Guess what? in this stage of motherhood, having survived all that, and both my kids now grown, I just came out of university and knew full well, the degree given me is a malicious one not merited by my hard work, the neighbour from hell, who had helped all my enemies mock me through it all next door and showed me that although she is same age as I, she is not disturbed in the same way, cause she had each of her kids for different men and the sexual promiscuity I do not like is her life style therefore her kids are safe, she proposed to me only last week that since both your kids are now chased away by your enemy, mother goose, I want you to swap your three bed room house with my daughter who lives in a flat two streets away from your ex husband and you move there and my daughter move closer to me?

My reply was how do I fit a three bedroom house content into a two bedroom flat with no garden? and why on earth of all the house swap in London would I want to move two streets away from my ex husband of my 19yrs divorce? she looked me as if am I supposed to feel for you? we are opposites, am one of those who hate you without reason, why should I care? For that, my intuition is if you want the house I had spent over fifteen thousand pounds of my student loan on so bad, just make me an offer to pay me money I had spent cash and you can move your daughter in here, and I can go swap even away from your daughter's flat or not swap till someone wishes to swap with your daughter and I move to theirs and your daughter move here?

Imagine? when you evaluate all that you will see clearly here a huge price had been paid for motherhood here? if I never was a mother, I will not had loss of income for over twenty years, no will I be forced to see the nakedness or racial apartheid in racist England or the value of the so called white who is not the same colour as the A4 white paper yet they feel they are white, but to me you have to be a human being first not colour, yet they showed me hell proving that colour, to violate my motherhood throughout my kids lives and throughout my last twenty five years to this day.

I miss and love my kids, if tomorrow comes we three will be happy again and gap between us three will be bridged and our enemies will hit the dust and be humbled before us in Jesus name. It had been quite an experience motherhood for me.

My son now 21yrs stops by often in spite of the threats of opposer's of divorced mothers helpers at him, he takes me to tesco and pay for my grocery, and hand me change sometimes, yesterday he dropped me a Chinese friend rice, to stop me cooking all the time, my daughter too gives me money when ever she can, but she is very broke this days, she that used to give me 300 pounds sometimes six months ago, was only able to give me 25 yesterday, but most of all I wish God that had kept me young and beautiful all through my trials of motherhood, to bless me with a job that will effect and income, since am still very young and look half my age and quite very healthy and most of all multi skilled, this are some of my qualifications to show you am quite employable and have certification for employability too.
I am a hard working and conscientious applicant, Confident, reliable & responsible. Great Communication Skills. Team player. Energetic and enthusiastic. I have a "can do" attitude. Attention to detail, Strong analytical & problem solving skills.

I wish to apply for GAS QC INSPECTOR -Job Centre Ref:- KLB/24453. Please review my attached application. I look forward to hearing from you.
I had just completed undergraduate school studying BA (Hons) Broadcasting, at the University of West London. Ealing London. Learnt Production, Editing, Presenting, and Reporting. of Television and Radio News Broadcasting,
Example of my typical work since I left university is
an Off Campus Home Broadcast
http://www.spreaker.com/page#!/show/cest_moi_helen_on_posh_news
Helen Oyekan
Thanks again my website is @ http://tinyurl.com/4rm9hqj

Training.
I recently obtained two certificates at Charles Bloe Training Ltd,I obtainedVaccination Programme &
2 Basic Mi
Trcrobiology and Routes of Transmission (August 2011)

And further certifications were in a 3years City & Guild Certificate on Food & Hygiene Level 2 9January 2011) And in February 2011, I also got my British Red Cross’s 1st Aid & Childcare. & my degree course in Broadcast Media.
February to June 2008 did a Semester of Psychology with Counseling Theory
On 1st August 2008 , I got an award certificate for Television Presenting Certificate from the TV-Training Academy .
On 21st March 2006- BCS Qualifications Awarded an international computer skills certificate-
ECDL European Driving License in IT2
-Awarded a Diploma in (Police & Prison Services Studies) with ICS Glasgow .2004
-Birkbeck University Of London Faculty of Continuing Education (2003-2004) Science, Crime and Justice 1 (Awarded a Merit) & 2(Awarded a Credit) (from Extra Mural Certificate in General Studies(Forensics Sciences)
Access to Business and information technology(1997/98)(Awarded 20 credits 14 at level 3 and 6 at level 2) Uxbridge College .
University de Cean Normandy France - French Elementary Diploma 1985
Grooming;- Glamour Modelling 1983 at Chancery Lane Agent London. Fashion modelling in 1987 By Yellow Brick Studios London for Bridal & Fashion Modelling,
& in 1995 In New York by Cactus Acting/Model Agency Manhattan New York USA

This is my motherhood experience in totality, than lick my wounds from what my ex husband, the pressure groups, the racist supremacist groups, the life limiters alike all did to me over the last twenty five and twenty six years to date, you will see dates, in between their war against my life, to limit my flow by force, I keep going to study, since my jobs were being stopped to stop me completing as equal and to stop me having money to help my kids they held on to, to hurt my life.

I will not wish on anyone what had been done to me throughout my motherhood experience so far, but I love my kids sincerely as both kids are flesh of my flesh and blood of my blood and I recall during the war of lies litigation my ex husband and is war crew said they were paying to damage me and both my kids because of the love between mother and her kids kids, which my ex husband claim he cannot have or earn, because mother had breastfed her kids, so he cause them grief in a bid to transfer the love between mother and kids to himself?

Question did he ever have that love? no he never earned it, he threatened it always, you got to love yourself to love anyone, and who you threatens and sue army of destroyers to tie down so you can keep offending shall never love you in this world or the next.

I have lots of other children in my nephews and nieces in Africa from my siblings born there, but I hadn't been home since 1994, surviving all sorts in and out of England as they take their evil siege to threaten my life, my motherhood, my two kids and our well being, but if tomorrow comes it shall be well with us, my kids and I even in England!

Mr. Mom


By: Zsuzsanna Gellér-Varga
Submitted: 10/27/2011

Mom goes to work every day, Dad stays at home with their one-year-old son – how can work and family life be balanced? The documentary Mr. Mom is a portrait of a family facing modern dilemmas.
The filmmaker followed the family for one year and visited them again a year later to get a sense of what has changed in their relationships. What was the reaction of Dad’s Mom and Dad? Was the situation where Dad stayed at home and away from work for a year to spend time with their son mutually beneficial for all the members of the family? Or had it taken its toll?

My Perfect Children


By: Lisa Manterfield
Submitted: 10/27/2011

This piece was originally written for a spoken word show called "Expressing Motherhood," staged in Los Angeles in April 2011. Out of a cast of 13 women, the one token man and I were the only two who didn't have children (he spoke about his own mother.)

At first, I was nervous about taking this very personal and sensitive issue to such a public forum, but I was pleasantly surprised by the positive response I received from the mothers in the show and in the audience. It seems as if almost everyone knew someone who had been touched by infertility, and yet it's still a taboo subject in the motherhood conversation.

During my own journey to come to terms with not having children, I founded a online community called LifeWithoutBaby.com for women who are childfree by choice, chance, or circumstance. The site now receives up to 20,000 visitors per month.

For many women, motherhood is not a viable option, and yet these women's voices are seldom heard. I hope to change that.

My Perfect Children


By: Lisa Manterfield
Submitted: 10/27/2011

This piece was originally written for a spoken word show called "Expressing Motherhood," staged in Los Angeles in April 2011. Out of a cast of 13 women, the one token man and I were the only two who didn't have children (he spoke about his own mother.)

At first, I was nervous about taking this very personal and sensitive issue to such a public forum, but I was pleasantly surprised by the positive response I received from the mothers in the show and in the audience. It seems as if almost everyone knew someone who had been touched by infertility, and yet it's still a taboo subject in the motherhood conversation.

During my own journey to come to terms with not having children, I founded a online community called LifeWithoutBaby.com for women who are childfree by choice, chance, or circumstance. The site now receives up to 20,000 visitors per month.

For many women, motherhood is not a viable option, and yet these women's voices are seldom heard. I hope to change that.

My Perfect Children


By: Lisa Manterfield
Submitted: 10/27/2011

This piece was originally written for a spoken word show called "Expressing Motherhood," staged in Los Angeles in April 2011. Out of a cast of 13 women, the one token man and I were the only two who didn't have children (he spoke about his own mother.)

At first, I was nervous about taking this very personal and sensitive issue to such a public forum, but I was pleasantly surprised by the positive response I received from the mothers in the show and in the audience. It seems as if almost everyone knew someone who had been touched by infertility, and yet it's still a taboo subject in the motherhood conversation.

During my own journey to come to terms with not having children, I founded a online community called LifeWithoutBaby.com for women who are childfree by choice, chance, or circumstance. The site now receives up to 20,000 visitors per month.

For many women, motherhood is not a viable option, and yet these women's voices are seldom heard. I hope to change that.

Soaring High


By: Tendai Ziyambe
Submitted: 10/29/2011

The song describes the experience of a typical mother in Zimbabwe's undesirable economy.Despite these conditions it is surprising how mothers push through like an eagle.Though they are classified as birds (the way mothers are classified as mere unimportant women they fight the world's greatest, toughest beasts, animals. It hunts for the little one's food. It never stays on a single place. Just to make sure that there is enough.Eagles learn in the toughest conditions hail, strong winds,storms even unfavourable weather conditions. In Shona we say 'Gondo Hari Shayi'; meaning an eagle does not lack.

Soaring High


By: Tendai Ziyambe
Submitted: 10/29/2011

The song describes the experience of a typical mother in Zimbabwe's undesirable economy.Despite these conditions it is surprising how mothers push through like an eagle.Though they are classified as birds (the way mothers are classified as mere unimportant women they fight the world's greatest, toughest beasts, animals. It hunts for the little one's food. It never stays on a single place. Just to make sure that there is enough.Eagles learn in the toughest conditions hail, strong winds,storms even unfavourable weather conditions. In Shona we say 'Gondo Hari Shayi'; meaning an eagle does not lack.

Soaring High


By: Tendai Ziyambe
Submitted: 10/29/2011

The song describes the experience of a typical mother in Zimbabwe's undesirable economy.Despite these conditions it is surprising how mothers push through like an eagle.Though they are classified as birds (the way mothers are classified as mere unimportant women they fight the world's greatest, toughest beasts, animals. It hunts for the little one's food. It never stays on a single place. Just to make sure that there is enough.Eagles learn in the toughest conditions hail, strong winds,storms even unfavourable weather conditions. In Shona we say 'Gondo Hari Shayi'; meaning an eagle does not lack.

Soaring High


By: Tendai Ziyambe
Submitted: 10/29/2011

The song describes the experience of a typical mother in Zimbabwe's undesirable economy.Despite these conditions it is surprising how mothers push through like an eagle.Though they are classified as birds (the way mothers are classified as mere unimportant women they fight the world's greatest, toughest beasts, animals. It hunts for the little one's food. It never stays on a single place. Just to make sure that there is enough.Eagles learn in the toughest conditions hail, strong winds,storms even unfavourable weather conditions. In Shona we say 'Gondo Hari Shayi'; meaning an eagle does not lack.

Lullabies 1 - All The Pretty Little Horses


By: Barbara J Hunt
Other authors: Sung by Barbara J Hunt Images by maraschino photography
Submitted: 10/29/2011

This "visual" lullaby is a heartfelt expression of the tenderness, love, intimacy, surrender and the "simplicity" that is ideally the experience of the early months of parenting.

We used a completely a cappella track - singing just as mothers have through all history - one voice, from the heart, singing to soothe, singing to reassure, singing to express love.. And we combined this with Kath's beautiful images that so perfectly capture the intensity of devotion that flows both ways between parent and baby.

Lullabies 1 - All The Pretty Little Horses


By: Barbara J Hunt
Other authors: Sung by Barbara J Hunt Images by maraschino photography
Submitted: 10/29/2011

This "visual" lullaby is a heartfelt expression of the tenderness, love, intimacy, surrender and the "simplicity" that is ideally the experience of the early months of parenting.

We used a completely a cappella track - singing just as mothers have through all history - one voice, from the heart, singing to soothe, singing to reassure, singing to express love.. And we combined this with Kath's beautiful images that so perfectly capture the intensity of devotion that flows both ways between parent and baby.

Lullabies 1 - All The Pretty Little Horses


By: Barbara J Hunt
Other authors: Sung by Barbara J Hunt Images by maraschino photography
Submitted: 10/29/2011

This "visual" lullaby is a heartfelt expression of the tenderness, love, intimacy, surrender and the "simplicity" that is ideally the experience of the early months of parenting.

We used a completely a cappella track - singing just as mothers have through all history - one voice, from the heart, singing to soothe, singing to reassure, singing to express love.. And we combined this with Kath's beautiful images that so perfectly capture the intensity of devotion that flows both ways between parent and baby.

كالزهرة


By: Fakhriya Al-Yahyai
Submitted: 10/29/2011

أنا داخل أحشاء أمي كالزهرة أنمو،،، بحنانها أجد الماء والهواء . ومن لحمهاوعظامها أجد الغذاء... أرهقها ...أزعجها لكنها تبادل التعب بالابتسامة، والألم بفرحة... أكبر وأزعجها بشوكي لكنها تصلى وتدعوا بان ينبتني الخالق نباتاُ حسناً.

round 'n round


By: Mie Cornoedus
Other authors: Mie Cornoedus, Ingvild
Submitted: 10/30/2011

Once it's done, it goes round'n round.

There are women who know that they want to become mothers. As young girls they nurture their dolls and lost kittens, as teenagers they read romance novels, and as 20-year olds they rush to do “all the stuff to do before you settle down”. Then there is me. I never dreamt of having a child. Not even my own mother could imagine me taking care of a living being. Conveniently, and to everybody’s relief, I turned out to be a lesbian. I was safe and free from expectations of motherhood.
That was until my 12 year older life-partner had a hysterectomy.
Like fertile eggs catapulted from a birthday cake, the fun loving, globetrotting, child and carefree woman I fell in love with, turned absent minded. She had tiny baby toes on her mind. A strange longing took possession of the void left by her missing uterus. Regret that fertility had passed her by, clung like baby hands to her menopausal psyche. I watched it happen, and I felt apprehensive, yet I came to underestimate her campaign to turn me maternal. Her daily speech became seasoned with pleasant baby anecdotes; she encouraged me to release and tame my desires to travel; she used rhetoric of conviction, and, at times, outright emotional blackmail. I never believed her strategies could hold up against my determination to remain delightfully barren. Yet, it hurt to watch her blow air into plastic castles, and one late night my good intentions to keep her with sanity were mistaken for a green light. The sperm donor and the disposable syringe were aligned, really, in no time, by sunrise.
Slowly, yet firmly, I had been led down the path of faith, and as I calculated the risk of actually becoming pregnant at first try to be like none, I allowed her to carry out the insemination just this one time. On my part, I made sure to get the dates for the ovulation just a bit wrong.
And, this is the way to do it, one has to not wish for it enough. My non-medically trained partner performed the simple act on a sarong covered cardboard box on the floor with a pink mothball as a witness. Sure enough, a couple of weeks later I had returned to the pacific island where I was doing humanitarian work at the time. I knew that something had changed in me. I made the long distance phone call to my partner to tell her, and then I climbed the nation’s highest mountain, far away from any mobile phone coverage. Upon return to civilization I found 26 new text messages from her, the first reading “This is fantastic!”; the second “We have to remain calm about this!”; the third and the next 23 messages were about the need for a name, where to give birth, where to live, how to manage financially, health care, education and so on.
That is how it begun, my reluctant journey to motherhood. During pregnancy, I googled “odds that one will not like ones newborn baby”, the search results revealed that the likelihood is tiny. Most new mothers do not leave their babies in baskets at the stairs of nunneries. I spent most of my pregnancy amongst rural women in a developing country, who on average give birth to 8 babies, and who feel blessed for every child that live passed the age of 5. I realized that I had never met a woman that regrets being a mother. I had seen women in despair over not being one. Slowly, my outlook changed while I began to understand how lucky I had been. As much as a lesbian, artificial insemination could seem like an accident, here I was, pretty darn starting to sense an emerging sense of joy that the decision to have a child mostly had been taken out of my control.
This was 22 months ago. I am still me, yet different. I am a mother now. I love my travels, yet I am more connected to home. I dislike tedious chores, yet I perform them with a higher sense of purpose. I worry more often about the future, yet I enjoy the present more than ever. My daughter makes me run around and around. It is great to see that my wife, who lured me into it all, finds it as exhausting and fun as I do.
Ingvild

BeAware


By: yael
Submitted: 10/30/2011

A video clip about the strong relationship between a mother and her child. It deals with the hidden threats which exist in everything around us.
 
Mothers have the important job of keeping their child away from harm, but what if sometimes there are hidden threats within that are not so obvious to the observer?
  
The two leading characters in the video are mother and her daughter, the daughter is seen walking out of her stroller into the park where she meets different characters and situations, some which may seem harmful and some which may not.
While the child stays amuned to the surroundings the viewers ( us) notice the  threats around her.

The idea  of the  project was born from a true story which happend to me in my childhood.
I was  at a big theme park at my stroller when something probably caught my eye, I got up and distanced myself from my stroller and my family without anyone noticing.
I was too young to remember it, but I can't forget what my mother told me when I grew up:

"…it is impossible even to try describing the horrible feeling of a mother standing in a huge place  realizing that her 2 years old baby has disappeared. Gazing the empty stroller I felt as the whole world was a huge black hole; my head was full of stories about kidnapping young children.    At first I wanted to run all around the place screaming my daughter’s name until she hears me, but my legs were stuck, I couldn’t leave that place, what if she comes back when we will not be there? We were all speechless and didn’t know what to do, where to start looking?  I didn’t want to think about bad things that could happen to my baby, the option that we might never find her was so frightening , I can’t remember if I had tears in my eyes, but I was looking around  seeing nothing .
 I don’t recall how long it took, it felt like a lifetime; suddenly a woman that was working in the place walked towards us, with our daughter in her hands. She told us that she saw the girl running away from a man in a scary costume. That woman walked in circles around the place she found her until she saw us… I have no words to describe the relief and happiness  we all  felt, this time I myself was walking with the stroller keeping an eye on my baby, a sweet little girl with blue eyes and black curls that already fallen asleep, not knowing what happened to mother’s heart today…”

The charcters and styling of the video were inspired by stories I used to read in my childhood, stories of the Grimm Brothers and  Hans Christian Anderson. While these stories are known to us as children's fairytale stories the original ones are filled with  horror and cruelty that would not fit for children. It suited me for  the  plot of my video which, as I said earlier, deals with hidden threats and the connection between mother and her child.

BeAware


By: yael
Submitted: 10/30/2011

A video clip about the strong relationship between a mother and her child. It deals with the hidden threats which exist in everything around us.
 
Mothers have the important job of keeping their child away from harm, but what if sometimes there are hidden threats within that are not so obvious to the observer?
  
The two leading characters in the video are mother and her daughter, the daughter is seen walking out of her stroller into the park where she meets different characters and situations, some which may seem harmful and some which may not.
While the child stays amuned to the surroundings the viewers ( us) notice the  threats around her.

The idea  of the  project was born from a true story which happend to me in my childhood.
I was  at a big theme park at my stroller when something probably caught my eye, I got up and distanced myself from my stroller and my family without anyone noticing.
I was too young to remember it, but I can't forget what my mother told me when I grew up:

"…it is impossible even to try describing the horrible feeling of a mother standing in a huge place  realizing that her 2 years old baby has disappeared. Gazing the empty stroller I felt as the whole world was a huge black hole; my head was full of stories about kidnapping young children.    At first I wanted to run all around the place screaming my daughter’s name until she hears me, but my legs were stuck, I couldn’t leave that place, what if she comes back when we will not be there? We were all speechless and didn’t know what to do, where to start looking?  I didn’t want to think about bad things that could happen to my baby, the option that we might never find her was so frightening , I can’t remember if I had tears in my eyes, but I was looking around  seeing nothing .
 I don’t recall how long it took, it felt like a lifetime; suddenly a woman that was working in the place walked towards us, with our daughter in her hands. She told us that she saw the girl running away from a man in a scary costume. That woman walked in circles around the place she found her until she saw us… I have no words to describe the relief and happiness  we all  felt, this time I myself was walking with the stroller keeping an eye on my baby, a sweet little girl with blue eyes and black curls that already fallen asleep, not knowing what happened to mother’s heart today…”

The charcters and styling of the video were inspired by stories I used to read in my childhood, stories of the Grimm Brothers and  Hans Christian Anderson. While these stories are known to us as children's fairytale stories the original ones are filled with  horror and cruelty that would not fit for children. It suited me for  the  plot of my video which, as I said earlier, deals with hidden threats and the connection between mother and her child.

paramnesia I


By: gwen
Submitted: 10/30/2011

The images of paramnesia are a collection of the envisioning maternity wear with floating bodies, in which I expand upon, based on my subconscious and eidetic images. Captivating woman’s body is depicted with physical manipulation dressed in garments from reality and unrealistic fashion from hidden memories. The character is posed in virtual nature or interiors, appealing with serenity of movements, yet simultaneously possessing an awareness of their unsure situation. Their inner strength is seemingly in contrast with fragility of their appearance. Figures, garments, objects and surroundings represent another realm of emotion. This environment is layered in meaning, ambiguity and supported virtual domains.

I am My Mother's Daughter


By: Dr. Pamela Russ
Submitted: 10/30/2011

I Am My Mothers Daughter



Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
Voices sang out, cheering me on…
Hoping I would disappear
Like mother…like daughter
We are one now
Battling the supreme quest
Raising children in an everchanging complex world

Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
My childhood took on a new meaning
Memories clouded with discontent
Or now my children’s recollections
Of me, not my mother

Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
The mirror image raises its head
And I sink into despair
The truth is in the glass
I saw myself unveil
The old me
And I bow down sinking to the edge
Embodied in my mothers embrace
And reality sets in
I have become…
My mother… I am her daughter

Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
Seven children later
What a find time to think about it
One child who I desperately wanted
My daughter
Two sons... how blessed… I want more …
With a hope and a prayer like Sarah and Jabez
God granted my need
Four more children
Like mother ... like daughter


Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
I questioned motherhood and its existence
We exist for our children
We feel their highs and lows
Their pain is our pain
Our life is an integral part of their lives…
And we pray silent prayers
Mother like Daughter

Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
I traveled to a quiet place
Where childish tantrums echo and bounce off walls
Missing my toes covered in faded red polish
Like mother…like daughter
I ignore quietly…like my mother
Who sewed pretty pink matching Sunday school dresses
Waiting quietly until quiet descends in the room

Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
I closed my door for peace
For peace sake
Breathing in and out
Conjuring up much needed memories
Of the joys of motherhood
Laughing gurgling bright eyed babies… my babies

Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
I heard your screams… and waited in patient agony
For the screams to subside
Knowing all you wanted was me and my bed
Like mother…like daughter
I let you sleep restlessly
You woke me up to momma…momma
Monsters won’t let me sleep…
They keep knocking on my window…let me in
Like mother…like daughter
I let you crawl into my bed

Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
Whispers’ crowded my bed
Tossing my sheets…throwing my covers
Into the land of sleepy heads
Faces nestled into my body parts
Like mother…like daughter
Ribcage enduring pain/less love

Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
I cleaned out the cupboards… waiting
Wiping down the cabinets…
Worrying about where you were
Why aren’t you home
Three hours too late
Like mother...like daughter
I frantically waited…and worried
Realizing you were truly my daughter
As you crept in under the cover of darkness
And accused me of being my mother
Like mother…like daughter
It will be a long time before you see daylight

Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
My thoughts strayed to you
Lost child…needing and wanting
A mother’s love
Like mother…like daughter
We keep searching for what is right in front of her eyes
But the words want come


Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
I watched them take you away
Naked as the day I gave birth to you
The pain in my chest
Consumes me …Dear God
Help my child
Like mother…like daughter
I grow stronger… fighting for my child’s sanity


Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
I cried for you …
Endless tears were shed on my pillow
I cried for you…
Why must you live my life
I want so much more… for you
Like mother… like daughter
You relive our lives
Until… simply understanding being a mother
Is a gift

Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
I cried for release
To keep just being me
Lost in motherhood
Not knowing who I am
Surviving
Like mother… like daughter
We hold on for our children

Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
Thankful… crosses my mind
What a blessing
You are a part of my life
I am so humbled by your spirit
From the cradle
You were an unexpected blessing
I am in awe of you
Like mother… like daughter
I count my blessings… in times of bliss

Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
I glimpse greatness in you
And I soared with pride
My womb … changing time
Making the world a better a place
And I slept peacefully
Like mother…like daughter
We dream… dreams of our
Children changing the world


Sometime late last night
Or was it early morning
I dreamed your dreams…
Black people will rise
All over the world in
South Africa… South Los Angeles…
South Carolina…
And the world will be better place
Like mother… like daughter
We love our children

A HOLE IN HER SOUL


By: Annemor
Other authors: Catharina Jacobsen
Submitted: 10/30/2011

Worldwide, about 2 million women are affected. In the rich industrial countries the condition is virtually unknown: Fistula, a hole between the female body and the outside world due to a birth as went terribly wrong.

The hole emits urine and feces. Women are expelled as unclean. Totally isolated, with the stench and the shame many of the women live in small mud huts outside the village . Alone, they long for their family and mourn over the loss of their stillborn child.

-The worst thinkable tragedy for a young, beautiful woman. Her life is in ruins (Catherine Hamlin)
Its is a heartbraking, yet treatable condition.

In 1974 Catherine Hamlin started the Fistulahospital in Addis Ababa.
Here no women are declined. Here they do not pay for the operation, care or food.

The hospital performs 1,200 surgeries every year. 90 percent of them are successful.

The day each woman leaves the hospital after the surgery, she is given a dress from the hospital. A symbol of her new life.

Power Tools


By: Beth Osnes
Submitted: 10/31/2011

One mother examines how to use voting like it is a power tool.

Power Tools


By: Beth Osnes
Submitted: 10/31/2011

One mother examines how to use voting like it is a power tool.

Power Tools


By: Beth Osnes
Submitted: 10/31/2011

One mother examines how to use voting like it is a power tool.

Power Tools


By: Beth Osnes
Submitted: 10/31/2011

One mother examines how to use voting like it is a power tool.

Your Voices: On Kangaroo Mother Care


By: pe
Submitted: 10/31/2011

One of my tasks as a public health intern working in Ukraine was to interview families at Kyiv’s National Children’s Ohmatdet Hospital who were practicing Kangaroo Mother Care. The Kangaroo Mother Care method, which involves constant skin-to-skin contact between caregivers and their healthy, but vulnerable premature infants, originated in Colombia but has since spread to several countries around the globe. It is a model of care for preterm infants, which helps to keep babies warmer and less stressed than when they are cared for in a standard hospital incubator.

I created this poster to support and educate future Kangaroo Mother Care families in Ukraine. Sometimes, the parents of preemies must stay in the hospital for weeks before their infant is considered healthy enough to go home; such constant care requires tremendous devotion and patience. I thought sharing the perspectives of these mothers and fathers would provide new families with additional support, encouragement, and inspiration. This poster will be translated into Ukrainian and placed at Ohmatdet and other hospitals throughout the country, serving as a reminder of the critical role that parents play in the health and well being of their children.

Your Voices: On Kangaroo Mother Care


By: pe
Submitted: 10/31/2011

One of my tasks as a public health intern working in Ukraine was to interview families at Kyiv’s National Children’s Ohmatdet Hospital who were practicing Kangaroo Mother Care. The Kangaroo Mother Care method, which involves constant skin-to-skin contact between caregivers and their healthy, but vulnerable premature infants, originated in Colombia but has since spread to several countries around the globe. It is a model of care for preterm infants, which helps to keep babies warmer and less stressed than when they are cared for in a standard hospital incubator.

I created this poster to support and educate future Kangaroo Mother Care families in Ukraine. Sometimes, the parents of preemies must stay in the hospital for weeks before their infant is considered healthy enough to go home; such constant care requires tremendous devotion and patience. I thought sharing the perspectives of these mothers and fathers would provide new families with additional support, encouragement, and inspiration. This poster will be translated into Ukrainian and placed at Ohmatdet and other hospitals throughout the country, serving as a reminder of the critical role that parents play in the health and well being of their children.

Mud Bath


By: Beth Osnes
Submitted: 10/31/2011

Intro: When my teenaged foster daughter had a crisis, I turned by instinct to the earth to heal her wounds. What resulted was insight and connection far deeper than I had anticipated.


Mud Bath
By Beth Osnes
945 Grandview Ave.
Boulder, CO 80302
Phone# 303-442-7628

Our teen-aged foster daughter was home on a day off from her "at-risk" high school program. She had been obsessing on her problems, the problems near by, such as her boy friend not calling and losing her make-up in her messy room, and her problems far away, such as her mom dying just two years ago and her mom's continual abandonment of her even when she alive to alcohol and violent lovers. When I got home from taking my little kids on an outing, I discovered she had trashed her room and cut herself on her arm and across each of the cheeks on her face. When I walked in the house and she revealed what she had done, I didn't know what to say. I don't really get the psychology of cutting or know the correct response. She had a look of infinite sadness that was beyond her years. I kissed her forehead. Since my husband was working late, I called my sister-in-law who recognized the tone in my voice and, without question, agreed to take my two little kids for the night. I scouring my brain for what to do for her. I knew sitting in a room talking with her therapist, whom she didn’t even like, wouldn’t help, and the self-inflicted wounds weren’t bad enough to require any medical attention. I could tell the difference; we had been to the emergency room before. An idea showed up all on its own, and, though a longshot, I decided to take it. I told her to pack for a night away from home. I dug into the back of a drawer for a brochure I had tucked away years ago, and after a few more calls, she and I set off into the mountains.
Driving up the canyon road, already her mood had lifted as we talked about old movies we had seen. She was glad to be getting away. We didn't speak of what was bothering her. She usually confided in me with specific problems, and since nothing in particular was up, I sensed this was a much deeper pain. We went to a dingy 1940's relic of a resort in Idaho Springs where they have healing waters and mineral baths. The brochure claims that the Native American Indians believed these were healing waters from the great earth spirit. I was drawn here more out of instinct than logic. I just yearned for some comfort and healing for her that was bigger than what I or Social Services could offer. The hotel is built directly over the remains of old gold and silver mines that now form a labyrinth of hot mineral baths, massage rooms, and mud treatments. And then I thought, what is a mine, but a wound in the earth from where it was pilaged and then abandoned.
After checking in and putting our bags in our room, we went down the narrow stairs into the underground dressing room. Beneath the low ceilings we began to undress. In my periferal vision I could see her untie her Nike, gangster "wanna-be" shoes and take them off. She unbuttoned her baggy black pants and peeled them down. Up over her head she pulled her black tee shirt with some surly band's logo on it. She carefully undid all her jewelry. All these things, each identifying her with some larger group, she put away in the locker provided and closed it. Between us there was a growing easiness that happened when the outside world did not impede. We laughed about how creepy and old fashion this place seemed to be. Even the other patrons seemed caught in a time-loop-- rotund middle-aged women like you'd see in an old black and white movie. There were signs up saying that bathing suits were not allowed in this gender segregated portion of the resort. So putting our white towels on a hook we walked into the cement showers to wash our bodies in preparation for the communal baths.
We entered the dimly-lit tunnel as if traveling into the heart of the earth through an artery. Along the sides were small deep pools that had been carved into the rock, each full of dark bubbling spring water, naturally heated by the earth. A quiet decorum was enforced by generously weighted women strewn on slabs of wet rocks who "shhhed" any giggling. Approaching an empty pool, we slipped our bodies into the hot water of the earth. It took us a while to get used to the temperature, but slowly we got in up to our necks. I watched her dunk her head, the water washing over the now closed cuts on her face, and was glad for it’s touch. We soaked in the baths for over an hour, comfortably being together without talking for long periods of time.
Once the heavy air of the tunnels became too much, we left the caves and sneaked around still in the basement exploring the skinny corridors of the resort still wrapped only in our towels. We came upon a room labeled the 'mud room,' closed for the night and dark, but not locked. We went in, closing the door behind us. There were two windows high along one wall. Our eyes could barely make out the rest since there was only the faintest moonlight sneaking in through the outside leaves. We spied shower heads along one wall, and to our left we saw the glistening wet mud. Not able to resist, we dipped our toes into the tiled pit. Feeling ourselves safe in the darkness, we threw our towels to the side and stepped in. It squished between our toes. In the darkness, we both reached down to touch it with our hands, feeling the grit in the silky goo. We rubbed it on our legs, then up our thighs. We drew circles of mud on our tummies. Feeling free in the darkness, we covered our shoulders, our necks, our faces, until we both looked up and regarded each other with eyes suddenly acclimated to the dim light. There was a moment where we were exceptional for each other, transformed by our masks of mud, out of time, out of context, like ancient tribeswomen conjuring the great earth spirit for the healing of a wounded soul. Locked in each other’s eyes, the separation between her and I dissolved. Unable to sustain the moment, we both cracked up, dispelling the magic of that moment but not losing its gift. We showered off the mud and left.
That night in our hotel room was a happy one. We both drew pictures of each other with the pastels and art paper I had brought, and then fell asleep in the same double bed. It's been over seven years since that night. She's grown and moved to the West coast where she seems to be doing pretty well. We still talk on the phone, but not so often. That night together didn't cure her. It may be that there is no one single 'cure' for life. But as I look back at the two years we had her directly in our lives, the roller coaster of emotions we went through with her, the pain the sweet times, this memory stands out. I think the brochure was right. Being there in those mines, wounds of the earth, with those healing waters, coating ourselves in mud, it healed something that wasn’t just hers, it wasn’t just mine, or the Earth’s, but something deeply shared between us all.

The Mother Politic- Three Cine-Photo Stories


By: Shira Richter
Submitted: 10/31/2011

I am a story teller at heart. My medium of choice is Cinema, Which combines many of the art forms and languages I love. However, becoming a mother to twins - being blessed with this surprise- one with a health issue- with little support- made working long uninterrupted hours a past luxury. My story telling was forced to change its form.
Here I submit three Cine- photo stories.

ROYAL BLUE –

Photo and writing- exposes the connection of a woman carrying twins to the lineage of women carrying twins. It is such a crime we women are not told our herstory from the beginning of time, same as a country teaches its history. We have this untold herstory- which creeps into, onto and through us in mysterious ways.
Where are all my colleagues to this journey? My inner soul kept asking. It is such an amazing journey, becoming a mother to two creatures at the same time- it's a world in its own. Twins ARE still, to this day, a mystery to medicine.
Nothing of this lineage is mentioned in the regular twin pregnancy books.
My girlfriends who had one child at a time- could not connect to what I was going through.
Two beating hearts. Two souls. The historical stories of twins came to haunt me. The herstorical stories of mothers to twins- came to haunt me. This is how it should be.

UPHOLSTERING-

The twins were toddlers toddling on the edge of the window to the world – the TV. They toddled and knocked their heads on the handles of this mini cabinet designed by someone who never had children. I told my partner we have to cushion the handles. He's a busy guy, and did what he was told. So here we see the result of a collaboration between me- the thinker, and director and him, the implementer.
It's so useless to try and keep up our B.C. life. (BC= Before Children). To keep an organized house. The living room makes an effort to remain organized but betrays diapers, children's toys, and – of course, the yellow bandaging.
How all of us try to continue life as normal when new life arrives- is totally ridiculous. New life forces it's way into our living rooms, into our schedules, and changes everything.
And it should.

WHERE IS FATHER-

What you see in the photo is the part of the sidewalk where a slope is created for the wheels of a stroller. I translate the Hebrew writing: "For a Mother and Baby". On top of the writing, in the same font, I wrote – "Where is the Father".
The partition of a family in the name of economic reality is tragic in my eyes. Usually one partner has to stay with the baby; usually it's the mother, while the other goes away, to work. The mother is usually alone, without the person she loves and needs most to be by her side. The division of the private and public sectors- which is a gender and political issue- occupies me.
"Where is the father" echoes the theme of the work of American poet and activist Robert Bly who talked allot about the missing father.

Knowledge of Our Bodies, Solidarity with Ourselves


By: Gabrielle Jamela Hosein
Submitted: 10/31/2011

This is the first period I’ve had for eighteen months, the first since I’ve had baby Ziya. I’d been feeling a bit strange over the last few days, womb-heavy and slightly wobbly, and was hoping (kind of, well mostly, well I was prepared to live with whatever) that I was not pregnant. I woke up this morning, saw the unexpected blood and, as a first time mother, got slightly confused and worried.

I called the two of my birth centre, Mamatoto, mid-wives who generously continue to answer, for free, my continued calls nine months after the birth. This is why we need midwives because which doctor are you going to call at 7.50am to ask, ‘I think I got my period, but I’m not sure, what do you think?’ Of course, like most midwives, they were breezy about it. ‘It happens’, said Debbie. ‘Some women bleed even though they are breastfeeding’. ‘Yes, well, it’s been nine months’, said Marilyn who a week ago told me I could cut down on pumping breastmilk during the day – and so I had. Hmmm, I thought, hoping I hadn’t been pregnant and then lost the baby moving around my entire stock of office furniture in a grand getting-ready-for-Semester-1-move that happened yesterday evening.

By mid-morning I had acclimatized and was working steadily at my newly-positioned desk, feeling like a super and simultaneously breastmilk-pumping, bleeding, paper publishing, email-replying , breezy, on midol mom. I’m technically on vacation and could have stayed home but there is that ‘you are up for tenure next year’ letter that has left me working through ‘vacation’ time because so little can get done when I am home with Zi.

This minor transition in my post-pregnancy body got me reflecting on how little I know about women’s bodies in general, even at my age, even as a feminist, even as a proud owner of my own ‘Our Bodies, Ourselves’ since I was fourteen (a gift from my older brother Sean). I didn’t even know that women bled while breastfeeding. I thought it kept away your period, and delayed fertility and childbirth. I knew you could get pregnant…but I didn’t know I could get a period. So basic, so obvious.

This is like when I first realized that women bled for a couple of weeks after childbirth. I was waaay into my pregnancy, probably in early second trimester, when some woman made an offhand comment about it. My jaw literally fell open. I had no idea. I thought you had the baby and then it was out and then…well, I guess I hadn’t really thought after that point. Kind of like when you are a kid and you don’t really imagine your life after, say, 28.

‘Really?’ said my husband when I told him, ‘that must suck’. For the first time since I was thirteen, I had no menstrual cycle and had gotten into the swing of taking its absence for granted. Yes, it did kinda ‘suck’. Yet, I got a little internally defensive when, before hanging up and in response to a few sticky details I had added, he perfectly innocently concluded how glad he is to not be a woman. But eh heh!

‘Well!’ I wanted to say, ‘it’s really only a problem because there is no paid menstrual leave, no menstrual centres, no menstruating goddess worship and no elevated status attributed to this amazing moon-tidal elixir of fertility. It doesn’t suck. Patriarchy sucks!’

In this vein, I had convinced some male and female students in my first year Introduction to Women’s Studies class to create a ‘Menstrual Centre’, on Trinidad and Tobago’s University of the West Indies campus, for their ‘popular action’, a culture-jamming activist assignment that we do each year...gotta love teaching Women’s Studies!!

Menstrual leave I had pointed out is a decades old workers’ right recognised in some Communist countries. In modern Indonesia, women factory workers continue to fight for two days of monthly leave, and it’s an issue of labour rights not just feminism.

Perhaps, women should get two days, each month, of leave with pay because female laboring, PMSing, bleeding bodies should not have to work under the same conditions as supposedly ‘normative’ non-bleeding, non-egg producing male bodies. After all, women workers are female humans. What about menstrual centres on every corner instead of the rumshops that litter almost every urban Caribbean street corner? Women could go for massages, consciousness-raising and support groups, delicious and helpful smoothies, information, health care and collective organizing. First scandalized, the students countered that they should also include support groups for men, sort of like ‘Friends of Menstruating Women’. Just stuff for thought.

The students built a frame using bamboo, interviewed male students about taboos on buying pads and tampons in a store, painted posters saying ‘Man the species menstruates’(If Man refers to men and women, then it really should include women, right?), and handed out pamphlets on how wombs work and why, and natural fruit and teas that help. Many students went through the centre that day.

Maybe if Menstrual Centres really were on every corner, I might have known more about my own body, post-birth and during-breastfeeding bleeding. Anyway, as I keep learning, even with myself, there is clearly a lot more work still to do.

Knowledge of Our Bodies, Solidarity with Ourselves


By: Gabrielle Jamela Hosein
Submitted: 10/31/2011

This is the first period I’ve had for eighteen months, the first since I’ve had baby Ziya. I’d been feeling a bit strange over the last few days, womb-heavy and slightly wobbly, and was hoping (kind of, well mostly, well I was prepared to live with whatever) that I was not pregnant. I woke up this morning, saw the unexpected blood and, as a first time mother, got slightly confused and worried.

I called the two of my birth centre, Mamatoto, mid-wives who generously continue to answer, for free, my continued calls nine months after the birth. This is why we need midwives because which doctor are you going to call at 7.50am to ask, ‘I think I got my period, but I’m not sure, what do you think?’ Of course, like most midwives, they were breezy about it. ‘It happens’, said Debbie. ‘Some women bleed even though they are breastfeeding’. ‘Yes, well, it’s been nine months’, said Marilyn who a week ago told me I could cut down on pumping breastmilk during the day – and so I had. Hmmm, I thought, hoping I hadn’t been pregnant and then lost the baby moving around my entire stock of office furniture in a grand getting-ready-for-Semester-1-move that happened yesterday evening.

By mid-morning I had acclimatized and was working steadily at my newly-positioned desk, feeling like a super and simultaneously breastmilk-pumping, bleeding, paper publishing, email-replying , breezy, on midol mom. I’m technically on vacation and could have stayed home but there is that ‘you are up for tenure next year’ letter that has left me working through ‘vacation’ time because so little can get done when I am home with Zi.

This minor transition in my post-pregnancy body got me reflecting on how little I know about women’s bodies in general, even at my age, even as a feminist, even as a proud owner of my own ‘Our Bodies, Ourselves’ since I was fourteen (a gift from my older brother Sean). I didn’t even know that women bled while breastfeeding. I thought it kept away your period, and delayed fertility and childbirth. I knew you could get pregnant…but I didn’t know I could get a period. So basic, so obvious.

This is like when I first realized that women bled for a couple of weeks after childbirth. I was waaay into my pregnancy, probably in early second trimester, when some woman made an offhand comment about it. My jaw literally fell open. I had no idea. I thought you had the baby and then it was out and then…well, I guess I hadn’t really thought after that point. Kind of like when you are a kid and you don’t really imagine your life after, say, 28.

‘Really?’ said my husband when I told him, ‘that must suck’. For the first time since I was thirteen, I had no menstrual cycle and had gotten into the swing of taking its absence for granted. Yes, it did kinda ‘suck’. Yet, I got a little internally defensive when, before hanging up and in response to a few sticky details I had added, he perfectly innocently concluded how glad he is to not be a woman. But eh heh!

‘Well!’ I wanted to say, ‘it’s really only a problem because there is no paid menstrual leave, no menstrual centres, no menstruating goddess worship and no elevated status attributed to this amazing moon-tidal elixir of fertility. It doesn’t suck. Patriarchy sucks!’

In this vein, I had convinced some male and female students in my first year Introduction to Women’s Studies class to create a ‘Menstrual Centre’, on Trinidad and Tobago’s University of the West Indies campus, for their ‘popular action’, a culture-jamming activist assignment that we do each year...gotta love teaching Women’s Studies!!

Menstrual leave I had pointed out is a decades old workers’ right recognised in some Communist countries. In modern Indonesia, women factory workers continue to fight for two days of monthly leave, and it’s an issue of labour rights not just feminism.

Perhaps, women should get two days, each month, of leave with pay because female laboring, PMSing, bleeding bodies should not have to work under the same conditions as supposedly ‘normative’ non-bleeding, non-egg producing male bodies. After all, women workers are female humans. What about menstrual centres on every corner instead of the rumshops that litter almost every urban Caribbean street corner? Women could go for massages, consciousness-raising and support groups, delicious and helpful smoothies, information, health care and collective organizing. First scandalized, the students countered that they should also include support groups for men, sort of like ‘Friends of Menstruating Women’. Just stuff for thought.

The students built a frame using bamboo, interviewed male students about taboos on buying pads and tampons in a store, painted posters saying ‘Man the species menstruates’(If Man refers to men and women, then it really should include women, right?), and handed out pamphlets on how wombs work and why, and natural fruit and teas that help. Many students went through the centre that day.

Maybe if Menstrual Centres really were on every corner, I might have known more about my own body, post-birth and during-breastfeeding bleeding. Anyway, as I keep learning, even with myself, there is clearly a lot more work still to do.

Birth Journal Maternity Extract


By: Jorge Caballero | Gusano Films
Submitted: 10/31/2011

Every day, in the maternity rooms of the public hospitals of Bogota, hundreds of women give
birth. The medical institution is saturated, immersed in its routines and cannot pay attention
to the needs of the families. The mothers are almost always alone, lacking of affection and
comprehension. BIRTH is the representation of this theatrical scene, an old conflict between
two antagonistic characters, the human being and the mechanics. At the hinge of these two
realities, that´s where we are.

HOW COULD I NOT LOVE YOU


By: WABA
Other authors: MARIA JASMINE AND AIDA REDZA (WABA)
Submitted: 10/31/2011

How Could I Not Love You is a song tribute by Maria Jasmine in collaboration with WABA (World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action) to mothers, fathers, family and the community all over the world. A voice of a mother herself, Maria shares her beautiful voice to serenade and inspire us to further promote, support and protect breastfeeding as the right of everyone to FEED THE FUTURE! - to provide our children with a healthy beginning in life, to have access to quality education, as well provide them with good spiritual and emotional foundation. A song to inspire mothers through all life challenges, to nurture with common sense, care and creativity towards feeding our future and to build a future generation full of love.

HOW COULD I NOT LOVE YOU


By: WABA
Other authors: MARIA JASMINE AND AIDA REDZA (WABA)
Submitted: 10/31/2011

How Could I Not Love You is a song tribute by Maria Jasmine in collaboration with WABA (World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action) to mothers, fathers, family and the community all over the world. A voice of a mother herself, Maria shares her beautiful voice to serenade and inspire us to further promote, support and protect breastfeeding as the right of everyone to FEED THE FUTURE! - to provide our children with a healthy beginning in life, to have access to quality education, as well provide them with good spiritual and emotional foundation. A song to inspire mothers through all life challenges, to nurture with common sense, care and creativity towards feeding our future and to build a future generation full of love.

HOW COULD I NOT LOVE YOU


By: WABA
Other authors: MARIA JASMINE AND AIDA REDZA (WABA)
Submitted: 10/31/2011

How Could I Not Love You is a song tribute by Maria Jasmine in collaboration with WABA (World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action) to mothers, fathers, family and the community all over the world. A voice of a mother herself, Maria shares her beautiful voice to serenade and inspire us to further promote, support and protect breastfeeding as the right of everyone to FEED THE FUTURE! - to provide our children with a healthy beginning in life, to have access to quality education, as well provide them with good spiritual and emotional foundation. A song to inspire mothers through all life challenges, to nurture with common sense, care and creativity towards feeding our future and to build a future generation full of love.

Legacy in Limbo


By: Martha Gelarden
Submitted: 10/31/2011

Legacy in Limbo, 2010 is the response of a Mother and Son that were separated at birth. Their identities were kept secret, hidden from one another in closed adoption. Old style vinyl LPs serve as stand-ins for millions of sealed birth records, identities forever hidden.

The questions inscribed on the surface of the LPs are the questions that I always wanted to ask my son and that my son always wanted to ask me. Viewers are invited to flip through the LPs in the storage boxes, the covers are sealed up. The searching reveals no clues to the identities.

Headphones provide access to the secret sound of the Mother in one ear and the Son in the other. Pops and clicks provide contextual clues to the 1970’s era.

Ask Away Its OK, 2010, the spoken work story express a Natural Mother's plea fueled by shame, fear, joy, confusion, frustration, grief, joy and love for her surrendered child, the child that she meets for the first time, 34 years after his birth.

Legacy in Limbo


By: Martha Gelarden
Other authors: Legacy in Limbo was created in collaboration with my son, Adam Lazar.
Submitted: 10/31/2011

Legacy in Limbo, 2010 is the response of a Mother and Son that were separated at birth. Their identities were kept secret, hidden from one another in closed adoption. Old style vinyl LPs serve as stand-ins for millions of sealed birth records, identities forever hidden.

The questions inscribed on the surface of the LPs are the questions that I always wanted to ask my son and that my son always wanted to ask me. Viewers are invited to flip through the LPs in the storage boxes, the covers are sealed up. The searching reveals no clues to the identities.

Headphones provide access to the secret sound of the Mother in one ear and the Son in the other. Pops and clicks provide contextual clues to the 1970’s era.

Ask Away Its OK, 2010, the spoken work story express a Natural Mother's plea fueled by shame, fear, joy, confusion, frustration, grief, joy and love for her surrendered child, the child that she meets for the first time, 34 years after his birth.

Images from Afghanistan


By: Diane LeBow
Submitted: 10/31/2011

Diane LeBow, writer, photo-journalist, and women's rights activist, has visited Afghanistan several times beginning in 2000, in collaboration with women's rights projects. In 2000, we assisted Afghan women to create A Declaration of the Essential Rights of Afghan Women, later signed by world leaders, including United Nations President Kofi Annan and President Bill Clinton, and parts of which were included in the new Afghan Constitution.

A Mother Without Children


By: Christine Arylo
Submitted: 10/31/2011

I am a mother.
No I have not carried a human child in my womb.
But I am a mother.

Would all call me a mother?
No.
Would some be offended that I call myself a mother?
Probably.

But does that make me any less of a mother?

Not by my feeling
My understanding
Nor commitment
To the health and happiness
Of our children, our girls
Including the ones that live inside our own souls.

I am a mother without children.
Not less of a mother
Just different.

There was a time when not all women
Chose to have children
Not all women were expected to have children
Because it was known that some women could best serve
By serving the tribe
By letting others bear the children
And they act as the nurse, the guide, the teacher.
In those times, it was understood
It takes a tribe to raise a child.

I am a mother.
No I have not carried a human child in my womb.
But I am a mother.

I am a mother of my creations.
My books, my great work, my service.
Work that touches and changes the lives of others
Great work that I am sure is my calling to give.

I am a mother to the women whom I mother
Whom I help find the love they lost for themselves
Some years back.
And by mothering them
I also touch the souls of many girls and unborn babies
As there isn’t much more of an indicator of how much a girl will love herself
Than how much her mother loves herself.

For every woman I serve
I serve a mother
Who in turn serves a girl.

Truth be told
I did have a living child of my own for some time.
Her name was Nanook, and she had four legs
Which some may say makes me less of a mother
But anyone who knew us knows
That she owned and filled my heart for 18 years.

I am a mother.
No I have not carried a human child in my womb.
But I am a mother.

I remember the day I decided
That carrying a baby in my uterus
Channeling it through my body
Was not an experience I wanted nor needed to have.

I remember letting go of the story that my choice was selfish
That I was weak for not choosing to give birth or
Take on the day-to-day responsibility of raising a child
And I remember the freedom I felt
When I let those self-judgments go
And decided to listen to my heart
And give my gifts in the way I was called.

I remember the confusion I walked through
In order to find absolute clarity
That choosing not to have children of my own
Was one of the most self-less acts I could take
Because for me, it was not about having my own child
It was about giving my love to as many children as I could.

In that moment
I understood something very profound about motherhood…

Just because I was a woman
Without children of my own
Didn’t mean I wasn't a mother

And that is when my mothering began.

I opened up my heart to be more fully present for my two goddess daughters
The beautiful spirits of my best friend
A single mother
Who often needs my support
And who because I have it to give
I can always be there for.

I am a mother without children.

I opened up space to write, to teach, to speak
To deliver the most important message I know, self-love
To dedicate my life to creating a world in which every girl born
Is born in love with herself and stays connected to that thread of love.
I took on a lifetime assignment to ensure that every girl born knows
She deserves unconditional love and respect, always.

I am a mother without children.

I say these things not to take away from what
Mothers of children have to endure
Go through, manage, balance, juggle.

I say these things to point out that we as women
Are here to mother our children together
That you sister, may have chosen to give birth to a daughter or a son
And that doesn’t mean that you are alone in raising him or her
That you sister, may find yourself not able to have the child your heart wanted to give birth to
And that doesn't mean that you can’t be a mother
That you sister, may know that children are not in your cards this round of life
And that doesn't mean that you don’t have mothering to do

We live in a world in which girls today
Suffer from the same maladies as we did
Plus more.
Low self-respect. Low self-compassion. Low self-worth.
Girls today are missing – as we are - self-love.

I have learned to mother and love myself.
I have felt the power in letting others mother and love me.
And I have witnessed the power of women coming together to
Raise and love the children
Our children
Regardless from which bodily portal they came.

I am a mother without children.

We are all mothers.
And to mother is one of the greatest gifts we will ever receive.
For the love of a child is pure.
The giving of our love to one heals like nothing else.
Together we create the freedom to love.

I am a mother without children
But I am not without children to love.


- Christine Arylo, author, speaker, founder of Madly in Love with ME

Thoughts of My Mother


By: Asha J. Williams
Submitted: 10/31/2011

My mother was a wonderful role model for me and my brother. She always had a passion for our family. She was a very caring friend to others and my best friend. She was a passionate and dedicated educator. She always made special moments even more special with her personal touch. I belive that she has been an excellent example for me to follow.

She was only sixty-one years old when she passed away. I miss her being here with our family to celebrate special momements. I also miss being able to talk to her about the little things... But I am blessed by all of the wonderful memories that I have of her! I believe that those memories and lessons that I learned from her have helped to make me into the mother that I am today.

Thoughts of My Mother


By: Asha J. Williams
Submitted: 10/31/2011

My mother was a wonderful role model for me and my brother. She always had a passion for our family. She was a very caring friend to others and my best friend. She was a passionate and dedicated educator. She always made special moments even more special with her personal touch. I belive that she has been an excellent example for me to follow.

She was only sixty-one years old when she passed away. I miss her being here with our family to celebrate special momements. I also miss being able to talk to her about the little things... But I am blessed by all of the wonderful memories that I have of her! I believe that those memories and lessons that I learned from her have helped to make me into the mother that I am today.

Thoughts of My Mother


By: Asha J. Williams
Submitted: 10/31/2011

My mother was a wonderful role model for me and my brother. She always had a passion for our family. She was a very caring friend to others and my best friend. She was a passionate and dedicated educator. She always made special moments even more special with her personal touch. I belive that she has been an excellent example for me to follow.

She was only sixty-one years old when she passed away. I miss her being here with our family to celebrate special momements. I also miss being able to talk to her about the little things... But I am blessed by all of the wonderful memories that I have of her! I believe that those memories and lessons that I learned from her have helped to make me into the mother that I am today.

HOW COULD I NOT LOVE YOU


By: Maria Jasmine
Submitted: 10/31/2011

In this very challenging world,that all families and communties around the globe are faced with, we relied and have always looked up to have a voice from our mothers who have shown their commitment and responsibilty in every way they could despite of all the trials of life. And in so doing, How Could We Not Love them and give them back their voices for their rights to live the life they should be bestowed with, the respect of their purpose in our existence on earth and the blessings they should be showered upon by all their sacrifices.

Pink Roses


By: Eliz77
Submitted: 10/31/2011

PINK ROSES

“Women of the day, Arise!”
Julia Ward Howe, Founder of Mothers’ Day

And I say, Yes,
You can buy me roses
for Mothers’ Day.
But first,
get me justice.

Take me out to dinner
at a fancy feast.
But first,
feed the hungry.

Sisters and Brothers
don’t let them throw
our sons and daughters
on Mammon’s fiery
iron altar of war.
Granny says we need”
Smart babies,
not smart bombs.”

So, yes, get me PINK roses
for Mothers’ Day.
But first,
get me peace.

Love,
Eliz

Donate Online »