MamaBlogger365 - The Power Of A Woman by Joy Rose

Last week Mindy Stokes sent me a link to an MP3 radio broadcast of her The Clothesline Project, which brings awareness and voice to the virtually taboo topic of domestic violence. Whether praising Eve Ensler's work, or citing other feisty feminists like dear ole' Gloria, one thing is clear - there is still much work to be done.

March is Women's History Month and March 8th was International Women’s Day, a time for hope, activism and personal empowerment. Since 82% of the female population will go on to have children, events like these must also mark the value and importance of mothers and the work they do.

D. Bocanegra

Exhibits like Alexia Nye Jackson’s ‘Mother The Job‘ encourage us to actively evaluate the hidden costs of parenting, and ask questions like: how do we, as a nation, provide health care, maternity leave, paid parental leave, breast feeding and childcare at the workplace? Dylan Bocanegra's work, newly mounted in the M.O.M. lobby, focuses on mother activists like Maria Shriver and Elizabeth Taylor.

Promoting the health, well-being, information, education and connection for individuals and collectives around the area of mother studies and family, benefits everyone. To that end, ongoing groups, researchers, activists, artists, thought-leaders, social change-makers, like Jill Starishevsky, write books that empower our children to know and understand the phrase 'My Body Belongs To Me'. Jill is a child abuse and sex crimes prosecutor in the Bronx, NY, and is doing her best every day to inform and educate families on their rights, and children on how to be self-aware enough to protect themselves from these crimes.

Women in business and the newly formed Women's High NETwork have been gathering at the Museum Of Motherhood (M.O.M.), in New York City each month for incubator groups focused on personal, financial and social good. This month we move to Donnetta Campbell's 'Wings Of Change' event in Stamford on the evening of March 29th. (Some seats are still available if you want to mingle with a business-savvy, movers and shakers in the Connecticut/New York area). I'll even be speaking that day, on the subject of the 'Value Of A Woman' in the afternoon.

D. Whitefield

At the M.O.M. space we talk about hyper-local activism, working with people like owner/Gymboree Franchisee, Debra Whitefield and Barry Hanson, about the importance of exercise and body-arts awareness from a young age. Their commitment to teaching children how to interact through healthful activities reverberates throughout communities in Manhattan, Long Island and more. Their model for engagement permeates the museum, as children and families engage in dialogue, interactive play and education, before toddling off to the Gymboree space around the corner on First Avenue and Eighty Fourth St., where activities progress to a higher level of coordination and music-play from infancy on.

Learning to understand our bodies and minds in healthy ways from an early age, helps to empower us as adults. As we move through March and celebrate women in history, with events like Amy Simon's play 'She's History', coming to the Museum Of Motherhood Theatre on Saturday, March 31st, let's take time to acknowledge the people who are making history in their own ways, by doing good work everyday. I am personally grateful to each of them.

Joy Rose, The Media Mom, is the founder and executive director of the Museum of Motherhood.

The Museum Of Motherhood is the first and only facility of its kind, celebrating the “her”story of mothers around the world. We need your help -- please make your tax-deductible contribution today!Visit the Museum of Motherhood, NOW OPEN in NYC - Tues.-Sun., 10:45-6:30.

MamaBlogger365 - abNormally Nursing, an Art Exhibit by Lauren Cockerham-Colas

Announcing a new exhibit by Lauren Cockerham-Colas

Two years into her master's project, Lauren created an exhibit entitled abNORMALLY NURSING: an exhibition and exploration of breastfeeding. The exhibit was developed for healthcare professionals to educate them on the benefits of extended breastfeeding. The exhibit consisted of 22 photographs of mother-child extended breastfeeding dyads along with extended nursing facts.

Over the course of approximately a year's time, she photographed more than 50 extended nursing families across five different states. The exhibit was used as a research tool to evaluate and influence the knowledge and attitudes of healthcare professionals towards extended breastfeeding. Very recently, the results of the research were published within the peer reviewed scientific journal, Breastfeeding Medicine.

Lauren's exhibit is up in the Museum entry-gallery during the month of January, 2012. Click here for more information about the exhibit and the Museum of Motherhood.

The Museum Of Motherhood is the first and only facility of its kind, celebrating the “her”story of mothers around the world. We need your help -- please make your tax-deductible contribution today!Visit the Museum of Motherhood, NOW OPEN in NYC - Tues.-Sun., 10:45-6:30

MamaBlogger365 - It Can Start with an Email by *Dr Mama* Amber Kinser

Much of the time, life is complicated. Much of the time, initiating change feels impossible. The wait for change, interminable. The status quo, intractable. I think of Susan B. Anthony who agitated for over 35 years for the U.S. vote, and died 14 years before the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified. I had a picture of her above my desk in my home office for years as a reminder of what fortitude and persistence look like... I wonder where that photo got off to. There still is so much work to do, as groups like MomsRising and Mothers Acting Up and Welfare Warriors well know. Intractable indeed.

But sometimes. Sometimes, change happens before its advocates wear out. Sometimes the marginalized don’t have to fund the solution. Sometimes, those with power and finances hear the rest of us. Sometimes change can unfold beginning with a simple email.

Click here to read more!

Support MamaBlogger365 and help the Museum of Motherhood secure a permanent home in 2011! Your tax-deductible donation in ANY amount will help us make our autumn POP-UP exhibit in NYC a permanent reality - visit our Members page to learn more.

Visit the Museum of Motherhood

NOW OPEN in NYC! Tues-Sun, 10:45-6:30

MamaBlogger365 - Breastfeeding Mermaids of Bologna, part 2 by Elena Skoko

Click here to read part one of Elena's essay.

This scene reminds me of a teenage mother who came to visit me in Bologna with my sister on their graduation trip. She was seventeen and already a mother of a toddler. Her graduation trip was one of the few occasions she could still enjoy as a simple teenager. I was so moved by seeing her spending her week of freedom lying on the couch in front of our big TV. She had all my sympathy. During one of her few escapades outside the idle zone, she went with my sister and my sister’s boyfriend on a public bus. There was an old grumpy couple somewhere in front of them. “Bet I can sprinkle them with my milk right in the face!”, the teenage mother challenged playfully. She pulled out her breast, squeezed it and centered the old man right on the spot in a few meters distance without the victim noticing where it came from. I found the gesture hilarious. The mermaids of the Fountain of Neptune reminded me of her ever since.

Click here to read more!

Support MamaBlogger365 and help the Museum of Motherhood secure a permanent home in 2011! Your tax-deductible donation in ANY amount will help us make our fall POP-UP exhibit in NYC a permanent reality - visit our Members page to learn more.


The Museum of Motherhood is NOW OPEN in NYC! Come visit us!

401 East 84th St. (at 1st Ave.), New York, NY | Tues.-Sun., 10:45 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Photo by Patrick Clenet

MamaBlogger365 - Breastfeeding Mermaids of Bologna by Elena Skoko

Mermaids, mythology, motherhood and more... part one of a two-part mini-series by the creative and ever-fabulous Elena Skoko:

The mermaid of the Fountain of Neptune in Bologna (photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto) is the image I recall when I’m concerned about my milk supply. I visualize it vividly, my breasts start to tickle and I feel the flow reaching my nipples. I breathe a sigh of relief: everything’s fine, my baby, you’ll have enough food, as much as you need, whenever you wish.

One day, while I was living in Bologna, my friend Vlatko came to visit me. We went for a nice walk across the city ending up in Piazza del Nettuno. The city of Bologna is in shape of a star and Piazza del Nettuno is right in the middle, next to the main square. The little square is named after a fountain dominated by a massive statue of ancient god of all seas. Neptune is standing on top of a pedestal that is held by four magnificent mermaids. These mermaids are sitting on waves with their split fish tail spread. Their hands are offering abundant breasts sprinkling water from their nipples.

Click here to read more!

Support MamaBlogger365 and help the Museum of Motherhood secure a permanent home in 2011! Your tax-deductible donation in ANY amount will help us make our September POP-UP exhibit in NYC a permanent reality - visit our Members page to learn more.


The Museum of Motherhood is NOW OPEN in NYC! Come visit us!

401 East 84th St. (at 1st Ave.), New York, NY | Tues.-Sun., 10:45 a.m.-6:30 p.m.