Why I’m a digital humanist: I believe in open access, free, peer revel viewed work in the academy (and beyond). My project for Hester Eisenstein’s Sociology of Gender class at CUNY, The Graduate Center is online here.

I will be editing this essay based on your feedback and comments. Portions of it will be highlighted in my thesis (2015).

Electric Mommyland; Writing a Sociological History Through Auto-Ethnographical Art and Music Performance Towards a Deeper Understanding of Everything Mom

Thank you so much for helping to make this a collaborative project. [LINK]

MamaBlogger365 - The Journey, an exerpt by Jax Resto

When we last heard from Jax Resto: "I imagine the possibilities of being in a band with my big brother. I'd gladly ditch the “all-female” theme for a brother/sister one...." And then she met potential bandmate Chelsea Bass... and now....

Raven texts me about doing a photo shoot this Saturday. Apparently she is also great with hair and makeup, as well as photography. “Sure,” I text back. Anything to feel like we are moving forward. Or maybe just a distraction from the fact that we are not. I stare at the blank computer screen, debating whether to get up and do something “band” or just veg in front of the TV. As if helping to make up my mind, my cell phone rings. I glance at the caller ID and my heart pauses as I recognize the name I programmed in a few days ago: Chelsea Bass.

I answer the phone with “Hi!” rather than “Hello.” She laughs and we gush in excitement over finding each other and over the project I have in mind. We plan to meet Monday at Starbucks in the Port Charlotte Mall.

Saturday, Raven and I go ahead with our scheduled photo shoot, figuring we can add other members as we go. I guess it's a way of remaining optimistic. So, that morning, I fill a suitcase with different outfits and drive to Raven's house in North Port. After an hour or more in hair and makeup, we are ready to shoot, but as luck would have it, my camera suddenly dies. Feeling ready for the cover of Rolling Stone, we drive to a nearby Walmart, where I purchase a new camera.

Later, back at the “studio,” Raven gives her expert opinions on how I should pose. “Don't smile,” she tells me. “Rockers don't smile.” I smile anyway, later glad I did when we upload the photos and Raven looks pissed and I look happy. However, though I don't claim to be an expert photographer and the one thing Raven doesn't claim to be expert on is modeling, she seems almost as pleased with the pictures I've taken of her as the ones she's taken of me.

Satisfied with the progress we've made, but too tired and hungry to do anymore, I head home, happy to find the pizza my husband and son saved for me from their lunch. I wash it down with a Yeungling Porter while I excitedly tell my husband about my productive day. He smiles politely the way he usually does when I talk about anything band related.

Monday afternoon, we meet Chelsea, our bass player hopeful, at a Starbucks in the Port Charlotte mall. She is lovely. Still deserving of too-good-to-be-true status, but seemingly real enough. She must not be able to play.

Click here to read more!

Our Year-End Giving Campaign is going on NOW! 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 - Female Band Invasion - the Journey, an excerpt, by Jax Resto

Need to catch up? Click here for last month's installment of Jax Resto's work in progress!

Part 3

I am artistic, creative, and like to do things out of the ordinary. And I suppose I'm more of a leader than a follower. So doesn't it stand to reason that at some point I would become drummer and writer in my own rock band?

A few days after meeting Raven — the first... second member to my mom-rocker band, we get together to figure out ways to acquire more members as well as market the band. We meet during the day while my husband is at work. Taking care not to share too much band stuff with him is no easy task, since even when I don't willingly share, he asks. Just being polite or genuinely interested via selective memory? I don't know, but once he opens those flood gates, it's hard to curb my excitement. I wonder why he gets so annoyed about these things... or maybe why he married me in the first place, since all I'm doing is fulfilling my destiny. I know some of his frustration stems from thinking I take more than I should from stupid people. Evidently he doesn't view my writing songs like “Cuntessa” as a viable form of retaliation.

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.

Visit the Museum of Motherhood
NOW OPEN in NYC - Tues.-Sun., 10:45-6:30

MamaBlogger365 - Mamapalooza Takes Sydney!

Mothers of the world take note! Sydney will be on the map in 2012 with a great Festival of Arts celebrating Mamapalooza "the Aussie way!"

Join us at Tap Gallery -- 7th-13th May, 2012!

Vee Malnar, artist/writer and event co-ordinator for Mamapalooza Sydney 2012, together with gallery manager and artist Lesley Dimmick (along with a host of many talented volunteers) will pave the way for thousands of Australian mothers and grandmothers to create a lively festival of highly talented, inspirational and knock 'em out sensational acts! Musicians, magicians, poets, singer-songwriters, visual and performance artists and commediennes will grace the Sydney stage in May 2012, and create herstory!

"There's a bit of complacency in Oz," says singer-songwriter (and mother of three) Kathy Cox, "particularly around women's talent. I think a festival like this will place a wonderful variety of talent under one roof, and it'll be a hoot!"

"We need to bring together the extraordinary talent of so many mothers in this country and showcase it under the same umbrella – audiences will be enthralled!" says Vee.

So don’t miss this wonderful week of arts and entertainment starting on the 7th of May at Tap Gallery. We will have an art exhibition, an original songwriter night with awards, stand-up comedy and much much more!

For those who would like to contribute and participate; if you’re a mother, a woman, a person with an idea about ‘motherhood’, come and join this group and help in the collective collaboration of a fantastic festival!

It starts now with you!

Contact us:

Vee Malnar
Mamapalooza Australia Co-Ordinator
veemalnar@gmail.com
mob: 0402036082

Lesley Dimmick
Tap Gallery
178 Palmer St. Darlinghurst, NSW 2010
info@tapgallery.org.au
ph: 0393610440


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 - Female Band Invasion - the Journey, an excerpt, by Jax Resto

I'm at work. Excited. Today I will meet my first mom rocker hopeful. I found her on Bandmix and we are meeting this afternoon at my office. The only thing that would excite me more is if she played guitar or bass. She doesn't. She is a vocalist, but I am excited nonetheless.

I sit cross-legged on one of the green fabric reception chairs in the waiting area, playing paradiddles on the chair arm with my drumsticks. A year ago when I needed an office in a hurry, I jumped at the offer to rent a room from my friend Matt in his electronics store. It's a bit unconventional for a massage therapy practice, but since I spent my first round of twenties as a circus aerialist, and I'm spending my second round as a drummer in a rock band, I'm thinking “unconventional” is my middle name.

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.

Visit the Museum of Motherhood, NOW OPEN in NYC!


Photo credit: ronnieb|MorgueFile

MamaBlogger365 - Female Band Invasion - the Journey, an excerpt, by Jax Resto

I awaken to sound of the bustling streets of Manhattan. Though I grew up in New York, the Bronx, to be exact, it's been a long time since I've lived here. I am back on my old stomping ground, performing again, though this time not as an actor, dancer, or circus aerialist. I am a drummer in a mom rock band.

Click here to read more!

Watch next month for another "episode" of Female Band Invasion—The Journey, a work-in-progress by Jax Resto!

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.



Visit the Museum of Motherhood, NOW OPEN in NYC!

Motherhood Movement Rocks The World!

Was Wonder Woman Right? :MamaBlogger365 – ‘To Be, or Not To Be’ ….A Mother, by Emmily Bristol.

Tonight on MingleMediaTV, MAMAPALOOZA we’re gonna do MOVIE NITE! Let’s check out some scenes from Kate Perotti’s ‘Momz Hot Rocks‘ film about the Mom Rock Movement – and why it’s important now. Join us at 4PM (Pacific) 7PM (EST). Link to show can be accessed easily through the MediaMom.com website.