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 - Holiday Miracles by Shira Adler, Diva Mama

In a season full of miracles when most of us expect to find them under the tree or in the glow of Chanukah candles, did a mighty miracle drop in my lap and I will be forever grateful. Santa doesn’t always come down the chimney and the oil in the lamp doesn’t always burn brightest in a way that you expect it. I know I am speaking a little bit obliquely, so let me explain.

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 - Stretch Marks by Angela Kariotis

I want to be an artist, not in spite of being a mother but because I am a mother. Especially operating in the hip-hop aesthetic, an art-culture that has been demonized and also has been suppressive to its women, I’ve been hard pressed to access successful models of mother-artists. So, in creating my third solo show, I created STRETCH MARKS. I am my daughter's example that you must find ways to combine your worlds, you must continuously develop your skills, dreams do not have an expiration date, and if you want to do something you must find ways to bring the people you love with you. We work on this together. Stretch Marks is playing in New York City May to June, 2011. A MamaExpo event.

"'Stretch Marks' is more far-reaching, tackling issues of birth, heredity, culture and identity. All of it punctuated with hip-hop's trademarks of an eclectic soundtrack and non-stop athleticism. 'Stretch Marks' represents Kariotis' resolution of the challenge of stretching her identity to accommodate her daughter."
--Kathleen O'Brien, The Star-Ledger

read more

MamaBlogger365 needs you! Tell us how you're re-framing motherhood and help the Museum of Motherhood secure a permanent home in 2011!