Summer is upon us, even in the rainy climes of New Hampshire. Which means school is out, and I'm entering the child-time zone again -- the place where inspiration and intention frequently collide with the realities of family life. Which is a long way of saying: I had a terrific idea for a new feature essay on the caring society and the rehabilitation of the progressive movement, but you don't get to read it. At least, not yet.
And so, this month's edition is short and sweet. In Essays, first-time contributor Shannon Hyland-Tassava writes about the economic trade offs of being a stay-at-home mom. Readers may find this essay controversial, but I invite a careful reading. What do families give up when one income barely covers the basics, but mothers and fathers have a preference for parental care? And what are we really talking about when we talk about "luck"?
In Books, you'll find Tracy Thompson's must-read review of Joan Blades and Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner's The Motherhood Manifesto, and Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser's review and comments on Debora L. Spar's The Baby Business: How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception.
There are a few new additions to the Get Active page. Parents Action hopes to mobilize time-starved parents with a series of internet campaigns on children's and family issues. The organization (formerly the I Am Your Child Foundation) recently launched a campaign for universal health care coverage for children -- please check it out. SisterSong is offering a one-day workshop for advocates and activists who want to learn more about using the Reproductive Justice framework in their reproductive rights and social justice work. And MADRE, an international human rights organization that works in partnership with community-based women's organizations worldwide, has launched a new emergency and disaster relief fund to help vulnerable families in communities affected by natural disasters.
Last but not least, the updated Noteworthy section offers the usual array of links to articles and information on motherhood, reproductive health and work-life issues. This month's highlights include a summary of selected data from a new CDC report on men's fertility and fatherhood in the United States. The CDC survey included questions on father's activities with young and school age children, men's and women's attitudes about maternal employment, men's satisfaction with their parenting ability, and fathers opinions on whether getting ahead at work is more important than spending time with family. The CDC has been conducting a similar survey on women's fertility since 1973, but this was the first cycle that included questions for men. In news and commentary from elsewhere on the web, I particularly recommend the essay When Mom Dies by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, which appeared on the Common Dreams web site earlier this month. "Despite the fundamental decency of the majority of the American people," the authors write, "Ours is in many ways not a society of which we can be proud. The decency of the American people is not moving up the ladder. This troubled our mothers. And it troubles us." In writing about the loss of their mothers, the authors articulate one of the most coherent and compelling moral arguments for a progressive movement to date.
The scheduled topic for the July/August issue is the 30th anniversary of the publication of Adrienne Rich's groundbreaking book, Of Woman Born. I welcome submissions related to this classic work, but like many early explorations of the impact of motherhood on women's identity and liberty, I recognize that Rich's book is no longer widely read outside of academic circles. Let's just say next month's topic will be a surprise -- so surprise me! Please send your essays, commentaries, musings, book reviews and articles to editor@mothersmovement.org by July 10 for consideration in our upcoming, free-form, height-of-summer edition.
Our regular publication schedule will resume in September with a full issue on Mobilizing Mothers. This is an especially timely topic -- please consider submitting your work for this edition as well (the submission deadline is August 25 -- for more information, please visit the Submissions page).
And maybe by then, I'll have my essay finished. Meanwhile, if you're desperate for reading material, allow me to suggest Everyone hates Linda (December 2005) and The Builders of New Myths (March 2006). Linda Hirshman's book, Get to Work : A Manifesto for Women of the World -- which elaborates on her uncompromising prescription for gender equality that shook up the feminist and maternal blogosphere last fall -- just hit the bookstores. It will be interesting to see whether Hirshman's foray into mother lit generates a bang or a whimper. The aforementioned articles look closely at what Hirshman has to say, and why we need to understand the limitations of her thinking as well as the limitations of our own.
A hundred thousand thanks to our contributing writers to this and past issues -- you are what makes the MMO unique and vital. And as always, thanks to MMO readers near and far.
Happy Father's Day to all the feminist fathers out there, and especially to my husband, William Tucker, the feminist father who hangs around here.
In solidarity,
Judith Stadtman Tucker
Editor, The Mothers Movement Online
editor@mothersmovement.org
June 2006 |
