INCITE!

INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence is a website is a National activist organization of feminist of color coming together to create a collective to end violence against women of color. This website offers advocacy, ways to become involved and activism through their site. This collective gives an avenue for creating awareness about the many types of violence against women of color. The ability to inform is a powerful tool, and this website gives the tools to women to inform others about this on going threat to women everywhere. I have learned in this class that media is a powerful tool for activism! INCITE! talks about how to get they are able to reach women through the media channels they use. Great organization!

Mothers and More

I like the idea about this website, its about how to connect and reconnect with other mothers on topics about motherhood, also how to deal with societies assumptions about motherhood. However, as I examined deaper into the website you can get some information about all they have to offer mothers but in order to get the full benefits of the website and connections you need to become a member and that entails a fee (or am I missing something?). This fee is large enough that it would prevent low income mothers from joining. This does not take into account that low income mothers will not have access to the full benefits of this website and what it has to offer. I am not for sure why it costs so much. What does the membership fee go towards? I think I am going to contact them and find out, I am curious!

Choice Moms

Choice Moms had news posted on their web site about China Opening Up Adoption to Single-Parents and Talking Serious about Guardianship. Right off I could see that the site offered information about choices on how to become a mother whether by adoption or artificial insemination or what have you. Also, offering information if you are already a mother by posting articles about pertinent issues regarding being a mother. An Events calendar tab to see what is happening around the nation.
I think that reproductive health ties into being able to choose to get pregnant, or even choose to get pregnant by artificial insemination or even not becoming pregnant and chosing to become a mother through adoption!

Week 5 post: Best For Babes

What a great resource! Best For Babes is designed as a resource for women who have babies. This website encourages whatever type of way is best for you to feed your baby. For many women if they do not succeed at breastfeeding they feel a huge sense of failure but realistically their is no reason for them to feel this way and this is what Best For Babes is here to tell and educate all women.

Best For Babes believes that "ALL moms deserve to make a truly informed decision and to be cheered on, coached and celebrated without pressure, judgement or guilt. ALL breastfeeding moms deserve to achieve their personal breastfeeding goals without being undermined."

Best For Babes has a mission and they believe that all women today that are moms are being told that they need to breastfeed but at the same time have no knowledge of how to do this correctly therefore they end up failing miserably. Best For Babes believes that it needs to be up to each individual mother to set up and achieve their own personal infant feeding goals.

This is an excellent resource for all mothers or mothers to be. I really like how Best For Babes promotes every women to do what is best for them and not follow what society thinks you should do.

Week 4 Post on Choice Moms

The website Choice Moms was kind of overwhelming when I first was looking at it because there is just so many stories to read. I really liked how the tabs at the top of the page were organized into: thinking, trying, waiting, becoming, being. If you click on any of these options it will bring up a page that is full of resources, stories relevant to the option you chose and advice.

Choice Moms also hosts many networking events for all mothers or soon to be mothers that are single by choice. A new event this year is that they are launching an informal coffeehouse series. Choice Moms have really been all over the place for their networking events. Just in 2010 they went to: Austin, San Francisco, D.C., New York City, Minneapolis and London. They plan to go to many more new places this year.

Choice Moms is a wonderful organization. Every women that is part of it is supportive, caring and really wanting to help every single mom in the best way.

A Look Into MomsRising Blog

The MomsRising blog is extremely interesting! In particular I looked at the post on Sex, Justice and the -isms. This post talked about how on March 29th the supreme court will hear arguments in the Wal-Mart vs. Dukes case.

The decision of this case could stop all economic progress women have made and it may only be one simple vote by supreme court justice Clarence Thomas that makes the decision.

Clarence Thomas is a man "whose public debut was defined by accusations of egregious sexual misconduct could decide the economic future of women across the country... can a man reportedly obsessed with porn who spoke of (sex) acts he had seen in pornographic films involving such matters as women having sex with animals.... or rape scenes." Can he really be the one to make this huge decision?

The real question that should be faced here is whether this country is going to allow Clarence Thomas to make this huge decision or whether he is to be removed from the supreme court because of his prejudice against a certain group of people?

I believe that he should be removed immediately, I have no respect for a man like this and his history is truly disgusting.

I encourage everyone to not only check out this blog but also this particular post.

http://www.mothersactingup.org/

I decided to look at the website http://www.mothersactingup.org/ for my blog post. It is about "Mothers Acting Up was created by four friends who–while raising their children together–became increasingly disturbed by the choices their government was making, and how those choices were impacting the lives and future of every child on the planet." I think this is a wonderful website. Giving children a voice and to protect rights and freedoms. The Mother’s Acting Up movement was officially launched on Mother’s Day 2002, "reclaiming it as the day Julia Ward Howe originally envisioned in 1870: a day set aside for mothers to unite for the wellbeing of our global family." They now have people in all 50 state that work for the children and help shin their voices threw everything. They are tried of government making all the choices and I agree that people need to stand up for the children since no one every listens to children and they voice that they do have.

Sistersong.net

I am reading about SisterSong and how the organization came about. First off this website is a collective movement to give a voice to women of color on the issue of reproductive rights and sexual health. (An issue that is in great peril in the United States, with the conservative agenda in our government plans to cut funding to Planned Parenthood who offers services to underserved populations and this puts all women at risk.) Sistersong works with all women of color, policy makers on reproductive rights and sexual health.
The dominate white culture has oppressed women of color for so long (too long) and now more and more grassroots movements are starting to get the word out, make policy changes and SisterSong is one of the collectives that offers so many resources, services and advocacy. One service they offer is Reproductive training for activists and organizations who want to the Reproductive rights framework in their work or campaigns.
A quote from the Sistersong website that I love
"We don't judge women--we leave that our opponents"
Become an activist for social justice and human rights...join in to make sure ALL women's voices are heard.

Mothers act

I explored the site Mothers act in gup. Here I found an article about a movie coming out entitled Mother: Caring our way out of the population dilemma. This film seems pretty interesting. It explores aspects around population growth, which can directly effect a women and her choices of how many children she chooses to have. The main theme of the film is to educate not place a blame on anyone. It fallows an American mother who came from a family of 12 and has adopted one child. The movie suggest that overpopulation can lead to other dominance which through out history has meant a dominance of man over nature, child, and women. Instead of conquering it suggest we change our society and world into a more nurturing mindset. It explores the issue of hunger and how the Green Revolution has helped but once the two main ingredients run out, oil and water, so will life as we know it. It really puts a perspective on the human population and how we seem to be thriving now in the privileged life in the united states but can come to halt once water is in jeopardy. The unfortunate part is that it is only premiering in Boulder, there are no schedule dates in Oregon. The good news is that it comes out on DVD this summer so keep an eye out!

Immigration Equality

I read about binational couples and how in the United States same sex couples may not seek citizenship for their life partner if their parner is from another country. Nineteen other countries allow their citizens to sponsor their same sex partners immigration benefits. American's claim that we are a progressive nation, COME on if we cannot allow equal rights to same sex couples because of the Defense of Marriage act then we are not yet as progressive as we claim. (I write yet, because there are collectives forming and change is about!) Have Americans realized that half of all heterosexual marriages fail in the United States?
Any way enough of my rant.

National Organization For Women

I am vaguely familiar with this website due to the fact that one day I had stumbled upon it. This time I chose to read up on NOW'S media hall of shame. I like the feminist point of view of what I would say "Calling Out" advertisements that perpetuate misogyny and straight up sexist agenda. I also feel that this information is pertinent to my daily life, say for instance boycotting a specific company for their complete lack of reverence to women around the globe. The media hall of shame also takes new articles and posts them and critic it for racist, sexist and other ists and ism's!
NOW keeps a feminist up to speed on the latest news and information that is going on around the world because you can't make change with out being informed.

Moms Rising

For my last blog for this class, I decided to check out Moms Rising. "The MomsRising blog is a soapbox where people across our nation can talk politics, policy, and parenting. The views expressed in these blogs aren't necessarily representative of MomsRising policy positions or active campaigns. " I think it is important to have these different views and to have a space to be able to discuss them freely. I gave a look at the health care for all kids, because as I was growing up in a single parent household we did not have health insurance. I only went to the doctor if there was blood or an arm missing, so to say the least I never went. It is refreshing to read that Obama has passed a bill into law in the early part of 2010. "This means that families can get what they need: affordable, reliable health coverage that won't disappear if they lose a job or get sick." This would have been very nice for my mother and I about ten or fifteen years ago, but I am happy to see that there are changes being made regarding health care situations. "MomsRising Special Mission: Make sure all kids in your community have access to health care." The health care reform has helped many families across the United States and will only continue doing great things. Thank you again for the opportuniy to blog and to have our voices heard during the course of this term. It has been an amazing journey and I am sad to see this class end here, but it is just the beginning to so much more.

MomsRising Blog

For this week's blog assignment, I decided to check out www.momsrising.org, or more specifically, the blog associated with that site. Throughout the term, we were introduced to many sites revolving around Mommy blogging, but this blog is a bit different. All of the subjects in the blog are national issues, which is very informative. The blogs are written by normal people, trying to bring light to these issues, but some are even written by Senators, heads of organizations, etc.

One post I want to bring your attention to is entitled "Prescription Drugs in Pregnancy: Tell the FDA you need to know that fact," and is written by Senator Herb Kohl: http://www.momsrising.org/blog/perscription-drugs-in-pregnancy-tell-the-fda-you-need-to-know-the-facts/. I found this incredibly interesting because we talked about a broad range of issues with medicine/doctors and women, but prescription drugs never really came up. It is incredibly interesting as Senator Kohl brings up great facts about women being misinformed, or uninformed all together, about drugs being taken during pregnancy for illnesses. I also really love that fact that the Senator is taking on the issue and trying to get something done about it.

You should all check it out.

Cocoa Mamas

I appluad these women for creating a blog for black women. To me it is sad, even on the internet, minoirities are under represented. However, after reading a few of their posts, it seems like a lot of the issues that were discussed, were similiar to the issues that other blog websites post. Each woman as a mother will experience it differently. But at the end of the day, it seems like a lot of the issues are the same. After seeing how these women started a blog, it has made me think about how mommy-blogging can be a powerful tool. In the class, I find that I am talking more to my girlfriends about the issues that women face as they enter the phase of being a mother. Right now my closest gals and I aren't quite to that point in our lives. But it would be fun to do a mommy-blog together when we have kids. It doesn't even have to mommy-blogging, we could create one now and make it more of a chance to have "girl-talk" over the Internet. It seems that women are really wanting to support one another and share their experiences with each other. Maybe once I graduate, I will have more time to blog. Blogging almost seems like a diary that other people read. A chance to hear the thoughts of others and then getting the chance to commit on it....


As I read the book My Hollywood seems as though the dialect is just one big blog, but inside the minds of Lola and Claire. There thoughts, feelings, opinions. The book is interesting as it goes into the thoughts of both women and the experiences they face and the different perspectives they have, even though their experiences are intertwined.

The feminist breeder

I was very taken aback from this website. A few words that come to mind after reading the blog posts:

1. Wow
2. Bad ass
3. The author has a definite style of writing aka passionate
4. Wow

On the front page of the website, I thought the tab "Feminism" and the blog post that was posted there was incredibly insightful. I use the word insightful because some people are just. Wow, I don't know of the nice way of saying this... Well anyway, they are ignorant. It amazes me how people always go back to pro choice or pro life... I like that is the ultimate argument. Even if they are believe in all that feminism represents and all that Planned Parenthood offers, it comes down to that one subject. Like it is as simple as yes or no. Black or white. Abortion or life. Are people really going to stop a movement because of one of the hundreds of issues that women in society face. There will always be controversy over this subject, and there will never be one answer or one point of view. I personally think that we, as women, need to accept that there will be differences in opinions, but we are all batting for the same team. That team is to create and live in a world where women are equal and their work in society is equally valued.

By the way, the author very poetically wrote her first birthing experience. I thought the piece was insightful and I kind of felt her experience through her words. I also very moved by her choice to breast feed her child to 33 months. I personally don't think that I will choose to do that. But I think it is awesome that she had the choice and she was able to have that experience with her child. Who is society to say when it is OK for a woman to stop breastfeed? Just saying.

However, and I might upset some people when I say this, I think breastfeeding shouldn't happen in public. Don't get me wrong. I think it is a wonderful thing for a woman to experience, however I will say that if I am in a restaurant and a woman chooses to breastfeed her child at the table, it does make me feel uncomfortable. It isn't that a woman should be ashamed or not allowed to do it in public. But I will acknowledge that it makes me uneasy. I know that I shouldn't think this way if I think in a feminism mind set. I totally agree that women should have the option of choosing when and where they breastfeed. And as I woman I support the women that choose to. However maybe this makes me more conservative, I think it should not be publicly displayed.

MomsRising.org

After exploring this website for a bit, I realized that this website isn't just for the mothers out there, but the website and group is fighting for women. Seeing as I don't have any children, it has been harder for me to "imagine" or "predict" how I will act, decide, be when I have the chance to mother. I think that it good to critically think about our future actions, but lets be realistic, when the day actually comes, situations and scenarios that we played out in our heads, might not actually happen. That being said, I was able to relate to this website because it had other issues pertaining to women.

For instance, the issue of the paid sick leave. Granted, I am not yet facing the dilemma that if my children get sick, what are my options for child care. I am facing and is completely real for me, is when I get sick, I have to take a pay cut in my pay check. I have been employed for the City of Corvallis for almost 10 years! Yes, I have been working at the pool since I was 15 years old. For that entire time, I have been considered as a "seasonal-part-time" employee. There are many weeks where I work 40 hours a week. But since I am not a permanent employee, I am not eligible for benefits, paid sick time or vacation time. If I am sick and I take a day off, I usually end up losing on average, 50 dollars a day that I am sick. Most illnesses last longer than just one day, so my pay cut can be in the hundreds.

In order to battle this, I have gone to work sick! I hate going to work sick. One I don't feel like I do my job properly and well and Two, I am absolutely miserable! I wish that I had the option of not going to work when I am sick, however, in order to pay rent, pay the bills and be able to afford food, sometimes I don't always have an option.

The other issue that I could really relate with was with the fair wages. Like I said earlier, I have been working for the City of Corvallis for nearly 10 years. In that time, I have worked my way up and my job now consists of more management. I am an assistant for my boss. I don't mind doing the work, but she gives me tasks to do and I get paid 1/3 of what she does, yet I am doing the work that she has to do. I understand that I am only an assistant, however when I am completely some of her job, I want to earn the amount that I am worth. I have created and published multiple flyers that have gone to thousands of children who attend the Corvallis schools, thus helping to bring in business. I know this must sound like I am complaining, but I am worth more than what I get paid! I guess that I should be lucky to even have a job. And I will now just count my blessings...

International Women's day!

   On the momsrising.org website there is a blog written about International Women's day, which is good, but women in America lag behind other countries around the world. You think today that women have made major strides in terms of politics, healthcare ( to an extent), and working conditions. In almost all of these categories women in America fall behind everyone else. In political leadership, women rank 73. You would think as a leading country in the world we would have more women in politics. As women we need to band together, more so than we already do, to fix these issues and provide women a better life.

WATCH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaxBR1AiFS4

this is really cool video
Hope you like

Walking a mile in our shoes

OMG I love this. So much. (men literally walking a mile in our shoes)

Happy International Women's Day!

The site I am sharing (in honor of Women's Day!):

www.internationalwomensday.com/

"International Women's Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, International Women's Day is a national holiday."

"Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women's craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more."

"So make a difference, think globally and act locally !! Make everyday International Women's Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding."

Sister Wives

I ran into this article about 3 wives married to one man and all the children they share. It is a show on TLC and a new season is starting where the man finds a soon to be 4th wife. I have never seen the show but thought that I would share this link.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katy-hall/sister-wives-tlcs-polygam_b_736551.html

Economica

Globalization has been one of the main topics for many of my Women studies classes. The spread of Globalization has it effects on women from different cultures, jobs, family etc. this impacts a women’s everyday life, especially now that more and more women are joining the work force and the economic situation has not gotten better. When I was exploring Economica, one of the themes that they had was family and fertility. Taking the “Motherhood” class I had to see what it was about. I had never really thought of globalization impacting mothers mainly because I am not a mother. When I started to read more about it does influence me, my future plans to have a family, five years or even ten years down the road. But mothers have been faced with hard decisions because of this new globalized economy. Reading through some of the articles the one that caught my attention the most was the one about China, How women have multiple abortions and have to choose not to have children because of the type of work they do and the strong law that prohibits women to have more than one child. China does not offer information on contraceptives or safe sex making it extremely hard for women to stay safe and this is all on globalization. Factories are looking for women to work all day seven days a week, china benefits from this, making it one of the leading producers but at the cost of women. I found this site extremely useful and enlightening.
Jannette

Time line

Taking misconceptions of motherhood and body politics has opened my eyes to many issues involving motherhood and midwifery. Everything I see that involves mothers has me analyzing and asking questions. I think back to what we have learned in class and how the western ideal of pregnancy has made women more vulnerable and more likely to have an intervention during pregnancy. Reading the timeline has explained why things are they way they are now and how midwives in a way have been cast from society it seems to me that midwives have had it rough ever since they started in the Unites States. They have a lot of things against them. I didn’t know there was such a long history involving midwives; I didn’t get to read everything. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place or skimmed to fast but I did not see much information on immigration and how that impacted women from different cultures when being accustomed to their pregnancy traditions from their culture. It’s funny the way that some men feel so threatened and imposed their ideas on indecency to some of the American women, making childbearing a curse, when if done naturally without drugs it can be better for the woman. Some things have changed, there is an increase in midwifery again and there is advocacy for it and the spread of awareness about hospital and interventions.
Jannette

Black women’s health imperative

The Black women’s health imperative has to be my favorite site so far. Equal health care for Black women and all women of color in general has been in the back burner for decades. Having a website that is dedicated to black women’s health and spiritual being is a great advancement in our society. They impact and have programs that help the community as well as try to change state policy. The resources and links that they offer are a great way to explore as well as learn about things we might not know about such as why black women are invisible in the health care system or why it’s important to have an association like this. I like the way the offer health tips as well as why women are susceptible to certain health problems because of their socio economic status or just by being a women of color in this society. There are so many women out there that do not know what they can do or what can be done because of certain obstacles presented for them, and by this Imperative there is a way to help and spread awareness to black women around the Unites States.

The Feminist Breeder

I checked out the blog called The Feminist Breeder and I love it. The open blog was all about freaking out which in a weird way I enjoy. I feel like so much of the birthing experience is freaking out but I feel like I only hear one side. I hear the side that is freaking out about money, if the parent or parents are prepared, what to do when the labor starts, and the freaking out about being a good mother.
These things are all good to freak out about probably because they help the potential parent figure stuff out, but I feel as a women I am on the other side of things. All I think about when someone mentions birth is the fact that a baby, a small HUMAN is being pushed through the pelvis...this is terrifying to me. My stance on having my own kids is yes I want some but do I want to go through the whole growing a human inside of me and then pushing it out? This is the dilemma I have been asking myself for years. It was nice to see a pregnant women blogging about the exact emotions I would no doubt have if I was pregnant.
This blog was fun to explore and I feel like every pregnant women must feel these emotions at one point during their pregnancy but I want to hear them scream them out! I would like to think that I was scared into my moral beliefs that if I am not careful a baby could come out of you one day. I am not at all afraid to admit this is my favorite type of birth control. I just need to repeat to myself "don't want to be careful? Fine, just be prepared to push a baby out!" This one phrase may sound crude and I know there are joys in the mini beings, but the harsh truth is what seems to keep me grounded so thank you to all the Mommy Bloggers out there!

The Feminist Breeder: PP

      In light of the recent House of Representatives passing the bill that revokes federal funding for Planned Parenthood, on the Feminist Breeder website a blog was posted about said bill, and the backlash she received upon posting on her Facebook. I especially loved this blog because I identify with what she is saying. I find it incredibly ridiculous that Congress is even thinking about passing this bill, let alone actually doing it.
      So, upon hearing about this bill I did the same thing as this woman; I posted that I support, and I stand with Planned Parenthood. I received mixed reactions from some of my Facebook friends. In terms of my friends on Facebook, the Pro-PP and Anti-PP amount is almost split evenly down the middle. So, this livened a small debate. I am so Pro-PP it's not even funny. I get so heated, and so fired up when I talk about said topic, and my friends just stop talking. What I get the most fired up about are the closed minded people who think the ONLY service provided by PP is abortion. Obviously they just jump to conclusions, and don't actually do research to learn the other services provided by PP. And they also don't actually learn the number of abortions PP performs; only about 3%. The other 97% of services help women in many other ways. I HATE when people think that PP is the only place to get an abortion, most hospitals do such a procedure. When this is brought up to them, they still argue that PP shouldn't receive federal funding.
      Along with bringing up this conversation on Facebook, I also talk about it with my friends. I have gotten into a few heated debates with many friends who are like the people described above. The end result is not entirely negative, I have changed a few of my friends minds after I explained all the services PP provides, and how it does far more good, than bad, actually they don't do anything bad. PP is just an amazing program that should keep its federal funding.
              This woman who wrote the blog said she received something similar to what I experienced. But, someday all the flack we receive from the little bit of activism we do every day will pay off. I have a tremendous amount of hope that will happen someday. I just hope I get to see it.
 I STAND WITH PLANNED PARENTHOOD.

I read the Feminist Breeder blog and I loved it! It is a great blog about feminist mothering and other topics. I read her new blog for March 1, 2011 about wanting more women to be proud of their accomplishments and come out and let people know about them. The feminist Breeder writes about when women accomplish something in life that is monumental they are not allowed to revel in it for long because society will take it away from them by minimizing the accomplishment. In our society it is not okay for a woman to boast because it is an unacceptable for a female to be prideful of what they have done. The Feminist Breeder is right, we all should feel a sense of pride of our accomplishments and share them with others.

I also read The Feminist Breeders personal story about weaning her son from breastfeeding. Way to go Feminist Breeder for listening to your intuition and going with what feels right for you and your own son. So many women ignore this intuition when raising their children, when all actuality the mother knows what is best for them and their child.

contemporaryfamilies

I picked the website http://www.contemporaryfamilies.org/about-ccf/about-ccf.html because I was wondering why there is a council on contemporary families. The Council on Contemporary Families “is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to providing the press and public with the latest research and best-practice findings about American families. Our members include demographers, economists, family therapists, historians, political scientists, psychologists, social workers, sociologists, as well as other family social scientists and practitioners.” I am still trying to figure out exactly what this website is about. For some reason I have a bad vibe about it. Now on the other side I have a feelings its about letting the world know that in this time in day that there are different types of families and no matter what your family consists of that its okay and that its not abnormal. That might be what I think, I don’t know if I am right though.

TFB: Planned Parenthood Blog Post

http://thefeministbreeder.com/category/my-feminism/

The Feminist Breeders post from February 19th was very interesting. It was an overview of some uproar she received after posting the Save Planned Parenthood petition on her Facebook page. She recounts how she was "un-friended' by a fan because of her stance on Planned Parenthood, because he could never be a fan of someone who stood with "murderers."

I found this very interesting because after I, and a few of my friends, posted the petition to Facebook, I also received the same flack for standing with Planned Parenthood. Most were misconceptions about this being about abortion and only abortion. It seems that people are blind to what this is really about. After I became irritated with other people's ignorance and with defending myself on something that I should have to, I ended up deleting people's comments. The Feminist Breeder, on the other hand, put the comments out there on her blog.

A lot of people do see the funding cuts to Planned Parenthood as an attack on abortion, which I suppose it is, but they aren't seeing the other resources people are loosing. She posts just a few on her blog: Breast cancer screening, Pap tests, Cervical cancer screening and prevention, Treatment for Urinary Tract Infections, Treatment for Yeast Infection, Female infertility screening and referral, Birth control, Prenatal Services and Education, Pregnancy prevention education, Anemia testing and the list continues. People seemed so preoccupied with abortion, that they didn't even consider the fact that these other services will be affected.

Overall, this is a great website. She has some great in site to feminism, and motherhood. Her posts are very informative and I love her sponsors! I am definitely a fan now! :)

Council on Contemporary Families

After exploring the website Council on Contemporary Families I was really interested in it. I am taking a course this term called Contemporary Families in the U.S. and a lot of the information I have learned in this class is addressed by the Council on Contemporary Families.

One reason I especially liked this website was because for me I have dealt with many family issues that are considered contemporary family issues. I believe the biggest issue American families face today is divorce. I know that for me divorce has definitely affected me the most and really made me a stronger, more independent person. Although at the same time it has definitely caused a huge amount of stress, sadness, and sense of loneliness. These feelings will never go away because as the Council on Contemporary Families show in their research all of these feelings and emotions are completely normal for one to feel.

One of the press releases published on the website is called "I Do," I Do," and "I Do Again": The American Marriage- Go- Round and in this article it talks about how Americans have "come to simultaneously embrace two contradictory models of family life: a commitment to a shared life in a sanctified marriage and an individualistic emphasis on personal growth and development." These two models just don't and will not ever work well together. This is very much so the main reason why marriages do not work out. It is simply because two people have to unite and not worry about their own individual personal growth all the time and instead need to grow and development as a couple.

I plan to visit this website again because I felt as if the information was very valuable and I was really able to relate to many of the topics/issues the Council on Contemporary Families addresses.

FYI! :)

FeministBreeder TheFeministBreeder

@doylehugmeyer I'm loving that blog!!! What a smart, thoughtful group of ladies!

Magnolia Joan

Meet Maggie, the new addition to our family. Bundled up and headed home for the first time!

The Feminist Breeder

I really enjoyed The Feminist Breeder for numerous reasons. First, it is so nice to see a woman, who is a young mother and very successful, blogging about the experiences and accomplishments in her life. "I am passionate about natural birth, breastfeeding, and choices in healthcare. Without the right to complete bodily autonomy, we have not yet achieved an equal standing." She was a rocker chic gone professional and a real inspiration to a total of 9558 regular readers. Second, she reminds me so much like my older sister, Racheal. I was able to share in the joy of welcoming her second daughter into the world this weekend. Magnolia Joan, weighed 8lbs 10oz and was 21 inches long. Watching the birth was an amazing, life changing experience and one that I will never forget.
One of the blogs that I really liked also had a her own very cool youtube video attached to it, The Fetus Throws a Party. Her video was of the child she is pregnant with now, finally a girl (Jolene) after two boys (Jonas & Jules), who routinely kicks around in her stomach at about 11pm every night. This time she shoots a video of herself sitting on the couch, playing music, and watching Jolene have "a late night party" inside of her own belly. She describes that moment and how she and her husband felt to see this experience, "jaw-dropping and awesome to witness". I could not have agreed more with her. When my sister was pregnant, we would do the same thing, play music to the baby and watch her kick around inside of Racheal. It is awesome and purely amazing that she carried and grew a baby inside of her for nine months and I was able to witness her inside the womb at one moment and here on earth at the next moment.

Breeding Feminism

I don't think there are enough words in the English language to describe just how badass The Feminist Breeder blog is. This chick is amazing, and her wit/writing style is just AWESOME.

A former rock-n'-roller-turned-lawyer who is an adamant support of breastfeeding, doulas and feminism, this early 30's mom of 2 (boys) with one more on the way is a literary rockstar!

This is the kind of blogging I participated in when I was pregnant too; documenting home life, sharing pregnancy stories, and helping out other moms/moms-to-be with real-life advice.

I'm honestly so stoked on this blog that between sentences I keep bouncing back and forth between tabs and looking more at her site.

Also, I LOVE her VBAC support and story. I remember being pregnant and hearing how our local hospitals (from my son's hometown) had banned VBACs because of the liability and that the doctors were advocating very strongly against even considering trying (to avoid lawsuits if any complications came up). I am pretty impressed that she was able to do so! My kudos to her!

My favorite blogpost has been the one about Diego the fish and how she potty trained her youngest son. Which is UBER helpful since my son is still doing pull-ups at night and I'm out of potty training motivators to get him dry at night.

Week 9!

Hello!  New websites for week 9 have been posted.  I tried to keep in mind this week's theme and I hope you are able to make connections between the material we read in class, our discussions, and these awesome websites when you are crafting your blog post for the week.  Thanks for your blogger dedication! :)  And, Happy Women's History Month!