Get Your Parade On...

Arise!!

Marching to the tune of Mother Leadership in 2007, this Mothers Day-- May 13-- MAUs from coast to coast will be getting their parade on from New York City and the Bronx, to Austin, Nashville, Boulder and Carbondale, Alexandria, Vashon Island and the Twin Cities, too... More cake walks, teas, rallys and parades being added in cities and communities across the country weekly!!

Find a Mothers Day Parade near you, and / or watch the following, and get inspired to to host your very own! The MAUmas at the Mothership will be with you every step of the way and I stand ready to encourage, support, hand hold where necessary and celebrate YOUR community's victory in taking great strides in this magnificent revolution in the names of all our children:

March 17...

...is the fourth anniversary of the War on "Terrorism."

Events will be taking place all over the country and beyond to promote peace, including this one in Nashville (at which the local MAU community will have a strong presence)

Dear Mothers Acting Up and Fathers and Grandparents and Everyone Else,

Please gather with us to comemorate the 4th anniversary of the invasion of
Iraq at the Owen Bradley Park, on Division by the Musica Roundabout on
Saturday, March 17, starting at 2PM. There will be speakers and
performers and a gentle, peaceful ambiance. Around 3:30 we will gather up
strollers and babies and old shoes and walk to the Federal Building at 9th
and Broadway, where we will line the shoes up along the curb.(They will be
re-used and eventually donated.)

We hope that Mothers Acting Up will march as a contingent!?! And "Act Up"
at the Park beforehand!

We are collecting old shoes and labelling them with the names of
Tennesseans, friends and family members who have served in Iraq,
especially those who died there, and of Iraqi men, women and children who
have died in this conflict. The event is entitled "Walk in Their Shoes"
and is being sponsored by CodePink and other groups all around the
country. Please bring old shoes to the Peace and justice Center, or bring
them with you for labelling on 3/17. Also, please tell us names of any
friends or family members who have served in Iraq that you would like
represented by a pair of shoes.

We hope that you will participate in any way possible in this call for
peace rather than escalation. peace and love, Jane

What is happening in your respective community? Please comment below.

Elect Susie for President.

Despite the fact that it costs less to provide health coverage for children than for any other group, there is no such measure in place in the richest country on planet earth. We are NOT taking care of our own, through health care or health insurance. That's unacceptable.

Help share that message with Congress via petition by being one of at least 9 million signatories to stand up for the 9 million children in this country who have no health coverage.

This is Susie Flynn's message. With the Children's Defense Fund behind her, Susie Flynn is on the campaign trail.

Mom activism.

Mom Activism: It's been going on a long long while, despite the (right on, by the way) recent'ish' trend toward it. The media is catching on. Witness, for example, this piece about organized mothers starring Moms Rising from the New York Times last week.

And yesterday, there was this tee-ninesy little blip about Lorraine Gordon being a mother moved to activism with Women Strike For Peace on this All Things Considered Feature about Gordon's new book. (Fascinating and multi-faceted woman, Ms. Gordon.)

Nancy Oleson at MOMbo Radio is an inspiration in Minneapolis and beyond; she did this intriguing show featuring a slew of activist mamas, including MAU's very own Beth Osnes.

In simpler but no less real Everyday Mom terms of writer Miriam Peskowitz, she writes about the "weird"ness and obstacles to being an activist mother. She closes this excellent blog entry with the commitment and encouragement to others to "try on the politically engaged vision of being a mother and a woman in our worlds."

Our job, as Mothers Acting Up and friends is to build that bridge between MOM activism and Mom activism. That is, activism on behalf of mama herSELF and activism on behalf of the world's children-- not just the ones in our home or on our block. What's good for moms is good for kids is good for families is good for communities is good for the environment is good for peacekeeping is good for global citizenry, and so on. We may each start at a different corner, yet cannot deny that we're all eating of the same pie and a bigger piece for your daughter is also a bigger piece for a far flung son and mamas both hip and everyday, from here to Timbuktu.

Meet MAU Maven Nicole Warne-McGraw!!

I am blessed to have a mother who cares – cares not only for me, my 4 siblings, our spouses and our children – but a mother who cares for the children of the world. She, particularly, cares passionately for women through pregnancy, labor and birthing and for babies and their families in those priceless early years. She taught me -- through watching her do it over and over again -- the difference a thoughtful letter or call to a government official can make. She taught me -- through conversations on local, national, and world events -- to pay attention, care deeply, and create the world in which I want my children and grandchildren to live.

And now I am giving my daughters the same gift of a loving mother whose love is huge enough to encompass the world's children. I hope they learn through joining me at rallies, sitting on my lap as I write my Senator, playing on the floor as I make calls to encourage voter turn-out, and through our discussions of our dreams for how the world can be when we join together to make a difference. And I look forward to many more generations of a family caring for the world's family. I can hardly wait to see the world they will create!

--Nicole Warne-McGraw, many generational Activist & MAU Maven