The year to engage.

Dearest Joy Warriors and Apron String Revolutionaries, Happy New Year and oh mamas, we're off to a good start with the highest number of actions taken in MAU history with January's MAU pledge, a promise to help bring security to the forefront of all conversations! Congratulations, and keep those pledges coming: sign if you haven't yet and/or invite your circles of friends to sign. See if your community can have the most signatures by February 15, and I'll send you a grab bag celebration package to share with your community of mamas. As Mothers Acting Up, we're serious about our celebrations, and celebrate our seriousness. To that end, my dears, after signing the pledge, I ask that you put your hearts toward what it is that makes YOU a MAU. We'll share your thoughts on this hot topic on the MAU national blog, and you can further expand your thinking by joining in spirited dialogue on the brand new list serv for MAUs nationwide. Come by and introduce yourself and start composing your list of the top ten ways to be a MAU. From the Mothership, to jumpstart the conversation, our top ten ways to be a MAU: Join MAU and receive monthly actions & newsletters. Participate in collective actions, strengthening the impact of what we all do TOGETHER. Buy the MAU Handbook for daily inspiration. And then buy one for a friend. Memorize the MAU principles and apply them in your discussions, visions, plans and actions. Make a cheat sheet and xerox it onto card stock to hand out! Contact your Members of Congress at least three times a year (bonus points if you show up with kids and share cookies or homegrown tomatoes with the staff; they will remember you!) Publicly Reclaim Mother's Day in your community, from radio shows to parades: Arise! Girlcott EVERY DAY: Use money to create social change! Write a letter to the editor and/or op-ed about one MAU action and get it published! Need encouragement? Give a yell. Participate in the annual MAU collective postcard action. Sign and send your own, then pass them out at library story-time and coffee house knitting parties! Get inspired by attending MAU Live! or by hosting a presenting MAU event. Spread the mighty Word of MAU to five friends — invite them to begin at #1! Click here for the MAU top 10 ten list with handy links to get started! We look forward to hearing from you, and encourage you to share this missive with your friends and family. It's time for all hands on deck, mamas. There's big work to be done, and we're just the ones to do it. The children say: YES! Yours for the Apron String Revolution, Paige, AKA Ms. Booty Homemaker, for the MAU Mavens Janna Vance of Longmont, CO is championing MAU as her charity of choice in Parade Magazine's America's Giving Challenge. Make a $10 donation to MAU via Janna's link and MAU has a chance win the challenge! If 1 in 4 MAUs gives and/or tells 3 friends, we'll win. Read Janna's appeal.

5 Questions to ask EVERY elected leader and candidate.

From Families Online Magazine.....

My vision is a world of compassion where caring for and empowering children and their families around the world is the first priority of nations. – Octavia Allis

From Mothers Acting Up

5 Questions to ask EVERY elected leader and candidate

Ask these questions whether you’re at a Town Meeting, a cookie drop off or on a Field Trip with fellow community members and a great raft of children. For more information: www.mothersactingup.org.

1. World leaders have committed themselves to the 8 Millennium Development Goals, the most universally agreed to framework for ending extreme poverty. Will you vote for full funding of our country’s promise to contribute .7 percent of our GNP to the Millennium Development Goals?

2. In order to address the growing threat of global warming, scientists tell us that we need to reduce global warming emissions by an average of 2 percent each year through the middle of the century – achieving 80 percent reductions by 2050. Do you have a plan to meet these or other targets? (source: www.heatison.org.)

....More here!

Join in for spirited dialogue.

Come on over and join the brand spaking new list serv for Mothers Acting Up nationally, and beyond!!

Earth Hour 2008.

Can One Woman's Passion Change the World?

From Boulder MAU's Janna Vance:

I started to discover my passion when I left the hospital three days after my daughter, Lillian, was born. I had to leave my sweet baby girl in the nursery. My heart broke. I knew that there were many, many people in this world that had to leave their sweet babies in the nursery for much longer and I felt for them. But, that time away from Lillian was among the most horrible and heart-wrenching of my life.

Then, a strange thing happened. Lillian was released from the hospital. But as my husband drove us home, I gazed out the window at the people walking on the streets, the parks, the world. All of it moving so fast, none of them thinking about the safety of my baby girl. And I thought, "What is this world that I'm bringing my baby home to?" She was so incredibly safe in the nursery. Even I and my husband had to go through security measures to get in to see our baby. Now, all of that would be gone. The only thing standing in between my daughter and the cruel world... was me!

And what of the other children in the world? Was there someone to stand up for them? Would they be safe? Would they all have the support to grow up to be the people that I would want my daughter to share the world with?

That is precisely why I am joining the Parade Magazine America's Giving Challenge. I am competing to gain the most new supporters for my charity, Mothers Acting Up. If I win, I will receive $50,000 for the charity of my choice! But the challenge ends in just 17 days, so the time is now.

Mothers Acting Up works to ensure that someone does look out for the world's children, and so much more. I have had the opportunity to spend a little time with the MAU team in Boulder, CO and they are the most amazing, passionate and inspiring people I've ever met. MAU works in the local community to increase awareness of all issues related to children and the world we will pass along to them. MAU works to ensure that our children will have a planet that is environmentally balanced, politically fair and joyful in its diversity.

I am not sure that my passion can change the world, but I know that my passion and your support can help sustain this wonderful organization to foster world change!

I am asking you to please give $10 to Mothers Acting Up and help me toward my goal of winning the America's Giving Challenge. The challenge awards the person who reaches the largest number of new supporters. Therefore, if you can inspire your family members, friends and colleagues to give I stand a real chance of winning this challenge. So, please pass it on. And thank you for caring.

Click here to give: http://www.networkforgood.org/pca/Badge.aspx?BadgeId=109713

Find more about MAU at www.mothersactingup.org And keep up on my progress on the Boulder MAU Blog.

In great appreciation,

Janna Vance

Moms take action to improve life for families worldwide

From the Traverse City Record-Eagle

Moms take action to improve life for families worldwide

BY MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS
mdrahos@record-eagle.com

HARBOR SPRINGS -- Hillary Rodham Clinton may have made the old African proverb famous, but Kate Bassett and Copland Rudolph have always known that it takes a village to raise a child.

Believing that children can thrive only if their families do, and if the whole of society cares enough to provide for them, the Harbor Springs friends home school their four children together and sponsor six more children in Africa, Sri Lanka and Honduras through the Christian Children's Fund. And when Rudolph got an unsolicited calendar in the mail a few years ago from an international group called Mothers Acting Up, they were immediately drawn to its mission of action on behalf of children everywhere.

"We believe that beyond our traditional mother roles we have a responsibility to (publicly) and passionately advocate for the world's children," said Rudolph, 40, a restaurateur and environmentalist with a background in counseling and psychology.

After attending a nearby lecture on Millennium Development Goals, a set of global strategies for ending extreme poverty by 2015, the women decided to start a local affiliate of Mothers Acting Up in 2006.

"I think that we knew just from being moms and (living) in our community that we live in a really compassionate place," said Bassett, 29, assistant editor of the Harbor Light newspaper. "I think that first Mothers' Day we went in blind and hoping for the best. We didn't know if five people would show up or 30 people."

Now Northern Michigan Mothers Acting Up.... (more here)

Political Moms Make Family Values Their Baby

Political Moms Make Family Values Their Baby Run Date: 01/09/08 By Alison Bowen WeNews correspondent Mothers' groups are talking to presidential campaigns about family values. It's time, says a founder of Moms Rising, to focus on paid sick days for workers, equal pay for women and affordable health care for all. (WOMENSENEWS)--Wobbling forward on stilts is one way to gain attention. That's why four founding members of Mothers Acting Up have been visible high above the crowds in more than 80 events since the group launched on Mother's Day 2002. "It became such a perfect metaphor for Mothers Acting Up," says Juliana Forbes, communications director for the Boulder, Colo., group focused on political advocacy for children around the world. "One of the biggest hurdles is really becoming public and visible in your community. If you're up on stilts, you are so visible. Everyone's looking at you." Building on their strategy of mobilizing active members to

More green commitments.

You can check out earlier entries here. And keep checking back for more!!

We have reduced the number of plastic shopping bags we use by now using reusable shopping bags. Many local grocery stores sell them for about $1. We live about 4 miles from the ocean and know the effect on sea life that the plastic bags have. --Melissa, of Phippsburg, ME

We commit to buy less and give away more. We committed and reached our goal of raising and fishing for all our meats and fish for the winter. We have two full freezers of organic meats that we have raised ourselves :) --Linda, of Olympia, WA

As a single Mother and a Professor of Teacher Education I am committed both personally and professionally to setting a Green Example for my daughter and my college students. I am dedicated to driving my hybrid in the most fuel efficient fashion possible. I am dedicated to buying only paper products that are fully post-consumer. I will continue to reduce, reuse, and recycle anything and everything that I can.I will continue to educate my friends, family, and students about Green choices we can make on a daily basis. --Michelle, of De Pere, WI

I have been committed to this issue for quite a while. So far I pack my daughter's lunch in a laptop lunch box which avoids the waste of packaged foods (http://www.laptoplunches.com/). I cancelled all catalouge and almost all of my magazine subscriptions. I bring the hangers back to the cleaners. I use only canvas bags at the grocery store and the mall. I use biobags for kitty litter. I drive a PZEV (partial zero emission vehicle). What else??? I shop at the local farmer's market and try to avoid buying packaged foods. I line dry my clothes which is not always convenient for everyone! Next year I plan to compost in my backyard! And one more thing.... I use a stainless cup when I get a cup o Joe at Starbucks!!!!!--Ericka, of Van Nuys, CA

We will bike when we can, wait til we have three errands to drive, turn off lights when not in use, keep our car tires inflated, get ALL good lightbulbs, turn our heat down two degrees. --Beth, of Boulder, CO

One Hot Mama.

MAU Go Green Commitments from November action.

Replace ALL my light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs; start riding my bike to work; plant a garden this spring. -- Judy, of Albuquerque, NM

I am an apartment manager and will initiate conservation programs throughout our community. We will install low-wattage light bulbs, encourage reporting leaking faucets, etc. Personally, I will be more vigilant and recycle 100%, as well as install smart strips that shut off power to appliances, etc. -- Kris, of Broomfield, CO

I run an infant nursery in Milwaukie, Oregon that aims to nurture the whole child and family in body, mind and spirit. We are making a commitment to live a green life by doing a few simple things. We are reducing waste by putting cloth diapers in reusable and washable vinyl pouches instead of plastic bags that get thrown out. We are also using cloth towels instead of paper. We have recently switched from using plastic bottles that contain harmful toxins when heated, to using glass bottles with either latex or silicone nipples. We also only use our garbage service once a month, so we recycle and compost the rest of our waste. This is a start for us here at the nursery. I'd love to be inspired to do even more for our children and our environment! -- Traci, of Milwauki, OR

I pledge to shop organic when I can, to wash 4 out of 5 loads in cold/cold water, to turn off all the lights and appliances in the house when not in use, and to research the feasability of purchasing an electric car or having my existing car converted into an electric car. :) --Nuria, Bellvue, WA

I pledge to eat and serve fewer animal-based products to my family, to shop for locally-grown produce whenever possible, and to grow as much of my own produce next year as possible. --Karen, of Parma, OH

My family and I have made a committment to ourselves to recycle all of our magazines, by donating them to art programs to be used in collages and other projects. We are also going to begin taking our scrap crafting items to retirement homes to be used for their personal projects. --Luisa, of San Antonio, TX

My house will be an ongoing green work in progress. No barefoot child will come into my yard and absorb poisons into their bodies. They can come into my home without worry of breathing toxins. As a mother of two now grown children I will work to make the world safe for the children being born in this generation and for those following. --Sara, of Dickson, TN

I commit to significantly reducing our propane usage this summer by keeping our thermostats lower, insulating trouble spots, and using more wood heat. --Jennifer, of Rodney, MI

Reuse, and no plastic water bottles!!! --Felicity, of Irvine, CA

We pledge to shop less, because we really do have what we need. We pledge to shop second-hand when at all possible instead of introducing more eventual "new" trash. We pledge to make more gifts of time and energy to each other rather than gifts of stuff. -- Paula, of Brooklyn Park, MN

I will cloth diaper my children, exclusively. We will try to eat as much locally grown food as possible. --Jennifer, of Minneapolis, MN

The other night during dinner, we all went around the table and made our pledges to each other: Mike -- instead of taking his lunch in a paper bag everyday will invest in a reusable lunch bag. Sarah (or Auntie Sarah to Kiran) -- wash out and reuse plastic bags (the ziploc kind). Anjali -- will hang the laundry out to dry whenever possible. Continue to replace all the light bulbs in the house to fluorescent ones. Continue our switch from regular cleaning supplies to more environmentally friendly ones. Kiran (6 years old) -- will try to remember to shut off the bathroom and bedroom lights whenever she leaves those rooms. Also, instead of using new sheets of paper for every homework assignment, she will use the backs of the paper and will explain to her teacher why she has done this. Meera (14 months)-- will poop and pee less so that we use fewer diapers....(just kidding). Most of Meera's clothes are her big sister's and we plan on continuing this trend. --Anjali, of the Bronx, NY


I have two children and we have switched to using safer and greener products for our family. We buy local when we can, we buy recycled products- such as tissue, paper, etc, and we have started having our children be a part of recyling what we use and teaching them where it goes. -- Kathleen, of Waunakee, WI


I am making the attempt to reduce the carbon footprint that my family and I are making. I am starting by having a home energy audit, so that I can get some direction about where to go. I've already installed a hot water heater blanket, a programmable thermostat, and switched to all compact fluorescent bulbs. We compost all food waste, and recycle everything that we're able to in our community (which is quite a lot!). I will also make the effort to commute more by bicycle, and leave the car at home! -- Becky, of Boulder, CO

I recently have committed to "Go Green" by recycling the items myself, that cannot go into my recycle bin. I called my local recycling co and they told me that even though some items cannot go into my recycle bin, they have a place where they can be dropped. So, I have a seperate bin for these items now (in my area this includes coffee cups, yogurt cups, baby food jar lids, and more) and I load them up in my car to recycle the same day I put the bin out to be picked up. --Janna, of University Place, WA

Northern Michigan MAUs raise more than 45 K at Alternative Gift Fair!!

To you lovely, spunky, inspirational MAU Mavens,

A quick but emotional email full of gratitude from the MAU's in northern Michigan. We wrapped up our big year-end event last Saturday with our second annual Alternative Gift Fair, and we're pleased as punch to say we raised more than $45,000 for 14 local non-profits (and Heifer--the kids choice, and FINCA, the crafters choice) in just five short hours. Far more than that, however, more than 300 people came to the fair and many stayed for an hour or more, simply visiting with friends and neighbors, and relishing the spirit of community that was so palpable that day. We truly owe our ability to stand up, to use or voices and harness our passions, to Mothers Acting Up. The strength and determination you demonstrate is contagious, and we feel blessed to be part of this greater community of mamas. As I prepare to welcome baby number three into the world, I realize just how grateful I am that there are strong, grizzly-roarin' women who are all around us, working tirelessly to make sure all the world's children have a safer, warmer, better world.

Grace and peace and so many thanks, Kate on behalf of northern Michigan MAUs.

Changing the Story: YES!

It's time to shop, reflect, give thanks, eat! During the upcoming feasting and holiday celebrations, may we celebrate in particular the individuals who are changing the world's story with the strength of their commitment; a story in which currently every other child lives in poverty, almost half of all war casualties are children, and global warming threatens every child's future.

Let's take time to honor mothers like the late Dame Anita Roddick who said, "I want to connect with people who share my outrage…But I also want to tell — and hear…stories that lift our spirits, that celebrate how glorious our planet is. Outrage and celebration — let's run this gamut together." Inspired leaders like Greg Mortenson who says, "When I look into the eyes of the children in Pakistan and Afghanistan, I see the eyes of my own children full of wonder. I hope that we each do our part to leave them a legacy of peace." Mamas and community builders like Tiffany Bellah, who says, "Having a baby changes everything. Since that wonder-filled day 6 years ago when Grace entered this world, I have been reaching out of my comfort zone. She has made of me a responsible revolutionary, and my role as her mentor and mother has propelled me to take an active part in forming the world she will be inheriting."

People who, when our common family is threatened, find the courage and strength to change the story. This holiday season, Mothers Acting Up* cheers, stomps, whistles and in every other way honors the individuals around the world who are taking action on behalf of our future generations. YES!!!!

Purchase the 2008 MAU Handbooks for story-changing individuals,
information and actions: www.mothersactingup.org

*mothers and others, on stilts or off, who exercise protective care over someone smaller

Mamamade 2007: Nashville.

I'll be on hand all day tomorrow at Mamamade 2007 to sell MAU Handbooks (think of it as the Passport for the Movement, honoring the promise of our children's lives!). I'll have Nashville MAU aprons and recycled tees (see photos here for examples-- each is different!) and I'll have MAU bumperstickers, too: they're green and round and look great on strollers, water bottles, guitar cases, and wagons (both the Volvo and the Radio Flyer version). You can go home with a bumper sticker for a buck and a pledge (of your choosing) to lessen your carbon imprint and do something to green up your family's life.

With me through the day will be my boy, Ziggy, and a few of the Nashville MAU mamas; we'll be ever so glad to answer questions about our local community, help you fill out voter registration cards, sign you up for national and local action and news of community building, and in general, cheer you on... You go, mama!! Remember, being one of many Mothers Acting Up takes on many forms and is not so much one more dang thing to do, but just part of the fabric of how we live....

The 2008 Mothers Acting Up Handbook: YES!

The world's children have found a brilliant new advocate: mothers*. We're stretching our traditional roles to include publicly advocating for children and the world's children shout YES!

The 2008 Handbook includes the inspirational voices of Marion Wright Edelman (founder of the Children's Defense Fund!), Anita Roddick (The Body Shop), Harry Belafonte, Dolores Huerta, Ann Crittenden, Joan Blades (Moms Rising), Patricia Foulkrod, Muhammad Yunus, Representative Jan Schakowsky, Massouda Jalal and a whole cast of mothers* sharing their personal insights. Designed to uniquely appeal to mothers, the Handbook addresses two of the biggest challenges to mother activism: lack of time and how overwhelming the problems seem. By offering a daily entry point (with simple actions and accessible information set in a beautiful, inspirational and lively format) the Handbook provides tools in a language that engages everyone, policy wonk and new activist alike!

Full color, 6.5 X 9 inches, soft cover & spiral bound, two year-at-a glance section.

Price: $20.00

Listen Up.

Mothers Acting Up on the radio with Liberadio(!)'s Mary Mancini & Freddie O'Connell, right here!....

MAU on WRVU's Liberadio(!) this week.

Stay tuned for the podcast and syndicated showtimes, and in the meantime, check out the Mary Mancini's post here about MAU and this weekend's Nashville activities.

Beth Osnes' (M)other gets Critic's Pick in Nashville!

Maternal Devotion

(M)OTHER Tennessee Women’s Theatre Project co-sponsors this one-woman show by Beth Osnes, co-founder and program coordinator of the Colorado-based national organization Mothers Acting Up (MAU). Osnes explores issues of mothering in a cross-cultural context, with focus on a fictional UN program called “Baby Swapping,” in which mothers from seven nations exchange their six-month-olds for one month. The result is an intimate look at the maternal experience across international boundaries, including an analysis of the interconnectedness between the women, their children and their countries. In conjunction with her performance, Osnes presents a Nov. 3 workshop that uses theater as a tool to empower maternal voices for public expression and civic participation. For more information, contact Paige La Grone Babcock at paige@mothersactingup.org. 7:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Church —MARTIN BRADY

Mothers Acting Up works to ensure the health, safety and education of the world’s children by mobilizing the political strength of *mothers.

*mothers and others, both on stilts and off, who exercise protective care over someone smaller

Mobilizing Mamas Project in Top 100 for Case Foundation Grant!

Thrillingly, my project proposal to the Case Foundation's Make It Your Own Awards for Mothers Acting Up made it to the TOP 100 out of nearly five thousand applications! This is hugely exciting for MAU, and for me. See the kind of amazing company I'm keeping in this list, and click on my project Mobilizing Mamas to see what it's all about! You can see the widget over at Ms. Booty Homemaker Explains It All To You. More on that soonest!!

Support the Dream Act: Call your Senators today!!

Click here for more information about the DREAM Act

Oh my heavens!

After today's Roadway arrival, the note I sent along to Juliana Forbes: mentor, coworker, Mothers Acting Up co-founder and Midwife Maven to the Annual MAU Handbook:

My truckload of 20 boxes of 2008 MAU Handbooks has just arrived in the rain… they now sit on my front porch, save for the one box I brought into the house and ripped into immediately to take a look. And I’m just BAWLING…. THEY. ARE. SO. BEAUTIFUL. I’d love to call and tell you so, but I don’t think I can speak for being a blubbering mess of gladness.

Love and lots of it.

XX

Paige

(I have always been of the sensitive persuasion, but since having become pregnant with my son, and then these two years after his birth, even, I am just a walking jangle of happy-sad-beautiful-crazy human-ness, both tender and tough, with a penchant both for laughing and weeping uncontrollably. The already wonky world goes a bit madder in motherhood, I find.)

MAUs are everywhere!

We’re committed to woman to woman contact at MAU. And what women you are!! Your visions inspire, incite, ignite. I’m hearing from you increasingly from Portland, OR, Dallas / Denton / Fort Worth, the Carolinas and the Heartland. Messages from both Northern California and New Hampshire have come over the transom of late…. And we’ve got a new community pulling together in Bend, Oregon by the former Charleston MAU Maven who’s passed the torch there due to her family’s move. A Halloween gathering is in the works for Portland, ME. The Bronx mamas are revving up for some renewed year-round action and Temecula, CA’s community organizer is looking for a co-organizer. Several communities participated in Chalk for Peace last month (send pics!), Boulder MAUs just hosted a wang dang doodle of a Stand Against Poverty event, and Northern Michigan MAUs are gearing up for their annual Alternative Gift Fair. MAU will be in Memphis at the end of this month at the Gandhi-King Conference, presenting the workshop MAU Now: Mobilizing the Mamas – send me word if you’ll be there, too, and if you’d like to help wo-man the table of MAU goods including the hot of the presses 2008 MAU Handbook & Engagement Calendar. And MAU Live! Theatre for Empowerment (one of MAU’s FIVE national programs) is hitting the boards in Nashville the first weekend of November, and has upcoming dates in Austin, Denver and elsewhere. (Interested in bringing co-founding MAU Maven Beth Osnes and (M)other to your city? Holler at Beth: beth (at) mothersactingup (dot) org.)

Children deserve a bigger piece of the pie.

It's time for mothers to decide.

Learn more about how to act up right here!

Celebrating Mothers.

A PROJECT OF MOTHERS ACTING UP, Celebrating Mothers: Global Portraits to Inform and Inspire will showcase 20 mothers of young children around the world who are involved in social advocacy and are initiating positive change in their communities. Please see our website and send us your stories of exemplary mothers who are making a difference. Submission deadline for nominations is October 12, 2007. www.celebratingmothers.org Contact: amie@celebratingmothers.org

MAU speaks and acts up on SCHIP veto!!

Northern Michigan MAUs rally for our children's health!

Hello MAUs,

Please read the following, issued from the Children's Defense Fund about the vetoed bill that would have protected many of our country's uninsured children. The increase in funding for the bill's renewal would have come from a rise in the cigarette tax. Today at 6 p.m., a protest is being staged against this veto at Northern Michigan Hospital by the organization Move On and Northern Michigan People for Peace. For more information on the bill, visit the Children's Defense Fund website.

The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) today denounced President Bush’s veto of legislation that would have provided health coverage to one-third of the more than nine million uninsured children in America and urged Congress not to give up until it covers all children. The House and the Senate reached agreement last week to increase spending on the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) by $35 billion over the next five years to insure an additional 3.1 million low-income children. This bill would have re-authorized CHIP with new funds for this expansion and program improvements. President Bush vetoed the legislation today, citing his ideological opposition.

"There are more than nine million uninsured children in America today and this legislation would have provided critical health coverage to a third of them," said CDF President Marian Wright Edelman. "This veto is further evidence that President Bush would rather play politics with children’s lives than find real solutions to a growing problem. One million more children are uninsured today than two years ago and every day that passes without action is a day we gamble with more than nine million precious lives. Congress must stand with the American people and with our children. Congress must not compromise further. It must fight for a strong CHIP re-authorization while working toward ensuring all children have access to comprehensive health coverage and a real future."

--Kate Bassett, for Northern Michigan MAU

Boulder MAUs rally for our children's health!

Rally for Our Children's Health Care, TODAY, Thursday, Oct. 4, 6pm, 6th & Main in Longmont, then march to Marilyn Musgrave's office.

From MoveOn.org: President Bush just vetoed health care for children. In only his fourth veto ever, he blocked health care coverage for millions of uninsured—and mostly poor—kids. The Washington Post is calling this "the biggest domestic policy clash of his presidency."

Bush is totally out of step with public opinion—even 61% of Republicans support the children's health care bill.3 We need just 15 more Republicans in Congress to break with Bush to override the veto.

This is a rapid response event, so some people won't even get this email in time. That means we'll need every last person who can possibly come to help show that the public is upset about this veto. If you're reading this, please come!

Tomorrow, can you put the pressure on at our emergency "Rally for Our Children's Health Care" in Longmont?

Where: 6th and Main, then march to Marilyn's office (in Longmont)
When: Thursday, Oct 4 2007, 6:00 PM

OTHER LOCAL MAU HAPPENINGS!

Friday, Oct. 5, 6pm, Boulder MAU Potluck, 945 Grandview Ave, call 303-442-7628 with questions. PLEASE COME, bring your family and your favorite potluck dish!

This Mon. Oct. 8th is the next Mothers Acting Up gathering!
Parenting Place, 1235 Pine St., 1-3 pm

We'll talk about upcoming events and social actions,
Generate ideas for addressing the Millennium Development Goals,
including an upcoming Oct. 17 local action to eradicate poverty in
conjunction with the Millennium Campaign (www.millenniumcampaign.org) and the ONE Campaign (www.one.org), and the Nov.3rd Step It Up campaign (www.stepitup2007.org) to cut carbon emissions, and reverse global warming.
Please bring any and all concerns of yours.
Let's have fun changing the world!!

In spirited partnership,
Jeanne, Jen and Beth
boulder@mothersactingup.org

Nashville MAUs rally for our children's heatlh.

Prioritizing the wellbeing of children is worthwhile! It will be important to have as many families as possible to represent that. Please try to come for just fifteen or thirty minutes. Small children can be kept safe in strollers, backpacks, slings.... Please share widely!

---

Subject line: In Nashville, October 4, 2007, parents and kids rally at Centennial Park

MoveOn.Org and Nashville Mothers Acting Up

MEDIA ADVISORY FOR: CONTACT: Priscilla Craig 491-1137 MoveOn

Thursday, October 4, 2007 Paige La Grone Babcock 495-1879 MAU

***Local media event-this Thursday at 6pm***

Parents and Kids in Nashville to Rally for

Children’s Health Care

As Billions Are Spent in Iraq, Bush Vetoes Children’s Health Care in Tennessee

Rep. Cooper and Congress Passed Children’s Health Care

MoveOn and Mothers Acting Up Call on Rep. Cooper to

Over-Ride Bush’s Veto

Nashville-On Thursday, October 4, at 6pm, local parents and kids will hold a “Rally For Our Children’s Health” at Centennial Park across from Borders bookstore. 225 similar events are happening around the nation.

Congress recently passed the “Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act.” Congressman Cooper voted for this bill, which would ensure that many Tennessee children have health insurance and can see a doctor when sick. President Bush vetoed the bill this week.

Local MoveOn and Mother Acting Up members thank Representative Cooper for standing strong against President Bush’s attempt to block health care for Tennessee children, and will urge him to vote to over-ride Bush’s veto.

“President Bush and his administration are blocking health care for our children,“ said Paige La Grone Babcock, National Outreach Coordinator and community organizer for Mothers Acting Up. “This is a question of priorities. Bush is spending billions per week on the war in Iraq, but he won’t protect the health of our kids back home. We need Representative Cooper to over-ride Bush’s veto and stand up for our kids.”

This legislation passed the House on September 25, by a 265-159 vote--approximately 290 votes are needed to over-ride a veto. It passed the Senate September 27 with a 67-29 veto-proof majority. A new poll reveals 72% of Americans support the bi-partisan proposed $35 billion for children’s health care.

“Rally For Our Children’s Health”

Who: Parents and kids from Nashville area, members of MoveOn.org and Nashville Mothers Acting Up

What: “Rally For Our Children’s Health” rally urging Congressman Cooper to stop Bush from blocking health care for our kids

Where: Sidewalk in front of Centennial Park across from Borders bookstore

When: Thursday, October 4, 2007, 6:00pm

##

MAU Live heading south!!

CONTACT: Paige La Grone Babcock; paige@mothersactingup.org (615)-750-3780, (615) 495-1879 (cell)

***SAVE THE DATE: MAU LIVE! comes to Nashville Nov 2 & 3***

(M)OTHER HITS THE BOARDS

THEATRE FOR EMPOWERMENT PAIRED WITH WORKSHOP TO MOBILIZE MAMAS

“Once you get hooked on MAU’s positive breed of activism, the Nashville MAU community will be there with you to keep it going and growing.” –Paige La Grone Babcock, MAU Outreach Coordinator & Community Organizer

WHEN: Nov. 2, Friday at 7:30 PM

WHERE: First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1808 Woodmont Blvd.

WHO: Mothers Acting Up (MAU), working to ensure the health, education and safety of the world’s children by mobilizing the political strength of mothers.* www.mothersactingup.org

Nashville’s MAU community is honored and excited to bring MAU LIVE! and MAU co-founder Beth Osnes to town!! www.nashvillemau.blogspot.com

WHAT: MAU Live! Theatre for Empowerment: a one-woman performance by MAU co-founder Beth Osnes, (M)other explores what it might just take for the mothers of one country to authentically care about the mothers and children of another country. The fiction that the “other” is not part of the “mother” is washed away. What remains is a powerful affirmation of our interconnectedness in both our challenges and our solutions as a global community.

A Workshop for Empowering Mother* Voices: Nov. 3, Saturday 9AM-Noon, also at the First Unitarian Universalist Church

Beth Osnes will lead a workshop using theatre as a tool for developing our voices for effective public expression – of vital importance for any kind of civic participation. Goals of this workshop:

*teaching skills for effective vocal expression

*using our voices to ‘rehearse’ activism

*engaging all participants in actively devising solutions to obstacles

*conveying a model of activism that is positive and proactive

Background:
Mothers Acting Up (MAU) works to ensure the health, education and safety of the world’s children by mobilizing the political strength of mothers*. MAU inspires, educates and engages mothers (a gigantic force to be reckoned with) to prioritize children in our corporate and public policies through monthly Web actions, annual Mother’s Day events, field trips to elected officials, Girlcotts, and daily inspiration and tools found in a weekly calendar. MAU brings a new breed of activism to the political landscape; one that is positive, accessible and supports mothers in making informed personal choices, inspiring collective action and influencing decision-makers. MAU, founded in 2002, is based in Boulder, CO. MAU believes that when mothers lead, generations of global citizens will follow.

Let us:
whisper this to each other, sing it out in the streets,
yell it from our rooftops, declare it in our houses of government:
we will protect our children with our personal and political strength,
wherever they live on earth!

* mothers and others, on stilts or off, who exercise protective care over someone smaller.

Egg money.

You can line MAU's apron pockets with a little egg money by using Good Search! Just enter Mothers Acting Up as your charity, and get to gettin'! Search away....

Worldwide: children's mortality rate going down!!

UNICEF recently disclosed the good news: our investment in children's wellbeing pays off.

Global mortality rate for children under five is on the decline!

Global Action for Children, formerly a campaign, now a full-on organization, tells us all about it in their hot off the presses press release!

Congressman Cooper on the policy of the Iraq war.

Noting that everyone he talks to / hears from in Nashville (consider that Nashville's MAU community has been visiting his office every Tuesday for months!), Cooper talks tough in Sunday's Tennessean.

We like her. We really really like her.

“Surely this [award] belongs to all the mothers of the world. May they be seen, may their work be valued and raised. Especially to the mothers who stand with an open heart and wait. Wait for their children to come home from danger, from harm’s way, and from war. I am proud to be one of those women.“ --Sally Field, accepting her Emmy on September 16, 2007

So what did you think of Sally Field's acceptance speech (for lead actress in Brothers & Sisters) at the Emmys on Sunday night?

It's been a hot topic around the MAU offices with emails and links pinging from screen to screen, passionate dialogue ensuing.

Ultimately, though she screeched (wild Grizzly mama, anyone?), though she stammered and got flustered (don't we all at some point do that, particularly when we are passionate?), though she cursed (placing the God before the damn, something -- which, whether you'd choose to speak that way publicly yourself or no-- not even deemed censorship worthy by the FCC (in a 2004 ruling)), Sally spoke up for and about and *as* a mother. Both as a fictional mother of a son departed for war, and as a real life mama.

Could she have been a better spokesperson with more modulated tones and less alienation from the cursing? Sure. I thought so at first. And I was so bummed that her entirely eloquent words about mothering got lost in the brouhaha.

But in talking and talking about it, and in weighing and measuring what the Fox network found so reprehensible (censoring, for what it would appear, the personal-is-political content of Fields' speech by cutting the camera away and going to silence), I've come to see that in so calling attention to Fields' gaffe in the the field of societal mores, Fox helped assure Fields' position as not a lightning rod, but a beacon of light itself, to be heard and seen again and again expressing completely appropriate outrage that the children which have been passionately loved and mothered so well, the children for whom we wait to return from war, even go in the first place!!

Were it up to us as a whole, we mothers would declare ourselves and our children-- be they twenty months or twenty years of age-- free from the violence and the outrage of war. We would find another way.

Sally, we thank you for speaking from the Mother Heart when in this present day world it is so unfashionable to do so. We thank you for wearing your Mother Heart on your tear stained sleeve, and for daring to deliver a message for which you will be both reviled and championed. A mother's work, never done, should not ever be a popularity contest, and is, in the end, done for the sake of our childre. ALL our children.

If mothers ruled the world...

Local mothers continue their worldly role

How is it that a handful of local women take on the task of benefiting the world's children when their main office consists of a carriage house near downtown Boulder?

The four founders of Mothers Acting Up (MAU), a grassroots organization whose mission is to passionately and publicly advocate for children around the world, make it possible by following their own recipe for change.

Five years ago, Beth Osnes, Joellen Raderstorf, Juliana Forbes and Erica Shafroth decided to bring some joy and positivity into their activist work. They were disturbed by the decisions their federal leaders were making and how the consequences - ranging from environmental degradation to exploding military budgets - were affecting children everywhere. These mothers combined their proactive desires and determination to be heard in the political sphere and thus created MAU.

"Activism is often thought of as aggressive, angry, dangerous and risky, (more here....)

UP! Up with children.

Moms Speak Up across the nation. Come on over.

MAU at Gandhi-King Conference on Peacemaking.

The Gandhi-King Conference on Peacemaking takes place this year at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, TN. Nashville’s own Naomi Tutu (!!) will be the event’s keynote speaker. In its fourth year, the 2007 conference is themed Building the Beloved Community. Today, September 14, is the last day for a price break on an adult conference goer’s registration. Tomorrow, price goes from $50 to $75.

Mothers Acting Up will have a Saturday morning workshop called MAU Now: Mobilizing the Mamas, the Joy of Activism for mothers (and others) who want to build community in advocating publicly and passionately for the world’s children. MAU will have a Nashville MAU presence specifically, as well as MAUs from other locations. We’ll have a table with MAU literature and goods including the hot off the presses 2008 Handbook & Engagement Calendar, the 2007 edition MAU bumpersticker, as well as Nashville Mothers Acting Up tee shirts and mamamade aprons.

The conference should be a big time for ALL wanting to gather in the name of peace with justice. I’m bringing my family (husband and two year old), and encourage that you bring yours, too.

Volunteers for womaning the MAU table are needed! Please shout at me as per below if you are able and willing to take a shift or two.

In peace and in the spirit of community,

Paige

paige (at) mothersactingup (dot) com

Declare Yourself Independent From Junk Mail!

And just think of how much you'll reduce waste and demand for same, thereby protecting the environment For Kids' Sake!

Fall Calls to Action!!

At a recent United Nations summit meeting there was special session focused on improving the lives of the world's children. It was agreed that no authentic progress would be made until one fundamental question had been addressed: how do we get the people of one nation to actually care about the children of another nation?

From (M)other, MAU Live: Theatre for Empowerment



It's time to prove to the world, especially the U.S. Congress, that we DO care about the children of another nation AND are willing to make time in our hectic lives to prove it.

Congress will soon vote on ANOTHER $145 billion dollars for the war in Iraq (President Bush may ask for $190 billion, in addition to the $100 billion allocated at the beginning of the summer.) Our children and the children of Iraq are not safer and cannot afford this war, financially, emotionally or morally. It's time we expose the disproportional impact of war on children!

For ONE WEEK - Sept 14-21 - CALL your Members of Congress EVERY DAY to demand that we stop funding the war in Iraq (horrifically impacting hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children), and start spending our vital resources on protecting the world's children. SCHEDULE 10 minutes RIGHT NOW in your calendar, every day for one week, to call both your Senators and your Representative.

Your messages could sound like this: "My name is ______, I am a Mother Acting Up and I passionately urge the Senator/Representative to vote NO on the Iraq War supplemental spending bill. One of many reasons to Vote NO is: _______________. This war is not making our children safer; vote NO on more war funding. Thank you." (If you want to add a Mama Grizzly Bear growl to further get your point across, go for it.)


Click here for MAU's top ten reasons to VOTE NO and all you need to make your FALL CALLS TO ACTION.






Take action with your children: Chalk messages for Peace in public places with your children and/or friends. Bring activism into the daily life of your family. Along with beautiful peace signs and words of peace, give a call to action: "Ask Representative X at xxx-xxxx to VOTE NO on WAR FUNDING, for children's sake!"


Prioritizing the world's children is our charge mamas. Gentlewoman: practice your message aloud, stretch your fingers and begin dialing!


In spirited partnership,
The Mavens at MAU Central

Nashville MAUs put together 41 school kits for the MCC!!

This just in from Kate at Nashville Mothers Acting Up:

WOW! I set a goal of 5 school kits early in August, and by the end of the month we'd made 41! When the kids and I dropped them off at 10,000 Villages yesterday, the volunteers and assistant manager were overwhelmed by the bags and bags full of kits we kept lugging through the door. While we helped to unload them in the back room, Priscilla, one of the volunteers, told us what would happen to them next. They'll take a ride up to Indiana, where the MCC home office is, and then will travel by ship over to Iraq, where they will be distributed by the MCC workers over there. I'd love to see how they're received by the children themselves, and what they allow the kids to do in school. Such a small gift, but I'm sure it means so much to them.

At Suzanne's encouragement, we'll continue to work with the MCC and branch out into other types of kits. Here's a list of all the kits they request and distribute . I recommend that we make newborn kits next... More on that soon.

In the meantime, thanks to all of you who participated in this project -- it's quite an accomplishment, and so beautifully illustrates our mission to advocate for the world's children.
Kate

Grace Paley passes on.

Today, activist and writer Grace Paley passed on. She touched many lives.

Pictured here, L to R on Mother's Day at Strafford, Vermont's Mother's Day Reclamation Parade are: State Representative Margaret Cheney, former governor Madeleine Kunin, state poet laureate and event speaker Grace Paley, and Vermont Mothers Acting Up Organizer Danette Harris.

What a glorious group of women!!

Bianca Bean on Beth!

Beth and M(other) is the word on the blogging mama street....


and yes, Bianca, and all, her show is available to come to you. Just ask how!
Holler at MAU beheard@mothersactingup.org

This just in from a UK MAU man...

Hi Joellen,
Just a note to say I am still watching and marvelling at your progress.
It is great to know that you are getting so many volunteers up high on stilts although many of your photos show your ladies holding on to their spotters. Stiltwalking is like skating. You need courage to let loose of the support and once free the feeling is superb. But stilts need regular practice if only to remind your body functions about the change of centre of gravity which affects ones balance.

I do not expect any of your stilters to be as eccentric as me, but I did hope that one of your stilters would contact me back in 2003. I was a little disappointed when I heard from no-one. If you have time, have a look at YouTube and do a search for 'lampwort' to see some of my exploits on 2ft & 3ft peg stilts.
Also do a search for 'bicycle13' to see a 6yr old girl on 3ft & 4ft peg stilts. She only started stilt walking about 10 weeks ago and is enjoying the experience of being so high. She may give inspiration to some of your stilters.
Watching & supporting MAU from a distance.
Keep on acting up. Today's children are our future.
Roy Lambeth

Nashville MOTHERS ACTING UP: Friday 8/17:

Nashville MOTHERS ACTING UP: Friday 8/17:

MAU looking for Development Coordinator.

Development Coordinator, Mothers Acting Up

Reply to: Joellen Raderstorf, Executive Director

Starting Aug 15, 2007

If you have an appetite for raising money for social change, this is an outrageously great opportunity: great mission, great organization, great team!

Flexible hours, can work from home.

Volunteer position with potential to move into a paid position.

Become the Development Diva of Mothers Acting Up (MAU), a movement of mothers publicly and passionately advocating for the world’s children. MAU inspires, educates and engages mothers* a gigantic force to be reckoned with to prioritize children in our corporate and public policies. MAU believes that when mothers lead, generations of global citizens will follow. The organization is in its fifth year with a strong foundation and well-connected team.

All the raw materials are in place, awaiting someone who is inspired!

* mothers and others, on stilts or off, who exercise protective care over someone smaller

Qualifications:

• Love raising money for social change
• Development, Marketing and PR experience
• Familiarity with grant funding sources and processes
• Donor cultivation knowledge and/or experience
• Passionate commitment to a peaceful, child-friendly world
• Excellent communication skills
• Computer savvy
• Event planning knowledge and/or experience

Major responsibilities include:

• Work with MAU team to create development plan
• Pursue sponsorship opportunities for MAU’s 5th annual Handbook
• Support marketing and distribution of MAU Handbook
• Assist in planning, coordination and implementation of fall fundraiser
• Research and apply for grants (corporate and foundation) for MAU
• Maintain and enhance current donor tracking/management systems
• Provide donor cultivation guidance

Check out MAU at www.mothersactingup.org

joellen@mothersactingup.org

PO Box 1244

Boulder, CO 80306

303.474.1286