Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Saturday, October 06, 2007
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
Thursday, October 04, 2007
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
--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
MoveOn.Org and
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
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
Congress recently passed the “Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act.” Congressman Cooper voted for this bill, which would ensure that many
Local MoveOn and Mother Acting Up members thank Representative Cooper for standing strong against President Bush’s attempt to block health care for
“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
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
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
When: Thursday, October 4, 2007, 6:00pm
##
Friday, September 28, 2007
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
(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:
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
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
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
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.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
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....
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
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!
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....)
Monday, September 17, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
MAU at Gandhi-King Conference on Peacemaking.
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.
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) comSunday, September 09, 2007
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!
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
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
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
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
Friday, August 24, 2007
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!!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
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
and yes, Bianca, and all, her show is available to come to you. Just ask how!
Holler at MAU beheard@mothersactingup.org
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
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
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