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.