Mother's day is coming up. Because I'm a super nerd, I did a little research in to the origins of how it became a thing we all celebrate. Anna Jarvis was a social activist and business woman in the early 1900s. She started celebrating Mother's Day with her church after her own mother died. Jarvis pushed for Mother's Day to become an official holiday and succeeded in 1914 when Woodrow Wilson proclaimed it a national holiday. Toward the end of her life, she became frustrated with the commercialization and trivialization of the day and fought against, among other things, mother's day cards. She said, "A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother—and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment." So the moral of that story is to be thoughtful about actually honoring your mother(s) on Mother's Day.

But there was another woman who pushed for a different kind of Mother's Day. In 1870, Julia Ward Howe, a well know abolitionist, social activist, suffragette and poet (who happened to write the Battle Hymn of the Republic) wrote what would become known as The Mother's Day for Peace Proclamation:

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts,
whether our baptism be that of water or of tears!

Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by
irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking
with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be
taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach
them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says “Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance
of justice.”Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons
of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a
great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women,
to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the
means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each
bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a
general congress of women without limit of nationality may be
appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at
the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the
alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement
of international questions, the great and general interests of
peace.

What a great reminder that we are all human, and all part of a family. Hopefully remembering that can help us all treat each other better. We have to start treating each other better on a personal AND social level. The injustice and systematic lack of compassion in so many of our social institutions sometimes makes me want to cry tears of sorrow and frustration. If men and women were allowed to carry 'feminine' traits, like compassion, empathy, sensitivity, and intuition, in to the public spheres of politics and diplomacy what kind of world would we live in? I'd like to think a much better, much more peaceful one.

Summer Song - 2014 Edition

Classes are over, which means it's time once again to announce this years Summer Song. For all of you new readers, one of my dear friends from college (looking at you Ali!) got me started picking a summer  song to use as a way to celebrate the warm weather and being outside.

I had a really hard time picking this year because, let's be honest, grad school has separated me from all things pop culture. I just don't have time to keep up with everything! But after much consideration this year's selection is *drum roll please*…..

Shake - The Head and the Heart

I owe a big shout out to my friend Kiana for introducing me to this band in college. They are one of my favorites!

Past Summer Songs:
2009 - Bruises (Chairlift)
2010 - Put Your Records On (Corinne Bailey Rae)
2011 - To Be Surprised (Sondre Lerche)
2012 - Voice in My Throat (Pearl and the Beard)
2013 - Suntan (String Cheese Incident)
           Ne Me Quitte Pas/Don't Leave Me (Regina Spektor)