Viva la Feminista

My husband use to think that I was sending videos of him to Matt & Trey because each week Cartman would say something that he said a few weeks earlier. Now I think someone's spying on me (not very hard since I blog so damn much!). Amanda Eyre Ward's article at Babble.com is so me. Lots of mothers I spoke to found that they had no attention span after childbirth. Marritt Ingram, author of Inconsolable , says, "I read young adult fiction for a while. I think the first book I finished was Hatchet ." Hatchet , it must be noted, is the story of a boy who, following a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness, must learn to survive with only a hatchet and his own wits. Sounds like a metaphor for motherhood to me, though my own experience might more aptly be called Chardonnay. I know I was reading after my daughter was born, but I can't really recall what I read. I'm pretty sure one was by Ariel Gore - motherhood books are good for new moms. But I know I did read b...

This question is in the top 10 that I get asked when I tell someone I work in education equity. Some assume that I must support all girls high schools as the answer for increasing women in non-traditional fields for a variety of reasons including that girls won't be distracted by the boys, without boys there is no harassment (obviously stated by a man or a woman who forgot what high school was like!), or whipping out the old adage that girls just do better in math & science (my bread & butter) in an all girls classroom. Simply put, no. I don't. There are valid reasons to send your child to a single-sex school and I admit to daydreaming about having gone to Smith. But that is more about Smith not the all women thing. A few weeks ago on the DC Metro Moms Blog (sister to the Chicago Moms Blog where I contribute), KC mused about what she would be like if she had gone to an all-girls school and wonders if the only way her daughter will come out strong is to send her to an ...

My heart literally sank when I saw this post about the latest Dora dolls. What happened to my daughter's best doll friend? Just the other day she was a happy-go-lucky exploradora and now she looks like she needs a few tamales! I may need to order " Yum! Mmmm! Que Rico! " for Dora for Christmas. Come on Fisher Price, you're killing us here! Here's a few reasons why I love Dora: She's Latina: How many Latinas can a Latina watch on TV nowadays? I keep our cartoon watching to Noogin, so outside of Dora & Diego's sister, Alicia, that brings us to zero. She's adventurous: She's not afraid of a challenge. Find baby blue bird's mommy? No problem. Take Santa his gift? A snap. She shows that when you need help, you ask for it: Map, Backpack, & Boots are her constant side-kicks aka helpers. Dora's not afraid to ask for help when she needs it and that is an invaluable lesson. Especially for the daughter of two perfectionists with her own perfe...

Don't know what to get that special someone in your life for the holidays? Are you a flaming feminist? 100% pro-choice? Then shop at Early to Bed this holiday season! They have some special gifts sets that will make someone's night/day/afternoon AND a portion of the purchase price goes to kick ass organizations like the Chicago Abortion Fund , Planned Parenthood , Chicago Women's Health Center , and the Prostate Cancer Foundation . Now, I didn't think there was such a thing as a perfect gift, but come on, what's not to like in these offers? So hurry over to Early to Bed and grab yourself a gift box AND get your holiday giving done too. BAM! It just keeps getting better. Of course, it'll only gets better once the gift is opened! Ho! Ho! Ho! Happy Solstice! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! Technorati tags: Early To Bed , Planned Parenthood , Chicago Abortion Fund , Chicago Women's Health Center , Prostate Cancer Foundation

As we near the end of the year our inboxes are becoming full with requests from the organizations we have supported in the past, currently support, or just happen to be on their mailing list. What's a loving & giving mama to do on a limited budget? No matter where you decide to give your money, please keep these items in mind: While giving via PayPal is easy for you, PayPal does take quite a chunk of money out from your donation. Want all of your money to go towards your charity of choice? Send a check. Even calling with your credit card may end up having the organization lose a few bucks from a transaction fee. If possible, give to a few places with larger amounts than "spreading the wealth" by sending $10 to 10 different places. If you give, as you most surely know, you get on the mailing list. That $10 won't even cover the 5 mailings you will get next year. For your benefit, the environment, and the organization's, give to fewer places to reduce the amount ...

Then head over to Chicago Moms Blog NOW ! We have a great give-a-way for Windy City Adventure Boot Camp. Four weeks of butt kicking fitness training! All you have to do is comment and tell us why you deserve the boot camp. Yes, I entered as well. I could really use someone to kick my butt into gear over getting my body in shape.

"Adoption changes wrench American parents" I've been watching the whole Guatemala adoption fiasco from afar, safely afar. We have discussed adopting in the past, but are no where near even starting the process. We have friends who have discussed it or are actively in the process. Thus I feel that I have compassion for the families who have been hurt by the chaos that is the Guatemala adoption system. But whom I have more compassion for are the parents of Guatemala who might had been duped into selling their children or even had their children stolen from them. The small Central American country sent 4,135 children to the U.S. last year, making it the largest source of babies for American families after much-bigger China . The adoptions are a $100 million a year industry for notaries. Our government is pushing the Guatemalan government to allow the adoptions that are already in process to go on despite up to 1,000 cases where forged birth certificates or even mothers have...