I'm On Twitter Now and Stuff

Follow me @alisaterry

I said FOLLOW ME DAMMIT

No, just kidding, you don't have to. It's just inane status updates connected to my Facebook account with the occasional re-tweet of some WTFery.

Mostly I wanted to follow some things I find hilarious, like @OverlyHonestly, which is research scientists admitting their short cuts:

and @TheTweetofGod, which is NOT for anyone who would be offended by the idea of God swearing or making religious jokes:

and I love laughing. Laughing's my favorite.

How We As Parents Can Help Change The Whole World

This video with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Stephen Colbert is one of the best and most awesome things I have ever watched and heard. It is VERY inspiring and VERY important.

In the first part, he talks about how babies and children are scientists, and how we get in the way of their discoveries. "You agreed to have them, you can clean up after them." Let them make messes. Let them make noise. Let them get into things.

In the second part, he talk about how discoveries and inventions made in science benefit all of society and the whole world. 6/10 of one penny out of your tax dollar goes to scientific research. So little, and yet so much has been gained and will be gained.

I am not doing it justice. You will not regret the ten minutes you spend watching Neil deGrasse Tyson in this video. If you doubt your power as a parent, if you resent money spent on space exploration, if you wonder how we go forward into the future, watch this video and feel good.

A Great Blog About Parenting a Transgendered Child

We have at least two transgendered kids in our playgroup, which I didn't even know about until the parents mentioned having them, so let that be a lesson to you about how well you think you can pick out the gender with which someone was born.

Anyway, one of these mamas shared a great blog post from another mama who addressed some myths about transgendered youth. This is a beautiful and informative post, and I hope you will all take the time to read it.

transformingfamily.net

Criticisms and Misconceptions From People Who Just Don't Know What They're Talking About

Nine Ideas For a Family Friendly Beltaine/May Day

Beltaine is one of those festivals that has been observed for thousands of years, and had origins involving such delights as sexual rites and human sacrifice. Clearly that's not what we're going for here as a family with small children, but it's something to take into consideration when having your children dance around a May Pole (the feminine ribbons wrapping snuggly around a tall phallus) or building a bonfire (in which to throw young children such as themselves). At least, I giggle like a 12 year old whenever I see a Maypole.

The month of May is named for Maia, one of two Roman goddesses honored on May 1st with flowers and garlands (the other being Flora). The floral wreaths were mounted on a pole, and were likely the very first inklings of the modern Maypole. When the Roman empire expanded, so did the customs, and the Celts absorbed some of them into their own observances.

Jack In The Green

"May festivals commonly incorporate elements of pre-Christian worship related to agricultural themes. In ancient times a young male was chosen to symbolize the spirit of the plant kingdom. Known by such names as Jack-in-the-Green, Green George, and the Green Man, he walked in a procession through the villages symbolizing his return as spring moves toward summer" (Grimassi 4).

"May is a month of sexual freedom in honor of the Great Mother and Horned God of the Woodlands" (Asala 15).

"If the wreath of flowers goes back to Spring goddess symbols, the Maypole itself represents, most probably, the tree of life and fertility. In the modern context both are just good, festive fun, and a reminder that warmer days are ahead" (Carey 25).

Beltaine, then, can simply be celebrated as the coming of warmth and flowers. The wheel of the year is turning toward sunny days and burgeoning gardens.

Here are ten ways to celebrate Beltaine with kids.

1. Set up a May Bush. "The May bush - a branch or bough of a tree - was set up outside the house in the yard or fields to guard against bad luck...The May bush was decorated with flowers, ribbons, streamers, and coloured eggshells saved from Easter eggs" (Marshall 130).

2. Make floral crowns, such as this one from Hellobee.com.

Aux Demilunes

3. Make this simple felt Green Man mask from the free pattern and tutorial at Aux Demilunes.

4. Make paper May Day baskets and leave them on neighbors' doors. 

5. Try some edible flowers. Whatscookingamerica.net has a comprehensive web page of edible flowers and how to use them. I recently three dandelion flowers and greens into lasagna and it was quite delicious (though they can be overpowering, so I recommend mixing them with a sweet green like spinach). We also like grinding up dried lavender flowers and using a tablespoon in sugar cookies.

6. Plant a fairy garden, like this big one if you have the space, or this little one if you don't. 

7. Visit Mother Earth Living for this collection of traditional Celtic recipes for Beltaine. According to this article, "belatine" is pronounced "bee-YAWL-tinnuh." Now we know.

The Barwick-in-Elmet Maypole Trust

8. Dance around a Maypole. Assuming you are more mature than I am, here are instructions on how to do the dance to get the ribbons to weave correctly. 

9. As always, GET OUTSIDE. These festivals celebrate nature and her predictable rhythms, from darkness to light, and back to darkness again, from sewing, to tending, to harvesting, to storing. Dandelion stems make a delightful popping sound when you pull them. Fallen branches make impromptu forts. One bird built a nest on our back porch, only to abandon it when it discovered that children live here. Now it's our treasure. Get outside and touch some nature. 


Additional Sources:

Grimassi, Raven. Beltane: Springtime Rituals, Lore & Celebration. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2001. Print.
Marshall, Ruth. Celebrating Irish Festivals: Calendar of Seasonal Celebrations. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: Hawthorn, 2003. Print.
Asala, Joanne. Celtic Folklore Cooking. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1998. Print.
Carey, Diana, and Judy Large. Festivals, Family and Food. Gloucestershire: Hawthorne, 1982. Print.

Because There's Nothing Worse Than Being Just a Mom

The Wall Street Journal recently interviewed a blogger about her writing and her parenting and her conference attendance and thought it would be awesome to twist it around to make it look like she and other women bloggers couldn't wait to use blogging conferences as an excuse to abandon their husbands and children and finally have some ME time. 

Here's the graphic they made to accompany the article.

"I apologize to all the women who feel minimized and condescended to by the piece, in particular the graphics that accompany it," writes Katherine Stone about the interview. "I know we all don’t lay around in our hotel rooms on the ground gorging ourselves on crap. In fact I’ve racked my brain to think if I’ve ever laid on the floor of a hotel room for any reason, and I can’t come up with a single instance."

You know what? If I ever attend an out-of-town conference and spend the whole day networking and learning and teaching and enriching myself, I deserve to retire to my hotel room, turn on the TV, raid the minibar, and stretch out on the floor with my tiny bottle of wine and a tasty, tasty Toblerone. 

The WSJ is a douche for assuming that this is all that female blog conference attendees do, but the attendees are wrong for looking down on the ones who actually do go dancing and use Twitter. You know what's fun? Blowing raspberries on my toddler's tummy and hearing her laugh. You know what's also fun? Being alone and peeing without an audience. Both are fun. Both of them. Parenting is exhausting and important and fulfilling, and homemaking is exhausting and important and fulfilling, and paid work is exhausting and important and fulfilling, and building up your business is exhausting and important and fulfilling, and relaxing and rejuvenating is important and helps the rest of it all happen.

Over on SixYearItch.com, Liz Henry wrote what I'm sure felt like a clever and thought-provoking critique of the debacle, making sure to point out how insulting it was that the WSJ lumped all women bloggers into the mommy category. Because, you know, they aren't all just stay-at-home moms. They're working moms. Who do important shit along with all that parenting. 

"Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal took it upon themselves to not only lump in all women that write online as mom bloggers (they all have a uterus right?), but to label the conferences and business trips that women bloggers go on as the “Mommy Business Trip.” The type of trip stay-at-home moms book just so they can get the hell out of dodge and, finally, leave their children and partners behind. Otherwise, you can find them cleaning, cooking and generally slowly dying of the Feminist Mystique.

... I can understand Katherine wanting to write something, but obviously it’s the Journal that should be apologizing for continuing the myth that women’s work should be done for free and with a smile. And, subsequently, that whenever women invest in themselves and their work, it’s either financed by their husbands (who really work) or should be taken as seriously as knitting; a fun arts and crafts diversion to make it through the hell of everyday."

Because, you know, no one should ever take knitting seriously. Or arts and crafts. Maybe if you paint something that ended up in a museum, then it's ART. But if it's just a lowly sweater you're going to put on your kid to keep her warm in the winter, that's a CRAFT, bitch. 

If what I do in my own home got the credit and dignity it deserved, the Wall Street Journal wouldn't be using it to trivialize women bloggers, and women bloggers wouldn't be rushing to make sure people didn't think mothering and homemaking is all they did. 

I am god-damned proud of what I do in my home, what I try to do in my home, what I aspire to do in my home. I am not a "just" or an "only," and I do not have to apologize for being thought of as a casual blogger who otherwise cooks and cleans and likes to crochet a fucking amigurumi toy. You want to be taken seriously? Take ALL OF US seriously. Everything we do matters. All of it.

I'm flipping you off for a reason