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Ain't I a Mommy?

Bookstores Brim with Motherhood Memoirs. Why Are So Few of Them Penned by Women of Color?

Article by Deesha Philyaw, appeared in issue Genesis; published in 2008; filed under Books; tagged mommy wars, motherhood, parenting, publishing, race, women of color.

Shortly before the birth of my first child nine years ago, while browsing the bookstore for mommy wisdom, I discovered Anne Lamott’s Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year and fell in love with the author and the book. More than any parenting truisms the book might have contained, it was Lamott’s writing style—funny, self-deprecating, and brutally honest—that kept me reading. The big mommy insight I gleaned from Operating Instructions was that I wasn’t quite as neurotic as Anne, so my kid and I would probably be all right.  

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Mommy & Me

Looking for the Missing Voices in the Burgeoning World of Mom Blogs

Supplemental Content by Veronica I. Arreola, appeared as a sidebar in the article 'Ain't I a Mommy?' in issue Genesis; filed under: Internet culture; tagged: BlogHer, blogosphere, blogs, momblogs, mommy blogs, motherhood, parenting, race, women of color.

Mommy blogs are big business these days. A recent Washington Post profile on ur-mommy blogger Heather Armstrong (a.k.a. Dooce) suggested that her site could be raking in up to 40 grand a month. While most mothers who blog are nowhere near as influential (and their sites nowhere near as lucrative), they take pride and satisfaction in the work they do, and the websites they maintain offer valuable community, a sense of connection to other parents, and occasionally a little pocket change.

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Some thoughts on privilege, agenda-setting, and what to do next

Delightfully Cranky blog post by Lisa Jervis, May 5, 2008 - 12:17pm; tagged ally-hood, feminism, privilege, race, racism.

So The Angry Black Woman has called this Carnival of Allies, which these days feels to me like the best idea ever, because I really need some guidance. One of the many, many things the events of the last month and change have taught me is that, um, to put it mildly, my anti-racist ally skills could use some honing.

What that means is that right now I need to listen to people who know more than me: to their analysis, to their experiences, to their strategies (not that I'm expecting anyone to hand me the answers on a silver platter, or that I think it's up to other people to tell me all about what's wrong with the world I live in, or that I plan to rely on others to do my intellectual heavy lifting, or that...yeah, you get the picture). And I'm eager to read what the carnival brings forth.

But if I just want to listen, why the hell am I talking?

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