Supermother?

Did you read this? Someone should tell Peggy Orenstein that the way to empower a daughter is to empower oneself. The self-effacing feminist might try mythology or, say, history for a few good female heroes. Or how about manga? Baby Cart and the River Styx has a female character who not only can fight the land's most revered, ruthless and dreaded ronin, but she can also jump out of her clothes in a single bound! Eat your heart out, Peggy.

Her only weakness? Motherhood*. Go figure.

Image from Danny Choo via Boing Boing.
*not an Adrian Rich fan. Just making a point.

I Have Not Seen You

...but slowly you are
forming above my head, white as
petals, white as milk, the dark
narrow stems of your
ankles and wrists,
until you are always with me,
a flowering branch suspended
over my life.
~ for E.J.T. 1973-2009 &
C.V.O. 1995-2009

from Absent One, by Sharon Olds

Kandahar Treasure

"I heard a mother had lost her son due to a suicide bomber, and she got up to speak, and she said a beautiful thing. She said, “Whether it’s a Talib who’s being killed, an Afghan policeman who’s being killed, or an international army military person who is being killed, he leaves behind a mother, a sister or a daughter and/or a wife who mourns for him.”

So that saying was quite powerful in saying that women have this inclusive idea of security and owning peace. Stopping the killing for all... is reason enough for them to wage peace. You know, mothers feel the pain of human beings, and they’re calling for and they want this killing to stop." Rangina Hamidi. ~ Kandahar Treasure