Banning Mother's Day

Never forget--never forgive.

I hereby ban all observance of Mother's Day until we have a woman in the White House. 

Julia Ward Howe and Anna Jarvis began Mothers' PEACE Day to call for an end to war and militarism. Too many mothers had borne and nurtured children only to see them killed during the Civil War.

Woodrow Wilson diluted it to "Gee, thanks, Mom!" Day. 

Thank you to Elle Michel for giving me two feminist t-shirts for Mothers' PEACE Day.

Long live Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the four Supremes!

Thank you to Code Pink for sponsoring the first Mothers' Peace Day events back in the 1980s.  I remember attending one in Orange, California.

See these links:

The Original Mother's Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe

23rd Annual Mother's Day Peace Walk Supporting Families of Murder Victims

Code Pink: Give us Peace, Not Brunch

Demonstration in Lafayette Park, DC

Peace Proclamation by Rivera Sun

Notes on seeing Tully

A review in the LA Times--and an interview with Theron and Cody

Go see Tully, which opened May 5.

1) Don't go see the film Tully with the man with whom you spent or are spending your child-bearing years.

To do that is like going to see Thelma and Louise with your husband.

Do go with a boyfriend; it will either scare him off or enlighten him.

Tully was written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman (the pair who teamed up to make Juno in 2007).  

2) There are good scenes, but they capture about 1% of the difficulties of being a mother.

3) The whole "night nanny" thing is dreamy but not believable.  Who has the money to  hire that kind of help?

4) Marlo's husband converts to Mr. Nice Guy, but it's not believable.  

5) There's a Chappaquiddick-style car accident in the film that could easily kill both people in the car... but it doesn't kill anyone in Tully.  Again, straining credulity.

Then there's the ending.  Well, it's disappointing.

I won't say what exactly happens--but to me it seemed random.  The emotional build-up went in another direction.

Nevertheless, I must congratulate Cody and Reitman for this step in the right direction toward depicting and analyzing the initial stages of motherhood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Good review by Justin Chang: 
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/97054136-132.html

Interview with Charlize Theron and Diablo Cody:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-tully-theron-cody-reitman-20180503-story.html

Tully - trailer

Don't Mothers-Day Me!

Warning to anyone who doesn't know me: I have a thing about "mother's day" as it is currently celebrated.

I resent giving women lots of attention one day a year and getting 364 days of virtual servitude in return.  

Historically, this was never a day to celebrate your own mother with gifts and flowers.

It was established by Julia Ward Howe as Mothers' Peace Day, a day to stop killing all our sons and daughters, at the end of the Civil War.  

That's the only way I can deal with it.   

I hate getting greetings from every Tom, Dick and Suzy to have a nice mother's day.  

If you want to honor me, make a donation to an organization working for peace.

Amnesty International
Doctors Without Borders
War Resisters League International - https://www.warresisters.org/

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother%27s_Day_Proclamation