Modestly Yours

I just read an interesting article called Portman and Her Critics on a site called Modestly Yours. Not only is Portman getting crap from feminists for having said, when she received her Oscar for "Black Swan," that motherhood will be her greatest role, she's also getting crap for that statement from conservatives who say she's glorifying being an unwed mother! Here is a comment I left on the article:


"Like Shanna, I too am a feminist. I don't think there's anything wrong with being an unwed mother (when I was still on myspace I was friends with the group 'Single Mothers By Choice.') However, I am married, but my husband and I are choosing not to have children for a myriad of reasons, one of them being that I want to focus that energy into my work (I'm a photographer and a writer, and I just don't have that much energy to go around!)But even though I personally am CHOOSING not to have children to focus on my career, I have no problem with Natalie Portman saying her greatest role will be motherhood. That's HER CHOICE. Madonna has called her children her 'greatest work of art,' and Sally Mann once said in a lecture in response to her photographs of her children, 'You can say I'm a bad photographer. Sometimes I think I'm a bad photographer. But I KNOW I'm a good mother.' And if Madonna and Sally Mann are not strong women, then I don't know who is."

I wonder what people who frequent a site celebrating modesty will think of my giving Madonna as an example of a strong woman!

I would also like to add here that many women-- many feminists, often of the Goddess-worshipping variety-- see their ability to bear and nurture children as empowering, as an embodiment of life-giving creation that is theirs alone; a microcosm to the macrocosm of the Great Mother Creatrix of the Universe. I personally will take a pass on that, but if they find that empowering, then they have my full support and respect!

Soundtrack to my life... so far

DJ Trish requested more playlists, and I am delivering! The following is the soundtrack to my life... so far.

Disc One: "They said you were something in those formative years..." --Tori Amos

Like a Prayer-- Madonna
A Day in the Life-- The Beatles
Sweet Child O' Mine-- Guns'n'Roses
Heart-Shaped Box-- Nirvana (to view the video for this song, click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page)
Man On the Moon-- REM
Mr. Jones-- Counting Crows
Longview-- Green Day
Good Sister, Bad Sister-- Hole
Crush With Eyeliner-- REM
Stars-- Lisa Germano
Saturday Afternoon (Won't You Try)-- Jefferson Airplane
Ice Cream Phoenix-- Jefferson Airplane
Two Heads-- Jefferson Airplane
Buildings and Bridges-- Ani Difranco
To Bring You My Love-- PJ Harvey
Through the Eyes of Ruby-- Smashing Pumpkins
Hyperballad-- Bjork
Pissing in a River-- Patti Smith
Mr. Gallo-- Cat Power
Plants and Rags--  PJ Harvey
In Liverpool-- Suzanne Vega
Bette Davis Eyes-- Kim Carnes
Famous Blue Raincoat-- Leonard Cohen
Spark-- Tori Amos


 Disc Two: "...help me in my weakness, for I've fallen out of grace... Jesus, Jesus..." --Velvet Underground

Keep On Living!-- Le Tigre
Strange Fire-- Indigo Girls
Jesus Loves Me Like a Bird-- Rose Polenzani
Little Earthquakes-- Tori Amos (click here to donate to Tori Amos' favorite charity, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, (RAINN) which she co-founded)
Otherside-- Red Hot Chili Peppers
Tomorrow, Wendy-- Concrete Blonde
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out-- The Smiths
Where the Streets Have No Name-- U2
Wayfaring Stranger-- Johnny Cash
The Swimmer-- Sleater-Kinney
Let My People Go-- Diamanda Galas
Fire Snakes-- Laura Veirs
Gimme Shelter-- Rolling stones
Suddenly I See-- KT Tunstall
Lightning is My Girl-- Melissa Auf der Maur
When Under Ether-- PJ Harvey
Black Balloon-- The Kills
Letter to God-- Hole
Jesus-- Velvet Underground

T's Snow Angel

Noodles wants to see more pictures, and I am delivering!