My blog - long silent with absolutely no apologies - is still a friend to me. In a confessional moment a few days ago, I told someone I've cooled out on posting because I have an inferiority complex and feel immense pressure to blog. What a difference that utterance made. I thought about it and I realized there's no way I'm the worst blogger in the world. So, I returned to my original mission - personal journaling. Anyhow, I'm back. Today, I return to my friend to voice solidarity with the No Wedding, No Womb movement!
We often question how we were raised, looking at the decisions made and mores instilled by the adults in our lives. I frequently do this as I navigate our changing world and figure out how to move within it with minimum waste and maximum joy. One social paradigm that I unfailingly support is the subject broached by blogger Christelyn Karazin. I don't know how Twitter introduced me to her, but I followed and slowly began to read her blog. She's a baby-mama, who has come up with this movement as an answer to many of the ills of the community. I support it. I'm a proud product of Black marrieds, was raised knowing what a healthy marriage looks like, and see the damage that children who grow up without married parents cope with. I was teased in middle school and high school for having parents who were together. How warped is that?
Don't mistake my stance, people. I'm not making mass generalizations about the quality of single-parenthood or indicting a whole race of people (my own) based on statistics and personal perception. I'm also not saying that homosexuals or people who don't fit the standard "male-marries-female" mold shouldn't get married or be parents. (Shouts to the LGBT community. I support your freedom to love...) I'm also not saying a specific race (again, my own) should focus on a marriage movement above all things, when there are many other issues to address.
What I am saying is that the rising numbers of people procreating without some type of contract is can be directly correlated to many of our social ills. It's time to reverse the tide.
Here's the description from the website:
"STOP THE BABY MAMA/DADDY MADNESS! NO WEDDING, NO WOMB!
No Wedding No Womb! (NWNW) is a declaration and acknowledgement that the out-of-wedlock situation in the black community has reached a critical mass. It is a call for both men and women to take into account the trauma that motherless or fatherless children experience when procreating is taken so cavalierly. The scars are long-term, and often for life.
The ideal for kids is to have a functional household where both parents are committed to providing financial and emotional support to their kids.
But NWNW doesn’t NECESSARILY equate to marriage, per se, but commitment–a lifelong partnership between mother and father. Both are “married” to the idea that a two-parent household is better than a single, struggling one. Of course there are exceptions, but they do not make the rule.
No Wedding No Womb! also fights against the normalization of baby momma and daddy-ism. Clearly as a whole, this mentality is NOT working for us as a community. On September 22, 50-100 bloggers, writers, teachers, social workers, authors and journalists (and counting) will decry in tandem–no unison–that enough is enough. Our future depends on adults planning families responsibly."
Other than my cry of solidarity, I'm happy to report my own personal happiness - I'm in school, work's good, and I'm seeing good things happen all around me. Sure, there's a little stress, but nothing I can't handle.
Things I'm Feeling
- Remembering when and where I was when I heard '93 til Infinity by Souls of Mischief
- Fela! and winning things ( I'd never won a contest before...will blog about this experience in future.)
- Erte prints (he's the father of art deco)
- My Tumblr blog - where my visual side really shines through and where I actually post frequently. I'm considering moving there permanently, but hope someone creates a seamless blog-transfer application I can use first.
- The return of prep-style - How I wish I'd saved those brown Sebagos I wore through middle and high-school. I'm replacing them this weekend!
- Free Copyright
- Daydreaming of Jorge Luis Borges' "The Library of Babel," and the Beast's library from Beauty and the Beast
- Feeling secure enough in myself not to buy into other people's personal dramas or accept the role of villain when they behave badly.
- Oils of amber, almond, and rosewood
AUTUMNAL BLISS! This is my favorite season...if the chill ever gets in the air
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