Memphis Democrat
May 11, 2009

Special greetings to all mothers (past, present, and future) and to all who love, care for, and nurture their fellow inhabitants on this beautiful and unique planet! This is Cob writing from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage with news from the past week and a Mother's Day retrospective.

The past week was so full, that I can only hope to remember a small portion to share with you. My calendar is of no help, as my normally illegible handwriting was even more cramped than usual trying to squeeze everything in. Most days had a few things in common though...they all involved food, meetings, socializing, and moving lots of heavy stuff from one place to another. Food highlights began on Monday when the usual group of rabbits trying to improve their Spanish language skills met over lunch at "mesa d'espanole", Tuesday's tri-community potluck seemed to be uncommonly tasty as fresh greens and asparagus have returned, our own Friday dinner consisted mostly of fresh-baked apple pie (hey, you only go around once), and Saturday's May Day celebration potluck at Sandhill would require several paragraphs of its own!

Meetings included everything from our normal scheduling and business meeting on Sunday, to countless committee meetings and a special trip into Memphis for the County Commissioner's information-gathering meeting regarding the desires and fears surrounding a possible health ordinance to govern waste handling and potential runoff from CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) in Scotland County. This meeting was particularly fascinating for me personally, because I've never considered myself to be an activist or active promoter for change...preferring to simply live my beliefs and if any leading is done, it's by example only. Because Dancing Rabbit itself, and several of our friends had received threatening phone calls regarding their stance on this issue, I felt it was necessary to attend the meeting to show moral support and not allow intimidation and harassment to carry the day.

I was expecting to attend a very divisive meeting, and was instead impressed with the civility and courtesy shown by all. It was uplifting to hear differing points of view expressed by so many county residents from all walks of life, even when that neighbor was clearly uncomfortable speaking to such a large gathering. There is clearly a wide range of strongly held viewpoints, and much work to be done to reach a middle ground, but I am confident that it can be done in the presence of such underlying respect and desire for self-governance and personal responsibility. Go Scotland County!

I won't dwell overmuch on the "moving heavy stuff" except to note that trailers-full of reclaimed lumber, mulch, gravel, and assorted building materials continue to arrive daily. Given the scheduling demands on the truck, and still-soft ground, we often enjoy the opportunity to move heavy things TWICE! Haul, unload by the front entrance, then reload and move to the final destination when you can get time with the truck again and the weather cooperates. The other heavy stuff worth noting, is today's Sodding Party (with apologies to those of British extraction). Ziggy and his wexers have been busy cutting the sod and removing it from the site of Ma'ikwe's foundation. This sod will be "reclaimed" for use as a living roof on Gobcobitron. The encircling bottom layer has already been installed around the perimeter of Ziggy's roof, and today's party will move the many stacks of cut sod from the ground, up the ladder(s), to the roof for final placement. I think Ziggy's glad that he re-did the reciprocal roof with heavier timbers.

On the social front, rabbits enjoyed their usual activities with dance, yoga, baby music classes, piano or fiddle lessons, song circle, sharing circle, emote (feel your feelings!), non-violent communication study group, ultimate frisbee, movies, and so much more. We hosted a few tours, gained new wexers, hosted some friends and family, shared errands, and spent some time catching our breath and just chatting on swings, hammocks, and visiting each others gardens.

Our family capped the week with a trip to the Rutledge Flea Market. Officially called the Dog-n-Gun, some rabbits refer to it as the "Bark-n-Bang". Whatever you call it, it's huge. It's motto should be "If you don't know what you need, we've got it!" The boys rapidly burned through their cash, and I found some lovely reclaimed wrought iron hooks, hangers, and rusty bits to clean up and use in our ongoing building projects. Our over-stimulating morning was followed by...

A May Day party, celebrating 35 years for the Sandhill Community. The kids got an early start with a scavenger hunt, cleverly designed by Gigi to keep the kids busy and out of the adult's hair while the food and beverages arrive and are set up. We then held a rather tangled, but fun, maypole dance with live music, followed by a plunge in the pond. Feasting followed, with the usual fun and merriment generated by the nearly 100 folks from Sandhill, Dancing Rabbit, Red Earth Farms, and the Possibility Alliance (these guys pedaled in from LaPlata for the event!).

Laird tended a large fire and heated an assortment of big metal gears for use in the sweat lodge, which ran at near capacity (10 folks, every half hour) all evening. Others chose to work up a sweat with the contra dance held out on the lawn. By the time most adults were ready to head home, the kids were still going strong and held an impromptu slumber party. Consequently, Mother's Day was very quiet. It's been YEARS since our oldest child took a nap, much less voluntarily!

Which brings me to a Mother's Day retrospective. I've always known this Sunday as the day to bring my mom coffee in bed (she strongly discouraged the whole breakfast-in-bed tradition, knowing full well she'd have to spend the rest of the day cleaning it up again), along with some wildflowers from the field behind our house (or when I was younger some daffodils and hyacinths from the neighbors garden...because I knew a wasn't supposed to pick ours).

I've encouraged my boys to follow this same tradition, as an opportunity to apologize for all the times we were disrespectful or unappreciative of the daily work their mother does for their benefit. I still think that's a good tradition, and this year learned something new to add to it. Mother's Day was originally started after the Civil War, as a protest to the carnage of that war, by women who had lost their sons. Here is the original Mother's Day Proclamation from 1870:

Mothers' Day Proclamation
Julia Ward Howe, Boston, 1870

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts,
whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by
irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking
with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be
taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach
them of charity, mercy and patience.

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another
country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From
the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance
of justice."

Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons
of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a
great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women,
to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the
means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each
bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a
general congress of women without limit of nationality may be
appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at
the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the
alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement
of international questions, the great and general interests of
peace.

Ruth Rosen, a professor of history at UC Davis, has this to say: "Mother's Day wasn't always like this. The women who conceived Mother's Day would be bewildered by the ubiquitous ads that hound us to find that "perfect gift for Mom." They would expect women to be marching in the streets, not eating with their families in restaurants. This is because Mother's Day began as a holiday that commemorated womens public activism, not as a celebration of a mother's devotion to her family.

The story begins in 1858 when a community activist named Anna Reeves Jarvis organized Mothers' Works Days in West Virginia. Her immediate goal was to improve sanitation in Appalachian communities. During the Civil War, Jarvis pried women from their families to care for the wounded on both sides. Afterward she convened meetings to persuade men to lay aside their hostilities.

In 1872, Juulia Ward Howe, author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", proposed an annual Mother's Day for Peace. Committed to abolishing war, Howe wrote: "Our husbands shall not come to us reeking with carnage... Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs". For the next 30 years, Americans celebrated Mothers' Day for Peace on June 2.

Many middle-class women in the 19th century believed that they bore a special responsibility as actual or potential mothers to care for the casualties of society and to turn America into a more civilized nation. They played a leading role in the abolitionist movement to end slavery. In the following decades, they launched successful campaigns against lynching and consumer fraud and battled for improved working conditions for women and protection for children, public health services and social welfare assistance to the poor. To the activists, the connection between motherhood and the fight for social and economic justice seemed self-evident.

In 1913, Congress declared the second Sunday in May to be Mother's Day. By then, the growing consumer culture had successfully redefined women as consumers for their families. Politicians and businesses eagerly embraced the idea of celebrating the private sacrifices made by individual mothers. Since then, Mother's Day has ballooned into a billion-dollar industry.

Americans may revere the idea of motherhood and love their own mothers, but not all mothers. Poor, unemployed mothers may enjoy flowers, but they also need child care, job training, health care, a higher minimum wage and paid parental leave. Working mothers may enjoy breakfast in bed, but they also need the kind of governmental assistance provided by every other industrialized society. Today, our greatest threat is stems from our indifference toward human welfare and the health of our planet. Imagine, if you can, a Mother's Day filled with voices demanding social and economic justice and a sustainable future, rather than speeches studded with syrupy platitudes.

Nineteenth century women dared to dream of a day that honored womens' civil activism. We can do no less."

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