Hear Me Roar!: Today a rare thing happened to me. I found a four-leaf clover! This is funny because it is only the SECOND four-leaf clover I have ever found in my lifetime. I distinctly remember being seven years old and finding the first one on the day we moved to our new house. It gave me great comfort to find it in the midst of the moving day blues and I have always found myself searching for the rare clovers since. The legendary "lucky" clovers are supposed to represent faith (first), hope (second), love (third), and luck (fourth.)
Playground antics: our house backs right up to a community playground that is often filled with screaming and laughing children. What is strange to me is that there are some fairly young children regularly on the playground and I rarely ever see an adult. Over the course of the past few days I have noticed an older girl who is physically bullying the little ones and has terribly foul language. Still...no parents. I went with my son the last time the bully girl was there and surprisingly or not surprisingly this did not change her behavior. I am not sure if this girl lives in our community, but have been keeping my eye out for a chance to speak with her or anyone who is responsible for her.
It seems that our culture has become more and more political (or perhaps it is just living too long in the DC area). By special request I was asked to take a look at the focus on women's votes in recent elections and how single women voters hold much of the power these days.
This weeks motherhood article is both revealingly beautiful and heart wrenching at the same time. Miriam Rosenthal experienced her first taste of motherhood in a prison camp at Auschwitz and has lived a long life to tell about it.
Reflection of the Week: Women's War on Women
The political arena which originally forbade women from voting altogether and especially young, single, minority women, is now largely focused on these populations. The issues labeled under "the war on women" in recent campaigns include equal pay, birth control, and abortion. These personal and social issues ironically enough could be categorized as "emotional" in the political sphere, which was originally one of the main criticisms of women's suffrage. Continue
I wanted to take a look at a painting by one of my favorite artists, William-Adolphe Bouguerea. You may be most familiar with his painting First Kiss of the two cherubs sharing an innocent moment (below). Bouguerea's collection includes many remarkable works, which unfortunately came under some criticism for being too traditional and not keeping up with the changing art interests of the times. In the above painting, Tobias Receives his Father's Blessing, Bouguerea recaptures a pinnacle moment from the Biblical story. The blinded Tobit blesses his son as he prepares to set out on a journey with a guide who turns out to be the Archangel Raphael. Tobit's wife covers her face in despair, disapproving of her son's departure. There is so much emotion captured in the four figures of the neoclassical painting, from the powerful assurance on the face of Raphael to the grief of Tobias's mother.
To see more works: http://lionofdesign.blogspot.com/p/gallery.html
As parents we are sometimes put in situations in which we have no control. Despite our best efforts to protect our children there will always be instances that we are unprepared for or unable to change. I recently read an article in Canada's National Post about Miriam Rosenthal, a Jewish woman who was four months pregnant in the Nazi work camp of Auschwitz! The constant dread that this woman faced not only for herself, but for her unborn child is unthinkable. Continue
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