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espiri_reads's review
4.0
I truly appreciated reading all the different perspectives of mothers whose experiences I identified with and the ones whose experiences were new to me. As a new mom, as with many new moms, I feel like I've discovered a new motivation and a new will in me to find ways to create a new world for my kids. And this newfound motivation touches upon almost every aspect of my life because motherhood touches upon every aspect of my life, even the parts that are solely about my own self-actualization. My point is that many moms discover this within them but with very little guidance or language or community about what it means to challenge the mainstream culture around motherhood, revolutionize the world around them as mothers, and bring their mothering into all the other spaces in their life, all while caring and providing for their own children. The narratives in this book help you reflect and understand what that would mean, a world in which we can mother by centering or truly placing value in the ideas and labor of mothers, in particular, working class single mothers of color of all ages, sexualities, and genders. I think this book proposes that if we center the ideas and labor of these women, we will find that taking care of ourselves and our community will become the most central value in our society. And by doing so, everyone can self-actualize, be healthy, and fulfill their potential.
mamareadstuff's review
5.0
An absolutely incredible anthology of motherhood and mothering. I found myself underlining, starring, and notetaking the margins again and again. It is an entirely beautiful creation.
quailtea's review
5.0
i am really grateful this book exists. not every essay knocks it out of the park but the combination of many of them speaking to deep, profound truths about (the attempted to be de-gendered concept of) 'mothering' and the breadth of experience represented, this is a very satisfying book that i was glad to read on the cusp of parenthood! great wit and wisdom contained therein.
djinnofthedamned's review
5.0
As someone who is currently crafting her own plan for future revolutionary/fugitive mothering endeavors, reading this anthology was an extreme delight. It was heartfelt, searing in its truths and critiques of systems of oppression, and endearing with the personal antidotes about everyday parenting maneuvers. As a black queer Muslim, I tend to be severely ambivalent about raising children and/or starting my own family given the current states of oppression. Yet I feel better knowing there are other parents out there intent on family creation as an act of resistance.
Kudos to the editors, of whom I've gotten to know in person and through cyber space. I look forward to more productions such as this, dispatches from the lines of revolutionary mothering.
Kudos to the editors, of whom I've gotten to know in person and through cyber space. I look forward to more productions such as this, dispatches from the lines of revolutionary mothering.
ellemnop_autihd's review
5.0
This is such an important book full of so many gems. These are just a few of my favorite quotes:
“I try not to get overwhelmed by being a mother to a daughter; in magic healing the body trusts our resiliency. She knows she’s strong, powerful and her body is hers and to trust her tummy feelings, and then I let go.” Body Memory, Fabiola Sandoval
“Perhaps the kind of home we need today is mobile, multiple, and underground.
Perhaps we need to become unavailable for state scrutiny so that we can experiment with reorganizing our social relations in revolutionary ways.
Against the rallying cry of freedom, I propose to embed rev- olutionary struggle in a politics of necessity and responsibility, a politics that enhances our encumbrance upon each other while re- jecting the extension of our dependence on state and capital.”
Mothering as Revolutionary Praxis, Cynthia Dewi Oka
“The birth of my child was the birth of a radical. I no longer had the luxury of dying young.” She Is a Radical, Tara Villalba and Lola Mondragón
“I try not to get overwhelmed by being a mother to a daughter; in magic healing the body trusts our resiliency. She knows she’s strong, powerful and her body is hers and to trust her tummy feelings, and then I let go.” Body Memory, Fabiola Sandoval
“Perhaps the kind of home we need today is mobile, multiple, and underground.
Perhaps we need to become unavailable for state scrutiny so that we can experiment with reorganizing our social relations in revolutionary ways.
Against the rallying cry of freedom, I propose to embed rev- olutionary struggle in a politics of necessity and responsibility, a politics that enhances our encumbrance upon each other while re- jecting the extension of our dependence on state and capital.”
Mothering as Revolutionary Praxis, Cynthia Dewi Oka
“The birth of my child was the birth of a radical. I no longer had the luxury of dying young.” She Is a Radical, Tara Villalba and Lola Mondragón
rebadee's review
5.0
These essays shifted and opened my ideas of what it means to be a mother and how this identity applies not just to how we raise children, but how we raise ourselves and each other and our movements. It's a powerful work together and in pieces and I am changed by reading it.