MODERN IFIGENIA

I woke up this morning to a baby puking on me while smiling unapologetically. For the first time her lack of inhibition worried me. This Mother's Day, I thought I'd be reflecting on being a mother for the first time and jot down some mushy words, instead, I think back to the day I walked in on my mom having greater aspirations for my daughter than she did for me.   My dad raised me to thrive in the world I deserved, my mom raised me to survive in the world I was born into. Needles to say, my dad's parenting was liberating and empowering, my mom's was stifling and suffocating, so of the two parents I always rebelled against HER. She would often say that I was created fighting her given how difficult her pregnancy was with me. She was right, my earliest memories with my mom are of our arguments. We fought like the swords of two warriors: I was driven by a desire to be free and capable, her by fear that I might suffer consequences the patriarchy metes out to misbehaving wo...

I came across this video today: Would you be happy with perfection? It reminded me of the reaction people in other countries have when they try to understand why I see myself as imperfect. There is usually the follow-up question from them as they try to understand my worldview "but if you were thinner, wouldn't that make you someone else?" or "...but aren't you the most perfect version of you?" Over the years, I have placed a lot of effort into tuning out negative messages about women's body images. But it takes a lot of work, I will often see really attractive women (by mainstream standards) and wonder why I couldn't look like them. Every time that thought comes into my mind I force myself to think: "Okay...would you want to spend 30 minutes on hair, 60 minutes on nails, 30 minutes on makeup, how ever long at the gym?" and then I remind myself that, I wouldn't, to look the way I do reflects that I made different time and financial ...

It appears Trump has been satisfied with the long form of President Barak Obama's birth certificate. I guess the various affirmations and certifications from Hawaii's officers that he was in fact born in Hawaii were not enough. Trump may be satisfied, but the rest of the birthers are not. Frankly, they never will be. Fundamentally, they are not so much concerned with whether he was born or not born in the U.S. Their concern is whether he is a "Citizen" in the truest and purest meaning of the word. Whether he is a human being endowed with rational thought and entitled to the same rights as any other human being who is endowed with rational thought as they imagine themselves to be. In other words, is he just as important to society as they are? Is he as human as they are? They would like the answer to be no. What I always find fascinating about the birthers' position is that they have never challenged President Obama's mother's citizenship. They have onl...