A Proper Feminist Nativity

A Modern Madonna by Caro Dranow

“i like my nativities
with a side of heresy
with midwives and mothers
and empty mangers
and full arms

i like wise women
over wise men
attending to bloody people
born and crucified
showing up in places
church leaders won’t go

i like heralding feminist agendas
and trouble
and god’s good news
which is kind of repetitive
since they’re all the same thing

proper churches
want proper nativities
because women’s bodies
are shameful
whether bearing christ
or just bare

and instead of silent nights
i like loud protests
because
be silent
is not a phrase about joy
but about control

so give me a christmas
without white supremacy
and bright sexism
where the story of a baby
becomes a story of a woman
and my nativity looks like
god’s
and not like
man’s”

~ Kaitlin Hardy Shetler

Sovereign Power

“We don’t need someone to show us the ropes. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. Deep inside us we know the feelings we need to guide us. Our task is to learn to trust our inner knowing.”

~Sonia Johnson

#sovereign
#wild
#free

I Gave Up

@space.ram

Today
I gave up
On healing my trauma
I gave up
On practicing the skills
To become whole
Today I gave up
On evolving
Into that ever elusive
Better version of myself
Today I submitted
To the wound of love
I stopped pointing at it
Looking at it
Soothing it
Tweaking it
Fixing it
Finessing it
Hiding it
Polishing it
I stopped this game of separation
I crawled inside the wound
And spread it open
I decided to wear it like a gown
I accepted my total and utter
Failure
To be anything else
But me

~Maya Luna

Shout It. Write It. Tell It.

“Tell your story.
Shout it. Write it.
Whisper it if you have to.
But tell it.
Some won’t understand it.
Some will outright reject it.
But many will
thank you for it.

And then the most
magical thing will happen.
One by one, voices will start
whispering, ‘Me, too.’
And your tribe will gather.
And you will never
feel alone again.”

~L.R. Knost

Wolf image artist unknown

Alice Paul – Her Story Matters

In honor of Women’s History Month, I’d like to introduce you to Alice Paul.

Alice was a Quaker suffragist and a leader in the fight to secure US women the vote. While protesting women’s inability to vote, Alice was arrested a total of seven times and imprisoned three times. She was force fed for days while in prison. But Alice continued to champion non-violent civil disobedience. The 19th amendment was finally passed in 1919, and ratified in 1920, securing US women the right to vote.

Alice is the author of the Equal Rights Amendment, written in 1923 but still not ratified. She died in 1977 at the age of 92, but she continues to inspire many women in their fight for equality today.

Want to know more about Alice Paul and the decades long struggle by women to earn the right to vote? Check out the movie Iron Jawed Angels, starring Hilary Swank.

Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.”
~Alice Paul

🌙

#AlicePaul
#activist
#suffragette
#feminist
#badass
#herstorymatters
#womenshistorymonth
#womensupportingwomen