tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:57:31 +0000weekly essays from your favorite lesbian atheist black belt church ladyhttp://www.mindbodymama.com/noreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)Blogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-2110978890362080599Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:57:00 +00002010-03-08T15:57:31.893-05:00 This blog is now located at http://blog.mindbodymama.com/. You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here. For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to http://blog.mindbodymama.com/atom.xml. http://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/03/this-blog-has-moved.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-9199091015049172090Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:50:00 +00002010-03-07T20:58:56.678-05:00racismmind body mamafeminismSo it came to pass that one of my feminist process groups had a discussion about the use of the word “girl” in the original name of our group.One of the two African American members of the group initiated the conversation with an eloquent email. She started her sentences with phrases like, “In my community…” and “In my experience….”The gist of her message was, “This feels really crappy to me and http://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/03/girl-power.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-8935353874198215159Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:29:00 +00002010-03-07T20:33:31.579-05:00verminmind body mamaThings that almost happened this weekend:1. I almost put my I-pod through the laundry.2. I almost gave the somnolent cashier at Target a coronary when I yelled “Oh, No!” in her check out line, upon realizing that I had almost put my I-pod in the laundry.3. I almost left the mall without purchasing a set of towels that exactly match the wall colors of my finally newly remodelled bathroom.4. I http://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/03/mind-body-mama-close-enough-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-7901883253954480155Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:34:00 +00002010-02-28T11:48:35.795-05:00gracemind body mamafeminismI am part of three feminist process groups right now. If you are someone to whom that sentence does not have significance, suffice it to say that the readers who know exactly what it means are pointing and laughing and saying things like, “Better you than me, sister.”This experience is giving me an opportunity to exercise the most enduring lesson I learned at Heather Berthoud’s diversity traininghttp://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/02/mind-body-mama-process-is-point.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-2343820328603853478Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:49:00 +00002010-02-20T06:56:16.146-05:00Lee SinclairEllen Snortlandself-defensemind body mamafeminismIn January, the phenomenal Lee Sinclair made her first demand upon the twelve feminist self defense experts she’s calling her national Comet Group.I’m a little star-struck to even be counted among this group, which includes Nadia Telsey (who founded the school where I was first trained as a self defense instructor), Ellen Snortland (the writer/actor/activist/writing coach whose name I drop as http://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/02/mind-body-mama-this-i-believe.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-3884483363749812341Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:43:00 +00002010-02-17T17:48:01.641-05:00self-defensemind body mamaI’m not bringing you a self defense snapshot today. Instead, I’m bringing you a whole album. I invite you to visit the inspiring work of Maggie at Violence Unsilenced.Violence, Unsilenced is a community blog featuring personal stories of domestic violence and sexual assault. Each post is a brave and unique story of courage and survival. It is sometimes hard to hear these stories. But it always http://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/02/self-defense-snap-shot-one-year.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-3802393966270113341Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:14:00 +00002010-02-12T07:29:05.108-05:00depressionmind body mamaI am over forty now, so my cycle does not merely include an irritable, chocolate-seeking phase but also a period of extreme intollerance bordering on insanity. One Sunday I woke up feeling as if my skin had been removed. I felt like one of those figures from Bodies, Revealed, with my exposed muscles and nerves all red and slippery and my eyeballs lolling around in a monsterous scalp. Sweetie was http://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/02/lessons-3.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-5147694157136831221Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:32:00 +00002010-02-10T09:35:08.999-05:00mind body mamaLast week I woke up with the kind of hormone-induced irritability that could make a person take to her bed with a pan of brownies and a bottle of Drambuie. Unfortunately I had to take the kid to school, and once you’ve already gotten up you might as well go to work and make the little bucks.“I am a storm cloud!” I informed my first client. I had considered fronting but it makes me queasy. Also, http://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/02/lessons-2-interlude.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-7969525082007927420Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:19:00 +00002010-02-07T21:24:43.953-05:00karatemind body mamaloveMy entry into Momalom’s Love It Up challenge: a love letter to my on-again/off-again martial arts training buddy Seamus who leaves for a new life in Tennessee (what the--?) this week.Dude,I know you are leaving soon and I have fairly spectacularly failed to say goodbye. I could blame it on a lot of things, like the fact that we just don’t fit into each other’s worlds in any kind of way that makeshttp://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/02/mind-body-mama-love-letter-to-seamus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-6837174466287044304Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:19:00 +00002010-02-05T10:23:52.136-05:00mind body mamaWhen we bought this old heap house, the bathroom featured broken Fifties-vintage plastic tile. The previous homeowner, affectionately referred to around these parts as “that dirt bag,” had not reached the conclusion that showering was off limits. We immediately recognized that restriction unless we wanted to transform our walls into a mold colony. So we got Seamus to come by with her hard hat http://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/02/lessons-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-7629248999319503935Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:28:00 +00002010-01-30T19:33:31.829-05:00gratitudemind body mamaholidaysThere is no better recommendation for voluntary simplicity than the great Christmas schlep. Somehow this year I was able to name and know this, and therefore hold back my humbug even as I moved things in and out, up and down in this little house for days on end.Adding to the schlep of gifts in and packaging out, ornaments up and storage boxes down, tree in and furniture to other rooms was the http://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/01/abundance.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-2252181601928498486Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:57:00 +00002010-01-22T13:02:13.650-05:00deathObamaracismjusticemind body mamaIn the early morning of December 27 the fire departments of The County Seat and its neighbors responded to a flurry of suspicious blazes in the neighborhood surrounding the two-hundred year old fair grounds. Before dawn broke two houses had burned to the ground. Several cars were destroyed and thousands of dollars worth of property was damaged. Two men died.Two weeks later another local family http://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/01/mind-body-mama-fire-season.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-6818249597934584024Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:49:00 +00002010-01-20T07:54:12.223-05:00self-defenseThe self defense teacher grows accustomed to being asked, “Have you ever used your self defense?” Her answer: “I use it every day.” When the questioner is someone accustomed to practice—someone who prays or does yoga or employs affirmations or has already dipped a toe into the great river of martial arts—she may tilt her head curiously, already understanding how a philosophy and spiritual http://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/01/self-defense-snap-shot-on-bridge.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-3475671506176397449Sat, 16 Jan 2010 01:53:00 +00002010-01-20T05:54:31.740-05:00MomalomEllen Snortlandmind body mamahalf-drunkwritingfeminismRemember the Momalom Half Drunk Challenge? A week long period of blackout level stupidity and online overload just before Christmas? Here are some reflections.1. When you write more, you have more to write. Even though writing every day in the week running up to Christmas was an idea singular in its insanity, the experience demonstrated beyond a doubt that when I write more I have more to write http://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/01/mind-body-mama-few-things-i-learned.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-2638542482240899844Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:47:00 +00002010-01-08T14:50:52.202-05:00conversationsmind body mamaAn observation I might have lived without, if had not become a mother:• “It’s cool how your stomach goes into all those little wrinkles when you bend over.”Word usage I might not have considered:• “I want to walk on the snow to get a hang of these new boots.”• “We are all wearing different styles, but we are all cool. Mama, you are sensible cool. Mom, you are normal cool. And I am crazy cool!”• “http://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/01/mind-body-mama-few-more-ways-my-life.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-5306991817325473410Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:33:00 +00002010-01-05T12:49:38.242-05:00self-defensemind body mamafeminismI used to be an overachiever. I used to be ahead of the curve, anticipate the obstacles, and wield an air-tight plan complete with contingencies. As much as I didn’t want to admit it last night when Janet Superhero cracked on the acronym, “Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance” was a common by-word of my upbringing. I come by it naturally; I can’t help feeling behind if I am not http://www.mindbodymama.com/2010/01/mind-body-mama-late-to-party.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-2135007048664862733Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:05:00 +00002009-12-24T20:07:51.830-05:00Birth Piebirthmind body mamaholidayspoetryI’ve been thinking of how I could sign off to all of you before this holiday weekend. I considered cracking wise on BirthPie by making note of the great miracle of a 30” snowfall that extended her eight nights of Hannukah another two. And how I hope it doesn’t take her family all twelve days of Christmas to fly to Billings, Montana. I could tell you how fast the years have spun by since I first http://www.mindbodymama.com/2009/12/mind-body-mama-each-night-holy-night.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-2900336106608579661Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:09:00 +00002009-12-18T08:17:06.103-05:00karateBirth Piemind body mamareadingholidaysfeminismEarlier this week one of my favorite clients cancelled the third session in a row. When I called to see if I needed to stage an intervention she said, “I’m sorry—those last two were unavoidable conflicts. But the first time, I was just feeling overwhelmed. When I hung up the phone from cancelling I just lay on the floor and stared at the ceiling for twenty minutes.”There are times when I might http://www.mindbodymama.com/2009/12/mind-body-mama-my-storybook-life.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-1697091333531363663Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:17:00 +00002009-12-11T18:29:38.836-05:00Momalom101 goalsmind body mamahalf-drunkWelcome to the last day of LMWBloPoWe, inspired by the Half Drunk Challenge. Because there just aren’t enough bloggy good insider references in this post yet, I’ll add another: 101 goals in 1001 days. This is a meme or a scene or a website, I’m not sure, but I read about it on other blogs and it took on a life of its own inside my little brain. (Although at first I kept mistakenly calling it 1001http://www.mindbodymama.com/2009/12/mind-body-mama-half-crazy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-5286782141211687229Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:07:00 +00002009-12-10T21:51:56.047-05:00depressionMomalomlifelovehalf-drunkLast summer I met Ellen Snortland at the National Women’s Martial Arts Federation annual Special Training. In a hot, crowded feminist bazaar I rushed up to Ellen where she stood behind a table crowded with copies of her book, Beauty Bites Beast.“I loved your play!” I gushed. An hour before BirthPie and I had been trying not to pee ourselves with laughter at a staged reading of Ellen’s Pulitzer http://www.mindbodymama.com/2009/12/half-full-disclosure.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-609050340677554075Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:47:00 +00002009-12-09T18:59:08.006-05:00MomalomBirth Piecontestmind body mamahalf-drunkholidaysThere is nothing especially daring about this post. But we had a snow day in this corner of the world and after a day of shovelling and walking out in the slush and madcap Christmas crafting--half at BirthPie's house--I am a tired writer. Much more tired, in fact, than if I had gone to work today. Go figure. This is the writing that came to me today. So to honor my half drunk commitment to daily http://www.mindbodymama.com/2009/12/mind-body-mama-half-wit-hump-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-1104501057635470575Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:11:00 +00002009-12-18T12:34:13.519-05:00Momalommarriage equalitymind body mamalovehalf-drunkI have no idea who my baby-daddy is.My baby-daddy is a biohazard on dry ice.My baby-daddy gave me a gift I don’t deserve and can’t ever repay.My baby-daddy jerked-off in a jar.There is only one guy who could be my baby-daddy and I know exactly which guy it is.My baby-daddy is somebody’s baby’s father but not mine.My baby-daddy was robbed of his child.My baby-daddy sired a litter.My baby-daddy http://www.mindbodymama.com/2009/12/mind-body-mama-half-truths-about-my.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-3808490357590084513Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:38:00 +00002009-12-08T05:59:38.872-05:00Momalomcontestbirthmind body mamahalf-drunkAuntie OllieSomewhere in our photo albums is a snap of me, Sweetiebabyhoneylicious and the judge Small almost threw up on the day that our second-parent-adoption was finalized. We’re all grinning maniacally and I look as dazed and busty as I did that whole year of non-stop nursing. It’s surely one of our only family photos to prominently feature the American flag.If ours was a traditional adoption this http://www.mindbodymama.com/2009/12/mind-body-mama-half-adopted.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-3984475849863398043Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:45:00 +00002009-12-06T19:53:22.544-05:00MomalomBirth PieNaBloPoMocontestunderpantsEllen SnortlandTaped onto my monitor is this quote from Ellen Snortland: “There is no wasted writing.”When Sweetiebabyhoneylicious first noticed it she deadpanned, “But there is writing when you’re wasted.”My new best virtual friends Jen and Sarah think this is a good thing. That’s why they’ve created the Half Drunk Challenge. And I’m in. I’m all in.Don’t think this means I’ll be drinking this week. I already http://www.mindbodymama.com/2009/12/mind-body-mama-half-drunk-and-in-my.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3934762530983425332.post-2095728788973194080Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:32:00 +00002009-12-03T19:41:03.855-05:00Judy Collinsdeathfearmind body mamaBobbi and GrampyAuntie OllieWhen my mother's doorbell rang at 9:00 am the day after Thanksgiving my first thought was that it would be a friend of Bobbi's come ‘round to meet Her Majesty, my Small. Small is my mother’s first born and farthest flung grandchild and her legend is large around Bobbi and Grampy-land.I wasn’t particularly in the mood to entertain in my pajamas over my post-holiday coffee so I grabbed up a change http://www.mindbodymama.com/2009/12/mind-body-mama-bad-news-bad-news-come.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lynne Marie Wanamaker)6