Mamazina Blog

Mama Says Logo Contest!

Mama Says is a group of activist mothers in Central Vermont committed to normalizing the motherhood experience.  We publish a quarterly Zine, are activists for early childhood education and advocate for a clean and healthy environment.   We are also advocates for freedom in birthing choices, breastfeeding in the workplace, mother-owned businesses and the creation of a more positive childcare experience for families.

Mama Says has a website that gives more information:

http://mamasaysvermont.org

Thank you!
Ame

Announcing the Mama Says Logo Contest!

As we enter our 6th year as an organized community of activist mamas, we are seeking a new and inspiring logo for our t-shirts!

We are looking for the art to be

> BOLD
> ~ inspiring~
> <beautiful>
> **Energizing**
> Radical!
> CLEAR
> Catchy!

Please submit your art work by September 1, 2010. Send your email to

Mama@MamaSaysVermont.org

OR send your hard copy to
Mama Says
PO Box 381
Montpelier, VT 05601

To enter the contest, please read and comply with the art file description or submit your art work in hard copy (see below).

The logo will compliment our banner name Mama Says. Either incorporate our name into the art or accompany it, either way our name has to be included on the shirt.

Winner gains recognition and a free shirt!

> Accepted File Types:
> Most simply put, artwork to be reproduced comes in one of three
> formats: vector, raster, and hard copy.
> Hard copy: Hard copy should be on a white background, 11 x 17 or
> smaller. All lines should be crisp and clear, pencil should be avoided
> and, unless the artwork is being reproduced digitally, shading should be as well.
> Vector Art, most commonly in Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand,
> CorelDraw (MAC/WindowsPC) - PC files - All fonts must be converted to
> outlines. MAC files - All fonts must be converted to outlines or the
> font files must be included. Images of photos or drawings placed into an AI file may not be useable, unless the design is being reproduce
> digitally. Please save CorelDraw files as Adobe Illustrator. Colors
> other than black should be spot colors, not CMYK. TIFFs should be sent
> as such, not embedded in Illustrator files.
> -Adobe Photoshop(MAC/WinPC) - Image size should be 4"x4" for small
> designs and up to 13"x13" for large designs. Resolution should be 300
> dpi. Image type should be BMP(Bitmap) for black and white images.

 

Ame Solomon, CPM
www.mamasaysvermont.org

CURB APPEAL

When spring hits and I have a writing deadline, household duties seem to bear down on me like a cops prerequisite to give out his months end quota of tickets.  Bottom line…I feel compelled to stop and deal with the eyesore. (The task is the eyesore, not the officer…but I would stop for the police too. Oh for heavens sakes, you know what I mean.)                                                   

Anyway….all winter long I’ve been ignoring this winter worn, green-gray grimy cracked, paint chipped chair that sits on the front porch, next to my front door.

Let’s face it….this rocking chair is an eye sore.  It is one of those houses that I’d drive by and say, “What are they thinking?”

However, in my defense, I’d like to point out, thanks to Lurch and Lila my Great Danes; two inches have been chewed off the tips of the rocker legs. The armrests have deep embedded teething marks and the seat slats have the top layers of wood torn off.

Bottom line…I knew I had to find the beauty in this chair or bottom-line…at least hide its ugly. (Or that sucker was going to the dump.)

Refusing to put it off another day, I put my writing on hold (again)  and mixed up a batch of foul smelling cleaning solution, found the rusty wire scrub-brush the dogs had buried in the yard, and got busy.

After the chair was dirt free and dry, I started painting it. This is the final creation. 

It’s a win-win situation!

My little bungalow now has curb appeal and this mom has something to write about!

 

Pamela Vanden Bos

http://pvbos.com

http://avenue22photography.com

http://twitter.com/pamelavandenbos

http://twitter.com/missymooblankie

http://twitter.com/dogs2save

http://pvbos.tumblr.com

 

 

 

 

April Madness

April is proving to be a hectic month.  I've been participating in the readwritepoem.org poetry challenge, writing a poem everyday.  Of course April 4th was a big date here, and I'm not talking about Easter.  The 4th was the Little One's 9th birthday, and she was not happy about sharing it with Easter.  The day was a success though I never thought I'd be eating McDonald's for Easter dinner.  The Little One was happy.  A few days later, it made an interesting poem.

     An Easter Birthday

 

   Nine years old today
   Irascible in no mood to play
   No one to wish “Happy Birthday”
   Easter bunny just go away

   Your special day is here
   Easter bunny did appear
   A celebration to cheer
   Relax, no bunny next year
   So long birthday jeer 

 

For my older daughter, April means track and field practice and meets.  They've had three meets already.  The first two without uniforms.  The new uniforms came in last week, and my track star finally looked the part for the meet on Monday.

 

And mom wrote another poem inspired by her runner.

 

To Run Free

 

I sit on the sidelines
and watch
”Runners take your marks!”
the whistle blows
in a flash; they’re off
running free.

 I sit on the sidelines
and wonder
first, second, third place
wouldn't matter
only the exhilaration
to run free!

16 more days and the April madness will be over. After all this I may be sorry to see it go.

Veronica Hosking
Poetry Editor    Mamazina
http://hosking.gather.com

 

 

Call For Submissions at Mama Says Zine

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

For the next print issue of the Mama Says zine, our topic will be "This I Believe", based on the book and essays heard on NPR.
We ask you to please keep your essay under 600 words.
Submit your essay by April 20th.
Send your essays to amesolomon (@) yahoo (dot) com

Tell a specific story of a belief that you have around motherhood and parenting. Think of how your beliefs have been formed through your own experience, family, friends, trial and error, light bulb moments, and middle of the night awakenings. How has parenting shaped your philosophies in life, changed your perspective, and who have you become due to being born a parent? Write this essay in first-person narrative as if you're speaking the story to a group of other mamas—-help us understand ourselves by hearing your story.

For more information on This I Believe, visit their website:
http://thisibelieve.org/

We also are seeking ART for upcoming issues. Especially cute baby photos that will copy well in Black and White, Cartoons, kid art, photos of you nursing, or anything artful you'd like to submit.

The next issue after this one will be the It's Complicated: Anonymous Issue. Write about your experiences as an autonomous being or lack thereof, how parenting shifted your libido, how you make it work in your relationship or not, what is really hard to handle, what gets you through a really hard day. Since your name will NOT be published, feel free to write things that you've always wanted to say but were too bashful to share! Make up a funny pseudonym too. Due by July 14.

Kris Underwood
Managing Editor
Writing in the Mountains

National Poetry Month

National poetry month is almost here.   Readwritepoem.org is hosting a poetry challenge in April.  Can you write a poem a day?  Would you like to give it a try? 

It's easy just head over to readwritepoem and sign up.  There will be a new writing prompt for each day in April.  Thirty poems in thirty days should be a lot of fun.

Free verse or rhyming
National poetry month
Arrives in April

Veronica Hosking
Poetry Editor   Mamazina
 http://readwritepoem.org/members/hosking/

Read These Books Before You Die

By Claire Kreger-Boaz

I've read hundreds of books in my 36 years. Among them are a few that I've read more than once. These great books are written by authors who cause me to feel the story, to live and breathe along with the characters, and to laugh with or mourn the arc of their story.  Fiction, nonfiction, doesn't matter. If there's authentic wit and emotion, I'm hooked. Here's my list:

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers *

The Hour of the Star, by Clarice Lispector

East of Eden, by John Steinbeck

Backlash, by Susan Faludi

Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston

Herland, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, by Jeannette Winterson

The Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke

There are many more books stowed away on my shelves and in my heart that mean something to me. They all met a specific need at the time that I read them. But the ones I have listed are those that I could pick up any time and feel like I was visiting a dear, old friend. Especially AHWOSG by Dave Eggers. He and I, should we ever meet, would be thick as thieves. 

Read, enjoy, and share your list with me in the comments section. I happen to be between great reads at the moment.

-------------------------

Claire Kreger-Boaz is a freelance writer and an extremely slow, but dedicated reader. Her avatar is busy saving the world at the moment, but she promises to return your call as soon as the job is done.

Visit me and lots of other cool moms at San Diego MomsLikeMe.com