OK, I will start right out with saying that this might get me in trouble - not for the message (well, even that, I guess) but from the source. I have never been shy at saying that I am a HUGE "Dooce" fan. I discovered her while I was living in Norway and blogging was just getting big. I believe I had read an article about her and clicked on a link - I did not run into her accidentally. She has an introduction and clearly states that she is an ex-Mormon and that the only thing that BYU taught her was to distrust organized religion. This might bother some people. It does not bother me.
She originally started her blog while working in LA and openly discussed her boss on the website. Someone tattled and she was fired. She is now in the dictionary - to be "dooced" is to be fired from your job for blogging about it. She warns others not to do it. She also, in her earlier years railed about the Mormon Church - until her brother told her Mother and Father (divorced and both remarried) and hurt them deeply. She commonly refers to the church now, but vowed she would never write anything again about the church that she wouldn't say out loud to her family to their face - all very active. She is irrevently funny, an excellent writer and I really like to read her blog. If I could write just a tenth as well as she does I would be a happy woman ...
Like I said, I found her while living in Norway so some time in 2005 I decided that to 'be non-biased' about her that I would go back to the beginning and read her entire blog - which I did.
I have followed her through her single days in LA, her getting married to (also inactive) a return missionary. Their very nervous move to Utah to be closer to family. Her putting ads on her website which started funding her family to the point that her husband quit his job and ran the behind the scenes portion of the website (which a lot of her followers were angry about). To her first pregnancy.
To the birth and the post-partum depression that landed her in an institution where she would hand write her posts and her husband would type them in. She is a very avid supporter of mental health care. To her second child's birth, which she decided to do with no drugs - and her write ups on it.
To hiring a gay assistant whose name was also "Jon" like her husband, and since he messes with her mind (like convincing her that he fed her her dead beta fish that happened to be in the freezer until the ground thawed and she could bury his cute little coffin - he said he sprinkled it in her salad and her other assistant, a cousin who helps with the children had to tell her he was kidding as she was throwing up) so she just calls him "Tyrant".
To, just recently her seperation from her husband and the fear and depression she is in the midst of trying to come to terms with that. She has written three books - one of which chronicles her decent into post-partum depression and the regular depression that she faces daily. She is open and honest about all of it.
I feel like I know her and she has slowly become more and more famous. She was listed on whatever that list is of the most influential people. She has had meetings with President Obama (in purple tights she insisted that she needed to wear - I forget why ..) and she had gotten involved with a group called Every Mother Counts an orginization started by the model Christy Turlington to raise the awareness of how many women around the world are dying in childbirth. She has traveled to these third world countries and seen these women first hand and listened to what they want - which is more control of their bodies and decent medical care - something I feel we all, here, take for granted.
I said I might get in trouble for posting this and it is a very sad, sad reason. She is generally very silent about her hate mail - but she refers to the amount she recieves every now and then and a while back she was very angry and decided to post some of it - also you can read her comments.
Unfortunately, most of it (and she stressed fervently she was not being selective) was from Mormons telling her all sorts of awful things - mainly about her children (because, really how can you hurt a mother the worst way possible?) the most TAME being that she was going to hell. I read the most vile, horrifying things from people who probably whipped off a letter to her, put it out of their mind and then headed off to church on Sunday thinking this was perfectly acceptable behavior. I, personally do not believe that. I was saddened and dissapointed in 'us' as a religion - I thought we were a wee bit more tolerant than that.
I know I feel I am.
I have friends of all races, religions and the more I meet and the more diverse the person, the more I learn and my world is expanded just a little bit more. I don't have to agree with everything they do - like my Wiccan friend who asks if he can light a "Health" candle for me. Sure! I tell him, I need all the help I can get and I understand it is his way of trying to help.
My Jewish friend I knew from work was one of the wisest, kindest person I knew and was so very respectful of me and my religion - I love him deeply - he is one of the good one's - no matter what anyone else thinks.
So, I realize that I might see the world a wee bit different that most who read my blog - but that is just the way it is, and if you don't like it ...
I ain't changing -
so DEAL WITH IT.
So - if you are a "Dooce-hater" I am sorry. I think she is funny, witty, I am never offended by her Mormon comments since they hit so close to home, but she also has a 'mouth' and that does not bother me either.
If you don't like her - I hope it won't affect your thinking about the video that she was involved in (along with a WHOLE lot of other recognizable women - so think of them). I think this is a great idea. Will mention a few things about it after the video ...
I like this idea - my dilemma is, am I doing this because I actually abhor Mother's Day in the first place (being the worlds worst Mom and all ...) and it is merely a convienience, or am I committed? I've decided either way - I would like to do this - so no gifts, no calls, no computer on May 13th - I would appreciate it. I will be donating to the orginazation on that day ...
And just in case you don't bother to watch the video (not that all these stats are there) here are the stats from Dooce (aka Heather Armstrong):
1. Approximately 358,000 women die each year due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth. That's one woman every 90 seconds.
2. For every woman who dies each year in childbirth, 20-30 more suffer from lifelong debilitating disabilities.
3. Pregnancy is the number one cause of death in women, ages 15-19, in the developing world. Nearly 70,000 young women die every year because their bodies are not ready for parenthood.
4. Over 200 million women who would like to choose when they get pregnant don’t have access to family planning.
5. The United States ranks 50th globally in maternal mortality, even though it spends more on health care per capita than any other nation in the world. African American women are four times more likely to die in childbirth than Caucasian women.
ALL OF THESE DEATHS ARE PREVENTABLE.
And their website: HERE
Just think about it ....
No comments:
Post a Comment