What a week!
I can’t even begin to describe how awesome this week has been. Thank you to everyone who commented ad shared in these important discussions. And a hearty thank you to Pamela at Silent Sorority for pushing my boundaries, challenging me to think outside the box, and ultimately – for making me a better writer and advocate for this community in the process.
We talked about so many incredible topics this week, from guilt to empowerment, from imagining alternative universes to taking apart cultural stereotypes for what they are. It’s been incredible to read your comments, both here and over at Pamela’s blog, and on your blogs as well.
These were not easy conversations this week – far from it, in fact. But they are necessary.
I hope you share similar feelings that this salon allowed us as a community to clear the air on some things we’ve been keeping close to our chests, afraid to post for fear of hurting another. I hope you had as much a cathartic experience reading these posts as Pamela and I did writing them.
And I hope you’ll keep the dialogue going.
If you missed today’s AMAZING #ALIMomSalon Twitter chat, I’ve recapped it at the very bottom of the Storify story below. And, if you’re just tuning into this whole crazy shebang, get caught up with my complete “To Mom or Not to Mom” recap below.
"To Mom or Not to Mom"
An open salon on infertility, transition, parenthood and life beyond parenting. Hosted by @KeikoZoll of The Infertility Voice & @PamelaJeanne of Silent Sorority.
Storified by Keiko Zoll · Fri, Oct 26 2012 11:58:47
“To Mom or Not to Mom” – An Overview of the Conversation
Over the next five days and culminating in an open Twitter discussion #ALIMomSalon this Friday, 10/26 at 12:30pm EDT, we seek to parse out the concerns and vulnerabilities of transition within the ALI community without tripping over political correctness and delicate sensibilities.
Monday: Exploring New Paradigms in Life After Infertility
Tuesday: Trading Places & Considering Alternative Outcomes
Wednesday: The Culture of Motherhood
We need to have more resources, more role models, more positive examples for young girls becoming women. We need to talk about how hard motherhood can be, we need to dispel the myth that all women are biologically inclined to have children, we need to make clear that there is happiness to be found on both sides of the divide, so that we can bridge that divide or possibly even, one day, fill it.
We need to start seeing each other as women, not as mothers and non-mothers, but as sources of divine femininity. Because all women are divine, whether they mother or not.”
loribeth says
Thank you both for a week of fabulous & thought-provoking reading!! I am kind of sorry to see it all end. Maybe a return engagement somewhere down the road??
Erica says
Thanks again for doing this. I appreciate the opportunity to share my news because I was feeling a bit anxious wondering where I fit into the ALI community and life in general.
Jjiraffe says
What a wonderful and thought-provoking project! Ironically (?) it was my mandatory “volunteer” day at the kids school so I couldn’t participate in the Twitterstream but I’m so grateful you provided this storify summation. (Cool tool!) Thanks again to you and Pamela for running this very worthy project. Kudos!
Kathy says
Well done Keiko and Pam! You covered a lot of ground so thoughtfully this week and I hope the discussion will continue. Thanks and kudos to you both!