Milk and blood

There is nothing abstract about giving birth. There is nothing more sobering than for a woman to place her hands on her belly and wonder what is the right thing to do. It is always about love. It is never done lightly. And there is nothing more demeaning to women than to have a man, especially a man we don't know, define the laws that will govern milk and blood.

--Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds, p. 95.

Last night Terry Tempest Williams was at Powell's Bookstore, reading from her book, When Women Were Birds. I went, not expecting to be as deeply moved as I was. Williams is a feminist environmentalist who is also a Mormon. She opposes the efforts of some of her people to silence women, to legislate for their own narrow morality, to legislate against abortion and birth control, to legislate what women must do with their bodies. My generation thought we had fixed that, but no. It comes round again. The wealthy right wing in the USA, the same right wing that defends corporate power and the pharmaceutical industry, the right wing that makes war and cuts education, health, and social services, that right wing is once again attempting to legislate women into subservience and helplessness. They are going to lose. But they don't yet know that.

One of the reasons I know they're going to lose is that a young woman named Aleah Chapin has won a prestigious award with a devastatingly beautiful painting of her aging "auntie's" nude body. Granted, she won the award in the UK; and granted, the award is offered by a corporation that has been responsible for really horrible damage to the earth. But in that picture and in the recognition of its beauty, I see the world changing. This Blip of my left hand, with heightened pigmentation and definition, is for Aleah Chapin, who loves pigmentation, who sees milk and blood and history written in women's bodies. Her painting of her nude "aunts," called "Laugh" tells me we are going to make it. That one also reminds me of Travellersjoy's brilliant blip from yesterday.

Speaking of milk and blood, Quaver posted the best baby picture I've ever seen today. Have a look and see what you think (and save me from having to eat my shoes).