Happy Mother’s Day- or Not! Sundaylies Edition with Rocket Dog, Female Chefs, Gerty Radnitz Cori, Bill Nye, Intuition and Rosie the Riveter
First of all a word about Mother’s Day.
This is a day that can be really hard on some people. Because while it is true that we all have had mothers of some sort or variation in our lives at some point, we all don’t still. As time goes by, more and more of our friends and family disappear due to death or disagreement and parents are often the first to leave us. For some reason society choses to ignore that obvious, statistically sound fact and it can feel like holidays such as Mother’s Day are shoved in your face. The longer you live, the more people you will lose for whatever reason and that makes a lot of traditional holidays difficult. And let’s remember that not all women are, or even want to be parents of people. And so I think it is important on days like this to be able to reclaim some joy for oneself.
I am a firm believer in celebrating wherever and whenever possible. It’s why I love taking religious holidays and making them my own secular celebrations. Same goes for today. You can appropriate this mother’s day for YOU. If you find yourself without a mother or you find yourself without children of the human fleshy kind just remember that there is a mama in us all to celebrate.
We are all taking care of something. Be it a cat, a dog, a bird, a partner, a lover, a home or most importantly: yourself. So if you find yourself on a solitary path today, and are feeling extra alone because you are a sista or a brother without a mother or a babe – give yourself a hug, maybe some clothing advice and then make yourself a snuggle nest on the floor with some hot cocoa. Life is hard. You are not extra alone today even if it feels that way. Celebrate the mama within and the mamas that have gone before us.
Or you can decide to react like Abbi from Broad City when she got asked if she was a mom. Just be sure it’s a cardboard person you destroy or you may find yourself in some serious trouble.
Now on to the Sundaylies!
Mad Art Cast has a new episode up about staying creative! This week’s episode is a continuation of the fascinating discussion about creativity we shared on last week’s episode. Listen to me, Ashley, Brian and A as we throw down some advice and make some corrections on how to pronounce the names of some moons!
The Female Chef’s Table. A fascinating post by Anne about the new Netflix series on chefs. “Apparently we still have to talk about the fact that female chefs are women, because the fact that they are women still matters.”
Gerty Radnitz Cori: Glycogen to Glucose, and Back Again.
In many ways, the story of Gerty Cori (1896-1957) runs parallel to that of Nerve Growth Factor discoverer Rita Levi-Montalcini.
“For a science teacher, perhaps the most dreaded question is “What Is Energy?” Sure, we have a standard answer – “The ability to do work” – but it’s a linguistic gloss over a principle so diverse in its manifestations that to go much further is to get lost amongst the equations and definitions that each branch of science has worked out for its favorite form of energy…”
Bios: Mary Dixon Kies Silvia tells the story of the first woman in America to get a patent.
Is Bill Nye teaching creationism? Should debates on origins be forbidden in science classrooms?
A teacher in California has been told he is no longer allowed to teach biology after showing his students the Nye/Ham debate…on grounds that he was promoting creationism. Peter Nonacs thinks the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Richard Dawkins Foundation were wrong for complaining to his superiors about the incident.
Intuition and Domain Knowledge
J.D. Fisher discusses research on the the importance of prior knowledge and expertise in cultivating intuition, and how sometimes ‘going with your gut’ can prove more reliable than a methodical approach–if you know what you’re doing.
Pseudoscience in the Non-science Classroom
Skeptics tend to devote a lot of energy to ensuring pseudoscience stays out of our science classrooms, but Jay thinks it’s important to think of other disciplines too.
Did you know that the original drawing of Rosie the Riveter was based off of Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel work? Read about this and more in Cerys’s gripping history of Rosie.
That’s it for now! Have a great week and remember to take care of yourself!
Featured image photo is by me of one of the animals I am a guardian to- named Rocket.
My mother is wonderful, my son and I are close. The story I tell at the link, though, explains why Mother’s Day is difficult:
http://youtu.be/eIvIrf5cH_I
I like to remember Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day proclamation, as a call for women to strive for peace.
Here’s a link:
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/howejwriting/a/mothers_day.htm
And here’s the whole thing:
Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own.
It says: “Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace…
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God –
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
Great stuff, thanks for sharing!
Don’t forget Teen Skepchick!
Floatingmanatee has Opinions on Joss Whedon and why some nerds are mad at him and Elizabeth doesn’t really want to be a feminist.
Oops sorry! Will check ya next week. Thanks for posting your links!