March MAUs go out like lionesses...

Opportunities abound for community building, here are three THIS WEEKEND.


One) TODAY 3/30 MAU's regularly scheduled Mobilizing the Mamas Playgroup.

Friday 10-noon; Centennial Park Playground.

Bring sunscreen, outdoor toys (sidewalk chalk, trikes, beach balls, parachutes), snacks to share, your knitting or other craft if you like, ideas for Mother's Day op-eds & costumes, friends, family and welcoming attitudes.


Two) TODAY 3/30 One in a series of field trips to visit our state representatives along with Tennessee's Peaceable Assembly & Instruction Project, itself part of the national Occupation Project.

Friday 2:45-- outside Representative Cooper's office, downtown, Church Street.
These field trips are wonderful forays into civic and political egnagement In which which we lobby / advocate and appeal for / to our representatives to vote for peace. MAU’s role in this capacity is to show up passionate about our children’s welfare, ALL our children’s welfare, and to put real faces and bodies to Rep. Cooper’s constituency, as he is the person we visit today. MAU families and friends will gather in front of Cooper’s office (it’s inside the downtown public library, accessed from Church Street between the library’s main entrance and Provence) on the sidewalk at 2:45. I’m asking folks to bring with them their children, grandmothers, friends, welcoming spirits, homebaked cookies… whatever it takes to graciously thank Cooper for voting against appropriations last week, and to ask him to continue to vote for peace, thereby giving all children a bigger piece of the pie.

(NOTE: the next scheduled MAU group field trip was April 3-- this visit is in the process of being rescheduled! Write to Paige for details: paige@mothersactingup.org)


Three) Planning Meeting for Nashville MAU's Second Annual Mother's Day Parade for Peace.

Sunday afternoon. Write Paige for details: paige@mothersactingup.org

Living Green in Nashville and beyond.

Links to this great site keep popping up everywhere I turn, and seeing as one of the three campaigns that makes up the Mother Agenda is For Kids' Sake: Preserve Our Planet, it seems a good idea to share The Fun Times Guide to Living Green, where you can learn simple ways to make sustainable living fun and practical, reduce the size of your carbon footprint, and give children a bigger piece of the pie, for now, and for LATER. You'll find tips on how to make or use a rain barrell, how to reduce waste in general, and where to purchase bamboo panties!!

Playgroups.

The weather in Nashville now is GREAT. Everything's on the bloom, the sun is shining, and our community playgroup is thriving. Playgroups and potlucks help keep our community cohesive all the year through, and not just connected once a year at our Mother's Day Parade.

We meet each Friday at Centennial Park Playground in the window between 10 AM and Noon. We visit, share snacks, and do an action together whenever possible. These days, with the weather so accomodating to outdoor play, we have quite a crowd and we'll be parade planning, stilt building and costume making during our gatherings. Come join us! Bring friends, bring neighbors, bring grandmothers and fathers. ALL are welcome.

Nashville MAUs at peace rally 3/17.

2007_0317_143525AA, originally uploaded by Wingates.

Nashville MAUs at peace rally 3/17.

2007_0317_141328AA, originally uploaded by Wingates.

Nashville MAUs at peace rally 3/17.

2007_0317_142431AA, originally uploaded by Wingates.

Nashville MAUs at peace rally 3/17.

2007_0317_151401AA, originally uploaded by Wingates.

Nashville MAUs at peace rally 3/17.

Nashville MAUs at peace rally 3/17.

Nashville MAUs at peace rally 3/17.

Nashville MAUs at peace rally 3/17.

Nashville MAUs at peace rally 3/17.

Nashville MAUs at peace rally 3/17.

Nashville MAUs at peace rally 3/17.

Nashville MAUs at peace rally 3/17.

Nashville MAUs at peace rally 3/17.

MAU at TAP Compass Conference.

Tennessee Alliance for Progress (TAP) – Compass IV Conference

April 13 & 14, 2007

Cohn Adult Learning Center, 4805 Park Avenue, West Nashville

Don’t miss TAP’s biggest meeting of the year. This two-day gathering of progressives from around the state will feature networking, workshops, skills trainings, films, live music, the TAP Long Haul Awards and Silent Auction, plus other events. This is THE statewide progressive gathering of the year in Tennessee. Keynote speakers will be David Sirota and Paul Waldman. David Sirota is a nationally renowned political commentator and author of the book, Hostile Takeover: How Big Business Bought our Government and How we can Take it Back. Paul Waldman is a senior fellow at Media Matters for America and the author of, Being Right is Not Enough: What Progressives Must Learn from Conservative Success. Visit the TAP website to register (click here).

Mothers Acting Up will be At TAP:

Mothers Acting Up presents MAU now!: the Joy of Activism— Mobilizing the Mamas

(Fathers and all others who care about & for children are WARMLY WELCOME!)

MAU will facilitate a conversation about parental activism: where are we on our current journey? What are the barriers and obstacles to parental activism? How can we overcome them? We will view Mothers Acting Up, the movie, which gives a terrific overview of the movement: a magnificent revolution to honor the promise of our children’s lives.

The workshop will provide a copy of the Mothers Acting Up 2007 Mother Leadership Handbook and Engagement calendar for each participant family.

Points of focus in context of the Mother Agenda : community building, Mother’s Day Reclamation, tabling, and advocacy for children in the offices of our representatives. The goal of our sessions is to provide each participant with the tools to create and put on a Mother’s Day Parade or other reclamation event and / or start a Mothers Acting Up Community in their own hometowns.

A children’s workshop / activity—Mini MAUs in Community-- on Global Citizenship will coincide with the adult programming.

Community Building ALL WEEKEND.

One organization has no hope of ensuring the health, education and safety of every child; generations of educated & committed communities absolutely can.

Our Spring schedule for the Nashville community of Mothers Acting Up is *packed*— it includes playgroups, potlucks, a peace rally, field trips to our representatives’ offices, as well as participation in Nashville’s Earth Day Celebration and a presence at TAP’s (TN Alliance for Progress) annual Compass conference!! All of this good community building culminates in our 2^nd Annual Mother’s Day Peace Parade at Fannie Mae Dees Park! Full schedule to come…

This weekend alone:

Friday March 16, 10-Noon

MOBILIZING THE MAMAS PLAYGROUP

@ Centennial Park playground

Bring friends, snacks to share, bright spirits. Over the next several weeks we’ll be working on stilt building and costume making leading up to Mother’s Day!!

In the event of significant rain or nasty weather, we now meet at the DOWNTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY on the 2^nd Floor in the Children’s Area.

Friday March 16, 6-8 PM

BRING THE FAMILY POTLUCK SOCIAL & SALON

@ The Nashville Friends Meeting House

Bring family and friends and a dish to share—we’ll share a meal, fellowship, and plan for our presence at the following day’s peace rally & march, as well as discuss the Mother’s Day Peace Parade.

Saturday March 17 , 2 PM

PEACE RALLY & MARCH in commemoration of the 4^th anniversary of the War in Iraq

@ The Musica Roundabout Park

MAU (and friends) will gather with babies and children together – we’re mamas. We’ll have snacks, cell phones, sunscreen, strollers, slings, backpacks—whatever makes us all comfortable and well nurtured. This event has been specially designed to be FAMILY FRIENDLY. MAUs will be peacekeepers and help one another mind the babes. Bring shoes and pots and pans and stilts (if you have them). Dress brightly and for fun and / or don an apron, if you care to. Wear comfortable shoes for the walk to the Federal Building.

Please see organizer Jane’s details below:

Dear Paige, Remembering last year at this time, I hope that all the
Mothers Acting Up and their babes and hubs and all will come to the

"Walk in Their Shoes" commemoration of the
4th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq this
Saturday at 2PM.We will gather at the
Owen Bradley Park, on Division & 16th, by the Musica Roundabout
for music, speakers and a peaceful ambiance.

At. 3:30 PM, we will walk to the Federal Building at Broadway & 8th,
carrying the signs and banners of our various groups. - hope MAU will
"march" under their signs!!! Or you may like to walk with the "Molly Ivans
Brigade" to honor that feisty progressive journalit's dying request that
we bang pots and pans and "Raise Hell to end the war!"

We will also carry old shoes, labelled with the names of Tennesseans,
friends and family members who have served and especially those who were
injured or killed in Iraq, and shoes with the names of Iraqi men, women
and children who have died in this conflict. The shoes will be lined up
along the curb in front of the Federal Building (and later given away).

Please come! With kids, strollers, old shoes or pots and pans if you have
them! Call for PEACE not endless escalation! Affirm springtime LIFE and
rebirth, not death and continued destruction! Things are in a great state
of flux at this moment - we can make a difference!

peace and love, Jane

A Time for Peace: Friday March 16.

The below comes to us from our friends at TAP (Tennessee Alliance for Progress.)

A Time for Peace rally and vigil at Legislative Plaza this Friday, March 16th, at 12:30 p.m.
to be followed at vigil at St. Ann's Episcopal Church at 6 p.m.

Mothers Acting Up: The Transformative Power of Mother's Day.

Mothers Acting Up: The Transformative Power of Mother's Day.

Health Care for All Children.

A great many of us in this country have struggled to provide and keep healthcare for our families for various reasons. Sadly, we have not always been successful. It is a growing problem nationwide, and is especially so for our country's children.

The below is from the THCC (Tennessee Health Care Campaign), but the SCHIP reauthorization campaign is NATIONwide, so folks from all states are needed to raise their voices. SCHIP is State Children's Health Insurance Program.

It's easy to call and you don't have to sound like a policy wonk, just like a parent concerned for children. When you call, identify yourself, your city. If you don't know your representative, don't let that stop you. The operator will know where to direct your call by where you are calling from-- whoever you speak with will simply take a message and note your concern.

Children's Health Insurance - Calls are needed this week to Congress: Calls to ALL Senators and Representatives are needed now. Tell them we need at least $60 billion in new money for the SCHIP program for Reauthorization. Call Congress, toll-free 1-800-828-0498 What you should say? Congress must ensure that there are at least enough funds to cover the children who are eligible for SCHIP, but not yet enrolled. to do this, we will need at least $60 billion in new federal funds over the next 5 years. No child should lose coverage because there are not enough federal funds. The $60 billion includes funding to ensure that no one currently enrolled in the program will lose coverage because of a lack of federal funds. For more details, click here.

In Peace....

Arise!!

Marching to the tune of Mother Leadership in 2007, this Mothers Day-- May 13-- MAUs from coast to coast will be getting their parade on from New York City and the Bronx, to Austin, Nashville, Boulder and Carbondale, Alexandria, Vashon Island and the Twin Cities, too... More cake walks, teas, rallys and parades being added in cities and communities across the country weekly!!

Find a Mothers Day Parade near you, and / or watch the following, and get inspired to to host your very own! The MAUmas at the Mothership will be with you every step of the way and I stand ready to encourage, support, hand hold where necessary and celebrate YOUR community's victory in taking great strides in this magnificent revolution in the names of all our children:

Sign On.

In coordination with the national “Occupation Project,” the Peaceable Assembly of Tennessee seeks to persuade our representatives to vote AGAINST any escalations in Iraq, supplemental appropriations for the Iraq War, or military attacks on Iran. We also seek to persuade them to sponsor or support legislation to instruct the President to begin to withdraw all U.S. military forces from Iraq, to be completed within 12 months. In short, we’re asking for:


No more escalation in Iraq
Support our troops by bringing them all home alive and healthy
End the war NOW
Prohibit a military attack on Iran


Why We Call Our Congress to Action:


Because we believe this war should never have been started. There were no WMD’s. There were no links to Al-Qaeda. There was no attack on the U.S.

Because more than 3,100 U.S. soldiers and 600,000 Iraqis have been killed

Because there are now 2 million Iraqi refugees and 50,000 more leave Iraq each month

Because at least $367 billion has been spent and Iraqi and U.S. citizens are in more danger than before it started

Because we know there is no end in sight except more loss of human life and financial resources unless our Congress takes up its constitutional power to end this travesty!

Sign on here.

Health Coverage for Children: a priority NOW.