What an uplifting story and thanks for posting it! I too had a strained relationship with my mother during my "experimental phase" and I shudder to think how much I made her suffer, especially considering I have a daughter who will soon be entering her "experimental phase" YIKES!! My mom and I are very close now. I thank God everyday that I have her as my touchstone. -Gloria

You will find a great article in the NYTimes today. Mommy Is Truly Dearest was such a joy to read after all of the Mommy War tripe we find in the media.

There is apparently a trend for daughters to stay more involved with their mothers, later into life. This is somewhat attributed to the current technologies that allow us to stay in closer, faster touch, as well as the smaller family sizes of our generation.

When I was growing up, my mother taught us the proper words for everything from the beginning. We did not "pee-pee," we urinated. We had a "BM." We knew the clinical names for vagina and penis and we were given clear and honest answers to any question we ever asked.

So when I saw this article today in the NYTimes, I had to shake my head very much like my father does when he finds something completely ridiculous.

Apparently there are some librarians with their undies in a wad about the use of the word "scrotum" in a children's book called "The Higher Power of Lucky," by Susan Patron.

Some of you may know from my older diaries and comments that I have been cleaning houses for the last few years. Four years this month, to be exact. Independent contractor, so no benefits.

Well, I finally got a job! Yippeeeeee!

What is so exciting is how it happened, and that it is not just any old job...

*this is a rant i posted at my blog moments ago. i thought i would post it here as well*

lately i have been hearing far too many stories from family members about utter nonsense happening at hospitals when they are having their babies.

mind you, i did have a homebirth, but i am not anti-hospital. i just know how very well-informed, and well-prepared, you have to be to have a hospital birth and not get pushed around.

Some of you expressed some interest in my deejaying so I thought I would post the info about my weekly show here, in case you feel like checking it out.

Info below the fold. If you have any problems logging in, please contact me via AIM - I am 'mayarishi' on there.

I have been somewhat MIA here recently, only able to sneak comments in every once in a while, and only on things I can immediately answer.

I have been super busy, working on creative projects. I did not realize how down I had been about my music and my dreams of that in the past six months or so. but now that I am on the other side of that, I am so thankful for having gone through that ebb.

In the last month I have completed two of three projects that I set for myself.

After a week of posting replies, I am here now to let you all know a little about me.

I am Lorin, thirty-two and living in Memphis, TN. I have a son, Jah Isaac, who will be three on Saturday. I have been liberal all of my life, much to the dismay of my father, who despite his youthful listening to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, is now quite conservative. I would say my open-mindedness is most likely the result of a wonderful, eccentric, and open-hearted mother, who taught me to think for myself.