blog #1 Thougts on Motherhood

When I think of women writers many words come into my head such as: survival, strength, inspirational, loud, brave, underrepresented, storytellers, warriors, diva(yes i said it), healer, gatekeeper, secrets...the list goes on and on. All of the readings we have done thus far have made me contemplate one word I do not always think of when I imagine women writers, and that is "motherhood". I have thought back to my own mother and her decision to keep me amidst the many people in our family advising her on how hard it would be to have a black baby in Wisconsin. My grandmother even went so far as to offer to pretend that she had adopted me, to hide the fact that my 16 year old mother had ever been pregnant by a black man. Many of the authors we have read about this week and in previous weeks, such as Judith Ortiz Cofer, have made me contemplate this aspect of motherhood. Judith grew up in different worlds and struggled for her identity, and her mother worked hard to give her one side of that identity. How will I teach my children? What aspects of my culture will I take the time to enact for them or incorporate in their everyday lives?