The Past is Your Mother in a Leopard Skin Jumpsuit
The past is leather shoes with golden buckles, one lost in a cotton field, the other.
The other?
Yes, the other–
muddied and hidden under a bed by my sister.
The past is my mother finding it, and not saying anything.
(I miss her silence, her leopard skin jumpsuit, her soft hands carrying Valentine’s cupcakes).
Here’s to all of the mothers separated from their children at the U.S. border and in refugee camps around the world.
Beautiful tribute. I look forward to seeing you in the (near?) future! Love and ecstacy!
The work of art I am recommending is Frida Kahlo’s Wounded Deer. The painting represents her emotional and physical pain at the time it was created. Much like how mothers go through tremendous pain from being separated from their children at the border. Frida Kahlo was an inspirational painter teaching us that art can be a window for emotion.
A favorite book of mine is “Z” a novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler. Although the novel is partially fiction, Zelda’s character is a perfect example of a stereo type women can sometimes be expected to have. Her spirit stood out and for that she is my hero.
A woman I consider to be my hero is my mother. My mother is an immigrant who took a risk in crossing the border while pregnant and with her eight year old daughter, me. She did this to claim a better life for her daughters and to escape the death threats from my own aunt. My mother has made it through life without the help of a man. She raised three kids all by herself. One of those kids already owns his own business, the other one gets straight A’s in middle school, and the middle child, me, has been going to college and trying her hardest to pay back everything our mom has done. My mom’s life was full of constant neglect from the day she was born but she never let that bring her down. For this my mom has been my hero. She is fearless, hardworking, understanding, and protective.
A woman I consider to be my hero is my mother. My mother is an immigrant who took a risk in crossing the border while pregnant and with her eight year old daughter. She did this to claim a better life for her daughters and to escape the death threats from her family. She is fearless, hardworking, understanding, and protective.
A day after the International Women’s Day, Mexican women went on a strike by ceasing all presence in communities to protest violence against women. This nationwide strike is in response to the brutal killings of girls and women that has persisted for decades. More importantly, against a system that does not penalize women’s attackers.
The book I am recommending is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. With the release of the newest adaptation, the story has been on my mind, and I would recommend it to anyone who has not yet read it themselves. Little Women is dear to my heart as it is a favorite book in several generations of my family.
The work of art that I recommend is from Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas painting. This painting represents Frida in the two versions of herself. Where she comes from, who she truly is and expresses her emotions through the colors and detail in each Frida.
A woman that continues to inspire me is my mother. With all she has been through in her existence pushes me to make her proud and make her feel like everything she sacrificed was not for nothing.
A woman I consider to be my hero is my mother. My mother is an immigrant who took a risk in crossing the border while pregnant and with her eight year old daughter. She did this to claim a better life for her daughters and to escape the death threats from her family. She is fearless, hardworking, understanding, and protective.
A work of art I would recommend is the film Lady Bird. It was both written and directed by Greta Gerwig, a filmmaker who has been receiving a lot of notice and praise as of late. The film is a coming of age story that gives women a voice that has been lacking in Hollywood for quite some time.
My mother is my definition of a hero. A woman who changed her body, hides her tiredness, and raised us strong. She is one of a kind for, I am an individual that is part of her own flesh. Her strong feet steps on any danger, her arms hugs us tightly through cloudy days and her heart beats of love.
My mother is my definition of a hero. A woman who changed her body, hides her tiredness, and raised us strong. She is one of a kind for, I am an individual that is part of her own flesh. Her strong feet steps on any danger, her arms hugs us tightly through cloudy days and her heart beats of love.
A woman I consider a hero is my Nina. All throughout my life she has been the biggest mother figure to me because mine wasn’t always there. She provided us (my brothers and I) not with our physical needs but more for just a pair of ears to listen to us when we feel like we had nobody.
– C. Parra
I am recommending the book “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston(who is one of my favorite authors).
My mother inspires me. She never stayed down for long no matter how many times she stumbled and showed me that there will always be a way.
A woman I would consider my hero would be my mother. My mother has done so much for me and my family. She is a hardworking person, and a caring one at that. She knows how to make me and the whole world smile, and not to many people can do that. My mom is my hero without a doubt.
A woman that inspires me is my mom who continually wakes up at ungodly hours of the night to go work all the way in marina and gets home to still do regular things with a smile on her face.
This poem makes me think of the images that come to mind of my mom, the strongest person I know, that define the past for me. I would say, the past is seeing my mom beam with pride in her 1994 red Nissan Sentra. It was the first new car she ever bought herself and she did it after divorcing my father while battling cancer and working two jobs to support my siblings and I. I’d also say my mom’s leopard print jumpsuit would be her Manager smock from the convenience store she worked at as that is what I say her leave in and return home in and often prepare dinner while still wearing it. Not all heroes wear capes, some wear smocks.
-A. Rodriguez
The biggest woman hero figure in my life would be my mother. From the age of six until I was about eleven years old, my mom was a single mom doing everything on her own. She would go into work at 4 am and be off when my brothers and I got out of school. She would sleep from 6 pm until she went into work the next morning. She did all of that for my brother and I and I can only hope to repay her one day.