Swoonage

You know it’s a good summer when you can find things to swoon over.

BFF’s baby. Major swoonage.

For instance…we’re headed on a bit of a vacation for a week, and I’m already swooning. Sand, surf, and even sharks. I can’t wait. I feel a pull to the ocean, and can’t imagine not living within driving distance to it. The kiddo feels the same, and we’re both itching to spend the majority of every day at the beach, allowing the tide to pull us in. It will be some much needed family time before someone starts Kindergarten at the end of the month. Not sure I’m swooning over that bit…just yet.

My boys during last year’s jaunt to the beach

While I’ll be away, the blog will remain pretty quiet (not that the summer hasn’t brought a slowness of sorts. I know. It happens. But really…summer). However, I won’t leave you empty handed.

Point of swoonage #2: I have such amazing, smart, articulate, wonderful friends, and they produce incredible, swoon-worthy stuff. Seriously. So, in my absence I beseech you to check out what these radtastic folks are up to:

– My friend Andie from blue milk has a guest series going on over at Feministe. Her intro post didn’t pull any punches, as she described how she’s “not another mummy blogger.”

I don’t want to over-complicate what is supposed to just be an introductory post here, but it says something about living in a patriarchy that we would have women specialise in a very demanding area of work that is both vitally important to us and utterly worthless in terms of monetary compensation, doesn’t it?

Andie followed it up with a post on “extreme breastfeeding” – so much of it resonated with me, and I think many of us can connect with it, whether we nursed for 3 years, 3 days, or not at all. I can only imagine the goodness that will continue to stem from her guest stint there, and encourage you all to check it out.

– Speaking of guest series, my pal Spectra has one going on over at Bitch Media. Love and Afrofeminism explores love and relationship through an afrofeminist lens. Spectra has both a unique and engaging writing style and it’s easy to slip into her words as she tackles gender roles, dancing, self-care and more.

– There never seems to be a lack of discussion when it comes to figuring out why we’re not hearing from more/diverse feminists outside the “typical” metro hubs mostly located on the coasts of the U.S. Flyover Feminism seeks to rectify that by creating a platform for feminists from all over to share their stories, their actions, and most importantly their own words. They’re currently looking for both editors and contributors , so please check them out!

– The Olympics are over and lots was written about the games, but if you haven’t yet checked out T.F. Charlton’s piece at Ebony, looking at the what the real problem is concerning the ‘controversy’ surrounding Gabby Douglas’ hair, go do so – now!

Also, there’s some swooning going on about the Our Reality project campaign that will be launching any day now. Feel free to follow us on Twitter for more info, and you know I’ll be all about promoting it once I’m back (and heck, from my phone while my toes dig into the sand!). I’m super excited about finally launching the campaign and getting one step closer to creating a platform that allows teen parents to share their own stories in their own words – free of the stigmatization and sensationalizing that accompanies some more mainstream, heavily edited, “reality” shows. Carrie and I both hope you join us as we try to make Our Reality an actual reality!

I’ll be back soon – sun-kissed and sea-blissed – with more posts, TIWAFLL (sign up if you haven’t already!) and other fun things. Until then, check out those links and get your swoon on. Also, feel free to leave your own swoon-worthy posts/links below – whether it’s your own or somebody else’s – please share!