where are your children?

Our friend dropped over last night with her young son. he went up stairs to go to the bathroom and came back wondering where we kept our children.

We informed him that we did not have any but we are working on it and he said we really should get some children.

oh, if only he knew...

in the meantime, i have had a killer week planning and executing a teach-in/rally for other women's children who were killed by the abusive prison system here in MI (a young man with bi-polar disorder died two years ago in a prison here n MI after being strapped down to a cement slab in a segregation cell for four days in extreme heat. and other people have also died or suffered tremendous hardship in segregation cells here in MI's prisons. this young man's mother wanted to hold up tim's memory on the 2 year anniversary of his death, so we held a rally at the capitol.) this rally ended up going well, but working with loved ones of people in prison leaves my heart all exposed and dented and ultimately it makes me really think about the unique trials and tribulations that families face when mental illness, "crime", violence, and/or poverty enter the spheres of people's realities.

and while i can do nothing to control my own or any other person's tomorrow, i do sometimes get into the domain of thinking long and hard about all of the fuckedupness of this world and, once again, venture down the path of why, why, why bring new life into this place. and i know i have ranted and raved about it here, but i know stories that you would tremble to hear about. i have heard directly from people about the torture they have experienced once in prison and i also know people who have done horrific things to people before going to prison. and the cycle of violence does not just touch my small corner of the world. some people's children are living through war everyday. imagine wondering every morning if you or your kid might get blown to bits or hit by a stray bullet today.

that i can in my own little privileged world even strive to create new life and have the calmness to reflect on if i should or not, is indicative of the disparities among all humans and it makes me not want to do anything but work to stop the madness.

so where are our children...all in all, my children are already with me. they are the people i work with everyday. they are my neighbors and my family (blood and created). they are the reason i work to try to make this world a better place...