I've never met Joy Rose, founder and director of the brand-new Museum of Motherhood in New York City, but I know I love her. And I know you will love her too after reading this candid interview with her. She's heart-based, funny, and intelligent all rolled into one. She's a divorced mom of four children who gave birth to each of her children with a midwife at a birth center in New York City.
BOLD is honored that she has gone out of her way to allow us to perform BIRTH at the MOM Museum on their inaugural weekend - appropriately Labor Day in the United States. Can you believe there is now a museum of motherhood? How cool is that?
Read on to hear Joy's thoughts on the museum, motherhood, and birthing babies.
BOLD is so excited about hosting our 5th anniversary performance and webcast of BIRTH at the MOM Museum. Can you tell me more about MOM's mission?
Our mission is to put Motherhood on the map! Museum Of Motherhood serves as a valuable resource for everyone including those who wish to honor mother-work and those who wish to study the cultural family, from lay-people, to school children to serious scholars. As an organization devoted to educating the world about the contributions of mothers both historically and in contemporary culture, we intend to fill a longstanding void by focusing on the many roles of mothers throughout history with our physical and virtual library, exhibit facility, traveling productions, and resource center. We honor the many unsung heroes as well as the famous and great and share the remarkable stories of how birthers and caregivers cope, inspire and prevail. There are all types of mothers here: stepmothers, adoptive mothers, activist mothers, mother artists, single mothers, divorced mothers and mothers who successfully navigated married life. The Museum of Motherhood is the house that is home to all their stories, and we are the first and only facility of its kind.
What inspired you to start the museum?
This legacy project is really the project of a lifetime. From the early days of the 70's and Dr. Phyllis Chesler's, 'Women and Madness' to a motherhood trip that lead me to create Mom Rock, and the first Mom Rock band, 'Housewives On Prozac' in 1997. That music was was born out of the recognition that not only did mothers have something to say, but the creative voices of mothers weren't being heard. A life-threatening bout with LUPUS ten days after my fourth and last child was born, set my course on a path that brought me full circle to my empowered womanhood. I recognized how quickly I'd become entrenched in a retro image of what motherhood, marriage and family-life was. If that kind of amnesia could happen to me, then I knew it could happen to others. It was happening to others. It's still happening to others. Thirty years after the women's-lib movement, we were still falling in love, popping out babies and running in the kitchen to strap on an apron and forget who we were. With very smart people as my allies through the years, we have honed and clarified a mission to study birthers and caregivers, so that we might learn something, and move forward with more deeply examined lives, and make informed choices, based on a vast collective of knowledge, that has been collected and articulated to the general public.
Can you tell us about some of the great exhibits people will see at the museum?
Our first exhibit is 'Mother The Job', by San Francisco artist Alexia Nye Jackson. It examines mother-work in the context of unpaid labor through a multi media art exhibit and speaks to the differences between human capital and economic capital. We will also have local Mother Art, a theatrical stage, a program room and a HER-storical surprise! In addition, children will be able to rent out a newborn baby (doll), and try on maternity bellies that simulate pregnancy. Families are invited to come and 'hang out', borrow books from our library (all of them written by mothers, or on the subject of birth and caregiving), and generally use the space and its ongoing workshops, performances and programming for education, community and well-being.
I've always loved how you so easily see childbirth as a motherhood issue. It seems like a no-brainer to me, but ironically it's not mentioned alot in motherhood literature. Can you say more about this?
Statistics and medical studies now support the view that what happens in utero and during the birth affect the children and mothers alike - not to mention the early days of a newborn's life. Having an elevated consciousness about birth practices and the interactions and intentions surrounding our child's 'introduction' to life, have repercussions that have long lasting effects. This is in no way 'Mother Guilt' but a cry to awaken to our goddess-nature and claim the inherent power in birthing and motherhood that has been diminished in patriarchal society.
I know you have kids. Can you tell me about your "babies" and birthing them?
Ha, ha... I have squatted in the dimly lit hallways of city hospitals to birth a future generation. They are: Brody (age 22), Blaze (age 20), Ali (age 18) and Zena (age 17). Three beautiful boys and a daughter -flower. I gave birth to each of the children, Bradley method, with midwife Maureen Rayson at one of the cutting edge birthing rooms at St. Vincent hospital a million years ago. The 'Birth Of Brody' was videotaped for teaching Bradley around NYC - and I'm told there were multiple boot-leg copies in circulation since people would recognize us in the playground! All the births were without the use of any drugs whatsoever. I didn't know it at the time, but LUPUS was already blossoming in my body during the last pregnancy. Zena is a miracle. Birthing 'naturally' was one of the most amazing journeys I've ever taken. Each birth was completely different. Completely incredible. I was scared, but I had a birth plan each time and everyone around me was instructed NOT to give me any drugs, even if I changed my mind during labor. I didn't. Each baby was born with a personality the moment they came out and I loved nursing and being a natural woman with a beautiful family. So blessed. I organized 'Prepared Parenting' classes at Maureen's space in NYC post-babies in the early 1990's.
Is there anything else you'd like BOLD supporters to know about MOM?
Yes! MOM was born of a dream to leave the world a little better than I found it. I'd like to encourage each and every mother to remember the importance of her work, not only raising good citizens, but to include spiritual kindness and self-care in her work. The only way to do that is to remember your personal value, worth and passion. The passion that brought your baby into the world - however it got here. Babies are a stage in a persons life. Literally a stage. From this stage, the most creative work on the planet takes place. Since we live in a capitalistic economy - one that values the work of migrant workers and fast food workers, more than it does the work of birthers and caregivers we must find other ways to empower ourselves. Once the truly hard work of labor is over, the marathon begins. Both jobs; the job of the birther, and the job of the caregiver are important. They are different and this confusing and ever-evolving society, we need to find ways to understand and honor both. But, since the days of Socrates (1), our mostly male dominated, patriarchal society, has put women into the 'housewife' role, especially after she is coupled with children. These roles are changing, but the economics and social systems are not. Domestic violence continues to propogate and has statistically higher rates committed on pregnant women. Women are still an economic underclass, with women facing the largest percentage of American's struggling. Motherhood is still the least understood and least studied occupation in our schools, universities and social/cultural structures. Why are we still taking motherhood for granted? I am a divorced mother of four children, with a LUPUS diagnosis and a kidney transplant, who's gift of carrying four fine citizens, resulted in the permanent physical damage I live with today. Unlike a war veteran, or a corporate executive who's given 20 responsible years of service, I am on my own, except for the circle of sisterhood I have spent my adult life creating. I stand by that, and I stand by the intention that no other woman will grow up uninformed, undereducated or unprepared for this most important role of creating the next generation of human beings.
To read more about Joy and the Museum of Motherhood check out a recent piece in Working Mother. To buy tickets or register for BOLD's 5th anniversary performance and webcast of BIRTH go to www.GetBOLDaboutBirth.com.
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