For many families across the United States, November is a time to reflect and show gratitude for all that we have. Thanksgiving is an annual celebration marked by family reunions, turkey dinners and football.

However, for many Native Americans, whose ancestors lived in the United States long before European settlers, the holiday -- especially in its commercialized form -- can be a painful reminder of how their history has been trivialized, revised...or simply ignored. Yet, despite numerous economic and social challenges facing the community, the resilience of Native American people endures. In this spirit, we would like to invite you to submit a blog post to our blog carnival, "Raising the Voices of Native American Families." The deadline for this blog post is Thursday, November 21st, 2013 and the blog carnival will be published on Monday, November 25th.

MomsRising invites you to write about your experiences as a Native American and what this means for your family, your community and the country by sharing stories and opinions from the personal to the political. We ask that the blog posts focus on a Native lens as it relates to family economic security, your personal story and/or current events. Blog posts can be just a few paragraphs or much longer, but we recommend your post be about 500 - 800 words. Please feel free to submit content that's previously been published, too, although we would appreciate a line or two on why it is a good fit for this blog carnival.

MomsRising will promote your blog post, as part of the blog carnival, widely via Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. A blog carnival is an online action that aims to utilize the growing power of our combined reach on social media (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and more) to jumpstart --and jump into!-- a national conversation. This blog carnival on Native American moms and families will have blog posts ranging from the personal to the political. MomsRising will collect and publish the individual blog posts and then we'll put the links to these posts together in one overarching post that will serve to host and introduce the blog carnival. In addition, we'll amplify the blog carnival post on our Facebook Page, on Pinterest and with tweets from the MomsRising Twitter account @MomsRising using relevant hashtags.

Examples of MomsRising's previous blog carnivals include the following:

Strengthening Our Culture, Communities and Economy with the Contributions of Immigrant Women: A MomsRising.org Blog Carnival on Women and Immigration Reform

http://www.momsrising.org/blog/strengthening-our-culture-communities-and-economy-with-the-contributions-of-immigrant-women-a-blog-carnival-on-women-and-immigration-reform/

Making the School Day Healthier: A MomsRising.org Blog Carnival!

http://www.momsrising.org/blog/making-the-school-day-healthier-a-momsrising-blog-carnival/

The Affordable Care Act and Latino Families -- MomsRising.org / MamásConPoder Blog Carnival!

http://www.momsrising.org/blog/the-affordable-care-act-and-latino-families-a-momsrising-blog-carnival/

We estimate that our blog and social media reach extends to over 3.5 million readers. Below this email, you'll find more information on blog carnivals and how you can participate. However, even if you can't participate at this time, please forward this email to friends you think might be interested.

Please let me know if you can join us and you can email me at connie@momsrising.org with any questions or concerns. We’d be honored to have your voice as part of this celebration during November as National Native American Heritage Month. And definitely feel free to share this invitation with others far and wide!