A live and exciting dispatch straight from the MomsRising screening of “The MotherHood Manifesto” in Washington, DC!

Emily McKhann, my blog and business partner is on Capitol Hill in Washington DC at the MomsRising showing of The Motherhood Manifesto documentary hosted by Senators Clinton, Obama, Dodd and Kennedy. Right this minute Emily is sending me text messages to my cell phone from her Treo. I will enter them to the blog as they come in, so this is chronological order:

September 28, 6:15 pm:

In a packed conference room in the Dirkesen Senate Office Building, Joan Blades welcomed the senators and their staff by saying, “Ten days ago, the phenomenal team in Pennsylvania trying to get legislation passed there to protect mothers coined the term maternal profiling. Since that time the term has gone from no hits on Google to 19,000.”

To which Senator Ted Kennedy replied, “This is a defining issue in terms of our humanity.”

6:45 pm:

Senator Ted Kennedy told the group that his wife, who is a lawyer, found that, when mothers, who are lawyers left work to watch their kids’ soccer games, they were viewed as “not serious lawyers.” When fathers, who happen to be lawyers, went to soccer games, they were said to be “great dads.”

6:50 pm:

“This Capitol needs to start listening to families and mothers again,” Senator Clinton told the group.

6:57 pm:

Senator Dodd talked about our obligation to families, as well as his obligation to his young daughters. “We’ve watched the country move away from the sense that we’re a part of a larger community. We’ve lost our way because our national leadership has lost sight of helping this most basic institution – the American family. My girls are going to ask what we did on our watch. This is about patriotism – standing up for them. Family.

MomsRising, Joan and Kristin, have written a wonderful book, telling us how to do this. I want my daughters to say there was a crowd of people at the turn of the century who cared about this issue and changed things.”

7:07 pm:

Senator Obama told the crowd, “I was raised by a single mom. She died 10 years ago at the age of 53. Everything good about me I got from her. When I think about what she had to go through and the love she gave my sister and me while she was going to school and working. She juggled everything, everything, with good humor and grace. She defined what real heroism is.

So much of what I do is driven by wanting to give back to moms doing the same thing.

We have structured society so the burdens fall overwhelmingly on women. What is missing is a movement. That is why MomsRising is so important.”

Wow! Way to go Joan and Kristin! Sounds like an amazing event.

More soon!