13 April 2016

Fuck Tolerance


Tolerance.

I kind of hate the term 'Tolerance'. 

Tolerance has become the American phrase for basically not being a dick to people who are different than you. Practice Tolerance. 

What does that mean, really? You don't like that person, you're maybe disgusted by them, but it's civil to silently hate and only tell your true ugly inner feelings to your drinking buddies, close family.... fellow church members.

Tolerance in that sense is cheap and cowardly.

Tolerance in that sense is the bacteria that has settled in the already diseased organ of America and created a perfect breeding ground for the rampant growth of the plague that is Mr. Tells It Like It Is and his supporters. He spews the vileness they've been keeping bottled up in the misguided name of Tolerance.

Tolerance is like us walking toward each other on a sidewalk, and maybe you don't cross the street to avoid me, but you surely don't look me in the eye, nod, smile, or acknowledge my actual existence in any way. You give me a snarling once over, registering every stereotypical trait to shit on later when in the company of your peers.

If that's the best you have to offer, that's all the depth you can muster, fine. That is wading in the moral kiddie pool, but some folks are truly scared of the water.

Personally I'd rather people take that extra step towards Understanding. Learn more about that thing you hate, that thing you fear, and see how much of your hatred just comes from a lack of Understanding. At the very least you Learn about something, your grasp of humanity expands, your knowledge pool deepens, you grow.
And maybe you make that grand leap to Acceptance. I don't mean Permission, I need no ones Permission or Validation to be who I am. I mean Accepting that we may be different and those differences may make you uncomfortable, but that does not justify you treating me differently in any foul or nasty way, even behind my back. You are not allowed to inflict your discomfort on me and my life.

Acceptance means when we meet each other on the street you look me in the eye, free from animosity, and ask me a sincere question about that thing that's behind your hate. And you listen to the answer. Acceptance means I assume your questions come from a place of wanting to Learn and Understand, and I answer them to the best of my ability. Acceptance means we may not walk away as friends but we can be friendly, and we can spread our new knowledge to others to assist in their Understanding.

But, like I said, if Tolerance is all you got to offer then I'll take it. I guess. It'll probably keep us from fighting in the streets. 

Oh, wait... That's not working out so well these days, is it.

Fuck Tolerance. Let's be Human. Let's Learn Understanding in order to Practice Acceptance.


14 February 2016

Safe

When I was pregnant with Aman I had a dream that I was sitting on top of a high, green hill and somewhere nearby, surrounding me, there were three beings. These beings felt loving and strong and I knew they were there to keep me safe. There wasn't anything going on in the dream, just me sitting there in a blowing breeze, but it was vivid and I really loved the way it felt.
The next day I was telling Kendi about the dream and I said that to me it meant that the baby was going to be a boy (I wanted a boy but we didn't know the gender yet). I told him it felt like three protective spirits. He said, "But girls can be protectors too. You protect me." He was completely sincere, plus he wanted a girl.
Now I see that these three spirits around me do protect me and keep me safe but in a way I wasn't expecting. They protect me from myself. They protect me from my jagged edges. They give curves to my angles. They soften me in the places that had long hardened after a lifetime of self sufficiency and self destruction. They provide the gentle yin that balances my often harsh yang.
My men. My boys. My sweet, sensitive, protective, loving, caring, supportive spirits. I hope I've given you at least half as much as you've given me and that you'll allow me, everyday, to keep trying to give you more. I love and adore you.

01 October 2015

I Had An Abortion and it Wasn't Through Planned Parenthood

When I was 18 years old I got pregnant.

It was my last year of high school and I was madly in love. I'd been in love with this boy for 3 years and was fully intending to be with him forever, just like any 18 year old who's in love. And also like many 18 year olds in love, we were sexually active. Very. Extremely.

But I wasn't completely irresponsible. At the time there was a Planned Parenthood  in the mall near my house and I'd been going there since I was 15 for screenings, advice, and free condoms. I actually spent a lot of time in there just talking to the counselors about things I didn't feel comfortable talking to my mother about. All the women were supportive and helpful and they let me just walk in and talk to someone. I had even taken several of my friends there, other girls who were sexually active and wanted to be safe but we're scared to talk to their parents. Twice I was allowed to be in the room with my friends, holding their hand while they got their first ever gynecological exam. 

But I was still a teenager and somewhere along the line my boyfriend and I weren't as careful as we should've been (and yes we could've just abstained from having sex, but we didn't so I'm not going to engage in that debate) and in the last semester of my last year in high school I found out I was pregnant.

The very first place I went to was Planned Parenthood, because, like much of America, I thought PP was the place to go to easily get an abortion. I took a pregnancy test, we calculated how far along I was, then we talked. And talked. And talked. They told me every conceivable option available to me and how they could help me with each, including helping me talk to my parents. I left there with stacks of papers, ideas, and a possible plan.

I did not leave Planned Parenthood with the completely legal abortion I was determined to have.

I went home and started making phone calls. I DID NOT want to have a baby. Yes, I was terrified of telling my parents, but I also had plans for my life that did not involve a child just then. Later, yes. I was in love and truly wanted to have children with my boyfriend later, when we were married. Not then. Not as teenagers. So I made phone calls and got an approximate cost for an abortion. 

That's where things went wrong. I had some money but not enough, so I started asking around to borrow money, and pleading with anyone I asked to keep my secret. In such a scenario, it only takes asking one wrong person for things to get out of control. I asked the wrong person, who then told an even more wrong person, who took it upon themselves, for their own religious reasons (this person is pro-life), to tell my parents. 

It was ugly. I won't get into the domino effect of ugliness that ensued, but it was not a good time in an already volatile relationship with my parents. However then end result was they agreed that it was not the time for me to have a child and they took me to a hospital where I had an abortion. Coincidentally it was the same hospital I was born in.

Actually, that's not the end result. Later that fall I went off to college and I was forced to leave the boy I was in love with. But we remained friends and kept in contact over the years. I harbored intense guilt over the abortion for many years and felt like I'd disappointed him but eventually we did talk about it and he assured me he had no ill will towards me.

Our first son!
Baby boy #2!
Fast forward 15 years, many other relationships, thousands of miles of travel, countless emails and MySpace messages (yes, I said MySpace!) and he and I realized we're still in love and decide to reunite. High school sweethearts back together. Less than a year later we become parents to a beautiful baby boy who we adore. Seven years later (exactly 5 months ago, to be precise) we have our second beautiful son.

This is the family we were meant to be. Our lives would've been drastically different if we'd been teen parents. Both of us have learned independence and self-sufficiency. We've traveled the world. We've come to know ourselves and we can teach these things to our sons. Because of the lives we've lived we are conscious, peaceful parents who homeschool and are super protective of our kids. We are better people so we can be better parents, I don't think that would've been the case with our teenage selves. We would've managed, like the millions of other teenage parents, and we probably would've worked things out, but we made our choice and looking at my wonderful, happy family today I'm content with our choice.

And I continued to go to Planned Parenthood for my health care over those 15 years, I even went there to find out I was pregnant with my 7 year old. They remained my source for advice, support, and contraception. Which is why I denounce all the false statistics, misogyny, and rhetoric and I strongly Stand with Planned Parenthood.

19 July 2015

Rock on

He fell asleep gently rocking out in the sunshine with the breezy ceiling fan keeping him cool right beside my desk. 20...

Posted by Rashida Braxton Simmons on Sunday, July 19, 2015

01 July 2015

I Don't Have To Be A One Track Activist

I don't have to be a one-track activist. I actually feel compassion for all the disenfranchised and subjugated peoples...

Posted by Rashida Braxton Simmons on Wednesday, July 1, 2015

29 June 2015

Distractions

Distractions. Some of y'all keep talking about distractions. Right now I see a lot of people saying that talking about...

Posted by Rashida Braxton Simmons on Monday, June 29, 2015

Baby's First Selfie

Baby's first #selfie! #newbie #smiles #love

Posted by Rashida Braxton Simmons on Monday, June 29, 2015

07 May 2015

It's the little things

It's the little things. 󾬑󾬑#BirthofBabyBump #teenytinybaby #boppy #Boys #LOVEPS. Say hello to Aman Asad, our Peaceful Lion! #HeHasAName!!

Posted by Rashida Braxton Simmons on Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Clipping the World's Tiniest Fingernails

Today I also add to my résumé the ability to clip the world's tiniest fingernails without waking the baby or nicking a fingertip! #superpowers #motherhood #BirthofBabyBump

Posted by Rashida Braxton Simmons on Thursday, May 7, 2015

03 May 2015

WHEW!! So, yea, we had another baby!

WHEW!! So, yea, we had another baby!! I'm doing good and baby boy is doing great! We're still in the hospital but...

Posted by Rashida Braxton Simmons on Saturday, May 2, 2015

02 May 2015

Introducing Sir Fuss A Lot

Introducing Sir Fuss A Lot!! LOL! We're still working on the name. He's the cutest, fussiest little thing in town, and looks just like our big boy did at birth. I'm totally in love! 󾬏#birthofBabyBump #thenewbie

Posted by Rashida Braxton Simmons on Saturday, May 2, 2015

04 April 2015

Nighttime Shenanigans

3am, #BabyBump decides to go belly clubbin' and starts the nightly dance.

4am, Mar​ has to go to work, he comes to kiss me goodbye, opens the bedroom door, and accidentally blasts me with the hallway light dead in the eye.

5am, the kiddo has a nightmare and comes and climbs in bed with me, toting his bear, his water cup, and his phone with his Winnie the Pooh audiobook playing, wide awake, and compelled to relay every detail of said nightmare.

7:34am, four minutes after the 'do not disturb' on my phone turns off, I get a text.

8:30am, the kiddo wakes up and, as if he never fell asleep at all, immediately resumes his animated discussion about last night's dream.

I am SO ready for life with a newborn. Good morning, y'all.

29 January 2015

I Had To Say It

26 January 2015

Why We Homeschool

We are a homeschooling family. Our son will be 7 years old in April and, aside from a few months at the beginning of kindergarten, he's been homeschooled exclusively so far. It was a decision that my husband and I made very naturally and oddly enough, the decision to put him in kindergarten was the hard one. But we're often asked why, why have we chosen to homeschool and what's more, when do we plan to stop and put him in 'real school'. This can be an aggravating question, but it's an understandable one, most people in this country are still learning about the concept of homeschooling, outside of a religious necessity. So, why do we homeschool?

Well, when I got pregnant with our son I was already working from home, writing articles and essays for various websites and maintaining their social media presence. This made the initial decision to stay home with him not really a decision at all, just a progression of what I was already doing. However, in the months following the birth, I experienced several months of post partum depression that made my writing work almost impossible to keep up with, so I quit my writing jobs. One day I pulled myself together just enough to reach out to some very good friends who had also just had a baby. Actually, we had gone through our pregnancies together, even seeing the same midwives, and their baby was born two days before ours in the same hospital. They own a business and were looking for childcare, so I stepped in, having not only done childcare for years before, but it gave me an income and a way to stay home with my baby. This is how it started.

Playtime with friends.
Since I was then working from home again, there was no reason to put our son in daycare. I began 'teaching' him and without really realizing I was teaching him, to me and my husband, we were just making sure he had the resources to learn. The 'play area' where the kids spent most of their time was completely child-friendly and ready to explore, with lots of books, learning toys, and learning videos that they had open access to. I read to the kids all the time, labeled things around the house, and we even got an iPad and began learning about all the apps available to early learners. Initially we didn't do this with homeschooling in mind, just feeding the kids' brains the way we thought we should.

We realized very early that our boy was thoroughly fascinated with the alphabet! He still is! He loved songs, books, toys, videos, ANYTHING dealing with the alphabet, so we fed that love. By age 2 he was trying to write the letters but getting very frustrated that he couldn't do it yet so we got him a Leapfrog Scribble and Write toy and that did the trick for him.

Leapfrog Scribble and Write Tablet

One day, when he was 2 1/2, he brought me a piece of paper with the most delighted look on his face, he had written his name all by himself! I cried! He was so proud of himself!

At this time we still didn't consider what we were doing to be 'homeschooling'. When people asked what daycare program he was in we said we keep him home and that he wasn't ready for preschool yet, even though it looked like it. We often have to explain that he is younger than he looks or acts. This leads me into another pertinent aspect of our lives.

Mommy's Helper Contoured Cushie Step Up
Our son is big for his age. Very big for his age, in fact, and he has been since he was about 1. By the age of 2 he was as tall as the average 4 year old. It presented us with a unique set of challenges than and has his whole life. For example, we (wrongfully) began to potty train him way before he was ready because he had outgrown diapers and training pants are good for 'accidents' but not as a substitute for diapers. But he was already too big for the training potty we got him so it was terribly uncomfortable for him. We eventually got him a folding potty that he could use independently which helped, but emotionally he still wasn't quite ready.

I was so confused and frustrated for months, trying to stretch size 6 diapers to fit on our big boy while forcing potty training. We were saved by Pampers introducing a size 7 diaper! That bought us a good 6 months and time for him to potty train naturally at his own pace.

Now, at age 6, he's typically mistaken for a 9 or 10 year old. Believe it or not, this is a big reason why we homeschool, but I'll elaborate further in a bit.


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22 January 2015

Healing Can Come from Releasing

Over the past few days I've been having conversations with folks about healing or releasing abusive relationships. There have been some extremely difficult conversations especially with people who have decided that certain relationships, no matter the guilt or assumed obligations that come with that relationship, need to be accepted as they are and then released.

In light of that, I decided to revisit some unpleasant conversations I had with someone whom I consider emotionally abusive to me. I can do this because the relationship eventually became so abusive and precarious that I began recording conversations with them. I honestly wanted to be able to do just this, listen to these conversations at a later date, when I was distanced from the relationship and felt no further obligation. I was told so many times that I was overreacting, or being too emotional, or just that I was wrong.
Emotional Abuse - by marcgosselin - image found on DeviantArt
Even over a recording, even with time and distance between us, even knowing that I am under no obligation to ever see this person again, I felt the same anger, and shame, and hurt, and betrayal, and punishment that I felt in the moment. I felt nauseous and my heart started racing (which consequently sent my BabyBump into a tizzy!) and I could barely make it through one recording. It was horrible. I picked this recording in particular because there were others with me when it was recorded and since then one of those people has completely watered down the conversation in their mind. When we discussed it, I was told it wasn't that bad and they didn't remember harsh words being exchanged. They were so very wrong. I was called names, my family was insulted, it was wretched.

In the end, the lesson for me is to trust my heart, my gut, my instincts. No one but me knows how a person makes me feel and no one but me has to cope with those feelings, so no one but me can decide if that relationship is worth mending or releasing. I'm secure in my decision to release that relationship and I accept that. I feel that releasing this relationship is the only way to heal this relationship and heal myself at the same time. I can't force others to accept it or even understand it, and that's okay as well, because no one else has to live my life but me.

09 January 2015

Life on a Budget

07 January 2015

Acrostic Poems and Opera Houses

06 January 2015

Headed in the Right Direction

31 December 2014

I Woke Up Like This

27 December 2014

My Soundtrack - The Music of Me



These are some of my favorite songs, some of the songs that define me, delight me, and bring me home. This is the music that feeds my soul and keeps me whole. There's so much more so check back frequently, I'll keep adding and sharing! Enjoy!