I will not raise my children to kill another mother's child

I am just a mama who supported Codepink's Radical Act of Knitting by sending in hand knitted pink and green squares for the giant Whitehouse Cozy with the message, "I will not raise my children to kill another mother's child." It was an exhilarating experience to do the knitting in public in my community. Great teachable moments.

Today, I had Mother's Day Surprise. Myleftwing.com named me their Mother of the Year. They reprinted a piece on me titled, "The Coffeehouse Pediatrician" written by Hurricanedean and published in Broowaha an online citizen's newspaper, http://myleftwing.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=24859. In February, Rose-Anne Clermont wrote a piece about me called, "Living One Day at a time in Economic Crisis, the new face of the middle class" http://thewip.net/contributors/2009/02/living_one_day_at_a_time_in_th.html#more.

I know that my struggles are no different than countless other mothers globally who are single parents. I have the great fortune to have been well educated, formally and in community organizing. I hope I can continue to advocate for those who don't have a voice. My goal is to empower others to become Amazon Advocates for themselves, their families and their communities. Looking to continue to support, mentor and nurture.

A special shout out to my mother, Dr Norma Miller Poinsett who celebrated her 60th year anniversary of graduating from Tougaloo College. Her sisters celebrated with her: Merdis Henderson (60), Willette Lynn (57th) and Charetha Powell (50th). My cousin Lenice Lynn DDM, PhD is also a Tougaloo Alumnae who was present. Without the foresight of my WWII veteran uncles who persuaded my maternal grandfather, Chalmas Miller, to move his 11 children to the campus of Southern Christian Institute (a private high school for blacks in Mississippi that at the time had no public high school for blacks), this legacy would have never happen. I have many more relatives who attended Tougaloo and other colleges as well as many who never went beyond high school. All showed me by example the value of doing one's best, standing one's ground and fighting for what is right.

Doing for other's is just "rent" one pays for being on earth.

Onward,

Pierrette Mimi Poinsett aka the Snapdiva

It's been a long, long, time...

Back staying in my own lane doing my personal blog. I have been distracted for several months blogging on a private on line physician community called Sermo. Sermo has about 30,000 MD's and DO's posting on just about everything from clinical cases, the future of medicine, politics even a few jokes. It has been helpful to me to stay current in medicine and break some of the isolation I feel practicing medicine only part time.

I continue to be called to my personal muses, the yayayarndiva and snapdiva. Ms Yaya is convinced that my life must be centered on yarn, knitting, crocheting. Balls of yarn appear from virtually nowhere, calling me with their seductive fibers. I had to do a major stash reduction to find some quick cash, but I see my stash returning. I have discovered yarn in resale shops and second hand shops. All sorts of gems that other yarndivas have given away. A few dear friends also gifting me with yarn. So now I a wonderful stash to make creative scarves, felted purses, baby hats and my new passion sachets. Just in time for the end of the year holiday season...

Ms Snap, now she is another story. Girlfriend wakes me up in the middle of the night. She is not speaking to me in dulcet tones. Rather the screech of WRITE, RIGHT now. I've have been ignoring her until lately. The anxiety, headaches and tummy pain have returned as a result. So I am back to giving in. Opening my laptop and pulling out my notebooks. I have found a Peet's Coffee nearby where I can write in relative peace. So I have been able to complete several lectures for my pediatric teaching. A chapter for a science fiction story came out of a stream of consciousness. I am in a Women's Buddhist monthly study group called Sophia. Now some of my writing is inspired from a commentary on the Lotus Sutra, "The Wisdom fo the Lotus Sutra, A discussion, Volume 1 by Daisaku Ikeda, Katsui Saito, Takanori Endo and Haruo Suda. This has stimulated a an endeavor to study Burton Watson's translation of the Lotus Sutra.

All timely stuff. I am due February 1st to give a grand rounds talk on Buddhism and Medicine at the residency program where I teach. However my memoir cookbook continues to percolate more in my brain than on paper. My "bibliotherapist", Art, a used bookstore manager, continues to cajole me to at least write for a half an hour every couple of days. The last several weeks have been crazy with work and my son's activities. The universe has created an out for me-- very little work in December.

So now I have no excuses but procrastination.

Time to boogie,

Dr. Mimi