Blog Post #3

When reading Writing and Motherhood by Susan Rubin Suleiman, I was particularly interested in this quote: "For me, poetry was where I lived as no one's mother, where I existed as myself." - Adrienne Rich

I found this important because often times after a woman has a child, when friends and family ask how she is, they usually want to hear about the baby, not the woman. More often than that, people forget about the woman altogether and only ever ask, "How's the baby?" There have been so many times I will be out in public with my older sister and even though her son is now 3 and a half years old, she will run into friends and the first thing out of their mouth is, "How's Carter?" For Adrienne Rich, she was "no one's mother" when she wrote poetry. She was able to just be herself. Having a sense of independence, especially after having children, is so important. A woman shouldn't have to compromise herself and become simply the caretaker of the new life she has created.


This is the latest episode of the popular television show, How I Met Your Mother. In this episode, Lily and Marshall attempt to choose a godparent for their baby, Marvin. Towards the end, their friends express being upset because they never get to see the couple anymore and Lily and Marshall tell them that Marvin is now their whole life. I couldn't find a link of just the scene I wanted, but if you click the link below and go 17 minutes into the video, watch from 17:13 to 18:10.
http://www.cbs.com/shows/how_i_met_your_mother/video/

I think this section of the episode really shows how much of a problem separating the woman from her duty as a mother still is today. In this case, Lily isn't torn between writing and being a mother, but instead is forced to choose between her friends and raising Marvin. In real life though, actress Alyson Hannigan received criticism from producers of How I Met Your Mother after giving birth to her first daughter and was forced to go to the gym until she had her "pre-baby" body back.