Author Archives | Victoria Rodrigues
Victoria lives in Albuquerque and is the librarian for the Southwest Acupuncture College. She is a contributing author to the recently published, The Good Mother Myth: Redefining Motherhood to Fit Reality. She graduated from the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in English and holds a Master's degree in Library Science from Florida State University. In her spare time, she rides the TARDIS with Doctor Who.
The Myth of the Good Mother
Who is the good mother? From the earliest representations of women-- Paleolithic figurines with wildly inflated reproductive organs – through modern mothers Facebooking their cleanest, happiest family photos, she is a creation mixed with history, culture and pure imagination. The good mother has features we all recognize—her supernatural patience, unwavering attention and empathy, submission to the needs of others, and an expectation to have her own value measured heavily by the outcomes of her offspring.
The problem with the good mother is that she is a myth that many women rely heavily upon as the role model for their real, dirty, wonderful but emotionally turbulent motherhoods...
Continue reading...Disney’s Façade in Saving Mr. Banks
02. January 2014
Having grown up in Orlando, Florida, I had the sort of close relationship with Disney that allows the perfectly executed fantasy to be slowly chipped away. The Victorian houses on Main Street, USA, reveal themselves as empty, one-sided plaster. The waving characters of your childhood eventually become your fellow college students, sweating off last night’s binge drinking under a costume in Florida’s 100% humidity. The happy families are desperate, like ours, to make the Disney experience worth the savings and idealism spent on it...
Continue reading...World Breastfeeding Week and Support for All Mothers
31. July 2013
Fostering a breastfeeding culture through education and support.
Continue reading...Luminous Women of New Mexico History: Dolores “Lola” Chavez de Armijo
08. July 2013
The scant descriptions of Doña Dolores Elizabeth “Lola” Chávez de Armijo are so packed with action and activism that they read like a feminist poem cast on a landmark plaque. She was a leading librarian, gender discrimination nonsense-ender, anti-cronyism success story and, as if that wasn’t enough, she has a seven-part name flowing behind her like a cape...
Continue reading...Small-scale chicken-keeping in New Mexico
02. April 2013
I knew I wanted a coop and flock the very first time I read about Albuquerque’s zoning codes for poultry. For most of the city, this policy equates to “don’t have a rooster, thanks”— making residents of central New Mexico luckier than suburban dwellers in many an elsewhere, where residents battle city codes prohibiting even the smallest farm animals...
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07. March 2014
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