by Ms. V. (South Korea) | Jan 21, 2013 | Human Rights, Safety, South Korea, World Voice

Knotted Gun sculpture outside UN Headquarters in NYC.
Here, in South Korea, as in every other part of the world, there has been grief and shock over the shootings in Connecticut. The loss of so many young lives in such a vicious act of violence is incomprehensible across languages, religions, and cultures.
After tragedies like this one, which are all too commonplace in the US, people want as much information as possible about the shooter, their family, their upbringing. Any clue at all as to how this could have happened, even though we all know that no answer will ever satisfy us. There is nothing we could discover that would make this ok or comprehensible.
As people across the world ask why – why on earth would someone do this? – in many places people are asking why this young man had access to weapons that could fire 6 bullets per second. (more…)
Ms. V returned from a 3-year stint in Seoul, South Korea and is now living in the US in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her partner, their two kids, three ferocious felines, and a dog named Avon Barksdale. She grew up all over the US, mostly along the east coast, but lived in New York City longer than anywhere else, so considers NYC “home.” Her love of travel has taken her all over the world and to all but four of the 50 states.
Ms. V is contemplative and sacred activist, exploring the intersection of yoga, new monasticism, feminism and social change. She is the co-director and co-founder of Samdhana-Karana Yoga: A Healing Arts Center, a non-profit yoga studio and the spiritual director for Hab Community. While not marveling at her beautiful children, she enjoys reading, cooking, and has dreams of one day sleeping again.
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by World Moms Blog | Apr 17, 2012 | Human Rights, Motherhood, World Motherhood, World Voice
Twelve and a half years ago, the love of my life and I promised to love and care for each other “until death do us part”. We had a lovely backyard ceremony with flowers and music. Our family and friends dressed up, brought gifts, and ate the delicious banquet of food and drinks we provided for them. It was fabulous! Sounds like a marriage ceremony, but here’s the catch…we were never legally married.
Why? We weren’t allowed to get married. It was and still is against the law where we live. You see, we are both women – female – xx chromosomes. That’s it. That’s the only reason we were denied this basic legal right.
In the United States of America, a legal marriage grants over 1,100 federal benefits and around 300 state benefits. So how has this made our lives different? What do we miss out on? What have we had to sacrifice?
In the beginning, we had to pay $300 to legally change our names. We then had to hire an attorney to create legal documents such as power of attorney and living wills in order to be able to make decisions for each other as much as legally possible.
Then we had children: boy/girl twins and then another boy. That was and still is the area that most concerns us about not having a legally recognized marriage. Our children are not legally both of ours! In the state we live in, we have no ability to grant each other legal custody of our biological children. (more…)
World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children.
World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.
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