Dear Teen (Vogue)—
I am proud of you in the way I am proud of my own children. An unrelenting, visceral, fierce pride. You are leading the resistance and having a voice and point that is beyond that of your parents. But isn’t that always the hope? That our kids will grow beyond us? The only way progress can expand is for the next generation to see beyond our horizon.
Teen Vogue is killing it right now politically, with strong, smart and important content at a time where most of us in media are struggling with WHAT to say, Teen Vogue has come out swinging with WHY—and they are leaving us behind. The story when I first saw their power was “Donald Trump is Gaslighting America” by Lauren Duca— it was like many of my moments in parenting where my first, and undeniably dismissive, underestimated and shame-on-me response was “Where the heck did that come from? I didn’t know you could do that!” And again, just like in parenting, when I looked closer I saw it was in there all along, with more great, clear coverage coming fast. You are more than I could imagine.
At Mamalode our content is about parenthood. I firmly believe that how we as a collective society raise our children is the single most effective and important way to change the world, hopefully for good. How we nurture mothers, and their choices around timing, our values around maternity/paternity leave, how we invest in public education regardless of our individual participation in it, how we take care of the physical and emotional health, housing, planet and hope of children determines our future. This is not subjective. Sacrifices and struggles and striving are all rooted in the future that lives past our legacies.
That said, Teen Vogue, you are taking that role and defining your future and yourselves in a way we couldn’t. You are writing the truth, from the mouths of babes, from the smarts and unselfconsciousness that we can only strive for.
A world of “post truth” is bullshit. As a mother, the idea of my children growing up in a world that cannot see beyond it’s own ego, cannot agree and cannot admit right/wrong, well, that is terrifying. And unacceptable. But how to fight it? How to cut through the noise? You. You are the answer and the voice and the truth right now, and I couldn’t be more proud, inspired and humbled.
Cheering you on and following your lead. The future is YOU.
Love,
Mom
(aka Mamalode)
“It is imperative to remember, across identities and across the aisle, as a country and as individuals, we have nothing without the truth.”
— From “Donald Trump is Gaslighting America” article in Teen Vogue.
About the Author
