Pamela Robel Lewison

𝗜𝗡 𝗔 𝗦𝗘𝗔 𝗢𝗙 𝗢𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗜𝗦𝗘 — 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗛𝗜𝗧 𝗗𝗜𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗟𝗬 I'll be honest. The Oscars are not exactly must-see television for me anymore. But someone sent me this — and I watched it twice. Irish actress Jessie Buckley just won Best Actress. And instead of a political lecture, instead of a pin, instead of a land acknowledgment or a cause of the week — she talked about her husband. Her eight-month-old daughter dreaming of milk at home. Her Irish family whose flights were paid for by Ireland itself to be in that room. 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘥. 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝟤𝟢,𝟢𝟢𝟢 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶. The room probably didn't know what to do with that. Then she dedicated the award to motherhood itself — on Mother's Day in the UK — with words that belong on a wall somewhere: 𝘛𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘰𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗰𝗵. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘆. Hollywood spent years telling women that ambition means leaving behind the things Jessie Buckley just stood on the biggest stage in her industry and celebrated without apology. A husband she adores. A baby at home. A family flown in from Ireland. I don't know what film she won for. But I know I'll watch it now. Well done, Jessie. 𝗚𝗼 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗯𝗵 𝗺í𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝘁.