I can't remember where I heard this saying on Jewish immigrants but it seems to parallel the cycle Lincoln talks about in a beautiful way. It is: The first generation is the carpenters and the tailors so the second generation can be the doctors and the lawyers so the third generation become the artists and the musicians. Love it that the objective is to have the luxury of the arts and music as the height of civilized culture. True wealth is not measured by how much money one has, but by the wealth of the mind to pursue something larger than one's self. My dream is our country and countries around the world put a Well-Being Index as a more important measuring wealth than the GNP.
In May 1780, John Adams (who would become our 2nd POTUS) wrote, from Paris, France, a letter to his wife Abigail. In that letter, he stated: “I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Painting and Poetry Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.“
You can access the letter in its entirety here: Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, post 12 May 1780 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/
I thought I read somewhere that Abigail sent him several letters suggesting women might also be allowed to vote.
Times have changed more in the last 50 than in the previous 200. My own father did not "Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, Natural History, Naval Architecture, or Navigation" as suitable subjects of study for a woman.
You’re right! Abigail did write to John, on March 1, 1776, saying, in part, “I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”
John's reply was not so enlightened . . . He told her she was being saucy and that she should rest assured that he and his allies would never relinquish their "masculine institutions" in order to aid women. Abigail didn't talk to him for several months after that reply because she was so pissed off.
Thank you Rev. Judith - I have deeply concurred with the sentiment John Adams articulates in this quote from his letter:
"I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Painting and Poetry Mathematicks and Philosophy."
Political leadership is the human vocation of highest social consequence because it determines what values inhabit and are enacted by our institutions. In the industrial age consciousness of university trained and professionalized vocations we operate with a division of labor and specialization of skills orientation. The art and craft of the vocation of the political leader is the old one of being able to talk to everybody, find the alignments with situations of every person and help move the network of institutions of society to enact their next living cycles. The politician leader cannot operate with specialized craftsmen's consciousness of the professional of the industrial age or the age of University education.
John Adams' sentence is an acknowledgment of the fact that our political leaders are the keepers of the health and adaptability of our institutions which in turn make the rest of ongoing society possible.
This was the experience of both my Ashkenaz and Greek immigrant relations (grandparents emigrated on the Greek side, great-grandparents on the Ashkenazim side). But I want to add something else. In both the Jewish and the Greek--but especially the Greek side--the women were not given the advantages that the men had. My 1st-gen Greek-American father went to university before WW2 because his sisters were pulled out of school after the 8th grade in order to go to work to pay for the education of their brothers. My father was an enlightened man and hated this but had little control over what his father deemed "correct" (my Greek grandmother was illiterate because in that part of Greece in the first part of the 20th c. girls were not allowed to go to school). On the Jewish side, the women in the family were indulged and also received an education but it was to a significant degree one designed to end in marriage and housewifery. The fact that so many of my great-aunts had to work for a living and did so in low-paying retail work most of their lives was irrelevant: they were supposed to be ornamental, not independent, but they wound up being the latter through necessity when the Depression wiped out everything.
While one cannot take things out of the context of their time; the gender chasm has been around for a long time. This makes me realize that I personally did this all backwards. Professional musician first, then after marrying an engineer went into engineering and broke the glass ceiling becoming a senior executive/group engineering manager in a Fortune 100 technology corporation and now in semi-retirement have my own sole proprietor home design business in rural Texas. Women only went to college to get their MRS degree in the late sixties and could only become nurses or teachers! Women made $.59 to a man's $1.00 of earning when I started my corporate career although I received a man's wage as an engineer. And, now as a home designer I find being a woman who knows how to cook and sew an asset in the design process and I design accessible homes that promote the harmony of the family.
I invariably return to words spoken by the wonderful preacher and suffragette, Sojourner Truth, over a century ago:
"Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them."
I like the Suffragist song "She's Good Enough to be your Baby's Mother and She's Good Enough to Vote with You" Another Suffragist ad I enjoy is the reply to the objection to womens' suffrage: "Women are too pure for the Dirty Pool of Politics" -- answer: "If the Pool is Dirty it is time to clean it. Women have had Long Experience Cleaning up after Men."
If I had been a boy, I would have gone directly into engineering and probably minored in music like my dad. I was always meant to be an engineer. A photo of me at 5 years old all dressed up in my new Easter outfit ready to go to church shows tools in my belt. I definitely had an engineer's mind. In fact, for many years I thought of myself as having a man's mind trapped in a woman's body. Got over that...
Part of it was being at a highly ethical company where we lived the mottos of "Do the Right Thing" and "Value Differences" Large corporations can be highly ethical; it isn't the size of the corporation, it's the leadership that matters. We knew we were changing the world and we did. Together. I think part of breaking the glass ceiling is doing one's current job well, working well as part of a team and always being viewed as having even more potential. Then you must be prepared to seize the opportunities when they are presented to you.
Now That made me laugh! Also the LITTLE man in black.. Her words are far more than enlightening - and so was she. Imagine the abuse she took! And yet did not bow down to anyone, from everything I have ever read about her.
When I was first married our weekends were spent going to open houses of new construction. I laughed at where the built in cutting boards were placed because you knew whoever designed it hadn't cooked. Usually they were over the drawer holding utensils needed for cooking.
Good for you! You are a credit to professionals who design for a specific segment. I see the design “flaws” in my own kitchen, & humorously day to myself, “Had to be a man that designed this!” 😎
And then you reflect on the founding myth of the Christian religion in which Eve was a "sub-product" of Adam, made uniquely of "his" substance and fashioned to "accompany" him!
Were women taught to write at the time? Anyway even if one managed to slip through the patriarchal controls, they wouldn't have made it through the filter used to put together the collection of individual texts that we now refer to as the Bible. Anyway the catholic church has still not got beyond the "masculine" nature of God and of his representatives on earth. Oh Gaya! Wherfore art thou?
At Delphi if you get to the Temple of Diana before the crowds in the morning or last thing at night after the buses have departed you can still feel the strength of Pythia in the silence.
And in France, origin of "enlightenment" etc, they have closed bookshops during the lockdown as being "non-essential" to human life. Something globally wrong here!
In my very small NY city, there is an Inde bookstore which participates in a prison book project. Prisoners request, bookstore gets, customers donate and prisoners receive and read. Books are essential to human life! I’m shocked that a culture I admire would adopt that stance. ❤️🤍💙
We are too and the "utilitarian" view of our "sanitized" life will be punished by the people at the next elections...if the judges haven't removed them in the meantime and done away with the need ever to ask permission of the people.
What bookstore is this? If I lived closer I would donate books! Reminds me of a book I read about a volunteer program in a solitary confinement part of a prison called Shakespeare Saved My Life...
In Maine, during our spring lockdown, hardware stores and gun shops were determined to be essential businesses. Including hardware stores was a brilliant idea as I know of many many people who home projects done while they weren't able to work. The reason for the gun shops was less clear to me.....when you run out of projects, does buying a new gun immediately jump to mind?
I grew up in Maine, the most forested state, percentage wise, in the country. I can understand why they consider gun shops to be essential. However, I don't agree with them. I hope Maine hunters do understand that assault rifles are designed to blow humans away, not to hunt any animals you would want to kill for food. All Assault weapons should not be available to American citizens.
I agree - my ex husband & father-in-law were hunters - who would have such great stories when they came home - whether or not they were successful. Sitting in the woods - waiting. That stage of my life has been over for a long time - now have a "herd" of about 6 deer who travel back & forth thru the yard most days. In the wintertime, I feed birds & put corn out for the "four leggeds". A few years ago, I would look out the window & see several napping on; the lawn. Those deer are long gone - either hunters or cars.
Thanks, Mary Pat. As the Rebert DeNir character the film "The Deer Hunter" said "One shot." Near the end of the film when he is hunting, he sees a beautiful buck and intentionally misses it.
My husband is 77, born and raised in Idaho in a time when hunting was essential for survival. He has long said assault rifles should never have been sold to the average person. They should be military or police only.
Apparently many thought so in the period leading up to the election. and truly profited from it to increase the density of guns from coast to coast. The logic is clear for the Do-it-Yourself stuff. Hopefully that feeds the human spirit as much as it busies "idle hands" and absorbs fervent artisans in the absence of any new fodder for the mind. Not much of a threat there to the reigning elites! Entirely practical....not my cup of tea as my words probably clearly indicate.
Oh Yes Amazon is having a field day! All at the expense of the little bookstore, clothestore and other "non-essential" factors in human existence. Delivery systems are of course essential businesses!
I order my books online directly from a small bookstore in Cambridge, MA. Books are shipped through the USPS. I'm trying to give as much business as I can to local businesses even when I'm ordering online.
I would try but where am I likely to find English books..other than the latest paperback thriller here in France. Paris under normal circumstances has 2 generalist english book ...now closed like the rest. They are all trying to get around the lockdown by what is termed "click and collect" ! They manage to generate only 10% max of their normal revenues.
Since the lockdowns, I have been going out for groceries mostly (altho there is delivery for them I like to get specific products and don't have a smart fone).
However, I have been doing a lot more online purchases including from Amazon, which is quite efficient. I even had to return a product for the first time and discovered how convenient with taking a QR code to UPS with the product - a replacement is on the way.
I remember shopping with cash before the grocery stores had conveyors at the checkout, and rang up the total on a mechanical cash register. I have lived thru many improvements and consider this one just another point in mercantile evolution. In the late 1990s I was surprised by my first debit card from the bank and since then it has become indispensable.
In the 1980s & '90s I wrote a lot of letters to Editors of Newspapers (200 published in that 20 years) Now I only write opinions online. Things evolve, including the written word.
Accept that this particular evolution is rapidly accelerating the isolation of people and the lack of social interaction emphasizes the increasing "consumerist" definition of humanity.
There is amazing bookstore in Denver CO called The Tattered Cover bookstore. It has been around for ages. A renovated old movie theater. They will ship anything anywhere and have an unbelievable selection. Please consider looking into their website.
Amazon is so damn convenient. In addition to mail order products hard to find elsewhere, I’ve also come to love the portability of books on Kindle. It’s painfully ironic that this forum is big on illuminating the dangerous control of oligarchs. I support any and all alternatives! Amazon needs to become the corporate good citizen and ethical employer that Cathy Learoyd describes, but what forces to make that happen?
Your quote perfectly mirrors my immigrant family’s history from coal miners to lawyers to artists. As Thanksgiving approaches and we isolate, I am giving thanks to all those of us who agree with you and voted for facts and science, essential workers and average citizens, and a shot at saving the planet that supports our life. Nero fiddled. Trump golfed. What cost to the taxpayer: 1-2 golf trips with the secret service on average every week? Wonder what those dedicated men and women think of him? We’ll never know. Georgia on my mind. ❤️🤍💙
Mine went from farmers to teachers to private companies and non-elected public servants (state & federal government). I think we still have the work ethic that our forbearers brought to the table....when you merely inherit your wealth and standing (i.e., being born on 3rd base) this is characteristic missing.
I quoted you on Facebook, Cathy L. 😊 What HCR’s Letters enables us to do, I think, is knowledgeably enter into conversations where we can combine our own beliefs, hopes, and dreams for people and country with actual historical facts. Create space for others (who currently see things differently) to think about why I see things the way I do. Without insulting or accusing them of anything. Usually, they’ll recognize the overlaps between us. I can hardly wait to see how people react to this post as the day goes on, Cathy. Thank you.
I wanted to share a post from a friend who is a recount observer in Milwaukee.
I'm told the counting went much better today. We've won every challenge and made real progress. My favorite story of the day:
There are three chairs in front of each counting tables for we observers. The rule is one Biden and, one Trump observer. The third chair for a 3rd Party. Of course, the Trump people were occupying every empty chair despite the rule. The commission announced that they had to stop. So, in a planned response, several Trump observers left the room, tore off their Trump sticker and went back to take the "third" chairs and claimed they were now independent and NOT Trump observers.
When the commission got wind of that, they came around and, literally, removed every "third" chair from every table and stored them.
Thank you for sharing. I have posted this on my Facebook page (so many tRumpets out there though--they will twist it into something else). I keep keeping up the good fight though, as do so many on these posts. Everyone is truly an inspiration and energizer to me.
"We are faced with the odd prospect of a president fighting desperately to keep a job he evidently doesn’t want."
Did he ever want it? Didn't Trump run for the notariety; to gain a national platform where he could mouth-off, promote his brand? He never expected to get the job. While the good times, and Obama's economy, rolled, things were cool. He didn't have to do much, the money rolled in to Trump properties, and the presidential perks were nice. There were regular rallies where he could get a booster shot of adoration from his devoted mob. The Republican Party allowed and even encouraged his antics as they demolished federal regulations they didn't like and packed the federal court system with conservative judges. Then this damned Coronavirus thing came along and ruined everything.
My view is that it's not so much that Trump doesn't want to govern; he has no idea how to govern. He's run away from problems and adversity his whole life; never living up to his mistakes, and never learning from them. He's learned to create his own reality when tne actual one doesn't suit him. None of this is working for him now, and if he runs away, he runs into the arms of federal, state, and local prosecutors in New York.
His whole mis-begotten life is coming crashing down around Donald J. Trump.
Better to play golf. Maybe it will all just go away.
Fixer Michael Cohen is serving his jail term at home with ankle bracelet, and has turned against him. Fixer Steve Bannon is busy staving off jail for fraud. Fixer Rudy Guilani is out there testing if enough crazed yelling can bring down democracy. Donald has stiffed so many people, he can't even get a functional crooked lawyer to work for him any more.
The supreme fixer, or his prefered name of "dirty trickster," Roger Stone, is out of jail on a Trump pardon and busy fomenting chaos. This is the guy who created mayhem during Gore v. Bush in Florida for G.W. Bush by staging the infamous "Brooks Brothers Riots."
Trump is content to listen to the poison dispensed by Stephen Miller ... just as he was captivated by Bannon for a while. I am sure he enjoys watching the ravings of Rudy, too. It is an indictment of democracy that Trump was ever elected in the first place, but how do we remedy that without damaging the democratic process? That's a question for the next few generations. We had our shot and blew it.
My view is the same! He had NO idea how government is supposed to work & didnt know enough to put knowledgeable people in place to DO the work. He has no clue!
I know one person that didn't want him to be President because she didn't want to be First Lady. Melania cried when he got elected. I bet she is counting the days until she and Barron can leave the White House and never have to come back.
I saw that you book, “How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America,” made it to the New York Times list of 50 Notable works of nonfiction for 2020.
I just received my copy of "How the South..." from the library, and I'm about 2/3 through "To Make Men Free," a startlingly illuminating book that I'm thoroughly enjoying and will buy not one but probably at least two copies, one to give as a gift this season. Parts of the latter have hit me hard, like the section on what Andrew Johnson did after Lincoln's death. When I read that, my chest got heavy, I was so grief-stricken and angry at the waste after Lincoln's tremendous effort to bring the country back together. Now I'm reading about the origin of the National Review, a publication that a friend of mine cited as her current go-to (along with several other extremely right-wing authors). Now I understand why she's terrified of a Biden win--and why I'm horrified at her terror. My head is spinning. I'll never keep all the names and dates straight in these books, but I surely do get the whole picture. Thank you, Heather, for being in my life.
I've read both. I really appreciated the chapter on Movement conservatives in To Make Men Free. So many labels get used in social media Land without any definition, so it was great to know HCR's meaning.(I'm currently wondering when & why silos became bubbles.)
Awesome! I have just started reading it. I am also listening to Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. Both of these are sobering, but necessary works that explain so much of why we are at our current state of affairs.
I’m listening to it now! Some of the scenes are hard to get through and I seem to be perpetually angry! But it’s been crucial in understanding today’s political parties and how we got here
I like it better when he golfs than when he quietly fires directors of agencies and sells arm to the UAE. Keep golfing, Mr. Trump!
I so appreciate your letters and I love your photo today. It’s like the Republicans and Democrats—they look different and the same. They are meant to do the same work.
Good point! Keep the grifter out of the way while a true leader at least attempts to lead! Perhaps enough will listen to Biden and do something for those in need.
Jeanne ~ This ‘essay’ was written in appx. 1235, by the founder of a preeminent school of Japanese Zen. His name is Dogen (b. 1200), and the Soto school of Zen flows from his wisdom. The largest Zen community outside Asia is in his lineage, the San Francisco Zen Center (https://www.sfzc.org) and is comprised of Tassajara monastery, the City Center and Green Gulch. All practice centers are open to the public, at various times. There are many, many teachers, ongoing lectures and videos available.
I have a feeling you would be equally impressed (or perhaps immersed, as am I), with his most famous koan, called the Genjo Koan.
Thank you! I am so intrigued. I have become a firm believer in mindfulness as a practice that can help us, and help my students, get closer to self-mastery. I will follow this link now. 🙏🏼
I so appreciate mindfulness, and know several mental health practitioners who use it personally and as a tool in their practice. This ‘zen thing’ is different, imho, because we tend to explore the nature of reality, like, “who am I?’ when no words measure. But in a perhaps more practical sense, I love the admonition to come back to the breath, and to the body.
Am I the only reader to hear the hammer- thud of your repetition of the word "men" in the latter paragraphs. It's reminding us all just how regressive the men in the current Republicans party are?. Thank you as always for providing historical precedent to the current oligarchic trend. It gives me hope that the trend will shift, hope that it may be, this time, without war.
Nancy, I am of the older female set who have been indoctrinated to accept the use of "his, him, men..." terminology. Thanks for calling my attention to this!
I’m probably of your generation. I recall asking a teacher about this once and she said that the use of ‘his, him,men, mankind’ was just a generic way of saying all people....so it included women. I thought, and still do, that it was a bunch of hooey.
I'm a 63 year old, divorced Democrat in the deep red deep south AND a member of an evangelical church, so yeah, I know exactly how you feel!! I don't let it stop me from speaking my mind and fighting that marginalization, even though I know every word I speak puts me further out of sync with my community. Stay strong, dear Mel! You aren't as alone as it might seem.
Definitely not in the closet! And to be honest, I am struggling with the evangelical denomination because I can't reconcile their fawning, sycophantic obeisance to Trump with the teachings of Christ. I've lost all respect for people who claim that Democrats can't be Christians, that ALL lives matter when the topic of Black Lives Matter comes up, but that only the unborn matter when they refer to their "pro-life" stance. I have also lost all respect for people who claim to love everyone, as long as "everyone" is white, because, of course, Jesus is white (at least to them, He is). They turn a blind eye to the sins of Trump, citing fake news, or the fact that he's human; humans make mistakes. So, I know it's just a matter of time before I exit this Southern Baptist church - either voluntarily or banished with a big blue D on my chest, ala Hester Prinn. In the meantime, my pastor no longer brings up political topics with me, and the rest of the congregation treats me as they always have, but I'm uncomfortable because I can see the hypocrisy and they can't.
I remember being divorced & 37 - working in a construction co office & being "feminized" by the much younger gal in the office - she introduced me to Ms. magazine & how women were (and still are) being marginalized. I was so very unenlightened before that!! We HAVE come a long way, you know. There just is further to go - along with other marginalized people!
I watched the last episode of the Crown last night and was particularly struck by the scene marking Thatcher's resignation when the Queen and the ex-pm's compared their respective early battles with the "little grey men" who tried to "advise, correct and control them. The Queen underlined her great appreciation of how Thatched " dispatched" hers.
This week in the Uk the real scuttlebut of the removal of Boris's principal "Rasputin" and his shadow. 2 newly appointed women advisers combined with the "official Girlfriend and drove the crazy " gunslinger" greymen out of town. And good riddens.
As Muhammed Yunus, the Nobel-winning creator/founder of microcredit at the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, and my esteemed son-in-law Sam Daley-Harris whose Microcredit Summit organization led the its proliferation to hundreds of millions of the world's poorest people around the globe, the so-called "mudsills" represent the most astonishing individual and worldwide example of resourcefulness and innovation and entrepreneurial drive in the human community. As Muhammed said (in effect), "Behind the flap of every squalid hovel on earth you will find individuals whose determination to create a living every single day puts to shame the casual ride the rest of us take up the escalator of daily life." A more homespun example is that of entrepreneurialism in America, where the vast majority (both absolute, and proportional number) of entrepreneurs creating new businesses come not from the elite colleges and universities but from state schools. We have an economy of the people, by the people, for the people. Now if we can just restore a government to match that...
Heather, your connection between Hammond and our current president seems to grow deeper. Hammond had a history of a disrespecting young women (his 4 nieces and slaves) as written in his diaries.
Similar to Mary Trumps book’s psychological explanation of her Uncle’s desire for power without regard for others is partially due to his father, Fred, Rosellen Brown writes in her NYT article that Hammond was of the same ilk.
New York Times
MONSTER OF ALL HE SURVEYED
By Rosellen Brown
Jan. 29, 1989
“We are forced to ask how much of Hammond's wanton insensitivity, and his bathetic habits of self-exoneration and self-pity, came with the unquestioned power to own and command - slaves, wives, children. How much responsibility should go to his father, whose moral sensibilities seem to have been less than refined? The questions lead us backward down the long, barely lighted corridor in which character and circumstance, generations of it, mysteriously collide”
Yesterday I got this historical note on Presidential transition from Bill Blackburn, who was an aide to President Lyndon Johnson:
When President Johnson decided not to seek re-election in 1968, he promptly set in motion the process to implement for the first time the Presidential Act of 1963, which authorizes funding for the General Services Administration to provide suitable office space, staff compensation, and other services associated with the presidential transition process. LBJ called out of retirement Charles S. Murphy, Counselor to former President Harry S Truman, who had directed the transition between Truman and President-elect Dwight Eisenhower in 1952-3. LBJ asked Murphy to coordinate the transition between his Administration and that of the next President, whether it be Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, or unlikely though the prospect, George Wallace. (This anticipated later amendments to the law which now allow support to eligible candidates for pre-election transition planning.) I was privileged to sit second chair to Murphy as contact was made with all three candidates and all branches and departments of the government whose heads would likely be replaced by the next President. We had briefing materials prepared for the incoming officials to be delivered to them after the election but well before the Inauguration. In fact the plan was to provide the materials to each new appointee as he or she was designated by the President-elect so that they would be fully prepared to address pending or potential issues in their respective areas of responsibility. We met with Nixon’s law partner, Frank Lincoln (who was reporting to the dour John Mitchell), flew to Boston and met with Harvard professor Phillip Areeda, who had been asked by Nixon to serve on his transition team, and we of course created a great deal of correspondence, which is on file at the Library. And I am sure you recall that LBJ invited Nixon and his staff to a reception in the White House after the election where our staff met and mingled with Nixon’s people. All done with grace. I have a vivid memory of the openness and patriotism that our Administration exhibited in this effort, and am appalled by President Trump’s belligerence and ignorance in this regard, and saddened by the example he is setting, and the harm he is doing to our country. Bill
But the question Bill's note prompts is this: if there is an Act relevant to transition, is there not a legal path to moving Trump out the door, or breaking the GSA resistance?
Wow, this is a really cool letter to read from your friend! This is a primary source of history! You should definitely save it. It’s like a letter from the professor.
I love your question. Let’s start a class action lawsuit against Trump for obstructing the Democratic process by ignoring this transition act.
Jeanne, I like your thinking. A class action suit may be another strategy worth considering. I also wonder at what point treason comes into question. I don't think Trump is engaged enough to be strategizing all the moves being in made in foreign policy and economics to box Biden in; but someone(s) is working feverishly at this...is this not treasonous behavior??
Yes! I think so, too. I wonder if it’s not being called out immediately because of the instability we are in now and how much more that would create. But I have felt even that Mitch M’s refusal to consider Obama’s justice nominees should have been considered dereliction of duty and should have precipitated consequences for him. These terrible, destabilizing moves by the President now are absolutely treasonous.
T**** never wanted the job. He wanted to polish up the T**** brand, which was not doing well financially in 2015. He didn't have a transition plan or team going in, and he doesn't have them going out. To meet with Biden's transition team would mean revealing that there are no plans to hand off. No plans for vaccine distribution, no plans for peace in the Middle East, no plans for relief for the millions of Americans who are on the brink of homelessness. He's the same empty shell of a man he's been all his life.
Another day and Ms Murphy has refused to admit Biden/Harris have won the election, so the letter opening the doors to them remains unsigned. I realized this morning that she may have a very difficult time finding a job after she is thrown out of the GSA. Who would hire someone with such poor judgment? Loyalty may be important, but judgment more so. What the hell has to happen for her to see the end is nigh? Judges are turning away frivolous attempts to overturn results. Certifications are moving along. Enraging that this one person can hold such power. I hope she is royally grilled by Democrats tomorrow....assuming she shows up!
Oh don’t worry about Murphy. She probably has a job in collecting and dividing scum in Dante’s Inferno. That is for either the Mercer or Koch organizations.
"Murphy’s information has been removed from Smith’s alumnae directory — though it’s unclear when, why, or at whose request." This is easy to find out. Maybe, like, ask Murphy if she did it? It would not surprise me if an employee at an ultraliberal college like Smith sought to disassociate itself from her, just as the rest of the progressive cabal urge a truth and reconciliation commission against anyone remotely sympathetic to Trump.”
And I thought Smith's networking would ensure that Ms Emily is always employed.
"While the president golfs, President-Elect Joe Biden is trying to pressure Congress to pass another coronavirus bill as the economy lurches toward another drop. Incoming presidents usually want to hold their influence in reserve to take credit for new policies, but Biden is pushing forward because he is so concerned about the economy. Unless Congress passes a new bill, about 12 million Americans will lose their unemployment benefits at the end of the year. Hunger and homelessness will follow."
Can you imagine people being as callous as 45 and his underlings? I use the term "underlings", because these yes-men even stoop and bow to his shadow. How can the Senate sit back and do NOTHING for our citizens?
This afternoon, I was listening to the concerns of good, decent people who lost their jobs in March, who don't know how they will cope without unemployment benefits. When the interviewer asked a mother what she will do for Christmas, she responded: "It'll be sparse, but we will survive; we'll have e/o; the children don't need things. It's January that I worry about, with all our savings gone and no unemployment ..."
My heart breaks for them! Still, the well-fed, spoiled brats prance around golf courses and through the hallowed halls of Congress! For shame!!! 💔💔💔
It is going to be a busy week here in Michigan. Dr Richardson, your letters are a beacon directing us to keep perspective in turbulent waters. Thank you so very much.
Thank you HCR. I’m fascinated by the current echo of the past, as you describe in today’s letter. From my grassroots perspective, I believe trumpism is a social problem that gives rise to political ones that stoke the flames of the social ones. A vicious circle. Irresponsible media coverage is at the heart the current social eruption which feels like a wildfire raging out of control. BidenHarris and their team are our smokejumpers parachuting in and risking their lives to save ours. But, they are going to need all of us average citizens protesting and voting our support. As I wrote yesterday, I’m through putting my energy into listening to and playing nice with family and friends who are lifelong ignorant bigots and racists who golf and care only about the stock market, or just benefit from living here without paying attention. So, I volunteer in GA. ❤️🤍💙
Yes, a social problem. His supporters identify Trump as their kind of f--up. I used to be surprised how many f-ups are just plain resentful and defiant.
I can't remember where I heard this saying on Jewish immigrants but it seems to parallel the cycle Lincoln talks about in a beautiful way. It is: The first generation is the carpenters and the tailors so the second generation can be the doctors and the lawyers so the third generation become the artists and the musicians. Love it that the objective is to have the luxury of the arts and music as the height of civilized culture. True wealth is not measured by how much money one has, but by the wealth of the mind to pursue something larger than one's self. My dream is our country and countries around the world put a Well-Being Index as a more important measuring wealth than the GNP.
In May 1780, John Adams (who would become our 2nd POTUS) wrote, from Paris, France, a letter to his wife Abigail. In that letter, he stated: “I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Painting and Poetry Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.“
You can access the letter in its entirety here: Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, post 12 May 1780 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/
That makes it all the more depressing that the White House is filled to the brim with boors.
I thought I read somewhere that Abigail sent him several letters suggesting women might also be allowed to vote.
Times have changed more in the last 50 than in the previous 200. My own father did not "Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, Natural History, Naval Architecture, or Navigation" as suitable subjects of study for a woman.
You’re right! Abigail did write to John, on March 1, 1776, saying, in part, “I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”
Read more at:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/this-day-in-history/abigail-adams-urges-husband-to-remember-the-ladies
John's reply was not so enlightened . . . He told her she was being saucy and that she should rest assured that he and his allies would never relinquish their "masculine institutions" in order to aid women. Abigail didn't talk to him for several months after that reply because she was so pissed off.
Thank you Rev. Judith - I have deeply concurred with the sentiment John Adams articulates in this quote from his letter:
"I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Painting and Poetry Mathematicks and Philosophy."
Political leadership is the human vocation of highest social consequence because it determines what values inhabit and are enacted by our institutions. In the industrial age consciousness of university trained and professionalized vocations we operate with a division of labor and specialization of skills orientation. The art and craft of the vocation of the political leader is the old one of being able to talk to everybody, find the alignments with situations of every person and help move the network of institutions of society to enact their next living cycles. The politician leader cannot operate with specialized craftsmen's consciousness of the professional of the industrial age or the age of University education.
John Adams' sentence is an acknowledgment of the fact that our political leaders are the keepers of the health and adaptability of our institutions which in turn make the rest of ongoing society possible.
Thank you so much,
Alok
John Adams was a highly enlightened man!
This was the experience of both my Ashkenaz and Greek immigrant relations (grandparents emigrated on the Greek side, great-grandparents on the Ashkenazim side). But I want to add something else. In both the Jewish and the Greek--but especially the Greek side--the women were not given the advantages that the men had. My 1st-gen Greek-American father went to university before WW2 because his sisters were pulled out of school after the 8th grade in order to go to work to pay for the education of their brothers. My father was an enlightened man and hated this but had little control over what his father deemed "correct" (my Greek grandmother was illiterate because in that part of Greece in the first part of the 20th c. girls were not allowed to go to school). On the Jewish side, the women in the family were indulged and also received an education but it was to a significant degree one designed to end in marriage and housewifery. The fact that so many of my great-aunts had to work for a living and did so in low-paying retail work most of their lives was irrelevant: they were supposed to be ornamental, not independent, but they wound up being the latter through necessity when the Depression wiped out everything.
While one cannot take things out of the context of their time; the gender chasm has been around for a long time. This makes me realize that I personally did this all backwards. Professional musician first, then after marrying an engineer went into engineering and broke the glass ceiling becoming a senior executive/group engineering manager in a Fortune 100 technology corporation and now in semi-retirement have my own sole proprietor home design business in rural Texas. Women only went to college to get their MRS degree in the late sixties and could only become nurses or teachers! Women made $.59 to a man's $1.00 of earning when I started my corporate career although I received a man's wage as an engineer. And, now as a home designer I find being a woman who knows how to cook and sew an asset in the design process and I design accessible homes that promote the harmony of the family.
Brava, Cathy Learoyd! That was some about-turn!!!
I invariably return to words spoken by the wonderful preacher and suffragette, Sojourner Truth, over a century ago:
"Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them."
I like the Suffragist song "She's Good Enough to be your Baby's Mother and She's Good Enough to Vote with You" Another Suffragist ad I enjoy is the reply to the objection to womens' suffrage: "Women are too pure for the Dirty Pool of Politics" -- answer: "If the Pool is Dirty it is time to clean it. Women have had Long Experience Cleaning up after Men."
Yes, that's a great song, but I hadn't seen the ad! I love it! Thanks for that!
If I had been a boy, I would have gone directly into engineering and probably minored in music like my dad. I was always meant to be an engineer. A photo of me at 5 years old all dressed up in my new Easter outfit ready to go to church shows tools in my belt. I definitely had an engineer's mind. In fact, for many years I thought of myself as having a man's mind trapped in a woman's body. Got over that...
So glad that you had the will to reach for the stars and that glass ceiling ❣️
Part of it was being at a highly ethical company where we lived the mottos of "Do the Right Thing" and "Value Differences" Large corporations can be highly ethical; it isn't the size of the corporation, it's the leadership that matters. We knew we were changing the world and we did. Together. I think part of breaking the glass ceiling is doing one's current job well, working well as part of a team and always being viewed as having even more potential. Then you must be prepared to seize the opportunities when they are presented to you.
Now That made me laugh! Also the LITTLE man in black.. Her words are far more than enlightening - and so was she. Imagine the abuse she took! And yet did not bow down to anyone, from everything I have ever read about her.
Agreed!! I wish I could have met her!
When I was first married our weekends were spent going to open houses of new construction. I laughed at where the built in cutting boards were placed because you knew whoever designed it hadn't cooked. Usually they were over the drawer holding utensils needed for cooking.
Good for you! You are a credit to professionals who design for a specific segment. I see the design “flaws” in my own kitchen, & humorously day to myself, “Had to be a man that designed this!” 😎
And then you reflect on the founding myth of the Christian religion in which Eve was a "sub-product" of Adam, made uniquely of "his" substance and fashioned to "accompany" him!
And WHO WROTE the books??? Men!!!
They forgot that WOMEN gave Birth to them!! THAT, THEY Came From
The WOMB!!! WOmen!!!!
The thought was inspired by finishing Eleni Ferranti's 3rd volume in her Neapolitan novels on female friendship.
Another artifact of patriarchy -- the Bible is written by men only.
Were women taught to write at the time? Anyway even if one managed to slip through the patriarchal controls, they wouldn't have made it through the filter used to put together the collection of individual texts that we now refer to as the Bible. Anyway the catholic church has still not got beyond the "masculine" nature of God and of his representatives on earth. Oh Gaya! Wherfore art thou?
Our Mother, Who art in Heaven...
I'm thinking of Greek history where women were very powerful as Oracles!
At Delphi if you get to the Temple of Diana before the crowds in the morning or last thing at night after the buses have departed you can still feel the strength of Pythia in the silence.
And in France, origin of "enlightenment" etc, they have closed bookshops during the lockdown as being "non-essential" to human life. Something globally wrong here!
In my very small NY city, there is an Inde bookstore which participates in a prison book project. Prisoners request, bookstore gets, customers donate and prisoners receive and read. Books are essential to human life! I’m shocked that a culture I admire would adopt that stance. ❤️🤍💙
We are too and the "utilitarian" view of our "sanitized" life will be punished by the people at the next elections...if the judges haven't removed them in the meantime and done away with the need ever to ask permission of the people.
What bookstore is this? If I lived closer I would donate books! Reminds me of a book I read about a volunteer program in a solitary confinement part of a prison called Shakespeare Saved My Life...
Excellent!
In Maine, during our spring lockdown, hardware stores and gun shops were determined to be essential businesses. Including hardware stores was a brilliant idea as I know of many many people who home projects done while they weren't able to work. The reason for the gun shops was less clear to me.....when you run out of projects, does buying a new gun immediately jump to mind?
I grew up in Maine, the most forested state, percentage wise, in the country. I can understand why they consider gun shops to be essential. However, I don't agree with them. I hope Maine hunters do understand that assault rifles are designed to blow humans away, not to hunt any animals you would want to kill for food. All Assault weapons should not be available to American citizens.
Agree. True, good hunters have no assault weapons and very few guns, and most they inherited. Less ammo, too. One shot will do per doe.
My cousins hunt with bow and arrow.
I used to do that as a young kid, but was not successful. The rabbits were too quick for me!
I agree - my ex husband & father-in-law were hunters - who would have such great stories when they came home - whether or not they were successful. Sitting in the woods - waiting. That stage of my life has been over for a long time - now have a "herd" of about 6 deer who travel back & forth thru the yard most days. In the wintertime, I feed birds & put corn out for the "four leggeds". A few years ago, I would look out the window & see several napping on; the lawn. Those deer are long gone - either hunters or cars.
Good for you, Maggie!
Thanks, Mary Pat. As the Rebert DeNir character the film "The Deer Hunter" said "One shot." Near the end of the film when he is hunting, he sees a beautiful buck and intentionally misses it.
My husband is 77, born and raised in Idaho in a time when hunting was essential for survival. He has long said assault rifles should never have been sold to the average person. They should be military or police only.
Thanks, Carole. I agree, except that I don't think the police should have them, either. BTW, you wrote that your husband is 77. I'm 76.
Like minds. :) I believe you are right that police don't need them either.
Apparently many thought so in the period leading up to the election. and truly profited from it to increase the density of guns from coast to coast. The logic is clear for the Do-it-Yourself stuff. Hopefully that feeds the human spirit as much as it busies "idle hands" and absorbs fervent artisans in the absence of any new fodder for the mind. Not much of a threat there to the reigning elites! Entirely practical....not my cup of tea as my words probably clearly indicate.
Last week NPR had a story about a woman bookshop owner in Cannes who defiantly kept her shop open, and authors were paying her fines.
Uh, they don't have access to the Internet in France? Kindle?
Oh Yes Amazon is having a field day! All at the expense of the little bookstore, clothestore and other "non-essential" factors in human existence. Delivery systems are of course essential businesses!
I order my books online directly from a small bookstore in Cambridge, MA. Books are shipped through the USPS. I'm trying to give as much business as I can to local businesses even when I'm ordering online.
I would try but where am I likely to find English books..other than the latest paperback thriller here in France. Paris under normal circumstances has 2 generalist english book ...now closed like the rest. They are all trying to get around the lockdown by what is termed "click and collect" ! They manage to generate only 10% max of their normal revenues.
Since the lockdowns, I have been going out for groceries mostly (altho there is delivery for them I like to get specific products and don't have a smart fone).
However, I have been doing a lot more online purchases including from Amazon, which is quite efficient. I even had to return a product for the first time and discovered how convenient with taking a QR code to UPS with the product - a replacement is on the way.
I remember shopping with cash before the grocery stores had conveyors at the checkout, and rang up the total on a mechanical cash register. I have lived thru many improvements and consider this one just another point in mercantile evolution. In the late 1990s I was surprised by my first debit card from the bank and since then it has become indispensable.
In the 1980s & '90s I wrote a lot of letters to Editors of Newspapers (200 published in that 20 years) Now I only write opinions online. Things evolve, including the written word.
Accept that this particular evolution is rapidly accelerating the isolation of people and the lack of social interaction emphasizes the increasing "consumerist" definition of humanity.
And shopping as the opiate of the masses.
There is amazing bookstore in Denver CO called The Tattered Cover bookstore. It has been around for ages. A renovated old movie theater. They will ship anything anywhere and have an unbelievable selection. Please consider looking into their website.
Amazon is so damn convenient. In addition to mail order products hard to find elsewhere, I’ve also come to love the portability of books on Kindle. It’s painfully ironic that this forum is big on illuminating the dangerous control of oligarchs. I support any and all alternatives! Amazon needs to become the corporate good citizen and ethical employer that Cathy Learoyd describes, but what forces to make that happen?
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-20/jeff-bezos-adds-record-13-billion-in-single-day-to-his-fortune
https://newrepublic.com/article/158050/oligarch-month-jeff-bezos
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bill-gates-elon-musk-jeff-bezos-and-the-rest-of-the-oligarchic-dozen-just-reached-a-disturbing-milestone-2020-08-18
😡
Your quote perfectly mirrors my immigrant family’s history from coal miners to lawyers to artists. As Thanksgiving approaches and we isolate, I am giving thanks to all those of us who agree with you and voted for facts and science, essential workers and average citizens, and a shot at saving the planet that supports our life. Nero fiddled. Trump golfed. What cost to the taxpayer: 1-2 golf trips with the secret service on average every week? Wonder what those dedicated men and women think of him? We’ll never know. Georgia on my mind. ❤️🤍💙
Mine went from farmers to teachers to private companies and non-elected public servants (state & federal government). I think we still have the work ethic that our forbearers brought to the table....when you merely inherit your wealth and standing (i.e., being born on 3rd base) this is characteristic missing.
I am a warrior, so that my son may be a merchant, so that his son may be a poet.” ― John Quincy Adams
I quoted you on Facebook, Cathy L. 😊 What HCR’s Letters enables us to do, I think, is knowledgeably enter into conversations where we can combine our own beliefs, hopes, and dreams for people and country with actual historical facts. Create space for others (who currently see things differently) to think about why I see things the way I do. Without insulting or accusing them of anything. Usually, they’ll recognize the overlaps between us. I can hardly wait to see how people react to this post as the day goes on, Cathy. Thank you.
Cathy this is so interesting to me. I just found out my great grandfather on my Dads side was a tailor. I'm a writer (:
I had never heard this before, but what a wonderful observation
Well said
Cathy, beautifully stated:)
I wanted to share a post from a friend who is a recount observer in Milwaukee.
I'm told the counting went much better today. We've won every challenge and made real progress. My favorite story of the day:
There are three chairs in front of each counting tables for we observers. The rule is one Biden and, one Trump observer. The third chair for a 3rd Party. Of course, the Trump people were occupying every empty chair despite the rule. The commission announced that they had to stop. So, in a planned response, several Trump observers left the room, tore off their Trump sticker and went back to take the "third" chairs and claimed they were now independent and NOT Trump observers.
When the commission got wind of that, they came around and, literally, removed every "third" chair from every table and stored them.
Wow! Thanks for this real time example of ways in which the electoral process can be intimidated and possibly threatened. Many thanks, Sally.
This suggests that there may be more hope for the future than I’ve recently thought. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you for sharing. I have posted this on my Facebook page (so many tRumpets out there though--they will twist it into something else). I keep keeping up the good fight though, as do so many on these posts. Everyone is truly an inspiration and energizer to me.
Thank you for sharing this. I no someone helping with the recount but I’m not using FB so I can’t ask how she is doing . . .
"We are faced with the odd prospect of a president fighting desperately to keep a job he evidently doesn’t want."
Did he ever want it? Didn't Trump run for the notariety; to gain a national platform where he could mouth-off, promote his brand? He never expected to get the job. While the good times, and Obama's economy, rolled, things were cool. He didn't have to do much, the money rolled in to Trump properties, and the presidential perks were nice. There were regular rallies where he could get a booster shot of adoration from his devoted mob. The Republican Party allowed and even encouraged his antics as they demolished federal regulations they didn't like and packed the federal court system with conservative judges. Then this damned Coronavirus thing came along and ruined everything.
My view is that it's not so much that Trump doesn't want to govern; he has no idea how to govern. He's run away from problems and adversity his whole life; never living up to his mistakes, and never learning from them. He's learned to create his own reality when tne actual one doesn't suit him. None of this is working for him now, and if he runs away, he runs into the arms of federal, state, and local prosecutors in New York.
His whole mis-begotten life is coming crashing down around Donald J. Trump.
Better to play golf. Maybe it will all just go away.
Narcissists must create a reality in which they ALWAYS come out the best.
Where is his Roy Cohn now? He has no fixer, and is minions cower in silence
Fixer Michael Cohen is serving his jail term at home with ankle bracelet, and has turned against him. Fixer Steve Bannon is busy staving off jail for fraud. Fixer Rudy Guilani is out there testing if enough crazed yelling can bring down democracy. Donald has stiffed so many people, he can't even get a functional crooked lawyer to work for him any more.
And fixer Bill Barr is nowhere to be seen.
Yeah, I wonder what he's up to.
He's busy ordering executions.
The supreme fixer, or his prefered name of "dirty trickster," Roger Stone, is out of jail on a Trump pardon and busy fomenting chaos. This is the guy who created mayhem during Gore v. Bush in Florida for G.W. Bush by staging the infamous "Brooks Brothers Riots."
What has Stone been up to? I haven't seen his name in the news at all....
He is driving the "Stop the Steal" campaign. https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/13/business/stop-the-steal-disinformation-campaign-invs/index.html
FYI, you rarely see Stone until after he has done his dirty trick. But he will publically trash talk.
FYII, There is a documentary film on Netflix entitled "Get Me Roger Stone." It's dated at this point but still very relevant.
I read that he started the social media viral tRump-base movement “Stop the Steal.”
He started in in 2016 and it has now taken hold in 2020.
Trump is content to listen to the poison dispensed by Stephen Miller ... just as he was captivated by Bannon for a while. I am sure he enjoys watching the ravings of Rudy, too. It is an indictment of democracy that Trump was ever elected in the first place, but how do we remedy that without damaging the democratic process? That's a question for the next few generations. We had our shot and blew it.
My view is the same! He had NO idea how government is supposed to work & didnt know enough to put knowledgeable people in place to DO the work. He has no clue!
Let us be grateful.
Well, that IS true! This could have all ended even worse - with a 2nd term.
I know one person that didn't want him to be President because she didn't want to be First Lady. Melania cried when he got elected. I bet she is counting the days until she and Barron can leave the White House and never have to come back.
Described exactly, Ralph.
Sadly it's come crashing down on all of us, the American people.
Congratulations Professor Richardson!
I saw that you book, “How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America,” made it to the New York Times list of 50 Notable works of nonfiction for 2020.
I just received my copy of "How the South..." from the library, and I'm about 2/3 through "To Make Men Free," a startlingly illuminating book that I'm thoroughly enjoying and will buy not one but probably at least two copies, one to give as a gift this season. Parts of the latter have hit me hard, like the section on what Andrew Johnson did after Lincoln's death. When I read that, my chest got heavy, I was so grief-stricken and angry at the waste after Lincoln's tremendous effort to bring the country back together. Now I'm reading about the origin of the National Review, a publication that a friend of mine cited as her current go-to (along with several other extremely right-wing authors). Now I understand why she's terrified of a Biden win--and why I'm horrified at her terror. My head is spinning. I'll never keep all the names and dates straight in these books, but I surely do get the whole picture. Thank you, Heather, for being in my life.
I've read both. I really appreciated the chapter on Movement conservatives in To Make Men Free. So many labels get used in social media Land without any definition, so it was great to know HCR's meaning.(I'm currently wondering when & why silos became bubbles.)
Awesome! I have just started reading it. I am also listening to Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. Both of these are sobering, but necessary works that explain so much of why we are at our current state of affairs.
I’m reading it right now!
I’m listening to it now! Some of the scenes are hard to get through and I seem to be perpetually angry! But it’s been crucial in understanding today’s political parties and how we got here
I like it better when he golfs than when he quietly fires directors of agencies and sells arm to the UAE. Keep golfing, Mr. Trump!
I so appreciate your letters and I love your photo today. It’s like the Republicans and Democrats—they look different and the same. They are meant to do the same work.
Good point! Keep the grifter out of the way while a true leader at least attempts to lead! Perhaps enough will listen to Biden and do something for those in need.
I’ve always loved things that are different but the same. Thank you for letting me see that in the photo.
https://www.sfzc.org/files/daily_sutras_Harmony_of_Difference_and_Equality
Sandokai - Harmony of Difference and Sameness
but points to the nature of our human perceptions of the vast and unnamable
This is a beautiful poem! Or essay? One could read it one hundred times and still find new paths to travel.
Jeanne ~ This ‘essay’ was written in appx. 1235, by the founder of a preeminent school of Japanese Zen. His name is Dogen (b. 1200), and the Soto school of Zen flows from his wisdom. The largest Zen community outside Asia is in his lineage, the San Francisco Zen Center (https://www.sfzc.org) and is comprised of Tassajara monastery, the City Center and Green Gulch. All practice centers are open to the public, at various times. There are many, many teachers, ongoing lectures and videos available.
I have a feeling you would be equally impressed (or perhaps immersed, as am I), with his most famous koan, called the Genjo Koan.
https://www.sfzc.org/files/daily_sutras_Genjo_Koan
(I have to warn you, your perceptions and sensations may forever be heightened 😁
I can tell I will have to read this many times! I may try to make a flow chart. Haha! Thank you.
Thank you! I am so intrigued. I have become a firm believer in mindfulness as a practice that can help us, and help my students, get closer to self-mastery. I will follow this link now. 🙏🏼
I so appreciate mindfulness, and know several mental health practitioners who use it personally and as a tool in their practice. This ‘zen thing’ is different, imho, because we tend to explore the nature of reality, like, “who am I?’ when no words measure. But in a perhaps more practical sense, I love the admonition to come back to the breath, and to the body.
Am I the only reader to hear the hammer- thud of your repetition of the word "men" in the latter paragraphs. It's reminding us all just how regressive the men in the current Republicans party are?. Thank you as always for providing historical precedent to the current oligarchic trend. It gives me hope that the trend will shift, hope that it may be, this time, without war.
Nancy, I am of the older female set who have been indoctrinated to accept the use of "his, him, men..." terminology. Thanks for calling my attention to this!
I’m probably of your generation. I recall asking a teacher about this once and she said that the use of ‘his, him,men, mankind’ was just a generic way of saying all people....so it included women. I thought, and still do, that it was a bunch of hooey.
...when in fact, the term women/woman really encompasses "men" so we should be using the generic feminine terms if the argument above where true!
Oh, my. I bought it hook, line and sinker. I was born in 1952.
Me too! I was in the 5th grade when I asked. Wasn't convinced either, lol!
Lynell, I'm a 1970s feminist, and my ear is bit over-sensitive, some might say.
You keep those ears in good working order. As a 35y woman, I’m beginning to feel marginalized here in the Deep South.
I'm a 63 year old, divorced Democrat in the deep red deep south AND a member of an evangelical church, so yeah, I know exactly how you feel!! I don't let it stop me from speaking my mind and fighting that marginalization, even though I know every word I speak puts me further out of sync with my community. Stay strong, dear Mel! You aren't as alone as it might seem.
Jennifer—interesting. How do you reconcile evangelical support for trump with being a dem? (Are you in the closet? 🙄)
Definitely not in the closet! And to be honest, I am struggling with the evangelical denomination because I can't reconcile their fawning, sycophantic obeisance to Trump with the teachings of Christ. I've lost all respect for people who claim that Democrats can't be Christians, that ALL lives matter when the topic of Black Lives Matter comes up, but that only the unborn matter when they refer to their "pro-life" stance. I have also lost all respect for people who claim to love everyone, as long as "everyone" is white, because, of course, Jesus is white (at least to them, He is). They turn a blind eye to the sins of Trump, citing fake news, or the fact that he's human; humans make mistakes. So, I know it's just a matter of time before I exit this Southern Baptist church - either voluntarily or banished with a big blue D on my chest, ala Hester Prinn. In the meantime, my pastor no longer brings up political topics with me, and the rest of the congregation treats me as they always have, but I'm uncomfortable because I can see the hypocrisy and they can't.
I'm in the middle South (NC), we are LEGION, Mel!
I too am interested how you reconcile those two things.
We’re glad you’re “here.” ❤️🤍💙👍🏻
I remember being divorced & 37 - working in a construction co office & being "feminized" by the much younger gal in the office - she introduced me to Ms. magazine & how women were (and still are) being marginalized. I was so very unenlightened before that!! We HAVE come a long way, you know. There just is further to go - along with other marginalized people!
I watched the last episode of the Crown last night and was particularly struck by the scene marking Thatcher's resignation when the Queen and the ex-pm's compared their respective early battles with the "little grey men" who tried to "advise, correct and control them. The Queen underlined her great appreciation of how Thatched " dispatched" hers.
Ugh the typos in my comment! LOL
It really is annoying that the platform won't let us self-edit.
Yes, men. The patriarchy still is the predominant system under which we live.
And yet, women are the majority in the US of A! Justice? Nope, and that’s why we have to fight hard.
This week in the Uk the real scuttlebut of the removal of Boris's principal "Rasputin" and his shadow. 2 newly appointed women advisers combined with the "official Girlfriend and drove the crazy " gunslinger" greymen out of town. And good riddens.
I kept hearing it too. (Wealthy white) men.
Right - the ones who want to have complete say over womens reproductive rights!
As Muhammed Yunus, the Nobel-winning creator/founder of microcredit at the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, and my esteemed son-in-law Sam Daley-Harris whose Microcredit Summit organization led the its proliferation to hundreds of millions of the world's poorest people around the globe, the so-called "mudsills" represent the most astonishing individual and worldwide example of resourcefulness and innovation and entrepreneurial drive in the human community. As Muhammed said (in effect), "Behind the flap of every squalid hovel on earth you will find individuals whose determination to create a living every single day puts to shame the casual ride the rest of us take up the escalator of daily life." A more homespun example is that of entrepreneurialism in America, where the vast majority (both absolute, and proportional number) of entrepreneurs creating new businesses come not from the elite colleges and universities but from state schools. We have an economy of the people, by the people, for the people. Now if we can just restore a government to match that...
Heather, your connection between Hammond and our current president seems to grow deeper. Hammond had a history of a disrespecting young women (his 4 nieces and slaves) as written in his diaries.
Similar to Mary Trumps book’s psychological explanation of her Uncle’s desire for power without regard for others is partially due to his father, Fred, Rosellen Brown writes in her NYT article that Hammond was of the same ilk.
New York Times
MONSTER OF ALL HE SURVEYED
By Rosellen Brown
Jan. 29, 1989
“We are forced to ask how much of Hammond's wanton insensitivity, and his bathetic habits of self-exoneration and self-pity, came with the unquestioned power to own and command - slaves, wives, children. How much responsibility should go to his father, whose moral sensibilities seem to have been less than refined? The questions lead us backward down the long, barely lighted corridor in which character and circumstance, generations of it, mysteriously collide”
Yesterday I got this historical note on Presidential transition from Bill Blackburn, who was an aide to President Lyndon Johnson:
When President Johnson decided not to seek re-election in 1968, he promptly set in motion the process to implement for the first time the Presidential Act of 1963, which authorizes funding for the General Services Administration to provide suitable office space, staff compensation, and other services associated with the presidential transition process. LBJ called out of retirement Charles S. Murphy, Counselor to former President Harry S Truman, who had directed the transition between Truman and President-elect Dwight Eisenhower in 1952-3. LBJ asked Murphy to coordinate the transition between his Administration and that of the next President, whether it be Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, or unlikely though the prospect, George Wallace. (This anticipated later amendments to the law which now allow support to eligible candidates for pre-election transition planning.) I was privileged to sit second chair to Murphy as contact was made with all three candidates and all branches and departments of the government whose heads would likely be replaced by the next President. We had briefing materials prepared for the incoming officials to be delivered to them after the election but well before the Inauguration. In fact the plan was to provide the materials to each new appointee as he or she was designated by the President-elect so that they would be fully prepared to address pending or potential issues in their respective areas of responsibility. We met with Nixon’s law partner, Frank Lincoln (who was reporting to the dour John Mitchell), flew to Boston and met with Harvard professor Phillip Areeda, who had been asked by Nixon to serve on his transition team, and we of course created a great deal of correspondence, which is on file at the Library. And I am sure you recall that LBJ invited Nixon and his staff to a reception in the White House after the election where our staff met and mingled with Nixon’s people. All done with grace. I have a vivid memory of the openness and patriotism that our Administration exhibited in this effort, and am appalled by President Trump’s belligerence and ignorance in this regard, and saddened by the example he is setting, and the harm he is doing to our country. Bill
But the question Bill's note prompts is this: if there is an Act relevant to transition, is there not a legal path to moving Trump out the door, or breaking the GSA resistance?
Wow, this is a really cool letter to read from your friend! This is a primary source of history! You should definitely save it. It’s like a letter from the professor.
I love your question. Let’s start a class action lawsuit against Trump for obstructing the Democratic process by ignoring this transition act.
Jeanne, I like your thinking. A class action suit may be another strategy worth considering. I also wonder at what point treason comes into question. I don't think Trump is engaged enough to be strategizing all the moves being in made in foreign policy and economics to box Biden in; but someone(s) is working feverishly at this...is this not treasonous behavior??
Yes! I think so, too. I wonder if it’s not being called out immediately because of the instability we are in now and how much more that would create. But I have felt even that Mitch M’s refusal to consider Obama’s justice nominees should have been considered dereliction of duty and should have precipitated consequences for him. These terrible, destabilizing moves by the President now are absolutely treasonous.
Lest we forget, November 22, 2020 will mark 57 years since President Kennedy's assassination.
Powerful words! I LOVED this well-worded and informative letter on Lincoln and Hammond. You are a great teacher of facts. Thanks much!
T**** never wanted the job. He wanted to polish up the T**** brand, which was not doing well financially in 2015. He didn't have a transition plan or team going in, and he doesn't have them going out. To meet with Biden's transition team would mean revealing that there are no plans to hand off. No plans for vaccine distribution, no plans for peace in the Middle East, no plans for relief for the millions of Americans who are on the brink of homelessness. He's the same empty shell of a man he's been all his life.
I suspect Biden recognizes that there are no plans to be handed off to him, which is why he is calmly proceeding with his own transition.
Another day and Ms Murphy has refused to admit Biden/Harris have won the election, so the letter opening the doors to them remains unsigned. I realized this morning that she may have a very difficult time finding a job after she is thrown out of the GSA. Who would hire someone with such poor judgment? Loyalty may be important, but judgment more so. What the hell has to happen for her to see the end is nigh? Judges are turning away frivolous attempts to overturn results. Certifications are moving along. Enraging that this one person can hold such power. I hope she is royally grilled by Democrats tomorrow....assuming she shows up!
Oh don’t worry about Murphy. She probably has a job in collecting and dividing scum in Dante’s Inferno. That is for either the Mercer or Koch organizations.
"Murphy’s information has been removed from Smith’s alumnae directory — though it’s unclear when, why, or at whose request." This is easy to find out. Maybe, like, ask Murphy if she did it? It would not surprise me if an employee at an ultraliberal college like Smith sought to disassociate itself from her, just as the rest of the progressive cabal urge a truth and reconciliation commission against anyone remotely sympathetic to Trump.”
And I thought Smith's networking would ensure that Ms Emily is always employed.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/18/us/joe-biden-trump-updates?smid=tw-
nytimes&smtyp=cur#the-gsa-administrators-fellow-smith-college-alums-are-pushing-her-to-recognize-biden
"While the president golfs, President-Elect Joe Biden is trying to pressure Congress to pass another coronavirus bill as the economy lurches toward another drop. Incoming presidents usually want to hold their influence in reserve to take credit for new policies, but Biden is pushing forward because he is so concerned about the economy. Unless Congress passes a new bill, about 12 million Americans will lose their unemployment benefits at the end of the year. Hunger and homelessness will follow."
Can you imagine people being as callous as 45 and his underlings? I use the term "underlings", because these yes-men even stoop and bow to his shadow. How can the Senate sit back and do NOTHING for our citizens?
This afternoon, I was listening to the concerns of good, decent people who lost their jobs in March, who don't know how they will cope without unemployment benefits. When the interviewer asked a mother what she will do for Christmas, she responded: "It'll be sparse, but we will survive; we'll have e/o; the children don't need things. It's January that I worry about, with all our savings gone and no unemployment ..."
My heart breaks for them! Still, the well-fed, spoiled brats prance around golf courses and through the hallowed halls of Congress! For shame!!! 💔💔💔
The Republican leaders are a national disgrace.
It is going to be a busy week here in Michigan. Dr Richardson, your letters are a beacon directing us to keep perspective in turbulent waters. Thank you so very much.
Thank you HCR. I’m fascinated by the current echo of the past, as you describe in today’s letter. From my grassroots perspective, I believe trumpism is a social problem that gives rise to political ones that stoke the flames of the social ones. A vicious circle. Irresponsible media coverage is at the heart the current social eruption which feels like a wildfire raging out of control. BidenHarris and their team are our smokejumpers parachuting in and risking their lives to save ours. But, they are going to need all of us average citizens protesting and voting our support. As I wrote yesterday, I’m through putting my energy into listening to and playing nice with family and friends who are lifelong ignorant bigots and racists who golf and care only about the stock market, or just benefit from living here without paying attention. So, I volunteer in GA. ❤️🤍💙
Yes, a social problem. His supporters identify Trump as their kind of f--up. I used to be surprised how many f-ups are just plain resentful and defiant.