Glacially slow progress in politics and worse in business because of lack of adequate childcare legislation and the still very present old boys network and outright sexual predation which we so euphemistically called sexual harassment 50 years ago.
I think there can only be rapid change in society when a tipping point is reached in representation in government both in demographics and in those seeking equality and justicce for all. Unfortunately the Lauren Boebert's of the world don't help reach that tipping point.
Re “tipping points”; education, especially in civics, is crucial. Our public education system is an interesting place to focus
Democrats might consider an all out effort to emphasize the importance of voting to all children throughout their K-12 experience and at the same time encourage their interest in the process by which their lives are governed
In this way, diversity has the opportunity to blossom
Ellen you make an excellent point! A large contingent of American voters haven’t got a clue as to how government works. For example…they vote out an incompetent President and leave all his sycophantic followers in office who stymie the efforts of the newly elected President. Why…because many couldn’t bring themselves to vote for members of the opposition party or they don’t realize that the President alone doesn’t run the Country? Of course it doesn’t help when a substantial number of voters don’t even bother to show up because they don’t think, care or know that their votes do matter! Worse yet…do they understand the concept of a Democracy and what’s required to maintain it??
I can only speak for Minnesota. We have civics strands throughout our K-12 standards. Of course, how well those standards are covered in depth varies between districts. We need to make sure that education in all areas stresses more than answers to multiple choice questions!
I worked an election center in LA County. On Election Day, a very gregarious Black man came in announcing "Forget Juneteenth. Election Day needs to be national holiday." We high-fived; he voted, then said "The Ancestors would be proud." Much to celebrate on Election Day, albeit acknowledging there's still work to be done.
I think that horse has left the barn. With a greater acceptance of absentee ballots and early voting, election day is no more than the final day for counting. I recently found out that my 42 year old daughter, who has voted in every major election since 18 years old, has never voted on election day, nor been to a polling booth. She, and her husband, have done mail-in balloting ever since being an out-of-state college student.
I registered to vote while I was in high school in 1976. It was in a civics class. All eligible seniors in the class had the opportunity to register to vote. (You know, because...civics) I was so proud of myself that I’d registered.
Yes, for instance the "1619 Project" supported by, among others, the New York Times, which was histrionically rejected among conservatives, and was the subject of legislation in a number of mostly Southern states. See also "CRT" and "Don't Say Gay" and book censorship in a number of states and communities. How can we get to "a clearer picture," if the politicians in the pockets of white suprematists don't want students to see it?
Kids Voting has been around since 1988. My boys’ school in Buffalo was a participant and an official polling place. I also took them with me to vote in every election. It’s a great educational tool.
Having your children at least observe their parents voting and contemplating/discussing that vote, whether at a polling place or at home , as we do in my home state of Wa., is good for the whole family! Thanks, as always, for the many contributions from HCR's readers. She has done more than write letters. I dare say she has touched hearts and minds! Many thanks to you, Heather Cox Richardson
Unfortunately, our local school board (Salem/Keizer in Oregon)has had to return to virtual meetings because of the behavior at the in person meetings. A petition was circulating to recall three progressive members of the board, but this time it failed to get enough signatures, but these folks are not going away. Another board in the Portland area just went virtual again because of behavior at in person meetings. So our work is ever ongoing because these people may be in the minority, but they are loud and persistent. The new rep for Oregon's 5th district may be a Latina, but she mentioned parents in her ads which is the buzz word for what I have described. She didn't win by a lot, so I am hoping that will temper what she does.
I hear you. Both women (Kristy Noem, MTG, and Lauren Boebert and Sarah Palin) and people of other races (Oregon's new 5th district Rep and Herschel Walker) can be just as bad as Caucasians. All the increases in both signifies is that there's less discrimination, which is good, but there's nothing good about electing the MTGs and Boeberts of the world. And may Walker be soundly defeated in the runoff.
The school board infiltration is nationwide and a signature move throughout history when the far right is trying to work their magic. We kicked some of the crazies off this go round. Less noisy that way.
This is where people really need to pay attention. Fortunately, we have several in the Salem community who are on this and keep us all informed. One goes into enemy territory and videos from her car.
I do too. The national Ds put very little into this which didn't help. Then Schrader decided to be a poor loser and spoke against Jamie and did not campaign for her. I suspect he was busy behind the scenes undermining her. He also supported Machine Gun Betsy who is no moderate either. I consider well and truly just as ass.
Something that has stuck in my head ever since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 and the astonishing and lasting impact that the survivors have had on the national stage ever since: the activist students credited both their civics education and the school's theater program. Not only did they know their stuff, they were able to perform it for a dauntingly large and diverse audience. Add writing and communications tech to the mix and you've got most of the tools a citizen activist of any age needs.
Yes, and after learnng about it in the classroom, the emphasis should include the physical act of going to vote. As a retired teacher, I believe very strongly in developing habits in children, so if I were still teaching, I'd have them walk from the classroom to a "polling" location in the school to cast their votes. (actually, some schools do this.)
This practice should be required by each grade so when the kids become of age, it's normal for them to learn about the candidates then go to the polls to cast their vote.
Education is certainly important, civics in particular. But it's also important to know who the educators are. "True history" is different in Texas and Massachusetts, for example.
The white right knows how important education is. That's why it's putting such effort into skewing the curriculum in their favor. I can guess what a state-approved civics curriculum would look like in Texas or Florida or South Dakota, for instance -- not pretty.
The ability to get pregnant ... and all the systems that are in place and not in place, directly affect women's progress. For example, any laws that inhibit their access to birth control at any level (day-after pill to later term abortion when needed and chosen by her), and all systems that feed into unaffordable childcare and choices to work part-time for less pay, and take on fewer leadership roles because of lack of good childcare and loss of experience early on, etc., all of these things are only being overcome to any degree in situations where access to good medical healthcare and mental healthcare are readily available, i.e., women are getting to live longer lives and finally get their chances to lead and create and contribute to other than the home and children. Ever wonder why more women are depressed, anxious and neurotic? Trying to make sense of what is going on and what is keeping them down would sure do the trick there. And, just incidentally, add to that that any woman who worked fewer years outside the home and worked for less because of her roles and gender, receives less Social Security with which to support herself and her goals. I could go on and on ... As a high intelligence specialist and writer, I can tell you that many "late bloomers" are simply intelligent people who were able to finally throw off their shackles! And yes, that includes more than women, but the largest number of oppressed people anywhere is female. And denial of abortion, control of her own body, and affordable childcare is all so directly related that you KNOW dark money is not unaware of that. Keep them poor, keep them uneducated, keep them willing to scrape for any income at all and you can get rich off it. No one reads this, right? When I write, I always consider if anyone would hold it against me, and I almost always don't care. It needs to be said.
Yes. Well said. Margaret Sanger knew some of this too. I would add that our insistence on holding to gender expectations, hinder women as well, since not only do they limit women's expression of their entire humanity, but so many women comply and don't even know enough to question. Oppression often is most effective because many of those oppressed internalize the messages about their own inferiority.
I absolutely agree!, Deborah. I am personally acquainted with many examples of the ongoing problems you very accurately discussed. Until more women are in positions of making the decisions for themselves and others, change will be slow.
Good morning, And yes, it has been awfully slow for women. With hindsight, of course, I can look back on the heady days of the civil rights movement and see that those of us working and sometimes marching beside the (male) superstars of the movement mostly made coffee and emptied ashtrays. And, of course and not to be too crude this early in the day, we were "available" to serve in other ways. I hope these young women today are learning better. They have the energy, and so did we when 1963 rolled into the late sixties and early seventies. As is so often true in the lives of women I have known, and in the deep mythological underpinnings of the feminine, maybe the journey is slow, the effects cumulative, and the end a more richly layered truth than we could have imagined. The classical symbols of the feminine are creativity and chaos, qualities that pose a threat to those who represent logic and order. And fear breeds oppression and violence. On the other hand, and while I indulge my literary bent, this generation of women and those of us elders who can still manage it, need to get our chaotic, creative selves out to the voting booths and into the trenches. I have no doubt we will prevail, and I have no doubt we will have to keep renewing our lease on this place we occupy.
As an “elderly” liberal male, I am extremely excited to envision folks like you, Dean Robertson, inspiring my two “millennial” daughters and their young, energetic children (the grandest of grandkids) in the struggles of today. Thank you for your efforts.
Us curmudgeonly old broads do occasionally serve a purpose. More often, we just piss people off, so I thank you for your kind words. I think sometimes despairingly that we are dependent on these children, but I have to remember that in 1963, we were an army of children. It's a powerful energy. I am not convinced that it's enough to stop the swell of corporate interests and just the profound amassing of money. The more money on the table, the harder to convince the owners of that money to make changes. But, one of the qualities I share with all the other women on this side of history is that we're so darned angry that we can't stay sad for long. Stay on the bus with us, Paul. We need you and your daughters and your granddaughters.
Yes, Dean, I am right there with you, in age and with two millennial daughters. They both proclaimed they were not having children and that having a man to mess up their space wasn’t in their cards, right now. It will take us women to straighten this planet out and the men who think like we do.
"I have to remember that in 1963, we were an army of children. It's a powerful energy."
Yes, we were, Dean, and we accomplished so much, if not immediately then ultimately. It is painful to see so much being wrested away now, which is why a new army of children (with the support of us old folks) is necessary to regain the grounds we won.
I truly love the words...”get our chaotic, creative selves” into the voting process. As a senior, encouraging other seniors to jump into the process, that phrase suits me to the soul.
I agree with what you said, but you stated what I assume to be a learned assumption that I want to point out. You wrote, "The classical symbols of the feminine are creativity and chaos, qualities that pose a threat to those who represent logic and order." I will counter that creativity, chaos, logic and order can reside in men, women, and definitely within one person.
Why point this out? Because your assumption assigns a dichotomy between men and women to be part of the natural order. While biologically (mostly) true, emotionally and intellectually the natural order is men WITH women, not men vs. women. (Admittedly, that's more my sense and hope and not a blind conviction.)
The political progress being discussed here is also progress in dismantling the hierarchical and too- often adversarial roles assigned to women and men. It is worth celebrating and encouraging.
Hi, Jerry, I agree with you on all points. I didn't intend to assign roles nor to make assumptions about human nature, male and/or female. And, of course, all those qualities can and almost always do reside in all of us. Again, what I was writing about wasn't my assumptions at all. I was writing about the ancient mythologies from every culture I've ever studied that do assign those symbolic qualities to the masculine and the feminine. They aren't, even in those stories, intended to refer to individual men or women. They are sort of the western version of the yin and yang. I hope I'm being a little clearer in what I'm saying. And, as you point out, the goal is a union of the two. In the old stories that union is symbolized in the sacred marriage. I'm afraid It's instinct with me to go to those deep symbolic roots as a way of thinking about our current political struggles. There's no need to "counter" what I've written because I think we agree on nearly everything. As for the "political progress being discussed," :I think I have a pretty good grip on it, and I celebrate it every day. I've been around long enough--probably too long--to be able to see the long road behind us.
While I think I understand your point, the whole idea of yin and yang, or masculine and feminine still contributes to a false dichotomy. Although if would be impossible, I would like to rid our language of "masculine" and "feminine" and find alternatives that don't refer to our biology but instead are descriptive of whatever characteristic we're focusing on. I ask my students what comes to mind when they think of "cat". Never do they come up with their biological sex. Instead they may say four footed, furry, meows, various fur colors, hunters etc. It's only when I ask specifically what they know about the differences between male and female cats, do they turn their focus to that. In our human world, the first thing that we think about and emphasize often is whether a person is male or female, and we're off to the races with filling in the blanks. I suppose some of this is about evolution and that we need to focus there for reproductive purposes, but when do we also stop filling in the blanks? When we only know a person's sex, the only thing we know for sure about that person is their potential role in reproduction. All other descriptors are filling in the blank.
Hi, J.Nol, you make some interesting observations here. They get me thinking, always a plus. Count on a teacher! I have two replies. First, and most important, I am not making any point. I was sharing information about ancient western cultures and their stories, usually their creation myths. As for my analogy of the yin and yang symbol, it's exactly the opposite of a dichotomy. It's a circle that consists of two halves, one white, one black, that flow uninterrupted into each other with no edges or straight lines of division or demarcation. It is a visual representation of exactly what I think you're describing as the ideal.
I so agree with you. We aren't "opposite", just different in some ways, but we all, both women and men fall on an continuum, where we often share characteristics. It's time we stopped dichotomizing the sexes. It's time we stopped celebrating extreme masculinity or femininity as the optimum. Both are detrimental to the individual and society. In this way we might have a chance to come together and see each other as human.
1. Men unabashedly fondling / raping / and bullying women, then Trump making it a disgusting public show, and people that I'd known and loved (all republicans) shrugged and voted for that monster that wants nothing more than money and power.
2. Republican's (not my) Supreme Court overturning of Roe Vs Wade, and supporting Trump and his lunacy
3. Jan 6th
All these and more, crossed the line in what we can no longer collectively accept. I didn't want to write a thesis, so did not elaborate on these points, but I think you get it.
And so far back before Trump. The early sixties again and the heroes of the whole shebang--The line of Kennedy men--John, Robert, Ted-- and Martin Luther King--were notorious for their exploitation of women. Do you know, I'm almost embarrassed to admit it after all these years, but I can't read about or see a photograph of Marilyn Monroe without crying. And I don't mean lady-like damp eyes. I'm talking heaving, snot-running sobs. I think she carries, in her story, all the vulnerability I can't ever quite face in my own. And on that note, this old broad is going to prepare the fort for the arrival of a 7 year old.
I'm so proud to be on this team! My first critical commitment to politics was in 1972 when as a senior in college I worked to help get Pat Schroeder elected to the House in Colorado! We haven't stopped fighting nor will we ever stop!
Me, too, Cynthia, and it's a good thing we won't stop fighting because it's possible that we might be in this battle close to forever. As a woman, and especially a woman with a child, I am an expert in the long haul. I was in labor for 12 hours. We can wait. We can breathe deeply, We can read the signs that tell us when to push and when to let go.
Well, Evelyn, we may be finally returning to where "we" once were. According to an article on early North American democracies in the November 5, 2022 Science News [www.sciencenews.org] women have likely been at the core of some of the earliest democracies in North America dating back 1500 to 3000 years. Anthropologists and archaeologists have conspired to unearth evidence of Muskogee Nation (Southeastern USA near current Atlanta) and Haudenosaunee (Northeastern USA) clans assembling "to reach collective decisions about various community issues." Membership in clans "was inherited through the female line and were - and still are - the social glue holding together Wendat (Huron) and Haudenosaunee politics together...Clans controlled seats on confederacy councils...but decisions hinged on negotiation and consensus." "Benjamin Franklin learned about Haudenosaunee politics during the 1740s and 1750s as colonists tried to establish treaties with the [Wendat & Haudenosaunee] confederacy.""Colonists took select political ideas from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy without grasping its underlying cultural framework...The US Constitution stresses individual freedoms, whereas the Indigenous system addressed collective responsibilities to manage the land, water, animals and people."
John, your comment just snapped into perspective for me the basic tension of the gun argument. With the appallingly regular number of mass shooting incidents, we in the U.S. have tipped over from " a few bad apples" or " isolated insanity" to a raging public health crisis. The collective responsibilty of the indigenous system comes to the fore and trumps arguments for individual freedom to carry ( which I do not think the 2nd Amendment means anyway. We actually don't even have an Amendment that protects an unfettered right to carry at all, IMHO ). At this juncture of a public health epidemic the common good has to be the lens through which we look.
JohnM, therein lies the difference between a progressive mindset, which addresses the common good, and a MAGA mindset, which wants to vilify it and foment hatred.
There is now a profile of mass shooters based on research by
Peterson and Densely, whose book was published in the 2021, The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic,
"Peterson: There’s this really consistent pathway. Early childhood trauma seems to be the foundation, whether violence in the home, sexual assault, parental suicides, extreme bullying, followed by a build toward hopelessness, despair, isolation, self-loathing, oftentimes rejection from peers. That turns into a really identifiable crisis point where they’re acting differently. Sometimes they have previous suicide attempts.
What’s different from traditional suicide is that the self-hate turns against a group. They start asking themselves, “Whose fault is this?” Is it a racial group or women or a religious group, or is it my classmates? The hate turns outward. There’s also this quest for fame and notoriety.,"
Question: if the Resolution has already passed in the House, can the Senate take it up in 2023? One more action that both Houses of Congress should take during this Lame Duck period!
Women! One of the issues I marched for in the late 60s & early 70s. Getting somewhere. It’s taking longer than we had hoped.
I was there too.
Glacially slow progress in politics and worse in business because of lack of adequate childcare legislation and the still very present old boys network and outright sexual predation which we so euphemistically called sexual harassment 50 years ago.
I think there can only be rapid change in society when a tipping point is reached in representation in government both in demographics and in those seeking equality and justicce for all. Unfortunately the Lauren Boebert's of the world don't help reach that tipping point.
Re “tipping points”; education, especially in civics, is crucial. Our public education system is an interesting place to focus
Democrats might consider an all out effort to emphasize the importance of voting to all children throughout their K-12 experience and at the same time encourage their interest in the process by which their lives are governed
In this way, diversity has the opportunity to blossom
Yes, indeed. And add some other elements. Start with a clearer picture of American history and how our government (should) function.
And then, introduce automatic voter registration in high school as the culmination of your important effort.
YES. We really need to reintroduce civics education in our schools.
Ellen you make an excellent point! A large contingent of American voters haven’t got a clue as to how government works. For example…they vote out an incompetent President and leave all his sycophantic followers in office who stymie the efforts of the newly elected President. Why…because many couldn’t bring themselves to vote for members of the opposition party or they don’t realize that the President alone doesn’t run the Country? Of course it doesn’t help when a substantial number of voters don’t even bother to show up because they don’t think, care or know that their votes do matter! Worse yet…do they understand the concept of a Democracy and what’s required to maintain it??
I can only speak for Minnesota. We have civics strands throughout our K-12 standards. Of course, how well those standards are covered in depth varies between districts. We need to make sure that education in all areas stresses more than answers to multiple choice questions!
I was thinking the very same thing, Ellen. Truthful history must be the law of the land.
I’d agree, but “truthful” history” is in the eye of the beholder. “Balanced” is my preferred adjective.
Most heartily agree
It wouldn't hurt to make election day a national holiday.
I worked an election center in LA County. On Election Day, a very gregarious Black man came in announcing "Forget Juneteenth. Election Day needs to be national holiday." We high-fived; he voted, then said "The Ancestors would be proud." Much to celebrate on Election Day, albeit acknowledging there's still work to be done.
♥️
I think that horse has left the barn. With a greater acceptance of absentee ballots and early voting, election day is no more than the final day for counting. I recently found out that my 42 year old daughter, who has voted in every major election since 18 years old, has never voted on election day, nor been to a polling booth. She, and her husband, have done mail-in balloting ever since being an out-of-state college student.
I registered to vote while I was in high school in 1976. It was in a civics class. All eligible seniors in the class had the opportunity to register to vote. (You know, because...civics) I was so proud of myself that I’d registered.
Yes, for instance the "1619 Project" supported by, among others, the New York Times, which was histrionically rejected among conservatives, and was the subject of legislation in a number of mostly Southern states. See also "CRT" and "Don't Say Gay" and book censorship in a number of states and communities. How can we get to "a clearer picture," if the politicians in the pockets of white suprematists don't want students to see it?
Kids Voting has been around since 1988. My boys’ school in Buffalo was a participant and an official polling place. I also took them with me to vote in every election. It’s a great educational tool.
https://www.kidsvotingusa.org/
Having your children at least observe their parents voting and contemplating/discussing that vote, whether at a polling place or at home , as we do in my home state of Wa., is good for the whole family! Thanks, as always, for the many contributions from HCR's readers. She has done more than write letters. I dare say she has touched hearts and minds! Many thanks to you, Heather Cox Richardson
This can start by attending School Board meetings and electing School Board members who agree!
Unfortunately, our local school board (Salem/Keizer in Oregon)has had to return to virtual meetings because of the behavior at the in person meetings. A petition was circulating to recall three progressive members of the board, but this time it failed to get enough signatures, but these folks are not going away. Another board in the Portland area just went virtual again because of behavior at in person meetings. So our work is ever ongoing because these people may be in the minority, but they are loud and persistent. The new rep for Oregon's 5th district may be a Latina, but she mentioned parents in her ads which is the buzz word for what I have described. She didn't win by a lot, so I am hoping that will temper what she does.
I hear you. Both women (Kristy Noem, MTG, and Lauren Boebert and Sarah Palin) and people of other races (Oregon's new 5th district Rep and Herschel Walker) can be just as bad as Caucasians. All the increases in both signifies is that there's less discrimination, which is good, but there's nothing good about electing the MTGs and Boeberts of the world. And may Walker be soundly defeated in the runoff.
The school board infiltration is nationwide and a signature move throughout history when the far right is trying to work their magic. We kicked some of the crazies off this go round. Less noisy that way.
This is where people really need to pay attention. Fortunately, we have several in the Salem community who are on this and keep us all informed. One goes into enemy territory and videos from her car.
I'm glad they have the option of meeting safely.
CD5 has been jerked around over and over again over the years.
I have high hopes that Jamie McLeod-Skinner will make another run for office.
I do too. The national Ds put very little into this which didn't help. Then Schrader decided to be a poor loser and spoke against Jamie and did not campaign for her. I suspect he was busy behind the scenes undermining her. He also supported Machine Gun Betsy who is no moderate either. I consider well and truly just as ass.
Exactly. These decisions are made at the local School Board level.
Something that has stuck in my head ever since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 and the astonishing and lasting impact that the survivors have had on the national stage ever since: the activist students credited both their civics education and the school's theater program. Not only did they know their stuff, they were able to perform it for a dauntingly large and diverse audience. Add writing and communications tech to the mix and you've got most of the tools a citizen activist of any age needs.
Yes, and after learnng about it in the classroom, the emphasis should include the physical act of going to vote. As a retired teacher, I believe very strongly in developing habits in children, so if I were still teaching, I'd have them walk from the classroom to a "polling" location in the school to cast their votes. (actually, some schools do this.)
This practice should be required by each grade so when the kids become of age, it's normal for them to learn about the candidates then go to the polls to cast their vote.
My mother took me with her when she voted. But a lot of parents can't do that, so, yes, the schools should do as you say.
Dave, agree 100%...should begin in kindergarden!!!!
Education is certainly important, civics in particular. But it's also important to know who the educators are. "True history" is different in Texas and Massachusetts, for example.
The white right knows how important education is. That's why it's putting such effort into skewing the curriculum in their favor. I can guess what a state-approved civics curriculum would look like in Texas or Florida or South Dakota, for instance -- not pretty.
The ability to get pregnant ... and all the systems that are in place and not in place, directly affect women's progress. For example, any laws that inhibit their access to birth control at any level (day-after pill to later term abortion when needed and chosen by her), and all systems that feed into unaffordable childcare and choices to work part-time for less pay, and take on fewer leadership roles because of lack of good childcare and loss of experience early on, etc., all of these things are only being overcome to any degree in situations where access to good medical healthcare and mental healthcare are readily available, i.e., women are getting to live longer lives and finally get their chances to lead and create and contribute to other than the home and children. Ever wonder why more women are depressed, anxious and neurotic? Trying to make sense of what is going on and what is keeping them down would sure do the trick there. And, just incidentally, add to that that any woman who worked fewer years outside the home and worked for less because of her roles and gender, receives less Social Security with which to support herself and her goals. I could go on and on ... As a high intelligence specialist and writer, I can tell you that many "late bloomers" are simply intelligent people who were able to finally throw off their shackles! And yes, that includes more than women, but the largest number of oppressed people anywhere is female. And denial of abortion, control of her own body, and affordable childcare is all so directly related that you KNOW dark money is not unaware of that. Keep them poor, keep them uneducated, keep them willing to scrape for any income at all and you can get rich off it. No one reads this, right? When I write, I always consider if anyone would hold it against me, and I almost always don't care. It needs to be said.
Yes. Well said. Margaret Sanger knew some of this too. I would add that our insistence on holding to gender expectations, hinder women as well, since not only do they limit women's expression of their entire humanity, but so many women comply and don't even know enough to question. Oppression often is most effective because many of those oppressed internalize the messages about their own inferiority.
Excellent overview of the elements of women's repression in America. Thank you.
I absolutely agree!, Deborah. I am personally acquainted with many examples of the ongoing problems you very accurately discussed. Until more women are in positions of making the decisions for themselves and others, change will be slow.
We have read you. I thank you for your many faceted input!
Or the Gnome in South Dakota for another example of a very bad apple.
Good morning, And yes, it has been awfully slow for women. With hindsight, of course, I can look back on the heady days of the civil rights movement and see that those of us working and sometimes marching beside the (male) superstars of the movement mostly made coffee and emptied ashtrays. And, of course and not to be too crude this early in the day, we were "available" to serve in other ways. I hope these young women today are learning better. They have the energy, and so did we when 1963 rolled into the late sixties and early seventies. As is so often true in the lives of women I have known, and in the deep mythological underpinnings of the feminine, maybe the journey is slow, the effects cumulative, and the end a more richly layered truth than we could have imagined. The classical symbols of the feminine are creativity and chaos, qualities that pose a threat to those who represent logic and order. And fear breeds oppression and violence. On the other hand, and while I indulge my literary bent, this generation of women and those of us elders who can still manage it, need to get our chaotic, creative selves out to the voting booths and into the trenches. I have no doubt we will prevail, and I have no doubt we will have to keep renewing our lease on this place we occupy.
As an “elderly” liberal male, I am extremely excited to envision folks like you, Dean Robertson, inspiring my two “millennial” daughters and their young, energetic children (the grandest of grandkids) in the struggles of today. Thank you for your efforts.
Us curmudgeonly old broads do occasionally serve a purpose. More often, we just piss people off, so I thank you for your kind words. I think sometimes despairingly that we are dependent on these children, but I have to remember that in 1963, we were an army of children. It's a powerful energy. I am not convinced that it's enough to stop the swell of corporate interests and just the profound amassing of money. The more money on the table, the harder to convince the owners of that money to make changes. But, one of the qualities I share with all the other women on this side of history is that we're so darned angry that we can't stay sad for long. Stay on the bus with us, Paul. We need you and your daughters and your granddaughters.
Yes, Dean, I am right there with you, in age and with two millennial daughters. They both proclaimed they were not having children and that having a man to mess up their space wasn’t in their cards, right now. It will take us women to straighten this planet out and the men who think like we do.
Don’t kid yourself, Dean, you serve a Giant Purpose, and I thank you for your Curmudgeon!
"I have to remember that in 1963, we were an army of children. It's a powerful energy."
Yes, we were, Dean, and we accomplished so much, if not immediately then ultimately. It is painful to see so much being wrested away now, which is why a new army of children (with the support of us old folks) is necessary to regain the grounds we won.
And many of us... oddly, most especially in areas considered "red" are back to fight again.
💞
I truly love the words...”get our chaotic, creative selves” into the voting process. As a senior, encouraging other seniors to jump into the process, that phrase suits me to the soul.
I agree with what you said, but you stated what I assume to be a learned assumption that I want to point out. You wrote, "The classical symbols of the feminine are creativity and chaos, qualities that pose a threat to those who represent logic and order." I will counter that creativity, chaos, logic and order can reside in men, women, and definitely within one person.
Why point this out? Because your assumption assigns a dichotomy between men and women to be part of the natural order. While biologically (mostly) true, emotionally and intellectually the natural order is men WITH women, not men vs. women. (Admittedly, that's more my sense and hope and not a blind conviction.)
The political progress being discussed here is also progress in dismantling the hierarchical and too- often adversarial roles assigned to women and men. It is worth celebrating and encouraging.
Hi, Jerry, I agree with you on all points. I didn't intend to assign roles nor to make assumptions about human nature, male and/or female. And, of course, all those qualities can and almost always do reside in all of us. Again, what I was writing about wasn't my assumptions at all. I was writing about the ancient mythologies from every culture I've ever studied that do assign those symbolic qualities to the masculine and the feminine. They aren't, even in those stories, intended to refer to individual men or women. They are sort of the western version of the yin and yang. I hope I'm being a little clearer in what I'm saying. And, as you point out, the goal is a union of the two. In the old stories that union is symbolized in the sacred marriage. I'm afraid It's instinct with me to go to those deep symbolic roots as a way of thinking about our current political struggles. There's no need to "counter" what I've written because I think we agree on nearly everything. As for the "political progress being discussed," :I think I have a pretty good grip on it, and I celebrate it every day. I've been around long enough--probably too long--to be able to see the long road behind us.
While I think I understand your point, the whole idea of yin and yang, or masculine and feminine still contributes to a false dichotomy. Although if would be impossible, I would like to rid our language of "masculine" and "feminine" and find alternatives that don't refer to our biology but instead are descriptive of whatever characteristic we're focusing on. I ask my students what comes to mind when they think of "cat". Never do they come up with their biological sex. Instead they may say four footed, furry, meows, various fur colors, hunters etc. It's only when I ask specifically what they know about the differences between male and female cats, do they turn their focus to that. In our human world, the first thing that we think about and emphasize often is whether a person is male or female, and we're off to the races with filling in the blanks. I suppose some of this is about evolution and that we need to focus there for reproductive purposes, but when do we also stop filling in the blanks? When we only know a person's sex, the only thing we know for sure about that person is their potential role in reproduction. All other descriptors are filling in the blank.
And thank you, by the way, for keeping a dialogue going. It really is one of the joys of this place
Now that I'm really old, memories of childhood are clearer and this discussion brings to mind the round wooden puzzles that were new in the 1960s. The pieces were all similar but different, made of wood, but all different shapes and sizes and integrated in the completed puzzle. All comparisons eventually break down, but this is how the human population looks to me today. Each piece is necessary to make the whole. And we are three dimensional (actually more). https://www.fruugo.pt/3d-wooden-puzzles-iq-challenge-brain-teaser-lock-logic-intellectual-educational-toy-jigsaw-puzzle-removing-assembling-cube/p-65744640-132382761?language=en&ac=ProductCasterAPI&gclid=CjwKCAiA68ebBhB-EiwALVC-NrLM50Xto--w9X11jArqmqto4flS_PpRMao5hRs6iX5IgNKjw8DWpBoCGLEQAvD_BwE#
Hi, J.Nol, you make some interesting observations here. They get me thinking, always a plus. Count on a teacher! I have two replies. First, and most important, I am not making any point. I was sharing information about ancient western cultures and their stories, usually their creation myths. As for my analogy of the yin and yang symbol, it's exactly the opposite of a dichotomy. It's a circle that consists of two halves, one white, one black, that flow uninterrupted into each other with no edges or straight lines of division or demarcation. It is a visual representation of exactly what I think you're describing as the ideal.
I so agree with you. We aren't "opposite", just different in some ways, but we all, both women and men fall on an continuum, where we often share characteristics. It's time we stopped dichotomizing the sexes. It's time we stopped celebrating extreme masculinity or femininity as the optimum. Both are detrimental to the individual and society. In this way we might have a chance to come together and see each other as human.
Well said, Dean”more richly layered truth” indeed!
❤️”renewing our lease”
I too was there, and I think:
1. Men unabashedly fondling / raping / and bullying women, then Trump making it a disgusting public show, and people that I'd known and loved (all republicans) shrugged and voted for that monster that wants nothing more than money and power.
2. Republican's (not my) Supreme Court overturning of Roe Vs Wade, and supporting Trump and his lunacy
3. Jan 6th
All these and more, crossed the line in what we can no longer collectively accept. I didn't want to write a thesis, so did not elaborate on these points, but I think you get it.
And so far back before Trump. The early sixties again and the heroes of the whole shebang--The line of Kennedy men--John, Robert, Ted-- and Martin Luther King--were notorious for their exploitation of women. Do you know, I'm almost embarrassed to admit it after all these years, but I can't read about or see a photograph of Marilyn Monroe without crying. And I don't mean lady-like damp eyes. I'm talking heaving, snot-running sobs. I think she carries, in her story, all the vulnerability I can't ever quite face in my own. And on that note, this old broad is going to prepare the fort for the arrival of a 7 year old.
I agree with you, there are still times I cry when I think of my 11 year old self at the hands of sick men.
I love your beautifully tender statement, " I think she carries, in her story, all the vulnerability I can't ever quite face in my own."
Here's a hug from me to all women who have suffered
And still we persist. Quite remarkable.
I so agree with you!
I'm so proud to be on this team! My first critical commitment to politics was in 1972 when as a senior in college I worked to help get Pat Schroeder elected to the House in Colorado! We haven't stopped fighting nor will we ever stop!
You go girl! 💕👏🏼👍🏻🏆 Tell Polis it’s time to activate Colorado’s red flag law on Gun Control or step aside.
Yes! Long overdue!!
Me, too, Cynthia, and it's a good thing we won't stop fighting because it's possible that we might be in this battle close to forever. As a woman, and especially a woman with a child, I am an expert in the long haul. I was in labor for 12 hours. We can wait. We can breathe deeply, We can read the signs that tell us when to push and when to let go.
Well, Evelyn, we may be finally returning to where "we" once were. According to an article on early North American democracies in the November 5, 2022 Science News [www.sciencenews.org] women have likely been at the core of some of the earliest democracies in North America dating back 1500 to 3000 years. Anthropologists and archaeologists have conspired to unearth evidence of Muskogee Nation (Southeastern USA near current Atlanta) and Haudenosaunee (Northeastern USA) clans assembling "to reach collective decisions about various community issues." Membership in clans "was inherited through the female line and were - and still are - the social glue holding together Wendat (Huron) and Haudenosaunee politics together...Clans controlled seats on confederacy councils...but decisions hinged on negotiation and consensus." "Benjamin Franklin learned about Haudenosaunee politics during the 1740s and 1750s as colonists tried to establish treaties with the [Wendat & Haudenosaunee] confederacy.""Colonists took select political ideas from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy without grasping its underlying cultural framework...The US Constitution stresses individual freedoms, whereas the Indigenous system addressed collective responsibilities to manage the land, water, animals and people."
John, your comment just snapped into perspective for me the basic tension of the gun argument. With the appallingly regular number of mass shooting incidents, we in the U.S. have tipped over from " a few bad apples" or " isolated insanity" to a raging public health crisis. The collective responsibilty of the indigenous system comes to the fore and trumps arguments for individual freedom to carry ( which I do not think the 2nd Amendment means anyway. We actually don't even have an Amendment that protects an unfettered right to carry at all, IMHO ). At this juncture of a public health epidemic the common good has to be the lens through which we look.
Thank you.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/democracy-indigenous-americans-people-rule-muscogee
JohnM thanks for the link
"collective responsibilities"
JohnM, therein lies the difference between a progressive mindset, which addresses the common good, and a MAGA mindset, which wants to vilify it and foment hatred.
There is now a profile of mass shooters based on research by
Peterson and Densely, whose book was published in the 2021, The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic,
"Peterson: There’s this really consistent pathway. Early childhood trauma seems to be the foundation, whether violence in the home, sexual assault, parental suicides, extreme bullying, followed by a build toward hopelessness, despair, isolation, self-loathing, oftentimes rejection from peers. That turns into a really identifiable crisis point where they’re acting differently. Sometimes they have previous suicide attempts.
What’s different from traditional suicide is that the self-hate turns against a group. They start asking themselves, “Whose fault is this?” Is it a racial group or women or a religious group, or is it my classmates? The hate turns outward. There’s also this quest for fame and notoriety.,"
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/27/stopping-mass-shooters-q-a-00035762
Truly - nearly 300 years from first settlement to women even being allowed to vote!
But shorter than never!!!
Thank you, Evelyn, for your dedication to the cause!!
I was there too. It's about time!
True!
Question: if the Resolution has already passed in the House, can the Senate take it up in 2023? One more action that both Houses of Congress should take during this Lame Duck period!
Can the Vice President re-introduce the ERA?
Try Civil discourse podcasts with Joyce Vance on Substack?
https://joycevance.substack.com/