I am currently writing an article for a Women's magazine, an off the chart in your face feminist response to pop culture... cross your fingers they take the pitch and buy it. While writing this article, I've done a lot of research about 1st, 2nd, and 3rd wave feminism.
We have fought and continue to fight the good fight, however it seems that the 3rd wave is drowning in the ocean of what should be the 4th. Technology has replaced relationships, social media and media-media has pitted the unwitting younger progeny against one another vying for the eye of the GQ guy. Telling the younger women of today the story of yesteryear...
I can't help but wonder, are we going backwards? Can't a woman of today have it all? The career, the house/apt/loft/cottage, the dog, the cats, the man or woman and not have to go back to the defined roles of my grandparents in 1913?
I have found that a man doesn't care what I think, and if I answer the million dollar question the wrong way I am cast into the sea of "man hating fem-nazi". I was having a lovely phone-ship with a guy that seemed to have it all, a business in a profession he loved, a good sense of humor, sarcasm, and the sophistication of obscure references. Then one Sunday, sitting in my Jeep waiting on my mother to pick up some of my art to take to a shop in another town, I was killing time talking to "Mr. Evolved". He asked me a question that led to feminism and the ERA and he said it was just semantics and we were all covered and I told him that was propaganda made to lull people into complacency that when it says man in the Constitution it means man... he then asked the $4million dollar question. If I had the chance to sit down and talk to 2 people any people who would it be. I prefaced my answer with a too many to say, but at this time in my life it would be Alice Paul and Dorothy Parker. That was a month ago.
Don't kid yourself, we ain't come a long way baby.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Revisiting Some Old Holiday Discussion
A couple of years ago, I was talking to an acquaintance about Christmas. We were discussing the insanity of thought as it revolves around the holidays. We determined, at that point, that red and green stands for blood and money... as he broke into his Christmas rendition of, "It's the most flammable time of the year". Beautiful, is it not.
Yes I do have my spiritual conceptions that revolve around Christmas, although even if you don't, isn't it supposed to be a season of giving of yourself? Right? But look around, it's all about materialism, unreal expectations, the consequent depressions from either not having the money or not having the loved ones to share it with, and it's all mass produced by the machine, the media. They tell us you are only as good as the Lexus you purchased for your partner with the big red ribbon in the driveway on Christmas morning. Ummm, I guess that would imply that the rest of us economically challenged individuals and families are huge piles of steaming shit on those beautifully snow covered driveways. You know why? Because I can't afford a 1980 poo brown Nova for myself, let alone a Lexus for someone else. Can you? And, if you could... would you? Or, would you do the smart thing and keep that money for something that would increase in value so that someday you will have a cushion instead of a car that depreciates the moment you drive the 20 feet to the driveway of the dealership?
Listen people, you don't need a Lexus, a diamond eternity ring, an iPad, or any of those other things to tell the people in your world how special they are. Do it everyday. Make connections with people and nurture them into relationships by the most simple of means. Call, don't text. Send an actual Birthday card NO e-CARDS and follow up with a call. Reach out to the new girl at work and ask her to coffee, then set a day and time and actually do it. Love is not a word, it's an action.
If you believe as I believe celebrate the teacher everyday, if you want to use this one day we are allowed to talk to him without being name called by the world.... DO IT! But, remember, it doesn't take money to do that either. Have a birthday party, make cookies with the people you love, make paper hats, decorate them with sprinkles, sing Christmas songs(badly even), that make you smile. Tell Jesus just how glad you are that he was born, then turn to those that are crazy enough to love you just as you are, and tell them just how glad you are that they were born.
That's Christmas... make love an action. Love all those you can and if you don't have family go make one! There are people like me out there, lonely and friendless in a "new" town and people a lot less fortunate. Go be an angel... help and love a stranger, just because someone loves you.
I challenge you, be an angel not an ass. You don't need all that materialism to volunteer at a soup kitchen, go to a children's hospital and play games or bring toys, go to a women's shelter and give love to a women who doesn't yet know how to love herself. Or, if you're lucky enough to have them, hug your mom, your child/children, spouse/partner, friend, or a total stranger who looks as lost as we have been a time or twenty!
Yes I do have my spiritual conceptions that revolve around Christmas, although even if you don't, isn't it supposed to be a season of giving of yourself? Right? But look around, it's all about materialism, unreal expectations, the consequent depressions from either not having the money or not having the loved ones to share it with, and it's all mass produced by the machine, the media. They tell us you are only as good as the Lexus you purchased for your partner with the big red ribbon in the driveway on Christmas morning. Ummm, I guess that would imply that the rest of us economically challenged individuals and families are huge piles of steaming shit on those beautifully snow covered driveways. You know why? Because I can't afford a 1980 poo brown Nova for myself, let alone a Lexus for someone else. Can you? And, if you could... would you? Or, would you do the smart thing and keep that money for something that would increase in value so that someday you will have a cushion instead of a car that depreciates the moment you drive the 20 feet to the driveway of the dealership?
Listen people, you don't need a Lexus, a diamond eternity ring, an iPad, or any of those other things to tell the people in your world how special they are. Do it everyday. Make connections with people and nurture them into relationships by the most simple of means. Call, don't text. Send an actual Birthday card NO e-CARDS and follow up with a call. Reach out to the new girl at work and ask her to coffee, then set a day and time and actually do it. Love is not a word, it's an action.
If you believe as I believe celebrate the teacher everyday, if you want to use this one day we are allowed to talk to him without being name called by the world.... DO IT! But, remember, it doesn't take money to do that either. Have a birthday party, make cookies with the people you love, make paper hats, decorate them with sprinkles, sing Christmas songs(badly even), that make you smile. Tell Jesus just how glad you are that he was born, then turn to those that are crazy enough to love you just as you are, and tell them just how glad you are that they were born.
That's Christmas... make love an action. Love all those you can and if you don't have family go make one! There are people like me out there, lonely and friendless in a "new" town and people a lot less fortunate. Go be an angel... help and love a stranger, just because someone loves you.
I challenge you, be an angel not an ass. You don't need all that materialism to volunteer at a soup kitchen, go to a children's hospital and play games or bring toys, go to a women's shelter and give love to a women who doesn't yet know how to love herself. Or, if you're lucky enough to have them, hug your mom, your child/children, spouse/partner, friend, or a total stranger who looks as lost as we have been a time or twenty!
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