Georgia Republicans... The Politicians that want to Crush the Poor, the Injured, and the Working Poor(Used to be called The Middle Class)...

Congress is on vacation for the month of August, which I don't understand, I mean... haven't they been on vacation all year?  Anyway, the Senators, the Congressmen... they all go "home" to their constituents for "Town Hall" meetings so they can talk a bunch of rhetoric to the sheep, so they can peddle their poop for cash and votes for their next terms.  Saxby Chambliss comes to Athens, does he have a "Town Hall"?  No, of course not... he's a coward, he goes to the Rotary Club, a place where everyone believes what he believes and just adores him.

While Chambliss is at his Love-In, he tells the Rotary Club about his "New Bill".  Now, a little background, he is for shutting down the Government if the Affordable Care Act and the Pre-Existing Healthcare Bill isn't repealed, and he is as all the other Republicans in Washington a part of separating the Farm Bill from the Food Stamp Program, which of course was pushed through...the Republicans own the House, so they can get that much closer to their goal of de-funding the Food Stamp Program.  We have people working full time and not making enough money to buy food, gas to get to work, and insurance... and if you are like hundreds of thousands of people like myself, that have Pre-Existing conditions.  Many of whom, like myself, have that condition due to an accident or illness, it's not like we purposely put ourselves in a situation to have conditions.  So, these people who are now the majority, we used to be called Middle Class...now, just the working poor can look forward to a September that might strip us of our food and insurance.  Thank you Senator Chambliss.

There are a lot of misconceptions about the Affordable Healthcare Act and the PICP(Pre-Existing Insurance), and they want it that way.  PCIP is not Medicaid, you have to PAY for it and PAY your deductible.  Nobody is giving you anything, except Insurance which is vital to our survival.  The Affordable Healthcare Act is the name of the new Healthcare reform, not Obamacare.  The penalty for not getting insurance is $96.00, if you get insurance and you are the working poor, the government reimburses you in your Income Tax Check for your fee and deductibles.  Faux News didn't tell you that, did they?

The deal here is that Big Business has been getting away with not taking care of their people, they hire 3rd Party Providers that can lie...lie...lie and you lose your job because you got hurt, or sick.  Or, they work you 36 hours, this is to step in on Big Business and make them do the right thing.  Now, speaking of Big Business back to the Senator.  He, the man on his website saying he's for the people of Georgia...yeah, is going into Washington in September with a bill to provide Big Business with a Federally Funded Firewall.  No, I'm not kidding.  He wants to take your money, and give more of it to Big Business by creating and maintaining Federal Firewall protection for Big Corporations that have been hacked, so that they can discreetly go to the Government without disclosing to you that your information has or may have been compromised by Hackers and the government will provide them with Federal Encryption Firewall protection.  This is the truth. Republicans have been behind funding all the bailouts and the banks...Trillions of dollars towards Big Business.  Like the huge corporations that hedge their money in countries that have little to no Capital Gains Tax and then go poor mouthing to the government saying that they can't access their funds because the taxes are too high and they can't hire new people, blah...blah...the things they have to say so that when the masses hear about it, they can rest easy that these gigantic wealthy companies are only paying 5% of what we pay because they are going to create jobs.

Where are these jobs?  Where I live, my county, and the surrounding 3 counties have no Department of Labor, they are shut down.  Yes, honestly... there is no place you can go to be referred to permanent employment.  If you came here at my age with my largely accomplished resume, not beating my own drum, just saying that I have a long history of Management in Administrative and more, so I'm an accomplished and driven individual that has spent most of my life coaching and developing, pushing for success for my companies, you will not find a job.  Drugstores, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores...won't hire you(that's what's available here, unless you know someone).  But, I didn't need to tell you that, the fact that there is no DOL in 4 counties, now I could be wrong...it may only be 3 counties.

So, it comes down to this.  I'm not a "Party Person", I'm not bashing the Republicans because I'm a Democrat, it's because they want us to be poor, they want "1984", they don't want women, black, or brown to stand up and stand out.  They don't care if we starve, die of treatable diseases or sleep on the street...they just want to say NO TO ANYTHING THE PRESIDENT PROPOSES.  Shut down the government, really?  If they don't like the Healthcare Bill, form a Bipartisan Committee and create one that would work for the benefit of all American's and it's new immigrants.  Leave PCIP and Foodstamps alone.  Until we have jobs, or until we have jobs that pay living wages, we need to eat and those of us who can't get insurance the "old fashioned way", let us pay for our insurance and let us get the care we need!  Big Business is called Big Business for a reason, they HAVE A LOT OF MONEY, THEY DON'T NEED ANYMORE OF OURS!!!  Let them take care of their own Firewalls, bills, and decisions.  But, since they have taken much to much liberty, THEY DO NEED BABYSITTERS!  Feel me?    

My Home... My Heart... My Neverending Question...Why Hath Thy Forsaken Detroit?

                               "Beautiful" - My Beautiful Detroit, My Home...
I hear on the news day after day about my home, they talk about her like some distant land that our country cares nothing about, because there is nothing in it for them... They forget that the progress of our country was literally "Forged" on her beautiful back.  From industry, cars, music, sports, arts, and my heart...

Hollywood has always to my disgust, portrayed Detroit as a city you go to war to be on vacation from(Three Kings)...or fire and mayhem(Mars Attacks)... and on and on.  I am a Detroiter, and I'm damned proud of it!  I was born in Detroit and lived the majority of my adult life in her arms.  I went to College at CCS behind the breathtakingly beautiful Detroit Institute of Arts, all my childhood, every Christmas, my pictures with Santa at Hudson's.  I spent my middle school years downtown at Trapper's Alley, Greektown, and the Renaissance Center in awe of the beautifully crafted two person paper dragon kites.

I went to her Dally in the Alleys...her Taste Fests...her Brew Ha-Has...her Blues Festivals in Heart Plaza, and George Clinton's free concerts at Cheyenne Park.  I spent the boat races on blankets on Belle Isle and wandered her beautiful Arboretum, and drove slowly through the night while the deer walked up to your car.

I spent many nights at Rock 'n Bowl at the Magic Stick and saw Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker at the Majestic...home grown bands at the Old Miami.  I wandered her streets and marveled at her exquisite architecture, from the Book Tower Building's fresco ceiling to the Incredible Courthouse...and yes, I walked!

From child to young adulthood, I hardly ever missed a home game at TIGER STADIUM, where in 1984 we won the World Series(one of my good friend's step-father was Kirk Gibson). Going to the Red Wings games at the Joe Louis Arena, my cousin being a HUGE fan got a signed stick from my "Uncle Vic" who was a bartender at the Olympia Room forever...I remember our back to back Stanley's and the HUGE Parade on our 1st win, every street was full of people walking with our kids, friends, and families, the Pistons "Dream Team" or "Bad Boys" whichever you chose(Isiah Thomas, John Salley, Dennis "The Worm" Rodman and Adrian Dantley).

She still lives, she still breathes, she still has Detroiter's, she still has us!   Families who built futures from the sweat, work, and resilience that was her.  I am the granddaughter of a Polish immigrant who was raised in a Catholic orphanage during the depression to become one of the catalysts behind the birth of the UAW(representation for worker's safety, for wages worked, health care and security for a family if the husband was injured on the job) and voted in to be Chief Union Steward of the Chrysler Mound Plant, worked as the Tool Room Supervisor and eventually one of the Plant Electricians.  This great man, who came with nothing, had nothing, became the model of the American dream.  He build his own home for his wife and two daughters and sent them both to college.  In Detroit, the city he loved...in America, the greatest country in the world, he felt...where anything is possible.  For both of those reasons, I'm glad he's gone and not here to see his city, his hard work and livelihood crushed...and his city, my city, our city...used as a synonym for CRAP.

With just what I have listed here, which is nothing compared to what she has contributed to this country, I ask...Oh why have we forsaken her?

An Addendum to The Insurance Company and the Corporate Congress, The Truth of "Obama Care" from the mouth of an Insurance Agent...

There is more to know...

50 states have chosen to "Opt Out" of the Affordable Health Care option in their states, the majority of those states are what are commonly called "Red States".  This means that the state has chosen not to chose a pool of low cost insurance options for you to chose from, as well as those on Medicare who would have been given significantly higher coverage, as well as more choices as to who, what, and where your care is coming from.  Not to mention the coverage options.  This means the Federal Government will have to do it, and there will not be as much given to those who have lower means, retirees, those with pre-existing conditions, and small businesses.
Take a look at what this is doing....http://ara.typepad.com/blog/2012/07/southern-governors-buck-medicaid-expansion-will-leave-poor-uninsured.html

Want to see who isn't going to be participating....http://www.advisory.com/Daily-Briefing/2012/11/09/MedicaidMap

Get educated... the people working on health care reform and trying to make sure everyone has access to care don't have time to do commercials and commentaries, but the other half do.  Know what the Affordable Health Care Act is, look at what the "Red" side is doing for our predecessors, my mom... your mom... your grandparents!  They don't want to include them... oh, yes Social Security and Medicare is putting us in debt, it's not the war, or the fact that multi-million dollar corporations don't have to pay taxes!  Go on Hulu, watch some documentaries about the government by a bipartisan film maker, read that first link, investigate then write to your congressmen.  This isn't just them... people that aren't us, this is going to be us.  Educate yourself, you don't have to agree with me.  But at least know what is really happening!

The Insurance Company and the Corporate Congress, The Truth of "Obama Care" from the mouth of an Insurance Agent...

In today's society, we don't have news... we have entertainment shows that dress up like news and use someone else's hard footwork, expense, and true unbiased information to dress up like a "News Cast", when in fact it's just commentary.  A soap box to stand on the work of a REAL journalist and spread bias and create fear to further an agenda, an agenda that makes sure to keep people separate, ignorant, and angry. 

One perfect example is the Blank "News" Channel and it's mates talking about "Obama Care".  I spoke with an Insurance Agent who was trying to convince me why it's such a bad thing.  He said that in a recent mass meeting they were informed about what the bill entitled and the logistics including the costs.  Now, I'm not sure why he told me this information as a platform to support the Insurance status quo.  I suppose that people with high income and company provided insurance might agree, but I still really don't see how, since they wouldn't be effected and it is illogical when you have the FACTS.  So when I asked him about people with pre-existing conditions(me being one of those people)he told me that if I needed a CAT Scan I could just pay for one.  The last CT Scan I priced, before the Pre-Existing Health Insurance Plan, was $2,000.00.  Do you have a liquid $2,000.00, you know, just to throw around?  So, here it is, the TRUTH...

Under the Affordable Care Act(I'm going to use a family of four example for this)for a family of four, two parents mid-forties, children are fourteen and twelve, the cost of their PRIVATE health insurance is $20,000.00 per year which is $400 per person monthly $1,600 a month total.  Holy Crap!  I can't afford that with my deductible!  My husband/wife/partner and I don't make that much!  Well, what you are not told is that you who can't afford that, those that fall under the yearly earnings which is, and I'm sorry I forgot what that number is, but it's quite realistic, you get a check for $12,000.00 plus at tax time with your refund, or at refund time you are given a refund check for the total of your deductible payments for the year.  So, a family of four is paying $8,000.00 per year for PRIVATE insurance which is $160 per person at $660.00 per month and your deductibles are refunded back to you.  If you are under the average yearly earnings that I was talking about the insurance is less than that.  They have tiers based on a families Net earnings, not Gross!(what you actually get paid, not before they take the taxes out).  Also, you know that BIG PENALTY THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO CHARGE YOU FOR NOT HAVING INSURANCE...guess what they are going TO CHARGE YOU $96.00!(or $98.00 I wrote it down and can't find it).

So, all this talk and Tea Party yelling is this.  The Government is simply putting it's foot down on the Insurance Companies and Doctors that have wrought this upon themselves by the unprecedented, substantially extravagant pay for service abuse.  And, to also make available insurance to those like me, which has to be in the millions, who have pre-existing conditions.  The fact that there was never an option in the first place is unconscionable.  I fell and broke my neck and due to mistakes and malfeasance, I am permanently damaged and the company I worked for used unethical means to wrongfully terminate me, Oh....sorry, you have a pre-existing condition, we "can't" insure you so, forgive me... but since there are so many people I know that have pre-existing conditions, or don't have insurance because it is impossible to pay for and there is no tier by income options...I don't see anyone coming up with a better solution.

In closing, I want to say that this is not Obamacare, this is called the Affordable Care Act written by Congress not the President, it passed by votes that go through the House and Senate like every other bill.  Be informed, not propagandized... research, read, and act.  If you don't like this bill, don't form a protest with hateful signs, call names like "All Democrats are Communists", yell and swear...on both sides!!  Create a think tank and come up with ideas to bring to the Government, the problems are apparent, but I see no one having a rally with signs of solutions.  I am not a "Party" person, and I feel that both sides are a mess, so it's up to us to bring ideas to the career politicians that have lost their vision and commitment to their constituents.  Because after the Supreme Court ruling January 2010, "Citizen's United" was passed.  That means that Corporations can raise unlimited funds(anonymously) to support or bash a Candidate, whether it be U.S. Representative or a Senator, and it gives them the same rights as people.  In plain terms multi-billion dollar corporations are considered "The People".  I wonder who our Senators are voting for?

We all Deserve Dignity....

As a human being with decent morals, good manners, a friendly demeanor, and
an all around decent way of treating all people, I deserve to be treated respectfully.  Even when a person is rude or just all around nasty, like that man who verbally attacked me on Election Day, I do my best to "handle" them in a respectful manner.  I can't help but wonder what all this "profiling"  is about.

What happened to the gratitude of our grandparents, or great grandparents?  My grandfather imigrated here from Poland as well as my grandmother.  My grandfather lost his mother not long after they fled to this country and as a 9 year old child alone on the streets of Detroit/Hamtramck was taken in by a Catholic orphanage.  He was well educated and taken care of, he became the head of maintenance at the Mound Rd. Chrysler Engine plant, as well as worked to create the UAW(my grandfather was born in 1908), and became the Chief Union Steward for his plant. 

He built his own big(in the standard of the day) brick house with the help of his multi-ethic friends.  He was never a man that believed color or creed made the person...only their character, he believed this was the greatest Country in the world...a place where a poor lost orphan child amidst the "Great Depression", could grow up to be a prosperous person, fight for what you believe in and make a change in this great nation, and all people of character were equal.  I'm glad he died when I was 6 years old.  I loved him more than I even knew how...and so did everyone whose life he touched.  When he died they had to close down one of the largest roads in Detroit because there were over 500 cars trying to find parking to get to the Funeral Home and church.  He inspired people and challenged them to be better, he raised his two daughters (one born in 1937, and my mother 1944) to strive for the best, telling them they could do anything a man could do and more, he sent them both to college, and my Aunt and Mother are both Master Degreed in double majors.  My Aunt, Latin and Art History and my Mother,  French and European History....both with undergrads in Education and my Mother double majored in her undergrad so she had Business as well.  My grandfather helped my mother with the creation of the Union in her District (teacher's), by getting the support of the UAW and their presence at their creation as well as their striking for implementation. 

You see, the Union is not the Devil... it was created, in the case of the UAW in Detroit, for safety standards, fair wage and hours, because these men were being worked sometimes 22 hours with no safety standards and not being compensated for their full hours worked.  And, when a man that was on his 20th hour got his finger caught in the line and ripped from his hand, he was docked for the line shut down, and time missed.  In the case of the Teachers, men were being paid double what their female counterparts were being paid and in most cases, like my mother, the women had higher education.  Also, women had to wear skirts and heels and could not wear slacks, they were constantly harassed, they would lose their job if they had to be out to deliver a child, AND the Administration was dictating the ciriculum, not the educators.  Administrators were educated in business and finance they had no education background.  So, students weren't receiving the benefit of an education dictated by educators that knew what was inherently important to obtaining the best and most comprehensive education possible.  Now you understand why I'm glad he's gone... for the state of this Country today would have killed his beautiful spirit.
 
There are still Unions out there that still work for their people, there are still people of character, but the possibility of coming from nothing and attaining success is increasingly harder to find.  I know for me, there hasn't been any opportunities...with a rich resume full of important and skillful knowledge, I can't get hired at a gas station as a cashier.  I also find that I become a doorman if I hold a door for someone instead of letting it smash them in the face.  No thank you's, no attempt to take the door themselves, in fact I've had men walk in behind someone I'm holding the door for....like I said, a doorman.

We are better than this aren't we?  I think we are.  What do you think?

Politics Mean Nothing When the People and Pets You Love are Gone...

Zion: 11/00-11/12

In the last week, I've been accosted by people that look at me and make up their minds as to who I am, what I believe, and what kind of person that makes me... in regards to the election.  I am a proud voter, there are people dying for that ability as we speak.  I however, lost my best friend of 12 years the Friday before the election and picked up his remains on the day of the election(after voting).  I will say, it took the wind out of my sails and I flatly walked into my voting location and cast my ballot without the excitement I always feel when I vote.  That feeling that I am a part of change and shouting my beliefs across the country... I felt nothing this time.

I'd been hammered on consistently by people, some even as to go as far as looking me up and down, when I refused to discuss my vote at my mother's place of business, and told that "You liberals need to go find yourselves another country to live in!!".  I realized that other than a knee jerk reaction to slap this man in the face for speaking to me that way, I didn't care.  All that mattered is that I lost the most precious loving gift I have ever been given...and I would never again be able to rub my face in his belly fur, or kiss his little face.  This brought up my decade of loss.  My father, my aunt, my cousin/sister, my sister, my niece, my grandmother, my son, and my best friend and constant companion of twelve years.  No... my sister, niece, and son are not dead, but they are gone and I've suffered the loss.  Mourning the death of our relationship and love, the ability to see them, touch them, hold them, laugh with them.  

These things have made me realize that the most important things in life are what you recieve from those you love, the wonderful traits of kindness, gentleness, unconditional love, patience, and more...and when they are gone, you take those loving gifts given without pretense or condition and you carry them into the world and give them back.  

On NPR yesterday I heard a Republican politician say that new wave feminism shouldn't exist anymore because we are holding a majority in politics now.  Instinctually, as I felt with that man, I wanted to scream...instead I laughed. I laughed because I realized how blind people are, how uninformed and selfish.  That the majority of politics and the "society" I'm surrounded with currently are so immersed in themselves and their agendas, they don't and can't see the bigger picture.  The bigger picture being that women aren't safe in any respect, that the need for feminism is as important now as ever.  Our wages aren't equal to our male counterparts and anyone that would like to argue that, do your research.  I don't mean go to FOX News, I mean really research put the time in to find out the truth that you would if it concerned your paycheck and then we can dialog.  Because, I have done my research and I've also lived it most of my adult life.  Also, women's health issues are again... and yes, I will continue to repeat myself on this, are up for legislation.  Do you see any bills for employers having the right to decide whether or not to provide coverage for a vasectomy, or cutting funding for prostate screenings and the like?  No, you don't.

But, in light of all of this loss and my aching heart, I'm not angry.  I'm determined.  I will use the gifts given to me by those I was fortunate to be loved by... especially my Zion, because he was truly the embodiment of all I aspire to be; kind, gentle, loving, unconditionally understanding, loyal, giving, and empathetic with a completely unjudgmental and peaceful knowingness that as humans, we are capable of attrocities and capable of justifying them as well.  So, with those beautiful gifts, I will approach, I will stand, I will continue to push forward, to educate people in an empathetic, peaceful, and understanding way...and not feed ignorance with anger.  I will try dilligently, to stand unjudgementally nose to nose with those who don't care, because they believe it doesn't affect them and explain calmly and with care how and why it does.

Do I believe I will fail, fall on my face, get angry?  Of course, I'm not lucky enough to be Zion... but, I will continue to try, brush myself off, find my peace, and walk on with this mission, my ambission, and the gifts of those who left before me. 

Our Duty to Ourselves and Our Brothers and Sisters

Tomorrow represents one of the greatest responsibilities we have as people of this nation.  Is also a privilege we have that other countries of the world do not have.  As a woman, I know that it is a precarious thing for me... people will tell you that when the Constitution says man it's just symantics and women are also included, do not fall for that tired lie.  When it comes to government and law, there is no such thing as symantics.  Women are not covered by the Constitution, we have State by State legislation.  If we were covered under the Constitution they could not legislate our bodies, our insurance coverage, etc.  You don't ever hear discussions about not covering vasectomies, or cutting out prostate exams.  So ladies and the men who love them, remember WE have to work together to make a change in this country.  I'm tired of the status quo, that's just not good enough, we've been asleep at the wheel to long and let our liberties slip out of our hands.  We are now a nation that can ask, "Let me see your papers"!  Is that what we want?  I know that if we vote and if we shout with a UNITED voice, "We want jobs, equal pay for equal work, fair and impartial immigration laws, and a MIDDLE CLASS"!!! Government will have no choice but to listen. 
Let your voices be heard.... I'm a 47%-er and I Matter!!!

Love with a Passion...

I think my last post had a negative tone, almost scolding... I realized that a few days ago.  I've been going through more than just my painful physical deficits, my rescue cat, a sweet old girl passed away... my eleven year old dog is all of a sudden been afflicted with excruciating hip pain, stomach issues, and skin wounds due to his licking his hips and legs thinking that will help.  I haven't slept a full night in at least two weeks and have an energy crisis.  I'm immersed in fear at loss... I've lost so many I've loved, to death, to ego, to I don't know what.  I found that I was reaching and grabbing not only to hard, but squeezing and with a negative tone and energy that isn't conducive to dialog, open or otherwise.
I want to apologize for my tone and my bad energy, believe me when I say that it wasn't out of anything but the desperation to be connected to someone and to have love in all it's forms in my life.  I live a life alone, which would be alright if I had friends(close by).  I live a life without kindness, or contact.  I live a life of utter solitude, if it weren't for my animals I would have no contact of any kind.  Losing Ingrid and now my Zion my sweet dog, one I've had for eleven years, since he was a baby is in constant pain...something I'd hoped we'd never share.  So, I suppose I put it onto you to fill that void... and not kindly.  I am sorry for my tone, and  my content.
However, I love with  a passion and am passionately trying to empassion others.  I listen to NPR and hear things like Senators saying things like, "I am going to make abortion illegal even in the event of rape, because God chose to have that child born."  How could anyone not have a gut, repellant reaction to something so horrifiying as that?  How could we not have some kind of dialog about the abhorant nature of the act of rape and to force a woman to carry and birth a product of something so unthinkable.  As a woman, I have been barraged with such enormous force during this election as to what our "true" place is in this country as it pertains to government and big business.  Women have not evolved in our society.  Even those of you who have been asleep and bought what you've been fed can no longer possibly deny the vast gorge between women's rights and men's.  The broad sweeping statements like, "...so that women can safely miss work to care for a sick child...." should shock and offend men and women alike.  What about the stay at home fathers or the single fathers or just plain ole' fathers?  As a single mother, I never missed a day of work, and because of being a single mother...a woman I wasn't paid as much as my male counterparts. How do I know?  I did the payroll amongst the various other responsibilities I was plied with that my male co-workers, who earned more than I, were not.  But, as I was saying, not only did I not miss work, I had to work two jobs and never was able to even use my vacation time. 
So, listening to where we really stand today, my hope is that there is a mass awakening in women....young, old, and in between, as well as men, all men...because you love the women in your life and can't imagine your daughter being violated, then either having to face a tribunal to determine whether or not she is allowed to have a "termination" or not even given a choice and at 15 or even 25, and forceably and legally made to carry to term and give birth to a child born of rape.  Rape, not being a physical and sexual assault....but a violation so horrific that it forever changes you.  It's as if a piece of your soul, your innermost, precious, sacred place has been stolen from.  It extinquishes a light and makes you feel as an asexual being, in fact worse, it makes you fear or even hate one of your most precious and sacred piece of yourself.  Your vagina, your womb, your lotus, the divine...the place of life, the place of the sacred feminine.  As a woman your vagina, your uterus, the womb means so many things and those are as unique and deeply personal as you and your mind; thoughts and feelings.  Yes, many of us heal and call ourselves survivors, and we are, we are no longer  the victim, but that sacredness that feeling of security and sanctity has been permanently damaged and can never be truly whole again.  Why do you think Bosnian women were subjected to rape camps and not just murdered as the men?  It's because of what I just described, death is death, but true torture and the breaking of the incredibly rock hard resilience of a woman's soul is accomplished only through rape or the murder/killing of the child born of choice of a woman.  With reprocussions of that nature to women, to demean the experience by defining it in the aforementioned legalese is just as grotesque as the process these politicians propose if they allow it at all.            
Now you see a portion of my passion and my desperation for connection, for dialog, and for community.  Please pardon the use of this ridiculous label, the world is starting to come to rest on the shoulders of our generation...Generation X.  If we don't start using all this technology for good purpose, dialog, community, connection, and a catalyst for change, peril is a charitable word for our future.
So again, I humbly ask you to subscribe, to connect, and to make this a revolutionary blog, a blog of humanity and discourse.  A place where we can unprogram phrases like, "different race"...and to put faces to ethnicities, minorities, and disabilities.  A place where we can talk real talk and brainstorm solutions that can realistically be implemented to show that programs, legislation, and more are workable and can be pushed into government with the force of a generation.
Please, help me change this country, our country, it's a mess and on a downward spiral...if you've agreed with nothing else I've written....I think we can all agree on that! 
I love you all, friend...stranger...accquaintance... you are all my brothers and sisters, because we bleed the same and we are hemmoraging.  Let's not put a Band-Aid on a bullet wound as been the case for so long, lets create a bond that nothing can tear, together.

Reaching Out to The Faceless Masses...

I find it amazing that this beautiful sky finds it's way over all of us... the wind in the trees, the leaves turning and falling, the cycles of everything, as people; birth, bonding, assertion, groping, growing, stumbling, falling, learning, becoming more in tune with your world as age comes upon you, aging, growing old, and death.  As the cyclical world, the organic and the real, not the technological inorganic unfeeling world; birth, bonding, growth, instinct, growing, family/reproduction, aging, wisdom, grace, and death.

I look at our natural world, animals, plants, flowers, trees, sunsets, mountains, stars... and the unseen, the wind, the way the light changes subtly as fall comes, and see and feel the graceful cyclical peace.  The unbroken chain of interdependence of each and every thing and I feel the squeezing in my chest at the clear and untarnished purity and unspoken intertwining of all, and grasp for the affinity of our natural world in my own world of ignorance, hatred, bigotry, lies, selfishness, carelessness, and oh, so much more.

We have technology, and we abuse it.  It's used for hateful "comments", "tirades of hate", and all of the execution of cowards safely tucked away behind their computers.  Instead of incorporating this into our world in a natural and cyclical way by using it to communicate in a way that would inspire change and inform those who are uninformed, we continue to remain silent.  If we don't remain silent, we speak only of ourselves and indulge our egos in a gross and one sided manner.  Very few blogs invite dialog, a "Here, here"... or a "You are so right!" comment (moderated for only those that will stroke that monologue ego) are the majority.

It makes me sad looking at this beautiful sunset and thinking how many of us missed it.  It makes me sad that with an election coming up with so many enormous issues on the board, there is no articulate dialog.  Most of all I am sad that when I started this blog, I thought, "This can be our coffee house, our place to speak"...yet it remains silent.  I had really hoped that with all of the enlightened and intelligent people this has been sent to, not one person has had an issue to bring to the table or a discussion/topic to raise.  It makes me think I should just go back to Facebook and put up "Happy face, hiding behind the mask" status updates... at least people had input there.

I am truly hoping that if I keep writing and keep asking someone will step up and be brave enough to say what they are really thinking.... The sun will continue to rise and set and the natural world will continue to fluidly coincide, unfortunately I can't say the same for us.  We are on a fast track to the destruction of all that we hold sacred.  We have already lost our Constitution, how much more are we willing to lose before we start talking about a solution, because dear ones, the solution lies within us.  We are the ones that are to take up the torch and we aren't doing much in that direction.

In love and hope....

I am Strong... I am Invincible...

Ladies... I'm still waiting for you to join in, men... I'm waiting for you to share your experiences and ask the questions you feel you can't ask without looking like a "sissy".

We are all capable of reaching understanding, but we've got to dialog... Let's work together!

Come on Ladies and Gentlemen(the feminist movement isn't just for women) Let's get a dialog going!!

Okay... Let me get you started with some more recent literature, something that you can not only relate to, but also put into a practical context.

   ManifestA: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future
Written by: Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards

   Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism
Written by:  Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards

   http://bitchmagazine.org/blogs  

Yes I know... it uses the "B" word, however, in a non-vulgar way.  A "feminist response to pop culture"* and a reclamation of that invective word used to belittle women as no more than dogs.  But, if you sign up for an online account(doesn't cost money), you are in for a wealth of reading suggestions of contemporary literature that is relevant to both sexes, news, information, as well as a nudge in the direction of topics to help you delve into a dialog.

This blog isn't my blog, it's our blog... you don't like my challenge topic, bring me another.  It's all about communication, community, action, and a free and frank exchange of information.  This, I hope is a door that I've thrown wide open for intelligent discussion of the aforementioned.  I can write all day about myself and my opinions, but I don't want to do that... I want us to do that.  I want to hear your stories and struggles, I want to know what you know(as I am always evolving and ever open to new information), I want to help answer questions.  Help, I say that because I am hoping for a community to grow here that is a safe-haven for those with questions and those with answers.  

I'd love for someone to give me a challenge or share their opinions... keep in mind, this is a safe space, opinions are an invitation to loving, informed response.  Attacks are unwelcome, and anyone who willfully attacks someone will find themselves booted out the open door, which will remain open to everyone aside from them.  So, do not be afraid to speak as long as we all remember the old adage, "Treat people the way you want to be treated" and all will be copacetic.

I apologize for the Public Service Announcement, unfortunately with the birth of technology came the birth of unmerited ugliness.  In my "Feminist 101" post I hit on that very topic... when I was growing up we didn't have computers or cellphones, even when I was in college.  When you spoke, you spoke to someone face to face, thus thinking before speaking so you didn't find yourself on the floor.  Technology has brought us good, yet it has been detrimental in the social sphere.  As one can say the most deplorable things hidden safely behind there computer screens in cyberspace.  So, for that... I felt I must make my "Public Service Announcement".

With that out of the way... let's go!!!  Bring it on with the dialog!
We Can Do It!!!!

                       

*The name of the print and web publication is "bitch feminist response to pop culture" 

A Challenge from Me to You...

We can make the world shake... try it, and comment.  Let's have a real dialog.

Feminism in a Text Message Culture

Sitting in a cafe drinking a cup of dark roast with a fresh oxblood Moleskine notebook, I am a journal junkie, and a retractable pencil.  Creation for me, is an extension of myself, it's  personal, I must bleed on to the page and once I achieve that emotive place only then can I place it in the impersonal computer for the function of edit, grammar, and fact checking.  I delve into the depths of Feminism in today's culture.  Immediately I am distracted, what I thought had gone by the wayside... the spoken of, but rarely seen, phenomena of two young women, sitting together.  Tables peppered through the coffee shop,  topped with double non-fat soy mocha lattes manicured finger nails, and boutique clothes.  Bringing to mind an episode of “Sex and the City”, a bit cliché, yet hopeful for this cynical thirty eight year old woman.  A cockeyed picture of my youth... manicures, boutique couture, and $5.oo coffees replaced jump boots, purple patent vinyl pants with matching hair, 75 cent dark roast, cigarettes, and not a stick of deodorant between us.  Although, I notice rather than chatter and impassioned raised voices, I hear clicking, tapping, tweeting, beeping, and giggling.  But not a word spoken between these young women.  As their lattes became cold and curdled, they were enraptured in their phones.  Sitting across from one another texting on their Blackberrys, iPhones, Androids, etc. to anonymous parties, young men undoubtedly from the blushing, giggling, and squealing on the other end of their endless clicking, tapping, tweeting, and beeping apparati. 

Us at that age, were  unwashed, hyper-involved, hopelessly dressed, and poor.  Gathered at grungy couched, smoke filled, independently owned coffee shops(before the behemoths ate most of the local failed musician turned coffee house proprietor)to argue over politics, to organize a protest to protest a protest and the like.  Them, the clean, sanitized, mindless technological automatons, safely texting their “best friend” to inform her that;  "she acted like drunken dirty slut, who had embarrassed her at the “cute guy's”.  Oh, and by the way, do everyone a favor and get a fucking wax if she's going to show it all over someone's apartment".  That tirade and infraction will be forgiven by ten o'clock that night because nobody cared, not even the young woman being text messaged such hateful and abusive language, from a "sister", a person called "friend".

Thus the fundamental “element” of our culture of today, NO ONE TALKS!  No one writes, no one reads books-the paper kind, and most importantly no one relates, no one bonds.  Women sit across from each other as props, (god forbid you go someplace alone) not as a catalyst for political change with the free and frank exchanges of views spoken with other like minded women, hell, even unlike minded women.  Communication of this age, this culture, has been reduced to: wt r u doing later:-), @ Stbuks w KT <3, Hook up @ 6;-)... and on and on.

I have a twenty year old son who hasn't spoken to me on the phone, freely,  since he got one.  You can call him thirteen times in a row and no answer, text him and you get and instantaneous reply in some kind of mutant short hand that takes Cherokee code breakers to decipher.  This immanently brought me to my opinion of the reason for the state of disconnect with feminism and the younger generation. 

These young women, teenagers, and girls all with cell phones and computers have no essential relation to not only the world around them, but to the other women around them.  There is nothing elemental in this Text Message Culture.  The elemental I refer to, is the experience of natural human relation, the free flowing deeply primal essence of physically and emotionally bonding with other people.  Missing this essential and vital piece of emotive social growth is creating a society of young people without the desire to make a change, endeavor to relate, and a obvious detachment to humanity.

That being said, this technological progress has also managed to course into the vein of society as a whole.  All age groups are being infected with this “technology torpor”.  To my shock and dismay, I have found my mother has been “communicating” with friends via email for at least three years now.  She told me that that ninety percent of the women she fought side by side with in the early years have succumbed to the apathetic allure of email over emoting.  I was flabbergasted, my mother has always been my hero.  My mother was, is, and always will be a feminist activist.  As a second wave feminist, my mother was involved in the lawsuits that became the “Pregnancy Discrimination Act” of 1978, I happened to be involved(I claim feminism via in utero).  A call to arms in forming the Michigan Teachers Union, in which my grandfather a chief Union steward for the UAW supported and cajoled the UAW to become involved in it's development.  People calling our home with death threats against my mother.  I remember being small walking or should I say riding(stroller) picket lines with signs.  My mother fought, and it all started with groups of women talking and relating to their feelings of being left behind, demoralized by objectification in the workplace, and so much more.  So imagine my surprise when my mother compliantly went into the good night without so much as a picket or a poster, but what choice did she have when all of her friends were lost in cyberspace.

If this is happening to our predecessors, imagine how lost the majority of us are.  I was raised the way of the warrior spirit, taught the value of community, and thus fought the computer, at home, until 2007.  I have a television set connected to a receiver that is accessorized with a DVD player, a VCR, a dual cassette player, and a record player, however not a cable box or satellite dish to be found.  Growing up, it was reading, playing games, playing music, listening to music, create, write, daydream... and daydream big, but most of all DO!!  Most of the people I know think I'm stuck in the land before time, I prefer to think of it as the land of real time.  Not fast forward, instant gratification, take life for granted time.  Which brings us to the Fundamentals of Our Survival in a Text Message Culture.

Women were once the most revered and powerful entities on the planet.  We were worshiped as Venus', the goddess of fertility.  Our ability to create life and our ability to come together as a communal tribal counsel and “run” villages, create marketable goods that bartered with other tribes to keep everything stocked and orderly.  We were not only goddesses, but counsel and community.  We, as women, also revered one another as sacred sisters.  We raised each others children, taught each each other weaving, pottery, and other skills and passed them down to our younger generations.  The advent of organized religion were scared of the power women had over “government” and the reverence that was had for our abilities to not just create life , but to see the grays in a world that men saw only as black and white.  Hunt, fuck, and fight, then off into the good night for months at a time. 

Something had to be done to render us powerless and harmless to men in government.  They could not wage wars when we didn't meet with the minds of men.  Thus, organized religion put us in our place.  We were to cover our faces, look down when walking, not talk to men, unless of course our husband permitted it, as we were now property that was to submit not without question, the end of our counsels and community.  We began the downward spiral into “evil” and “dirty” creatures.  Cast off to exile during menstruation because what was the essence of creation became the “vile sin” we were to suffer for our role as temptress leading man into temptation.  When women dared to gather together, for in our core we were from the beginning meant to commune, and would inevitably succumb to our elemental desire to experience the kindred spirit only another woman can offer, we were covens.  Witches, that were unholy and casting spells upon people creating illness and strife.  To end with torture and death by burning.  Or branded as whores and made to live the life of a scarlet woman.
During those primitive times, the violence was a show for all to see.  Today it is hidden by the media, dumbed down by government language, sanitized for mass consumption and fed to us like baby food through our computers, iPhones, and television sets.

However, the only reason WE as women can own iPhones of our own, computers, televisions, and apartments to live in complacency, is our predecessors.  The 1st wave feminists and a big war started the ongoing fight for our true and solid places as heads of government and community leaders and the idea that one day the ignorance and fear that branded us as “less than” will wash away with the return of the hurricane of free and frank exchanges of ideas in government and at coffee shops. 

Link to A Wealth of Feminist History...

http://www.marxists.org/archive/index.htm

At the top left of the page it gives you topics, select Feminists.  There is a plethora of articles about Suffragettes and Feminists.  It is worth your time to read these articles...it's a wealth of invaluable information.  Remember, we learn from our history, if we don't know our history we don't know our direction.

I Want To Know, When Was the Last Time You...

...sat with a girlfriend and talked about politics, religion, rebellion, action, activism, maybe even your vagina, and nothing about men?  Think about that young women, my generation women(Gen X- looking at coming closer to 40), any women... I mean really think about that. I know that I adore my neighbor and her two daughters 6 and 8, they are potential "Bitch Queens".  
Oh, you ask yourselves... who does this bitch think she is?  Hmmm, why do WE use that word that men slap our faces with to degrade us by calling us dogs?  You see, I believe in what "Bitch Magazine", one of the best grassroots feminist zines in the country...but I digress ,  I will get back to that later.  A "Bitch Queen" is a woman that knows what she is, what she wants, where her value lies... and it's not on her back.  It's a woman that has taken that word back and used it to empower herself.  I am striving to be a "Bitch Queen" myself... I just have to get over that; men always end up in my conversations with other women.  No, I don't want to be a man hater... they have their place in my life, I even love one...because he's as flawed as me but is striving to evolve.  He would never call me names, he doesn't belittle my sex as a female he celebrates it.  You see what I mean now ladies... they end up in the conversation at all times.  Why?  We are intelligent, evolved women, we take action, we participate in activism, and do what we need to do, to get the truth out to other sleeping women.  So, why do they end up in the conversation every time?  There is so much to talk about, so much that needs to be discussed, a plan made to open a dialog between us and the next younger generation that need our knowledge and our love of self... to help them become "Bitch Queens".  Not second rate, unsure, clingy, follow the heard young women, but 1st rate royalty.  They need to know that are Queens, perfect in their creation no matter what body size, facial dynamics, type of hair, teeth... not what the mass media, run by men want us to be.  Junkie skinny, long shiny(airbrushed hair), full lips, perfect teeth, large breasts... and balance it all on really high heels.  Yet, WE the 3rd wave are still finding that at coffee men are always a topic and sadly the longest topic discussed.
"Bitch Queen" isn't my only goal, far from it... we are really in trouble with our movement.  I want to change the status quo... I want to go back to our roots, I want to relearn all that was taught and passed on to me by my mother, the 1st and the 2nd wave, the feminists that CHANGED the world and shook up the masses.  I want to go back and relearn all about the beginnings.  Because if we don't know our history, how can we hope to do anything but blog and complain, then when we gather our topic tapers down to the flickering candle of our love lives, lack of, or whatever the case may be... that also applies to our lesbian sisters who invariably do the same thing...
Yes, we do need to talk to our closest friends about problems in the relationship, or our poor choices, or our desire to have a partner.  I don't deny that, that is an important aspect of our lives.  But, why when we have the chance to go back to our roots and discuss what our predecessors did to get out the word and shake up the masses and MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN, do we use that time to talk about our relationship problems?  There is a time and a place for everything. I want to be a "Bitch Queen", a liberator of other women here and abroad, and I want us to review the ERA, make the needed revisions to help another targeted minority(which is bringing us quickly into a communist, police state - finishing off what the Patriot Act started), and all they want is the same treatment extended to every one of our relatives or maybe even ourselves, in becoming American citizens.  I want to be enough(know that I have done everything I can, and continue on new territory whenever any injustice pops up), and I want to educate the upcoming 4th wave or there won't be one.  Let's start reading, let's go back to our roots...read!  I read  "To be Young was Very Heaven"...about the suffragette movement, pre-WWI, it tells us what to do, and also what not to do so that we don't divide, to learn from their mistakes and build a strong 3rd wave movement so that we can pass on a legacy as my mother did and I'm sure some of your mothers did as well.  Let's build a community, a solidarity stronger than the women who came before us.  We have all the tools we need in books written by women in the time of the suffragette, in the time of the 2nd wave, let's read them and learn and create a solidarity that the world has never seen.  Let us use the technology we have to band together and talk about how we can MAKE OUR MARK and pass it on to the next generation so that there will be a 4th wave that has been born of the effort of our work to bond the tears in the structure of feminism as it stands today.
Lets learn to put our phones away and not text at the table when we talk, lets make groups that go over the literature of our predecessors and brain storm over how to mend the weak spots that divided both the 1st and 2nd wave without ending up talking about our love lives, let us commune using the technology at our disposal to create plans to push through the issues that were never succeeded before, let us come up with a way to condense our information and agendas and take it out to the streets, to the Internet, to and support, the grassroots publications that tell the truth without having to dumb down the information because of the publishers and the advertisers.
See how much there is to talk about other than men/our love lives, when we are lucky enough to have a group of women together!  We can save our love lives for phone conversations with our best friends.
1.)  "To Be Young Was Very Heaven - Women in New York Before the First World War"
Sandra L. Adickes
2.)http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/woman_suffrage/woman_suffrage.html
3.) http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/topics/women/highlights.html
4.) "Women Who Dare: Women of the Suffrage Movement"
By Evelyn Sinclair and Janice E. Ruth
5.)  "With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman's Right to Vote"
by Ann Bausum
6.)  "Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists"
By Jean H. Baker
7.)  "Century of Struggle: The Woman's Rights Movement in the United States"
By Eleanor Flexner and Ellen Fitzpatrick
8.)  "Feminism and Suffrage: The Emergence of an Independent Women's Movement in America, 1848-1869"
By Ellen Carol Dubois
9.)  http://bitchmagazine.org/
There's a start... women let's utilize the time we have and make a statement, our love lives are a part of what happens when we become true women by doing the work we were commissioned to do.  And then we can make the turn into "Bitch Queens".  We will really have the lives we want, and everyone everyone deserves, if we don't rest on our laurels. The rest will fall into place naturally, because we will have built a structure that  we and the 4th wave can smoothly lay out an action plan when something new comes down the pipe, as it will surely always do, and we can watch them find the weaknesses in our solution... smile and be proud.

What's a woman gotta do to have everything??

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.

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!