Tag: women

Walking Toward Race

SAY THEIR NAMES
KNOW JUSTICE,
KNOW PEACE

 Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend my favorite writer’s retreat in Minnesota. I love to walk on the expansive trail and we were offered the chance to collect sap from the many maple trees on the Charlson Meadows property.  We were to be in the foyer by 11am if we were interested in going along.

I did a quick yoga vinyasa after reading for an hour and changed clothes to head out. I stood ready with my coat on at 11am, waiting and wondering if I was the only one taking up the caretaker, Renee’s invitation. I stood there until someone passed through saying she thought they’d already headed out. I bristled a little (what?!) because how had I missed them but headed out anyway to see if I could find them so intrigued was I by the idea of collecting tree sap for eventual syrup. Up and around the trail I traveled quickly only spotting a few heads once far ahead. I felt frustrated that I was missing this small event. I kept replaying how I’d missed them and knew they must have started out earlier than expected. No matter how fast I seemed to be hiking along the windy trail I could not catch up. 


Earlier in the day I’d been reading about caste and my thoughts in a very visceral way connected my trying to catch up, constantly feeling just out of reach, not good enough to get there and linked it to race in America. This is what we’ve done systematically  to my brothers and sisters of color throughout the history of our country. This small instance of feeling a little lost, a little left behind is in no way truly similar to how we’ve actually treated POC but the deep physical connection was made for me once again in that instance. I eventually did catch up to the group and was able to collect syrup but the heavy feeling stayed with me.

The American caste system was created with diligence as a means to dehumanize those enslaved by how they were treated like property and could not be educated in any way. After the Emancipation Proclamation granted freedom we made no attempt to create a balance of equity through housing, education, or quality of life.  Jim Crow laws continued to dehumanize people of color and the rules seemed to change and shift like moving earth continually keeping folk unstable. 

And then this week the Atlanta shooting of 8 people, 6 of those dead are 6 Asian American women which brings to attention almost 4,000 records of hate, discrimination, and harassment incidents against Asian Americans this year brought on by our hate-filled former president who mocked the pandemic and blamed people of Asian descent. You reap what you sow. 

How can we help people of color to catch up? How can we stop hate crimes? Big questions. We have to humanize what was formally dehumanized by our government and by individuals who cannot see past a person’s skin color or race.  I’m always alarmed by how white criminals, like Robert Long and Dylan Roof, are treated with a dignity undeserving of someone who has robbed the lives of other human beings, especially when it is racially motivated. And how can you say it wasn’t racially motivated? It was also a crime against hard-working women. Know their names:

I think we need a department of justice that oversees all crimes that might be race or gender related with specific standards of punishment. It needs to go beyond the local and state because we cannot always trust law enforcement to make the best choices. Thankfully, most people “having a bad day” don’t purchase a gun and proceed to shoot others.  As a white person we have to look at how we are using our privilege. Here is a link to an interactive list of Black/Brown people killed in the U.S. There are far too many names on the list. It should shatter us every day that this takes place. When can people of color be able to feel truly free in this country?


How can we be part of the solution? Tomorrow is a new day. We haven’t corrected the mistakes made in the Breonna Taylor case and America keeps piling on more hate crimes.

What I’m reading: 

 

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson – Yes, this is taking me a long time but it’s not to be rushed

The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller – she won this year’s Newbery Award for When You Trap a Tiger, which I read earlier over break. Both books are excellent!

 

Peaceful Reading…

Small thoughts

It’s cold and rainy here and I miss summer already. I am taking another class which I thought would be easy to fit in but there is more to it and the homework takes a lot of deep thinking. Just like my summer classes though it will push me to be a better teacher.

It is taking me forever to finish Stephen King’s 11/23/62 time-alternating look at Lee Harvey Oswald and the Kennedy assassination. I feel like I’ve been reading it for months now, really just August and September.  Luckily I found a DVD at the public library of the series which helped me when it came time to discuss at book club but I was committed to still finishing the book.  The series with James Franco was very good and I highly recommend it as I do the book-if you don’t want to read an 849-page book though feel free to check out the series. It does stream on Hulu as well.

I have a lot of elementary fiction I need to get back to though as my students are serious readers and are constantly recommending books to me. I have stacks of new books from Follett that I want to bring home and read so I need to finish and move on.

I’m in shock that tomorrow the calendar turns to October, that it is already cold here, and that I have a pumpkin decorating my table. My mindset is still back in the hot days of August. At least we have baseball for a few more weeks. And we have the Cubs!

I’ve watched bits and pieces of the Kavanaugh hearings and am disgusted that he is still very much considered to be a great candidate for our most important court of the land. What a joke. Although when we consider that Trump is not too far from Kavanaugh’s privileged and ridiculous behavior than it all makes some sort of reverse universe sense. If women have any pull in the universe this man will be done and we won’t hear any more from him. Watching the hearings should give us all pause in that we are being led by many old white men set in their chauvinistic ways. We need more women, more young people, more people of varying shades of color.  Pasty old men need to go.  Lindsey Graham and Chuck Grassley-be gone.
And what if in time we can time-travel back to change all of this ala Stephen King-what and how would we change it?

That’s my rant for the weekend. Drink more tea, take care of yourself as the weather changes.

Peaceful Reading…

International Women's Day

The first International Women’s Day was celebrated on March 19, 1911.
This first event included meetings and organized events and was successful in
countries like Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.
The March 19th date was chosen because it commemorated the day that the Prussian King promised to give women the right to vote. He didn’t follow through on his promise and the date was later changed to March 8th in 1913.

In some countries, this is a national holiday and government offices are closed as well as some businesses. It seems that as we continue to push for more equality in this country and around the world that this day would grow in importance. This year the theme is #PressforProgress which combined with the #MeToo and #TimesUp campaigns make it feel like we are getting closer to gender equality.

There are no major events that I know of celebrating this day in my small
area of Iowa so I plan to talk up and celebrate women’s achievements,
set up a book display showcasing strong female leaders and other achievers and celebrate me and other strong role models.




Check and see if your area features any cool
events, International Women’s Day site And read this excellent article from
The Times entitled The New Vanguard that highlights women writers in this century who’ve helped to change and reconstruct our thinking. The first book on the list is

Chimamanda Adichie’s novel Americanah-one of my favorite inspiring reads.



Happy International Women’s Day 2018! I hope this year will truly be a year of spectacular change for humans for as we lift ourselves up men can only become more self-aware.

 Post note: Man-what a day to have weird formatting issues.
I had one 1/2 of another blog post disappear and now this one doesn’t want to make correct paragraphs.
Oh, how I wish blogger saved like a google doc.

Peaceful Reading…

Women's History Month

We still have a few days left in March to celebrate the powerful women that came before us, clearing the way for equal rights (someday we’ll truly get there) because we have come so far.  Groovy Girl and I have been reading Lives of Extraordinary Women; Rulers and Rebels (and what the neighbors thought) by Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt.

Krull’s introduction begins “Not all governments have been run by men.  Here, in chronological order, are twenty women who wielded political power, as queens, warriors, prime ministers, revolutionary leaders, Indian chiefs, first ladies, or other government officials.”

The first person in the book is Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, and I have to say I thought I knew about Cleopatra but there was much to be revealed in her three page spread.  Her family loved ruling Egypt so much that they intermarried each other to keep it in the family.  She was forced to marry her 10-year-old brother and she dealt with it by ignoring him, like a normal older sibling, really!  She traveled extensively and often looted foreign libraries for their papyrus rolls so she could add to her own library.  She loved to spend time in her library (of stolen materials…) and may have even written a volume on cosmetics.  In the end she killed herself by letting a snake bite her.  I don’t think she is someone to look up to exactly but she did lead an interesting life and she tried to be nice to ordinary Egyptians.

Eleanor of Aquitaine is the second ruler in this volume and she was queen of both France and England.  Her father died when she was 15 but he had taught her much during her short life.  She understood what it took to be powerful, she could read and write, and she was worth a lot of money at that time because of her land holdings.  She married Louis VII, the King of France, later divorced him because he was boring.  Later she married Henry who later became Henry the II, King of England.  They had 8 children together and when she was fed up with Henry’s affairs she moved out and established her own court across town where they made fun of men! Henry eventually had her committed to a convent and after his death she was released.

This book is easy to read, has about three pages per extraordinary woman, and has lots of fun comments in the text. Check out Kathleen Krull’s website.

As a March activity in the library we hung a picture quiz for students to identify famous American women.  See how you do…

This is just a select few but not many of our elementary students know these choices.  The two they do know is Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, a victory for modern women.
Peaceful Reading…

Friday Feature: Women's History Month/Women Who Shook the World!

March is Women’s History Month and while I’m not teaching this specifically with classes I do have three remarkable books that shouldn’t go unnoticed.  I’ve used this timeline with 3rd grade students as we create a black history structure of our own and that is where I noticed the Women’s History Timeline-what a great biography resource tool.

Here are three groundbreaking women:

1. Mind Your Manners, Alice Roosevelt written by Leslie Kimmelman; ill. by Adam Gustavson (2009)

I love this book as much as I love Alice Roosevelt!  She is a fascinating character, filled with spunk and gumption.   This book chronicles Alice’s adventures as her father tries to tame her.  It makes use of speech bubbles to add to its charm-not overdone as too many speech bubbles make it difficult to read aloud.  Find this or order it and enjoy learning more about Alice’s life.  The illustrations are bright and colorful and some almost jump right off the page, especially the snake under the table illustration.    “The secret of eternal youth is arrested development.” ~Alice Roosevelt

2. Rachel; The Story of Rachel Carson by Amy Ehrlich; ill. by Wendell Minor (2003)

This one is not a read aloud length unless a teacher read it in parts but the Ehrlich’s story is well-written and would be great for 4th-and 5th grade biographies.  Maybe because I’m such a nature freak myself I love the illustrations in this book as much I enjoyed learning more about Carson’s life.  She was interested in writing at an early age and actually had a story published in a magazine at the age of 11.  It wasn’t until she attended college at Pennsylvania College for Women that she found her love of biology.  Carson, with her love of nature, connected the idea of all things being interrelated, a web of life. “If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.”~ Rachel Carson   
Read more about Rachel here.

3. Wangari’s Trees of Peace; A True Story of Africa by Jeanette Winter (2008)

Wangari’s story, one of peace and justice, that I loved hearing about when it first hit the news-one women making a difference in her home country of Kenya.  Wangari studied in America as a young adult and noticed big changes when she retuned to Africa.   Trees had been overharvested , birds no longer sang and crops were scarce.  She begins by planting nine trees in her own backyard, plants many in an open space tree nursery and eventually hands them out to the village women.  This is a woman,  still living, still doing, still campaigning- a great lesson for us all.  There is much too do!  “We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own-indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder.” ~Wangari Maathai  The Green Belt Movement-for more information.

What about you?  Do you have any amazing books you are featuring for Women’s History Month?  Doing any groundbreaking yourself?

Peaceful Reading…

Make your dreams a reality-Pamela Samuels Young Guest Post

From the desk of Pamela Samuels Young:

Today is a new day, which means you have a fresh opportunity to pursue your passion.

Have you been thinking about changing careers? Perhaps you’d like to go back to school or start your own consulting firm. Maybe being a stay-at-home mom is your dream job. Unfortunately, every time you think about taking the first step, the fear of leaving the virtual security of your current job floods your head with dozens of sound reasons why you should stay put.

Whether your dream is to write a novel, become an interior decorator or start your own catering business, you can make it happen. Here are five tips that will help you begin your journey.

1. Find Time To Plan Your Career Move

With the demands of work, family, church and community activities, you may think you don’t have a spare moment to even think about, much less pursue, your dream career. You’re wrong.
If someone had told me I could’ve published four novels in four years while still practicing law, I would’ve said, “No way.” The key is having a passion and a plan.

It won’t be easy, but you can find free time where you least expect it. The next time you’re taking a neighborhood jog or walking on the treadmill, use the time to think about possible locations for the day spa you’ve dreamed of opening or mull over the plot for that book you’ve wanted to write. Instead of listening to your favorite CD during your morning and evening commute, use the time to work on the business plan for your jewelry-making business. A Dictaphone can be a pretty handy tool in that situation. Your lunch break and the two to three hours you spend in the beauty shop can also be put to good use. With your family’s support, you might even find an evening or two to run off to your local library or a nearby Starbucks for some business-planning time. Even if it’s only an hour a week, use it.

2. Don’t Reinvent The Wheel

You may not realize it, but you have a multitude of resources all around you — family, friends, colleagues, church members, sorority sisters, and even strangers. Don’t be afraid to request an informational interview. If you want to run a bed ‘n breakfast, call up the owners of a similar establishment in another community, invite them to lunch and tap their brain. People love to talk about themselves and many will be flattered that you want to ask them for advice. The Internet is also a valuable resource. You can enter a few key words on Google and thousands of helpful articles will appear right before your eyes. Just remember: research, research, research!

3. Join Professional Organizations

It’s a good idea to surround yourself with others who share your interests and passion. There are hundreds of professional groups whose sole function is to help their members develop their creative talents and realize their business goals. As a writer, I belong to Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America and Romance Writers of America. I rarely make many of the meetings, but when I do, I always learn something or make some contact that helps me along in my writing career. No matter what your passion is, there’s bound to be a networking group you can join.

Organizations like Minority and Women Business Owners, Women Entrepreneurs, Inc., and BizyMoms.com, just to name a few, provide information, support and networking opportunities. Find the organizations that can be most helpful to you and join them.

4. Understand That It Won’t Happen Overnight

Unfortunately, entrepreneurial ventures don’t come with the guarantee of a regular paycheck. I assumed that after releasing my first novel in 2006, Oprah would call and the rest would be history. That has yet to happen. Somehow, I’m still balancing both my legal practice and my passion: writing legal thrillers. It can sometimes be quite stressful, but each time I have a new book that hits the stores, I’m re-energized and more committed than ever about reaching my goal of becoming a full-time writer.

There will no doubt be disappointments when things don’t happen in accordance with your time schedule. But if you remain faithful and focused on your goal, it will happen.

5. Ignore The Naysayers

We all know people who believe you should find a good job, work as hard as you can for 30 years, then retire at 65 and enjoy life. For them, the thought of leaving a secure, well-paying position for the uncertainties of entrepreneurial life is unthinkable. That kind of limited thinking won’t help you realize your dream.

When I proudly tell people I hope to one day give up practicing law to become a full-time novelist, they smile and look as if they want to pat me on top of my head and say, “That’s nice. Now run along back to your briefs.”

You have to decide what you want to do and go for it. And don’t be surprised if you turn out to be your biggest obstacle. When that happens, just look your self-doubt squarely in the face and command it to go away. The same degree of preparation and persistence that helped you land your current position will also help you smoothly transition into your dream career.

So don’t just dream about pursuing your passion, make it happen!

I need to follow this sage advice and get some of my bucket list crossed off! 
Thank you Ms. Young for contributing this piece for my readers and thank you for getting up so early in the morning to write! 
Pamela Samuels Young’s website

Peaceful Reading…