Why I Marched in 2017 and will continue to do so...

Please read this excellent article that captures how I feel... especially in response to those who don't seem to "get it"... regardless of their gender. It begins: 

"Say thank you. Say thank you to the women who gave you a voice. Say thank you to the women who were arrested and imprisoned and beaten and gassed for you to have a voice. Say thank you to the women who refused to back down, to the women who fought tirelessly to give you a voice. Say thank you to the women who put their lives on hold, who –lucky for you — did not have “better things to do” than to march and protest and rally for your voice. So you don’t feel like a “second class citizen.” So you get to feel “equal.”"


--"You are Not Equal. I'm Sorry." by Dina Leygerman

Oh yeah. And a little bit of it is about this dumbass.

Knitting for a Cause -- Women's March 2018

In January, I finally picked up my knitting needles for the first time in a year. I decided to try my hand at knitting a "pussy hat" or as little V calls it, a "kitty hat." I managed to make one kid sized and one mama sized one just in time for the Women's March. I was pretty pleased with the result.

These knit up quickly and I just used the pattern from the PussyHat Project.

I knit mine with pink cotton/elastic yarn I happened to have on hand. Yay.

Don't Forget to Vote May 3rd!

Here are some yard signs that can't be torn down or stolen!

If you're a Grand Forks resident and have questions about the library revitalization project and the upcoming vote (on Tuesday) for a 1% sales tax increase to fund it, please check out this blog: Speak Up For Your Library

Health Care Reform.

an excerpt from Roger Ebert's article "Sign the Social Contract"

"I am naive enough to think that universal care is obviously good. I don't say how it should be implemented or regulated. I say we should implement it and regulate it as well as we can, and improve it through our votes and our legislature. This is something we owe to the future. The United States is shamefully the only Western democracy without universal health care. All of the nations that we inspired by our revolution, including France, have moved ahead on us on this.

I am told we cannot trust the government. I believe we must trust it, and work to make it trustworthy. We are told the free enterprise system will sort things out, but it has not. When insurance companies direct millions toward lobbying and advertising against a health care system, every dollar is being withheld from sick people. When it goes to salaries, executive jets, corporate edifices and legislative manipulation, it isn't going to Amy Caudle.

The fallacy of the free enterprise argument is that it assumes corporations are motivated to bring about the public good. Corporations are motivated to maximize profits for shareholders. That is the primary mission of all corporate executives, and they retain their jobs by placing the bottom line and the stock price above all else."

--read the entire article here.

Sigh.

I was just watching part of the Ted Kennedy special I recorded a few weeks ago. Man, they just showed footage of the night Bobby was shot and I am totally crying... I hate that there are such lunatics in this country. People who hate and fear change, change that could bring good ... and people who hate it so much that they'd kill to stop it. When will it end? It all makes me a little sick.

My Family Can't Afford to Wait

Swing Vote

Swing Vote (2008)

I was surprised by how much I liked this film. Sure it's cheesy and improbably, but highly watchable and rather touching. I cried, alright? I'll admit it. And it was more than a one tissue tear-fest. First off, Molly Johnson, a fifth grader, is inspiring and brave and resilient and has a sad life. If her screwed-up dad didn't love her as much as he clearly does, I'd have had trouble watching this film. Here's a synopsis from IMDB:

November, 2004, New Mexico. Bud is a slacker with one good thing in his life, his engaging fifth-grade daughter Molly. On election day, Bud is supposed to meet her at the polling place. When he doesn't show, she sneaks a ballot and is about to vote when the power goes off. It turns out that New Mexico's electoral votes will decide the contest, and there it's tied with one vote needing recasting - Bud's. The world's media and both presidential candidates, including the current President, descend on Bud in anticipation of his re-vote in two weeks. Can the clueless Bud, even with the help of Molly and a local TV reporter, handle this responsibility?

So, this one is no award winning film, but Costner is convincing as a world class screw up and the film brings up issues of politics and the desperate, win at any cost, struggle to the white house. It reminds us of the people who are out there hurting and the faith and hope they place on their leaders to do something good with their position. It reminds me of the current health care issue and how desperately I am praying for some resolution that would provide people I love, both family and friends, with much needed health care that they'll likely never be able to afford independently.

I would recommend this film--it's certainly worth a rent!

Stop Shouting.

Roger Ebert's article "The O'Reilly Procedure" struck a chord with me this morning. It's at the heart of what bothers me about politics and debate in our world today. Ebert writes:

"What are TV shouters telling their viewers? They use such anger in expressing their opinions. Who are they trying to convince? They're preaching to the choir. Their viewers already agree with them. No minds are going to be changed. Why are they so mad? In a sense they're saying: You're right, but you're not right ENOUGH! I'm angrier about this than you are! Viewers may get the notion that there's unfinished business to be done, and it's up to them to do it.

How can one effect change? By sincere debate and friendly persuasion? O'Reilly sets the opposite example. He brings on guests who represent the "enemy," doesn't seriously engage their beliefs, and shouts: Be quiet! I'm right and you're wrong! I stand for good and you stand for evil! I'm not exaggerating. Sometimes those are the very words he uses."

Ebert specifically targets Bill O'Reilly's methods in his article but also demonstrates how O'Reilly is not alone in his ways of dealing with those who would disagree with his stance. Now, I realize that not everyone agrees with MY political views. And I'm okay with that. Our country grants us each the freedoms to entertain different views. What I'm not okay with is the bitterness, vitriol, cruelty and name calling that tends to go hand in hand with those "different views," televised or otherwise. Ebert's article addresses this issue.

Another slice of Ebert's words:
"There is little comfort to be had from today's polarized shouters. They are discontented, and they think you should be, too. They inspire fear and suspicion. There is a conspiracy, and you are the target. Dark forces are at work. There was a time when ordinary Americans would have been deeply offended by the way O'Reilly speaks about their President--any President."

Also within the article are a number of video clips and some research findings. A team of media researchers at Indiana University studied every editorial broadcast by O'Reilly during a six-month period and Ebert reprints some of their work. They analyzed O'Reilly's editorials for propaganda devices which include:

* Name calling -- giving something a bad label to make the audience reject it without examining the evidence;
* Glittering generalities -- the opposite of name calling;
* Card stacking -- the selective use of facts and half-truths;
* Bandwagon -- appeals to the desire, common to most of us, to follow the crowd;
* Plain folks -- an attempt to convince an audience that they, and their ideas, are "of the people";
* Transfer -- carries over the authority, sanction and prestige of something we respect or dispute to something the speaker would want us to accept; and
* Testimonials -- involving a respected (or disrespected) person endorsing or rejecting an idea or person.

I find this whole piece fascinating on many levels. The recognition of propaganda in what passes for news many days. The acknowledgement that many people are now better informed as to the goings on of Britney Spears than our position with North Korea. The regret that authorities like the New York Times are diminishing in readership. And mostly I like the Roger Ebert seems to get what I am bothered by in humanity in general... that lack of respect for another's view.

Check out the full article here.

Happy Mini Donut Day!

Errr... I mean, 4th of July. Sometimes I forget the reason behind the season and just start to celebrate deep fried festival foods --mini-donuts, stuff on sticks, Indian tacos, and beer gardens.

I just got back from a quick trip around the downtown food fest -- oops, there I go again. The inflatable kid bouncy things were deflating and making way for lawn chairs and families getting an early jump on prime fireworks watching spots. What the heck? Is someone REALLY going to stake their claim four hours early? Oh well. Not everyone can watch the fireworks from his/her bedroom window.

My mom, my uncle, and I strolled the town square listening to live music and watching kids get caricatured and folks get henna tattooed. Everyone and his dog was out on the town --literally--there were a lot of dogs to be seen. I thought about taking pictures just to show the diversity of pooch, but I was afraid of appearing strange, so I took pics of food instead!

On a more serious note, many folks get patriotic on Independence Day --they don the "team colors" and wave the flag, singing songs of praise for one's country. It all smacks of a giant pep rally. I see nothing wrong with that except that too quickly it's all forgotten. Like a Christian who makes it to church for the holiday services a few times a year, too many of us are fair weather-Americans. Patriotic, duty-bound citizens when it serves us, when it's popular. Too many of us curse the government, the economy, in one moment and do nothing to change the things we can with all our other moments. A Chinese proverb says, "It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." Don't just celebrate our freedoms with bottle rockets and cold beer--honor your country's independence with your votes and by getting involved in your communities.

What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times? I venture to suggest that what we mean is a sense of national responsibility ... a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. --Adlai Stevenson

The true test of the American ideal is whether we're able to recognize our failings and then rise together to meet the challenges of our time. Whether we allow ourselves to be shaped by events and history, or whether we act to shape them. --Barack Obama

The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair. --H.L. Mencken

The government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. -- Mark Twain

Happy Fourth of July!

Art and Democracy Film Series

Wednesday night I watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington at the Empire Theatre. What a treat! It's a great film to watch on the TV at home, but even more fun to see on the big screen.

After the film there was a discussion -- Q & A time between Jack Weinstein, director of The Institute for Philosophy in Public Life and the host of the public radio show Why? Philosophical discussions about everyday life, and Mark Jendrysik, a political science professor from the local university. They touched on issues relating to the film and democracy, and maybe I was just tired, but I didn't have nearly the epiphany I had last December when I watched the film at the gym. Check out that post. Man, I love this film.

Community.

Via Loobylu

Next up, Frost/Nixon!

I've seen a lot of Oliver Stone films and I'm not sure I can agree with the sentiment on the movie slip cover of W. which reads "the best film ever." I'm not sure this is the best Oliver Stone film, let alone ever. I liked it. I was intrigued. Ebert points out that Stone's other films (JFK, Nixon) contain revisionist history and in this one Stone chooses to stay within the known and accepted in crafting this film. Considering the proximity to Bush's actual time in the White House, I think that was wise.

I felt more tolerance for Josh Brolin as George W. Bush than I did for the real man. Something about our former president scares the bejeezus out of me and I'm still just a bit stunned as to how he could be elected once and then re-elected four years later. Watching the character of Condoleeza Rice nearly pushed me over the edge, but Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney worked for me. There were moments when I expected someone to pop out and shout "Live from Saturday Night" because it felt spoofish -- perhaps too recent in history and the news media for me or something.

I found the character of Laura Bush to be intriguing. I wanted to know HER thoughts and motivations and what was really going on in that head of hers. The film portrayed her in a different light than I'd seen her and yet, I'll admit, I've not paid all that much attention to the real woman when there was so much going on with her husband. I real life she'd always seemed sort of empty and puppet like and in the film she seemed like a person with thoughts and everything...

Ellen Burstyn's portrayal of Barbara Bush was a surprise and I guess I really don't know much about her either. I felt Stone chose to paint George H.W. Bush in a sympathetic light and he seemed to emphasize what the Bush family might have felt at watching their son turn the family name into the next four letter word.

If you are a fan of George W. Bush, you probably won't enjoy this movie. Though I have to admit, I'm not a fan and I didn't enjoy the film much either. Some might enjoy seeing someone's weakness, but for me it was a reminder of eight bitter years and how this affected and affects us all.

Sam Potts and Barack Obama

A few months back I discovered an inspiring 20 minute TED award acceptance speech video by Dave Eggers and I fell in love with his vision for pairing community volunteers and students who need tutoring. In San Francisco, they set up a tutoring center in conjunction with a "fake" store front... a Pirate Supply Company. The gimmick worked better than they ever expected and now their store actually makes a profit. Other tutoring centers have cropped up all around the US and one in Brooklyn is fronted by this Brooklyn Superhero Supply store. Sam Potts did the design work on the storefront and on the product lines within. It's fantastic, especially for a superhero fan like me.

Recently I ran across the name Sam Potts Inc in conjunction with an entirely different venture. On a website I visit regularly I read that Sam was giving away pamphlet copies of Barack Obama's speech from March 2008. I quickly emailed him and my pamphlet arrived in the mail on Thursday. I was thrilled. I am sure it seems silly to be so excited by something like this. Except that it's lovely and did I mention, free.

And as I emailed my mailing address to Mr. Potts I had a student working on a project that included Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" and we paused for a moment and speculated what bits of politics today might have lasting impact... that 50 years from now, or 100 years from now might be remembered or studied. Perhaps this will be one of those. Maybe not. Either way, I have a lovely copy of the speech and I will treasure it. Thank you, Sam.

Love is Love is Love.

Under the Hallmark Holiday assault by all things love and pink and chocolate, I've been pondering the power, the emotion, the commitment, that fuels this day and makes people get up and celebrate. I watched two films over the weekend that offered up examples of sacrificial love--love that couldn't be simplified by a trite phrase on a sappy greeting card. For me the jury is still out on this day we call Valentine's Day though I'm feeling more friendly toward it and all holidays this year. Then today I got this video in an email and I was reminded again of a kind of love so many people want to ignore. I think, in watching this, what becomes even more clear is how love is love is love. You can't label it and put it in a box marked wrong. It exists. And it is celebrated. And really in a world so full of hatred and pain, shouldn't we all be celebrating love wherever we can find it?


"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.


On December 19, 2008, Ken Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund filed legal briefs defending the constitutionality of Prop 8 and seeking to nullify the 18,000 same-sex marriages conducted between May and November of 2008. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in this case on March 5, 2009, with a decision expected within the next 90 days.

The Courage Campaign has created a video called "Fidelity," with the permission of musician Regina Spektor, that puts a face to those 18,000 couples and all loving, committed couples seeking full equality under the law.

The Deaf Community Embraces Obama.

Time for Action.

This is alarming. I was aware that drama was unfolding regarding handmade toys and vintage resales and the like, but Jenny of Allsorts paints a rather dire picture.

Here's another post about the issue.

History Sweet History.

What a crowd. What a day.
Here's to a brighter tomorrow.

The Sun Will Come Out... Tomorrow.

I just realized that the Bush Be Gone daily countdown widget I added to my iGoogle page a year ago expires TOMORROW. I can barely contain my excitement. Oh my, it's a good day for America. It's a good day for the WORLD.

It's a Wonderful Film.

Earlier today I couldn't help but feel a wave of satisfaction, and all-is-right-with-the-world as I did my daily cardio workout at the gym. I was happily jogging along on one of those treadmills with the TV attached to it (great invention, that!) watching CNN on mute, reading CNN, I guess as I listened to my mp3 player (I seem to have a disproportionate number of SLOW songs on there. I may need to make an exercise playlist). My first burst of joy came from hearing Andy Kim sing "So Good Together" when I'd not thought of that song in ages. My mp3 version is just a digital recording of my scratchy 45 and so it's very old feeling. Second swelling of the heart came from channel surfing and discovering the start of Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). Of course, the masses are all out there watching It's a Wonderful Life and why not, it's Christmas time. But this movie. Oh my. It's so dear. I am not sure how to describe it without needless gushing.

And while many focus on the inspirational character of Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart), I tend to love and adore Clarissa Saunders (Jean Arthur). Saunders plays a slightly jaded, quick-witted, clever sort of woman who is assigned to work for the new senator. She refers to Smith as a boy scout, daniel boone, and any other disparraging name she can summon up as her resentment mounts over the intrusion of this small town, mama-loving, pigeon-toting yokel. Still it doesn't seem to be long before her icy heart melts and she sees something Washington hasn't seen in awhile. Sincerity. Honesty. True values and love for mankind. He's so earnest it makes my heart ache. And it's with her guidance that he is able to write his bill which would provide for a loan to set up a boy's camp in the state of New York. The next day when he presents the bill she tells her pal Diz, to watch because she knows something no one else knows... the location he's chosen for his camp. And she knows what that means to a few other senators and the stir this will cause.




Then later in the film when Jefferson Smith is about as low as he can get and is packed and ready to head home, tail between his legs, Saunders finds him at the Lincoln Memorial:

Clarissa Saunders: I see. When you get home, what are you gonna tell those kids?

Jefferson Smith: I'll tell 'em the truth. Might as well find it out now as later.

Clarissa Saunders: I don't think they'll believe you, Jeff. You know, they're liable to look up at you with hurt faces and say, 'Jeff, what did you do? Quit? Didn't you do something about it?'

Jefferson Smith: Well, what do you expect me to do? An honorary stooge like me against the Taylors and Paines and machines and lies...

Clarissa Saunders: Your friend Mr. Lincoln had his Taylors and Paines. So did every other man whoever tried to lift his thought up off the ground. Odds against 'em didn't stop those men. They were fools that way. All the good that ever came into this world came from fools with faith like that. You know that Jeff. You can't quit now. Not you! They aren't all Taylors and Paines in Washington. Their kind just throw big shadows, that's all. You didn't just have faith in Paine or any other living man. You had faith in something bigger than that. You had plain, decent, every day, common rightness. And this country could use some of that. Yeah - so could the whole cock-eyed world. A lot of it. Remember the first day you got here? Remember what you said about Mr. Lincoln? You said he was sitting up there waiting for someone to come along. You were right! He was waiting for a man who could see his job and sail into it. That's what he was waiting for. A man who could tear into the Taylors and root 'em out into the open. I think he was waiting for you Jeff. He knows you can do it. So do I.

Jefferson Smith: What? Do what, Saunders?

Clarissa Saunders: You just make up your mind you're not gonna quit and I'll tell you what. I've been thinkin' about it all the way back here. It's a forty foot dive into a tub of water, but I think you can do it.

You can watch the 5 minute scene here, if you like.

The film is about one man up against many. It's about corruption in Washington, which Capra wanted to expose. His film did so at a delicate time, on the brink of WWII, but that didn't prevent him from releasing it and letting the film do the talking.

Check out the 1939 response to the film after its release (according to TCM):

On October 17, 1939, the picture was previewed at Washington’s Constitution Hall. The preview was a major production featuring searchlights and a National Guard band playing patriotic tunes; The Washington Times-Herald even put out a special edition covering the event. Four thousand guests attended, 45 Senators among them. About two-thirds of the way through the film, the grumbling began, with people walking out. Some politicians were so enraged by how “they” were being portrayed in the movie, they actually shouted at the screen. At a party afterward, a drunken newspaper editor took a wild swing at Capra for including a drunken reporter as one of the characters!

Several politicians angrily spoke out against the film in newspaper editorials, which, in the long run, may have helped its box office. Sen. Alben W. Barkley viewed the picture as “a grotesque distortion” of the Senate, “as grotesque as anything ever seen! Imagine the Vice President of the United States winking at a pretty girl in the gallery in order to encourage a filibuster!” Barkley, who was lucky he didn’t get quoted on the film’s posters, also said, “...it showed the Senate as the biggest aggregation of nincompoops on record!”

Senator James F. Byrnes of South Carolina suggested that official action be taken against the film’s release...lest we play into the hands of Fascist regimes. And Pete Harrison, the respected editor of Harrison Reports, urged Congress to pass a bill allowing theater owners to refuse to show films – like Mr. Smith - that “were not in the best interest of our country.” And you thought the Dixie Chicks got a raw deal.

I love classic films and Jimmy Stewart, Jean Arthur... I love clever dialogue... but I also love that this film has a message for today. In a country jaded by politics, politicians, and corruption, slipping deeper into recession, I think this film can speak to us all.

Reflecting on My State.

North Dakota recently topped a list as the most politically corrupt state in the nation. Sigh. And while that was pretty depressing info, it also reminded me of another article I'd read in the NY Times about effect of our nation's recession on ND. Check it out.

A Placid North Dakota Asks, Recession? What Recession?

By MONICA DAVEY

Published: December 6, 2008

FARGO, N.D. — As the rest of the nation sinks into a 12th grim month of recession, this state, at least up until now, has been quietly reveling in a picture so different that it might well be on another planet.

A slow afternoon at the Fargo branch of Job Service North Dakota, where the state employees outnumbered the job seekers.

The number of new cars sold statewide was 27 percent higher this year than last, state records through November showed. North Dakota’s foreclosure rate was minuscule, among the lowest in the country. Many homes have still been gaining modestly in value, and, here in Fargo, construction workers can be found on any given day hammering away on a new downtown condominium complex, complete with a $540,000 penthouse (still unsold, but with a steady stream of lookers).

While dozens of states, including neighboring ones, have desperately begun raising fees, firing workers, shuttering tourist attractions and even abolishing holiday displays to overcome gaping deficits, lawmakers this week in Bismarck, the capital, were contemplating what to do with a $1.2 billion budget surplus. And as some states’ unemployment rates stretched perilously close to the double digits in the fall, North Dakota’s was 3.4 percent, among the lowest in the country.

Click here to read the rest of the article.