The Book Nerd strikes again & A Visit to Fahrenheit Books

By the time I was in third grade I was a good reader. And I read vociferously. I got a book each month from the book of the month club but that was hardly enough to keep me satisfied as I often had that read before the weekend had ended. Reading was my whole world and my greatest memories from my childhood are of the books I read, most often deep into the night, long after a ten or eleven year old should have been tucked safely between sheets with the lights long out.  

Driving downtown to a favorite bookstore

Typically girl, I read about horses and dreamt of horses and wanted to own a horse. A friend of mine had a horse and she loved reading about horses so once in a while we got together at my house had a sleepover so that we could read out loud to each other, late into the night. 

Fahrenheit Books is on Broadway-- just north of Alameda. 

As I grew older, my fantasy of owning a horse lessened but reading still played a central part in my life, 

Women of world unite?

In the October edition of Harper's magazine in an essay called "American Electra: feminism's ritual matricide", Susan Faludi attempts to address the ongoing antagonisms within the feminist movement. Using examples from recent events she's participated in as well as including her attendance at the National Organization for Women (a.k.a. NOW) in 2009, she shows the rift at it's most raw. The power struggle between young and old (2nd & 3rd wave feminists) brings the organization to the brink of disruption and it remains unclear if the younger generation, who lost the battle at the 2009 convention, will remain with the organization. At the root of the problem, according to Faludi, is the loss of respect that women held in the home prior to the 20th century. Looking back over the history of the women's role in the home, she claims that as advertising and mass media begin an assault on motherhood at the beginning of the 1900s, the mother's role as authority over her children was disrupted, and the place she held as guide and role model, particularly with her daughters, was broken. 

Citing Life Magazine covers from the 1920s, one from October 28 (above & right) juxtaposed by the "new woman" that was displayed six years later on New Years Eve (left), she shows the shifting images women were seeing around them. In addition to the flap over flappers, 1921 introduced American women to the Miss America pageant. Here she says, "the prevailing pageantry of the 1920s wasn't simply an infantilization of the girl. It was, more ominously, an eviction of the mother." She goes on to detail how this eviction resulted in an ongoing dispute between mother and daughter that continues to march on through time bringing us back to the NOW conference where the younger generation is in an uproar and part of that uproar is essentially, or ostensibly, all about sex. But the older generation is not about to give in to a generation that is ungrateful and all about "girl power" and the younger generation is not about to stand down when they are used to having things go their way (we are nothing if not predisposed to letting youth lead the way) so the fight seems predestined to continue on toward future conflict. "So what is the answer to this quandary?" One is left wondering. Faludi's answer is a resounding Education. Women's history and studies, she claims are the answer to the problem while admitting that fewer and fewer programs are being run in higher institutions as the essay concludes with a resounding jingle.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.
co.uk/USAsuffrage.htm

It was at this point that my opinion diverged like the path in the proverbial wood from that of Ms. Faludi. While I will never disagree with the need to remind our children, 3rd, 4th, or indeed 5th wave, and for that matter male or female, of history and the struggles that have come before. It is an  American flaw that is as wide as the Grand Canyon itself that fails to grasp the importance of history, to treasure it, to own it and indeed LEARN from it. No indeed, I would never disagree for the call for higher education of the youth of America especially where it comes to relearning the truth about our history. However I would like to add that this  younger generation of women do indeed have a point in claiming that sexuality is part of the problem. The older generation of feminists have fallen prey to the puritanistic roots of our past and too often made the younger generation feel ashamed of their sexuality rather than powerful and beautiful and sexual. In search of this beauty and sensuality, younger women have exchanged a tawdry bawdiness perhaps as a result of youth and a lack of guidance from mothers who might have been better prepared in other times. In other cultures women worshipped the Moon goddess and weren't afraid of their sexuality or sensuality. But in American in the 1800s mothers were a reflection of a deeply embedded puritanism that arrived on our shores at its inception and was only reinforced with witch burnings. It is no surprise that as the doors opened to the wilder sexuality of the 1900s, that this younger generation was anxious to leave their corseted pasts behind them. No, I would say, it was not as a result of the mass media as much as a opening of long locked doors that could simply not remain locked any longer. 

But my disagreement doesn't end here. Christopher HItchens, in his memoir, Hitch 22 recalls to readers his disgust at finding the feminist movement and the Civil rights movement (or any movement for that matter) breaking into splinter groups -finding separate identities that could only be spoken for by members of the group itself. He doesn't address the result of this fracturing but it was a poignant reminder that at one time the woman's movement was a powerful force in the abolitionist movement and at one time black and white marched together to bring civil rights to this country. (Small aside: highly recommended reading)

A few weeks after reading the Hitchen's quote, I was moved by a dramatic presentation now on video inspired by Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States and Voices of a People's History of the United States. As I watched the struggles of the different  groups spring to life through the different readings, I was struck  by how our history in the United States has been one long struggle to obtain the rights of one group or another. But what was impressed upon me was that it was not Black rights nor Women's history but The People's History.  The unions changed things. The women who fought for our right to vote changed things. African Americans who stood locked arms when water was fired at them changed things. And it was people- men, women, children, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, standing together who changed things.


The NOW organization may fall apart and Feminism itself may become extinct because the older generation has been a leading generation of voices to say that only women can speak for women. Is it any wonder that their younger counterparts refuse to listen to them? Many African-American groups see a similar division in their groups and hear similar complaints. Will they stand? It seems most likely that sub groups that focus on individual needs or complaints will form leaving the whole weaker than it was. It appears, at this point in history, that it will take some time for the people to remember that we are a People and not simply a group of specialized interests. We are all in this together and if we will not link arms to stand together-- then as a wise sheriff once said, "We are all interdependent. One falls, many fall." 

    

All children left behind...

(The first part of this essay is in the link at the top of the page.)


Fingerpointing would make one dizzy in an attempt to make a single source the culprit on the situation that arose from this social firestorm-- schools allowing racism, parents accusing schools of racism (even when racism was not involved), suing, threats, segregation among students, prejudice among parents, etc. Schools for their part, in order to avoid lawsuits of any kind, attempted to avoid disciplining students at all and parents seemed amiable with this arrangement. And so did the kids.

The first schools to face this deterioration were schools in metropolitan areas (which makes sense as they were actively integrating students while small towns were largely the same population as before). I personally spent my elementary and middle school years in small towns in Oklahoma and Kansas during the seventies and discipline was an unquestioning part of our day. Students were known to get in trouble, but the consequences were still dire and parents rarely (if ever... I don't recall any that did) intervened. In 1979, I began attending a large high school here in Denver- and the differences were stark. Gang activity was rampant and students sat on the lawn of the football field smoking marijuana during school hours. While some students might have faced some disciplinary procedures, the atmosphere was as casual about poor (a.k.a illegal activity) behavior as sex was in this post-sexual revolution. If you got caught you there   might be a bit of heck to pay. 

The tacit agreement of "mum's the word" about children's behavior was bad enough, but as the schools shifted to a "business model" (more on this later), schools were required to report suspensions and serious disciplinary procedures so that parents could use these numbers to judge the schools as school choice became a way to force schools to compete for education dollars. So, if schools have a lot of suspensions, their ratings go down. Since parents were looking at these numbers in order to choose the best schools, it was no longer unspoken- it was a command- we will not suspend children unless we have no choice (and generally that meant that they would not act unless they believed that whatever bad behavior the child committed was a worse public relations problem than the poor rating they would receive. For example: In 2000, or sometime thereabouts, several middle school boys sexually assaulted a girl on school grounds. As reports hit the local papers, it was obvious that behavior at the school was out of control long before this incident. Once it hit the papers, however, officials at the district would be shocked and dismayed and heads would role! Mostly the principals.) 

In more recent news, 15-year-old Phoebe Prince committed suicide just this past January after having been hazed by the "Mean Girls" after they spent months harassing her via twitter, Craigslist and Facebook (Hollywood PLEASE stop moralizing- they never get it and if often winds up glorifying the very thing you think you are "educating" your audience about!). An article in a major paper asks a question... the question we should all be asking,  "WHERE ARE THE PARENTS?" 

(Picture of Phoebe Prince from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/03/29/2010-03-29_phoebe_prince_south_hadley_high_schools_new_girl_driven_to_suicide_by_teenage_cy.html)

Ultimately schools can do nothing where discipline is concerned as long as they fear the wrath of parents- whether it be threatening to file lawsuits, changing a student's school as soon as they are held accountable for behavior, or stepping in to thwart what little disciplinary procedures the school does attempt. (I cannot tell you the number of stories that are told among teachers of parents who, when they call to get a parents aid with a child's behavior, begin calling them names or asking what they, the teacher, had done to cause the child's behavior. Also, a word on the shift in the parental role might be appropriate here, but that is a LONG topic which would require it's own space were it to be given the proper attention.) But the demise of discipline within the hallowed halls of the public education system was just the beginning of the end and isn't nearly as significant as the assault on WHAT the teachers taught. 

In her book 'Kingdom Coming' Michelle  Goldberg (reviewed elsewhere on this blog) does  extensive research on the rise of Christian fundamentalism that had as it's goal the establishment of a theocracy. She traces the origins of political ambitions of the fundamentalists to where they began-- the Scopes Monkey Trial. Although the movement did not immediately march forward like the Christian soldiers that met the onslaught of the Muslim hoards-- they nevertheless began a lockstep that would propel them into the future as they faced an ever strengthening adversary - the well-educated American public. 

It was not until the 70s and the wild abandonment of the Hippee movement that the anti-intellectual campaign evolved into a potent force. As students all over the country rose up in protest against the Vietnam war and the use of military force to protect corporate interests, ever so subtly, the societal questions that were asked were shifted into moral ones as a way to marginalize and subdue the subversives. Susan Jacoby, in her book 'Age of American Unreason' (also reviewed elsewhere on this blog) connects the dots on the anti-intellectual movement that was established and it's connection to the hippy movement, explaining how fear was generated by the eruption of rebellion giving the religious right and establishment types a foothold into suppressing the radical ideas that emerged amidst the drugs, sex and communes. So the very real and valid critiques that students had were invalidated by their connection to their "moral failings" (at least as defined by the American conservative mainstream which was and is still heavily influenced by their puritan ancestors). 

Thus, the moral majority found a way forward. 

Thumb's down for the NBC anchor

A few weeks ago, while perusing the television dreck (i.e. channel surfing), I paused a moment to watch Rachel Maddow- one of the newsy type shows that I will watch and even then I watch it knowing she is subject to corporate censorship as she depends on sponsors to stay on the air. This particular day Rachel was in Louisiana doing the journalism gig on the oil volcano that was just making it into the public eye although it had been spewing with ferocity since the 20th of April. (note: since the first days of the spill the numbers went from 42,000 gallons of oil per day to 200,000 gallons per day to the most current lowballed estimate of 56,000  BARRELS of oil per day and that assumes that April 20th was indeed the day the leak began). In an attempt to fill in time Brian Williams News anchor and managing editor of one of the Big Three mainstream news shows- NBC Nightly News. As Rachel spoke with him about the disaster, he gave his cheerleady comment that the experts that were on the field leading the cleanup efforts knew the most about the problem- that's why they're doing the job they are doing- because they are the experts.

Just makes me want to weep! They know best! They are so good that we should be happy they are the ones in charge- even though they are the ones who caused this in the first place.

But that wasn't the end of his words of wisdom to the peons who were watching the destruction of the gulf, he went on to add in his rivaling a Buffalo Jill tone (paraphrased) "The men who are hired by the White House to advise the president on financial matters are often criticized for having come from the banks but these are the men that KNOW- these are the men that understand the financial institutions from the INSIDE."

OMG! So you, Brian Williams, are going to sit there in that seat of honor as a guest for Ms. Maddow  and advocate for the men who have aided and abetted the financial sting of the century- and made sure it was legal while at the same time praising the people who are destroying the gulf coast? Mind boggling. You, Mr. Williams, are either as dumb as the people you generally talk to (and you might recall you are on the Rachel Maddow show NOT on NBC nightly news when you speak to people like their television numbed robots who barely know how to use their remotes) or you think you are as smart as the crooks that committed these crimes --and I am inclined to think that is the case. 

But here is the Big Problem with Mr. Williams little hypothesis that the oil volcano and the financial meltdown can only be handled by those who understand "The Business"-- they, the bankers and the oil industry and big business..., have gamed the system. They have made the rules and they made them so that they will benefit from them. They are like the cheaters we all remember from when we were kids-- you know That Kid? The one who got all the kids in the neighborhood gathered round to play his new game and then he gave his lengthy specifications until the disgruntled parishioners finally jeered, "Ah come on, let's just play the game." So the game is afoot and the future Monopoly creator watches over the game like a Hawk after dinner. Sensing the possibility of losing the game a New Rule is suddenly shouted out. There is some disgruntlement but the game continues until yet another... and another... new Moment of Concern causes That Kid to call out a new rule to adjust the game back in his favor. It's not that the game is so complicated or requires only the smartest kids to understand them, it's simply that That Kid adjusts the "rules" so that he is always going to win.

When we were kids we all knew what this was: It was called CHEATING.

And cheaters are not going to do anything but continue cheating until they are shut down. The way to solve the problems on Wall Street and with the Oil industry is to clean up the rules and enforce them- we will never figure out how to play their game because they will keep changing the rules so they will win.

The interesting difference between the game That Kid, the neighborhood cheater, developed is that eventually the kids in the neighborhood figure out they can't win and quit playing. We just keep playing...

Shocking and sad... really sad

Elderly Gay Couple Forcibly Separated, Abused, Robbed By County Officials in California

Posted by Dan Savage on Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 11:09 AM

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/04/18/elderly-california-gay-couple-forcibly-separated-abused-robbed-by-county-officials 

what is success?

For a writer (of which community I fancy myself to be a part of on a good day-- Like Seamus in 'Key West' my response to the comment, "A writer?" would be "Yeah... somedays... sort of... no"), as it is in many other artistic fields, it is difficult to balance the desire for an audience and to be a bestselling writer with the greater goal of being true to oneself-- and offering the best one has to offer. One might compare Hemingway and Fitzgerald... but in an age when bestsellers are written by such as John Grisham or Stephanie Meyer, Hemingway looks considerably more challenging than he was considered during his heyday. The challenge is however to curb, somehow, the desire to be number one on the Barnes and Noble list and reach for something better, to create something that will challenge the mind and heart. I don't know if I can or ever will attain that which some call "great literature" but I do know that to present less than the best that I am capable of is to sell out which ultimately makes the work meaningless.

Strong words?? perhaps...

but something to keep at heart.

An unpopular position

There is a phenomenon that can happen among those who have been victimized-- and while I know that I am not taking a P.C. position on this, it is an issue that should be addressed-- if, for no other reason, often those who wind up being the final victims are children.

It is not an unusual occurance-- Victim becomes abuser. Unfortunately, being a victim does not necessarily mean sensitivity for victims! Historically this has been true-- obviously it is not unusual for an abused child to grow up and abuse his or her children. It was a well known phenomenon among slaves-- the ones with more prestige were oppressive and victimized the less powerful among them. Women are hit by their husbands and when one fist hits one cheek the woman's hand goes out to slap the face of her child. It's a sad reality that cannot be excused by the initial violence. Even on a societal level it is not unusual for groups to impose rules on another that they themselves would find abhorrent. For instance, the black community voted against Prop 8 in California, banning gays from marriage. Blacks hate hispanics and hispanics hate blacks. Chinese hate Taiwanese-- japanese hate Chinese, Indians hate Pakistani (which is also a religion problem and don't underestimate the role religion plays in feeding hatred and prejudices) Hatred begets hatred. (And to further your outrage at my unpopular opinion: racism didn't begin with white Europeans.)

I have tried not to use personal experience too much on this blog but perhaps it's time...

My X was a master at this– if he felt that I was taking on too much of a role in raising his son or influencing the financial decisions that he was making, then he reminded that I was ONLY a white person. And he reinforced this with our children. “You know your mother is white– she’s not hip. She doesn’t get it.” (marginalize, marginalize, she’s a nobody, she’s a nobody) My daughter (whom he beat one dark night) was heavily influenced by this and when we divorced, she would not live with me and as I have also stated, became as abusive as he was toward me. Sadly I myself fell into the trap that his experiences with racism as a child and an abusive parent would give him a sensitivity concerning race and abuse-- I was wrong. As I well knew, he was ignored in the classroom. He was harassed by the police. He was beaten by his father (step-father, really) But does this give him cartes blanches to turn it on me? Does it give him the right to control and manipulate (and in some cases become physically aggressive) with my daughters? But it was my sympathy concerning his experience with racism that allowed him to keep disappearing me and gave him the leverage to do it to them-- and worse leave them with the feeling that this was normal and okay. (And frankly, it wasn’t just his prejudice toward white people– it was a hatred for women. He treated me just like his father treated his mother. The white part was a convenient way to try and disconnect me from my daughters.)

In another, less personal situation, a young black woman penned a new book this last year. The book was about an issue of some import– a history of the Ku Klux Klan in Denver. But it was poorly written and received a bad review for being POORLY written (I know the reviewer well and I KNOW she would not reject the book if it were well written). The author emailed, called her, pushed her, bullied her into changing the review. She didn’t do herself any favors by doing this- nor did she do her book any favors. A better written tome on this ugly time in Denver would have been so much more effective! But she got her good review and stifled free speech in the process.

Some young(hispanic)men in the building I work in stole a camera from a paraprofessional (who happens to be black- although in this case I think it's more significant that the para is a woman). The young men are under the supervision of the assistant principal (who is black and hispanic but it seems more significant that he is a man- although he clearly does feel sorry for the poor hispanic boys because he feels the are headed toward disaster because their culture does not value anything that will give them any true hope for a better future...) because they have gotten into a lot of trouble-- pre-gang behavior. But when the woman accused the boys, a strange thing happened. The assistant principal called them into his office and said, "Louis (I made up the name here) said he saw you guys with Ms. C's camera. Do you have it?" But of course they all said no. And that was where the matter ended. No locker check- no questioning of individuals-- and naming the person who pinpointed them may have resulted in his receiving a pummeling. Procedure wasn't followed because this principal is too interested in saving his young hispanic men to care if they have learned the wrong lesson in all this.

When the oppressed take the role of oppressor then the cycle continues to continue in the neverending cycle of oppression. And if we don't recognize and hold accountable those who become oppressors via their own status of victimhood, then we give a rubber stamp to yet another abuse. Just a cursory a moment of deliberation would add some sanity to this issue, but the knee jerk reaction of many liberals who believe that you can't speak on a subject unless you have experienced it, allows the abuse cycle to go unaddressed. After all, if all blacks are victims that are beyond reproach then how can you hold them accountable for abuse they may themselves issue??? And who is it that often incurs the wrath of the abuse? Their children.

We voted for issues, not values!

The systemic problems we have with patriarchy are not going to be solved by going nuts over individual incidents. Yes, we should all feel aware and empowered enough to address an offender in an appropriate manner and as an individual each time I do this, it makes me stronger. But it will not fix the failure of the system (though we often have the illusion we can fix things one person at a time)…

We have a BAD system which needs to overthrown. Not just in the U.S. but internationally. The U.S. in case after case makes the rules –and supports oppressive regimes that use sexism, racism, etc. in order to keep segments of the population down. And women and children are the easiest target although they are not, by any means, the only victims.

We need to change things. We won’t change them with a Civil rights kind of movement. There is simply no way to do that now. We really need to change the government and stop allowing them to tell us that we have to work within the system. For a example– If women had healthcare via the government and could find work that pays them what the men in the building make (and to that point– Education: Education is not valued in this country- Anti-intellectualism in this country is insidious! but in addition to that educators are paid what they are because it’s generally “woman’s work”. They don’t really need the income in too many voters opinion. And the voters vote school board members in who uphold their values– is that local and instant enough?…) but I digress, if women made better incomes then there would be one less thing to be dependent on a man for. But changing the healthcare system or education system in place won’t happen with the lobby system that currently operates in this country. Insurance companies and healthcare companies are far too powerful. They pull the strings where this issue is concerned. Any politician who is not willing to take on the insurance companies with the awareness that they are failing women in this country is not the woman’s rights advocate he claims to be. And as long as there is no way to provide the basic most fundamental needs that a woman has when she leaves-- then we can’t expect women to leave bad situations with the pie in the sky dream that they will just walk out in the world, get a job and everything is now good. They have to be able to provide for themselves, get healthcare, get food, pay electric bills, etc. The system is set up right now so that trying to get help for issues such as this is nearly impossible.

Here’s another example: Right wing agencies are now in the business of “helping”– I was a referred to one not too long ago when I needed some legal advice. Here is what happened: I was afraid I needed some representation because my X was pushing me into transporting my son back and forth to sports on his side of town (30-45 minutes away). It was creating havoc on our time together but it was also impeding my ability to work the second job I have to work to provide for us. So I called this agency that offered legal aid. Initially I was told that the "expert", the person best able to help me was not in and would call me back. She did- almost right away. All good, right? Wrong. No one said they were a christian agency but it was pretty clear, pretty quickly OR if I am wrong, then they have been influenced heavily by christian values. At any rate, I told the woman my story. She said, “Well I think you just need to take advantage of that drive time… you know, just talk and have time to be together.” “What???” says I. “But I have a second job and I wasn’t so much as ASKED about the schedule for this. I was told. And on top of that, I don’t want my son to play football.” Her condescending response?? “Well, I think you have to do what’s right for your son here. He wants to play football and you should just take advantage of that drive time.” When I expressed my outrage at her advice she said, “I’m sorry I’m not saying what you want to hear, dear.”

So this is the advice that is being offered to women who have nowhere else to turn–??? their ex is taking advantage of the situation, using the children to bully her now and the “helpful” people that the government now pays to “help” are christians who want their patriarchal sytem to be the defining system in this country.

Sorry but that is a bad system! Our government should not be giving a dime to religious institutions -for women’s sake -for humanity’s sake. For that matter they should be taxing these damnable institutions.

It is the rich and powerful in this country who benefit and encourage ongoing systems that subordinate and they are the real problem. If our government were about the business of protecting PEOPLE in the first place, rather than being of and for and by the corporations, then we might BEGIN to change the systemic problems inherent in the patriarch. If we had a government that did not walk hand in hand with big business (and I will include the church in that “big business” category because the religious institutions in this country are big business, they have tons of political power and they have a tremendous desire to be the defining influence in what the family should look like, men’s roles, etc.) then we might have a system that protects women -for that matter protects all the poor- when they need help rather than continuing their subordination.

That is where real change begins!

Any chance our "leader" will lead us on this?

Play it again Sam!

I was perusing a blog the other day-- one that I check out to hear some really radical views- views that make me pause... as a result I was considering the issue of the patriarchy and sexism once again (There was a huge stupid debate over the blogger's use of the term "Concentration Camp" when referencing schools-- all the sensitive Jewish readers were up in arms over the insensitive use of that word as if it only references the Holocaust. Here's news folks "Concentration camp" isn't a synonym for Nazi Holocaust). I continued on with my deliberation-- thinking about my own life and some of the women I know-- considering some of the advice I have received from women about parenting- (especially post-divorce) and it suddenly occurred to me that as a species we are simply too damaged. And in so many cases we do not have the strength to even think of ourselves differently, let alone make others think of us differently.

Being a librarian at a middle school (and indeed the schools are concentration camps!), I watch the girls, help them find books, watch how they function in the world and I am astounded, simply astounded, that they are actually worse than the girls I grew up around in the sixties and seventies. (I will qualify my statement with the note that I work in a largely hispanic community-- but even among the white girls this is true!) The most popular books going for girls are those rancid "Twilight" series and many of the popular books The nuddy pants series, the Gossip girls, etc. are just as bad if not worse (I could make myself sick naming them all and I might add that what we read really says a LOT about who we are and what we think about and what we enjoy) All this crap-- the junk the girls read is indicative of the mindset these girls have. Our children in general are going the wrong direction but OH MY GOD! the girls. But it's as if it's a non-issue. We (women) got the vote so there's nothing to think about.

But it's really unsolvable in the system as it stands...

And here we come right back to the drum I have been pounding on for a bit already... the problem with an issue like the ongoing propagation of the patriarchy (Or racism or anti-gay statements, etc.) is the connection it has to a wider issue - that of the rape and pillage of the common wealth (that means ALL OF US!)on the part of the wealthy. This might seem disjointed, but it's easier to rob people when the little people are fretting over the cartoon monkey in the New York Post. And it's easier to rape them when they are obsessed with the obnoxious sexist-pig co-worker. We won't change things concerning the patriarchy when the power and the money is with a VERY small group of male (or male-ish- which is what I call women who wind up in that tiny subset of our wealthiest individuals and make a lot of money from bowing to the patriarchy) group of people in this country. They have us singing "I got no strings" all the while they are pulling at the strings. And while we're bickering or going nuts over words like "concentration camps" or the afore mentioned cartoons they are laughing all the way to the bank!

And to top the hot chocolate off with a generous helping of whipped cream, pop culture does not real allow for depth or real awareness. If sex sells, we're going to sell it. If religion sells, we'll make the prices reasonable. And as long as we're selling (and teaching) pablum, then we will produce children who will continue to gorge themselves on pablum. To have a truly more egalitarian, nonsexist culture, a woman friendly world, we would need real change. The kind of change we don't really seem interested in making.

We are really only interested in making money.

Hamster on a wheel

So you want to be a droid--- a robot in the mindless machine of making and buying produce. Luckily, you're on the right track! And we have just the education system to make sure neither you nor your children, nor your children's children will ever be on the verge of living any life other than the one that we have planned for you.

It all begins in childhood. Products designed to "give your baby a head start" that run the gambit of in the womb CDs to Baby Einstein-- a learning system that paradoxically uses television and video for educating the infant to toddler set-- are marketed to you. (I say "paradoxically" as all studies show that television for the young do more to HARM the ability for tots to think and learn)When they finally get to school, they will be given data entry (just like computers) which is often complicated and challenging giving you the illusion that your child is really learning something. Thus, you run out to buy teaching aids or send them to private tutors so that they can keep up (once again contributing to the swelling of our pocketbooks, not really helping your children in any meaningful way). What they are really getting are the system tools to regurgitate the information we want them to spit out so that one day they will be able to enter the workforce and produce the type of work we need. They will also often be completely turned off of learning and education because all they will have ever known is a drudgery that stilts and plunders one of life rather than enhancing and contributing to life (as a real intellectual life & thought will do).

This will continue throughout their young lives- even into college (although occasional trip-ups in college do lend the possibility for intellectual development-- we try to halt this wherever it happens!) We are able to do this because colleges are, after all, a business and if they are seen as too radical and oppositional to the system, money dries up. Professors don't like losing money-- for their homes or otherwise. We also quickly wrap the students up in debt. Although the school loans they are receive are low in interest, they are for many thousands of dollars and force the student to make a certain income in order to make the investment worth his or her while. In addition to this, we seize the opportunity to help these poor struggling students through their financial difficulties by offering them credit which they use for survival purposes. They are now completely reliant on the system that we offer them to pay these debts back. They will not head off for a year of exploration through Europe or spend their early adulthood seeking adventure and a meaningful existence. They will spend their energy trying to make enough money to pay their bills back and have a nice enough car to impress their family and friends.

Once they are out of college, we will continue to disguise real information and facts with pseudo-science and opinion. And we will use this method to keep you continually off balance. If you are unaware that there are actual facts out there, you will, most likely be stunned into immobility, unable to act in your own best interest simply because you do not have the ability to make the proper decision for yourself. We are helped with this endeavor by the media. They are owned by the companies that require your servitude, so they rarely give any information that might cause you to ask difficult questions that would shake up, even minutely, the status quo. We will also feed your obsession with yourself and your "needs", talking at great length about the need to be whole and happy and balanced- all the while ignoring and even cheating the real needs of the body (i.e. food and healthcare). We will perpetuate and fertilize racism, sexism, homophobia. These will ultimately divide you so that you are always at odds with the people around you who might unite with you against us. We will enable and in some cases even outright support religious institutions to convince you that are noble child of a deity with a higher purpose than the mundane realities of an earthly existence (this is all temporal-- you should be focused on your eternal destiny!). It will also, hopefully, guilt you into subordination. We encourage the nationalism and loyalty to our system that religious systems ally themselves with. As as result of your miserable existence, you will be devoured with the desire for entertainment and distraction of all sorts, never realizing how this further enslaves you to your master.

Thus, you are left, like the hamster in the cage, with a wheel to turn and nowhere to go. You will wake up, run and run and run, getting nowhere and finding nothing. You will eat the foods we give you at whatever price we mete them out at. You will consume entertainment and spend all your waking hours making a lovely little nest for yourself- all the while ignorant that there might be more meaning to life than the bars of your cage allow. You will spend your time so busy with YOU: your needs, your emotions, your eternal preparations, your status, etc.-- oh and, the bearing of offspring that you won't even try to reach for the latch on the cage door. And your offspring living what they have learned will be compelled to continue the cycle in this great Circle of Life. At least the circle we have provided for you.

And YOU should be grateful for it.

Tradition

Americans are not long on legacy. We do not value the time honored traditions and icons of our past. We are in love with NEW things and YOUTH is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. As a result we are missing out on a great deal that is beautiful about life.

Recently, a tradition was torn down not too far from where I live. A drive-in that had been in existence since drive-ins were the "latest" was torn down and an apartment building is now being erected there. Scrapping for space, the buildings stand back to back with a pleasant view of well-trafficked thoroughfares. On one side of the property, clinging to life, the marquis of the now dead and buried car theater lingers, a waning shadow of days gone by. It's graffitied front is a reminder of couples grappling in the backseats of '54 chevies, of families piled in station wagons, teenagers clambering into the bed of the pickup so they can lie on a mattress watching the large screen with the tinny dialogue of actors blaring from metal speakers that dangle on the car window. My son, an eleven year-old who has not yet been sold on the Need for New, the love of change or "progress", on our morning drive past the burial ground of family fun, nearly always looks at the new construction with disgust and comments, "Wasting perfectly good space". Undoubtedly the placard will eventually be utilized for advertising the new apartment's appeal to passers-by and a sad final nail will be put in the coffin of the drive-in theater's marker.

As an icon of American values it is more than symbolic that the Cinderella drive-in can be torn down without so much as a sigh from the populace. And it speaks to us poignantly, I suppose, that those things that are, in fact, uniquely American are held in no more reverence than the past from which many escaped to come to this country. For peoples who left their homeland in often difficult circumstances to start anew and who cling only to language and diet for their sense of culture it should not be surprising that American icons hold little or no significance. Perhaps the truth about American tradition is that tradition is despised, ignored and subservient to constant deconstruction and that our true tradition is leaving anything that ties us to the past behind and going after what pads the pocket book. All is subject to the tradition of greed in this country.

But this is a loss for us all. These cultural symbols, these unique institutions that do still linger in our midst, are more than archaic reminders of our youth. They are what give us a past, that connect us to our yesterdays and to each other. It is no coincidence that when the US invaded Iraq and began remaking that country that they allowed the dismantling of the museums and historic sites. It was their very intention to rob the people of that which lies at the center of their identity like a redwood's most interior growth ring, binding them to each other and a venerable narrative of civilization, beauty and grandeur. Without these ties, it is supposed, the people can be broken and remolded into a more complacent and compliant glob, loosely bound together by religious ties which ultimately keep them at odds and distracted. Now concerned, like their conquerors, only with their personal needs ("needs" being defined generously by the marketplace) they are capable of joining the ranks of humanity that are mere consumers. Americans.

Christmas is a specter of our past- a memento of a lost Atlantis that is quickly being extinguished by greed and marketing. Lame protestations about the commercialization of Christmas is simply not enough. It is up to us to fight, to protest, to do something different in order to keep the truth of Christmas-- to be like the Grinch, or Charlie Brown, or Scrooge and find the substance behind the facade, to grip the reality that there is more to life than getting more, buying more, having more, more, more, more. . .

Life really is finding meaning in the little things we do, holding onto memories of our childhood, clinging to tradition and ritual.

Honoring the struggle

The other day my son came home and told me a little girl had called him an "oreo cookie" because he is bi-racial. Her intention, it seems -at least according to him, was to find an appropriate nickname for him. She was given consequences and there was apparently quite a deal over the situation-- which is, I suppose, appropriate. But this is what I told my son:
"You know I don't approve of her saying those things." He nodded. "Calling names based on race or gender is always wrong." He agreed again. "My problem is the double standard we have concerning this issue. I don't like it when Black kids call each other the "N" word. They are committing black on black racism. And that is a huge problem in the African American community. (My son's father was often put down by his family for having the darkest skin... the attitude among A.A. is that dark skin is a sign of stupidity. This is true in many cultures-- including India. So many ways to keep one group on the top of the heap!) I won't stand for it if you ever behave that way." He agreed. I went on to emphasize my point. "I don't approve of it when women call each other hoes--. There are a lot of people who put their lives on the line so that women, people of other races, sexual preferences, etc. could walk with dignity in our culture. But just getting upset when white people do it is a double standard and hypocritical."

Using names like that just perpetuates the same cycle- only we do it to ourselves now. Using those terms diminishes the struggle.

We are so superficial in our dialogue about sexism and racism-- so overly concerned with PCism (and only certain people need to be PC!! If you're white you have no right to talk about racism) while ignoring what REAL racism and sexism are- counting ourselves among the oppressed when it is the people who fought the battles for equality who truly suffered. When will we as American's grow up on this issue???


When people give my son a pass because he's bi-racial (which is not the same as understanding that he has learning disabilities and he needs to learn differently or have more help on occasion) and they don't really believe that he can (fill in the blank), THAT is racism... and racism at it's worst. (There is a very fine distinction here that may be difficult for some to discern: my accepting that my son has a learning disability does not mean that I think he is not capable of the work-- sometimes he needs more help or needs to learn it in a different way or needs it explained more than once- this is not the same as thinking he cannot do it so I just let him do what he can (which means he won't do much -he is a kid after all) or let him out of doing it. And assuming the reason he isn't learning something is because he is using his race as a crutch is also racism, although not nearly as crippling as the first...) For example, My son's father was dyslexic-- no one discovered this until he was in high school. He didn't know how to read and no one bothered to find out why. The fact that no one knew is that they had no expectation that he could or should read... all they really cared about was that he was a good athlete. (Had his parents valued education, they might have realized his problem and pushed the school to do more or done it themselves...)I do have the expectation that my son work hard to overcome his learning disability. He is capable-- but it takes work. If my son decides to blow off high school and not learn to the best of his ability-- I will not support him in college. I see no point in his going to college if his only reason to go, essentially, is to play football. My son is capable of being more than just another black athlete.

IF one of my daughters were to call me up and say they were overlooked for a promotion because they are bi-racial or a woman-- I would tell them they probably need to be more honest with themselves... Is that really the reason? I would emphasize that using that excuse diminishes the struggle. Too many people refuse to take responsibility for their mistakes and use prejudice as a shield to keep from being honest with themselves.

And if that is the reason they are overlooked??? Well, fighting back may best be done by going to the competition and giving them your expertise and talent... but it definitely does not mean curling up in a ball and crying victim and it doesn't mean hiring a lawyer to keep a job you weren't doing your best at.

When we sit around waiting for a sign that racism or sexism are over... then we are still acting like victims and we are not honoring the struggle. (The fact that so many needed Obama to be elected in order to see that things have changed does not speak well of us...) If the African Americans who marched and faced hanging or were indeed hung for the right to vote had done that, Blacks still might not be able to vote. They faced the problem and then faced it again... and again: Honor their courage by having courage when you are put down with racism/sexism.

I believe honoring the struggle is going out with confidence knowing that people before you have worked hard to allow you the opportunity and then giving your all to show you are worthy of their efforts-- because to behave as though you are still a victim of the same kind of prejudices is to ignore their victories. I believe honoring the struggle is to carry one's self with at least the same dignity that those who suffered far more to give that right to you did...That is honoring the struggle.

Are we done being victims yet?

Does it help? Maybe we can celebrate Obama's victory because we have to give up our "poor me I can't do it because of the establishment" now? The only place I have seen sexism or racism in a long time is in the church. Largely moneyism is what determines who's going to be in charge or get the job.

arrogance

I never raised my children to believe that their color or gender would ever keep them from doing anything... but I also never gave my children the idea that they needed to be the president of the U.S. or even of a corporation in order to have worth. I always felt they needed to be the best people they could be. And looking back, I don't think if I had told my daughters they could be the president of the United States that that would have given them anything they needed.

Too many of the children in this country-- for that matter too many Americans in general-- suffer from entirely too much ego. They act as though they are the most important person in the universe already-- do we really need to emphasize our children's potential (and I might add FALSE potential-- I mean, really, what are the ODDS of becoming president even with the right education and background? Pretty high I'd wager. Maybe even higher than winning the lottery) to be the most powerful person on earth? Religion already gives it's followers the idea that they can be like Jesus or god (which is WAY better than the president, by their doctrine)-- and most of them are just arrogant and self-conceited jerks who can't live what they preach. Is that what we need? REALLY?? MORE self-important individuals????

Haven't we suffered enough from that attitude?

If there needs to be an emphasis- it really does need to be on Obama's education and intelligence- that he did not get the job because his momma had money or his daddy was the president or because he had the best commercials (at least I hope he's not all marketing!) Perhaps that emphasis will put the idea in the black kid who comes into the library every day that he needs to start getting his own education-- that he CAN be more than a dumb football player because there are too many black and white football players who are idolized in this country- and being more than an uneducated athlete isn't really all that hard! And when my son is pouting because he doesn't really like to read and doesn't see the value in it- he can't sit back and feel sorry for himself because he doesn't know of any black men who read and are smart, so why should he work on his reading???... well, now he does! And yes, I will celebrate that! But then if my son were white, he could learn the same thing!

There was a time

There was a time when there was a corner store that sold an assortment of candy treats and little toys for children. There was a time when dime stores were owned by the elderly gentlemen that lived on the corner of White St. and Main. There was a time when bookstores were full of literature and great history books. There was a time when the whole neighborhood was out trick-or-treating, and Widow Nichols knew each child by their first names. There was a time when a person could own a bookstore, a bakery or a toy store and they could make a living and in the doing, be a part of a community.

But in these days of big business and huge corporations, the small businessperson scratches out (hopefully!) a meager second income on their labors. "Owning" a business is generally a huge gamble unless it's connected to a well-established company- like the franchises that give us the illusion of autonomy. We work and work to keep ourselves going, putting the pennies we scratch together back into the pockets of our "toy" makers-- the automobile industry, the computer/electronic game corporations, the television/entertainment industry-- anything that keeps us from realizing that we no longer have as our goal "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" but are now in the pursuit of individual interests and having more. Not the same thing at all... but we seem to be too numb with me-ism to get that.

childhood?

Little league football for kids is awful stuff. Parents screaming, yelling, coaches pacing and pulling at nonexistent hair. Kids crying and being hollered at to stop crying (not that kids should never be told to stop acting like babies, but please...). What happened to kids playing football on an empty school yard or playground? What happened to the neighborhood streets teaming with children calling to one another and running from one home to another? This is preparation for adulthood...

Are we robbing our children of their childhood?

The unfortunate message

In a previous post, I mentioned the insidiousness of commercials- how they create need that wasn't there before or is not a need at all and may, once you have it, not even be a want. Perhaps as adults, we feel less affected by advertising. We may even feel in control and pandered to by advertising (why do we resent salesmen so much but don't mind commercials? It's the same thing.). We feel they have become just a necessary evil in watching our favorite programming for free and sometimes a short source of entertainment (i.e. superbowl commercials).

Unfortunately, they are not. One of my favorite shows is 'Madmen'- a unique little program on American Movie Classics that is receiving a lot of critical acclaim. The drama on the show is interesting and engaging- (I worry about Don's children who are being raised by a more than slightly crazy mother and a father who is disengaged and neglectful -to say the least) but what I also like about the show is it's ability to reveal how advertising affects WHAT we watch. For example in 'A night to remember' in season two, one advertiser is chastised for buying advertising space on a show that references communists as "agitators"-- his clients, Maytag, were not happy about his lack of oversight. They felt the unfortunate use of the word "agitators" would immediately connect their washing machines with communism!

Although it may not seem like censorship, after all they certainly have the right to associate their product with whatever show they choose to, yet when quality programming is not aired because it cannot find enough advertising to pay for it's air time because the companies do not want their product connected with ideas they don't approve of, then it is the corporations that are dictating what we watch and see on television, NOT what the production companies think we will like. There is the illusion in a capitalist society that we have the power because we have the money-- but the reality is that we are being played-- like a cello being stroked by Yo Yo Ma. And make no mistake, everyone involved in advertising are virtuosos.

Advertising is impacting so many areas of our lives-- our politicians are being chosen essentially by advertising (even if people are finally fed up with McCain-- Obama should not be the man of choices based on his commercial appeal). People, we need to resist the commercialism in our society! We need to stop being the instrument and start being the musicians in our lives.

By the way, if you watch 'Madmen' on Comcast-on-demand, there is only one commercial the entire show and you can fast forward through that!

And now this...

Advertising is a blight on civilization as we know it. It creates an unfair marketplace for the small businessperson and creates needs that were unknown up until the commercial enlightened us on our "need" for their product.

An excellent example would be teeth whitening products. I recall the first time I saw the commercial. Beautiful girl sitting at a table in a restaurant, having dinner, laughing, smiling... until! It is obvious that she has a blight on her otherwise pleasant features. Her full broad smile, which generally enhances anyone's otherwise plain looks, has become her nemesis. She has YELLOW TEETH! And now no one wants to talk to her or look at her, she is so imperfect! The answer? Crest's teeth whitening strips... they are her salvation.

And she would have never known if it hadn't been for... the commercial.

Don't you feel better too? Knowing that there is always a product out there to save the day???