Sowing the Winter Wheat
Suffragists, Feminists and Other SheroesI will not be supporting this President.
Since 11/9, I have looked for something to give me comfort and not to feel like my world has just spun into another stratosphere…What kind of place do I live in now.? The idea that enough people were like-minded to Trump and his racist statements has made me ill to my stomach. I have friends and family members who voted him in. I know that most of them voted for him not BECAUSE of his racist, misogynistic and bigoted words but in spite of them… Okay, I get it but here is the fact that made me feel a little more comfortable about our world…..74.2 % of our country DID NOT elect Trump. The numbers show that 25.6 % of people voted for Clinton, 1.7 % for Johnson and 46.9% of eligible voters did not vote at all. Almost 101 MILLION people didn’t even care enough to partake in this election. That is not the part that makes me feel good, in fact that horrifies me but that is a whole other topic .. The bottom line is that only 25.5 % of Americans elected Trump. So only 1/4 of our country support him. That is not a majority and that is certainly not a mandate.
Now, having said that, it doesn’t mean that our country isn’t as dangerous as we feel. Incidents of Trump supporters acting out aggressively are happening all over the country. In Texas, a group calling themselves the Texas Vigilantes have posted signs warning that they will “form tar and feathering vigilante groups to round up and punish people supporting ‘Diversity Garbage'”..And it has already started. Before Trump tackles dismantling every thing President Obama has done, Trump needs to show us how he plans to lead and let these followers know that this hateful behavior is not acceptable to him or any one else. He needs to call off his dogs NOW.
Because of these types of fears, there is a whole movement of people wearing safety pins to identify themselves as safe harbor to any who needs it. . I have heard a few cynical comments about this but I feel that since we don’t know what will be happening, it can’t hurt. However, I have chosen another way. I will be wearing my vintage Votes for Women button. My plan is to go after the 46.9% of non voters. Maybe it will be a conversation starter that will give me a chance to preach about the voting process and our history. It will give me 4 years to convince those people how different this election could have turned out if they had shown up and how important it is that they vote next time.
The other thing that has bothered me has been the constant urging to buck up and accept and support Trump for the good of our country. Since I don’t believe that Trump is good for our country, I will give Trump the same support that the Trump supporters have shown President Obama. I think that number is Zero. They blocked him on everything that he has tried to do . I felt much better when I made the decision to do what I can to stop whatever Trump tries to do. He does not represent me and he does not own me. And that makes me feel pretty damn good.
Don’t Try to Shame Me Anymore……
A while back, I had a friend on Facebook try to shame me by saying that I am only voting for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman. Well, he actually didn’t call her a woman, he described her by her vagina. I felt, as did my friends that we had to defend our position by pointing out her qualifications. He refused to believe that we were that knowledgable so he persisted with his idea. The more he pushed, the more I felt the need to prove that Hillary was more than just a woman. Through out this election, I feel like I have been having to defend her and my position by down playing the fact that she is a woman. I am mad at myself for allowing him or anyone to bully me away from this important historical aspect and the excitement of what is about to happen.
We are going to elect our very First Woman President.
I am done side stepping the fact that Hillary Clinton is a woman. She has fought hard to get to this spot in history. I am done with listening to people whine about how unlikeable she is by using the same sort of the scrutiny that all women have had to put up with through out history…. She is too loud, her voice is too shrill, she is not feminine, she is not pretty, She is not soft, she is too cold acting, she doesn’t smile enough, she wears pant suits, she is too robotic, her hair cut is not feminine enough, she is too secretive, she is not trustworthy, she is too forward.She is too assertive or career minded. And ON and ON…All of her public life, she has been battered by the media so it is little wonder that so many have bought into that sort of propaganda. What Hillary has accomplished in her service to our country outweighs what the opposition is trying to batter us with now. I don’t view Hillary Clinton as Mother Theresa but she is by far NOT the devil incarnate either. She is an accomplished, intelligent and extremely qualified WOMAN.
Her opponent expounds the idea that he is worthy of President because he is an outsider to politics. Hillary may have chosen politics as her career path but as most of us know, her gender has caused her to be an outsider who has had to fight harder to get her foothold. Politics has always been a man’s domain so maybe if it is screwed up, the kind of ousiders we need are informed women. In 2015, 104 (76D, 28R) women hold seats in the United States Congress, comprising 19.4% of the 535 members; 20 women (20%) serve in the United States Senate, and 84 women (19.3%) serve in the United States House of Representatives. Zero women have been President of the United States. That is (0%.)
She will make mistakes along the way. Attacks on her will be brutal. Her opponent and his followers will plague her like the locusts that they are. But like the Suffragists before her, she will set an example to pave the way for more women to be brave enough to step up and attempt to make this world an even better place for all of us. She is about to show us that women can be anything they dream of being…. even President of the United States of America.
Oh, and did I mention she is a WOMAN!!!!!!!!!
What I learned by Watching the Democratic Convention
Okay, I will admit it.. I drank the Kool-Aid that the Democratic Party offered. After the horrifyingly bleak Trump Convention, my mouth was so dry that I gulped the optimistic message this week like a drunken sailor. And by Friday morning, I was so refreshed, enthused about life and ready to take on the world.
What I learned from watching this convention was why I should be on board for Hillary Clinton. It was a stark contrast to what I learned about Donald Trump from the RNC . The first fact is that Hillary Clinton has worked to help our country for over 25 years, as a lawyer, first lady in Arkansas, first lady to the President, Senator of New York and Secretary of State. During that same time, Trump has done nothing but help himself. He has built a business by filing Chapter 11 four different times and in his personal life, has been married three times. This shows me that he has a tendency to give up quickly and take the easiest way out he can find. On the other hand, Hillary worked through the difficult times in her marriage and when her attempt at working on the healthcare program failed, she pushed on to make it work in another way.
I learned this week that Hillary is a fighter, not because she is some power hungry demon trying to destroy our way of life but because she believes in helping people when they are in need and she wants to make our lives better. Her motto is from the Methodist founder, John Wesley “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” I learned that if Hillary had been more public about all the good things she was doing for people, maybe all the demonizing could have been squashed or at least tempered. But I guess her good deeds were not driven by that evil ego that she is supposed to possess.
I learned that Hillary is strong and when it comes to being commander in chief, she has a steady nature that will keep our country safe. She is an avid listener which is a quality for any good leader. By listening, she will learn the heart of a problem and take advice to attempt to fix the problem. Trump feels he “alone” knows how to fix everything and probably with little thought or consideration for anyone around him.
I learned that Hillary is fair enough to acknowledge what Bernie Sanders has done for the Democratic Party. She is smart enough to work with him to include his ideas into the party platform. I only wish some of his “dreamers” had enough vision to understand the process and realize that if they waste their vote by not voting for Hillary, any viable chance of what they have been fighting for will be lost to the wind, if she doesn’t win.
I learned that Hillary gets along with both sides of the aisle. When she was a Senator she was commended by Republicans for working with them. Maybe that is why so many Republicans are with her this time. She understands the system and how it works in order to work with in it. Now this baffles me the most. I understand that our system needs a lot of work and that we need a change. But Hillary Clinton is the most qualified to lead us to a solution. Change does not mean hiring someone for the job who is woefully unqualified. Would you hire someone who knows nothing about automobiles to fix your car? Would you hire someone who knows nothing about the mechanics of your pipes to fix your plumbing? Or any other problem that you have? Now is not the time to be stupid about your choices.
And most of all, I learned that the people who know Hillary the best, trust her. They have dealt with her one on one for years. They trust her nature. They know what motivates her and they trust her. They know her first hand. All we really know about her is what we have read.
In order to get through until November without having a stroke by worrying about the failure that is Donald Trump, I have chosen to visualize our First Woman President being elected. I have chosen positivity over hate, misogyny and bigotry. After all, I belong to an Optimistic Party with a diversity of inclusion.
And as Susan B Anthony instructed us “Failure is Impossible”
So I can very proudly say, “I’m With Her!!!”
What I Learned from Watching Trump’s Convention
I am so glad that Trump’s Convention is over and we can get back into a more believable and tolerable reality. His fear tactics did the trick but not for the reasons he had intended.
I tried to be open-minded and watch most of his convention but it was extremely hard to watch so I had to turn it off and take breaks. Call me a wimp but I am not used to listening to that much hate, at that kind of level, for that length of time. Particularly when that sort of venom is spewed at me, my party and my candidate, Hillary Clinton. But from what I was able to stomach, I learned this from HIS convention.
Trump came in and bulldozed his way into being the Republican’s candidate. Just like an industrial business man, he bought a piece of property and bulldozed all the trees that added the charm to the place but were in his way. He built a skyscraper that blocks everyone’s views so that he is center of attention. And he topped it off with his name in Gold letters. Most of the Republicans I know are pretty fair-minded people and most are not Trump supporters but are feeling bullied into accepting him as their candidate because they are left with no other choice. I truly feel sorry for them.
I learned that Trump’s America is one of the worst places to live on our planet. It is so dangerous and horrible that we should probably all carry guns just to protect ourselves all the time. That we should first of all, jail Hillary Clinton because she caused everything to be this way and that she is as heinous as probably Hitler. She is a liar, cheater and etc. She is, of course, the main obstacle standing in his way of taking over the White House so the more fear he can create about her the better. What Chris Christie did with his mock trial was so over the top that I would imagine regular Republicans cringed with embarrassment. At least I hope so. And perhaps the bravest moment I witnessed was Ted Cruz’s speech. I never thought I would say those words because I am not fond of Ted Cruz at all. But he did not succumb to Trump’s tyrannical bullying and endorse him. He stood before a huge crowd of his peers and he spoke honestly. A rarity for the people who spoke at Trump’s convention. It took guts for him to stand up to Trump and be booed off the stage while Trump entered the convention to victoriously observe Cruz being eaten by the lions. Perhaps that was Trump’s sole purpose of having Cruz there in the first place.
I learned that there were 18 black delegates there in Cleveland. It is no wonder that they feel incensed by the Black Lives Matter movement… Trump’s Republicans support the novelty of knowing a few so they don’t appear too racist. Simply put, Trump’s people believe that it is Black Lives against Blue Lives.. or All Lives. All Black Lives Matter is saying is that Black lives matter, too… not exclusively so why is that so threatening to anyone? I saw a woman holding up a sign that said No Racism, No Hate being attacked on the floor of the convention and having her sign ripped from her hands and escorted from the hall. And she was white…How was that threatening?
I learned that our very own president Barack Obama along with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, created ISIS because he is a Muslim and sympathizes with them. Now we need semi automatic weapons to wipe them out quickly . I am not saying that our times are not weird and dangerous right now but the cause is much deeper than Trump has an understanding for. His biggest lie of last evening was to say there would be no lies. And then he started his lies. He understands the system better than anyone and he ALONE can fix all of America’s problems. He is not going to tell us what his solution might be except to build a wall and lower taxes. We know that most politicians lie so please check the chart above (a count of lies checked by PolitiFact) to see who lies the most.
And I learned that Plagiarism is acceptable now.
I have not gotten into Nato, imprisoning women for abortion, changing anything that Obama has improved in our country with like LGBT rights, affordable healthcare or addressing the enviroment. What I was left with is the thought that OUR America under Trump will be a very scary place indeed.
Happy 4th of July, Everyone
Today, I am thinking about my Dad. I wish I could talk to him today. He died last August and I miss him. He was an honest man and he was a Republican. We debated many times about politics and although we hardly agreed, we respected each other. Not many debates go that way these days. I learned from listening to his opinions and he taught me how to debate. One thing he explained to me is that when your opposition starts name calling, you have won the debate because they have nothing more to add of importance.
I think of that when I listen to all of the Hillary bashing. Conservatives are so consumed with making Hillary look as evil as possible that they lead with name calling to destroy her character. She is a liar, she is cold, she is plain out evil, she is not trustworthy, She is a shrew who cusses as much as she can. She is a money hungry opportunist . She doesn’t follow the rules about emails. How much did she spend on that outfit? Oh, did I say she is a liar. Well, we can add that in several times because I don’t think you can have a conversation about Hillary without pointing that out, straight up.
When will we ever get to the important part of our discussions if we are always being side tracked to address the name calling. Perhaps that is all the conservatives have. It is much harder to discuss the issues when your candidate has only offered vaguely what he will do. Most of which are not useful because we don’t live in a dictatorship nor are they legal. So it is much easier to just dismiss Hillary by slandering her. What else can they say?
This election will be the toughest for Republicans because most of them don’t like any of their choices. And they have the worry that if they don’t vote at all, will that be a vote for Hillary? So that makes me wonder what my Dad would say and what he would do. I can only guess but before he died we did talk about Trump. I know my Dad would never have abandoned his morals and voted for Trump. He would never have voted for Hillary either. My Dad would have voted, perhaps not for President but for a Republican Congress to do checks and balances on Hillary.
I wish I could talk to my Dad today.
TO The Women Against Feminism:…..
I guess it is time to dust off this blog.
TO the Women Against Feminism:
First of all, I have gone to your website and read your signs and it is clear to me that you have bought into a very negative assumption of who a feminist is .
I am a feminist. I shave my legs and under my arms. Even though I am over weight, I worry and fuss with how I look. I go to the gym. Wearing black is not a militant statement but my feeble attempt to look thinner. I love men. I am married to one. I am a stepmom. We have four grandsons. I am not angry. In fact, I am a pretty happy person. I laugh quite a bit. I don’t feel oppressed . I feel very lucky. Most of my girlfriends are feminists with the kind of empathy and compassion that comes from the experience of living long lives. We are not harpies…
We understand the exhausting work that many women did by stepping forward and demanding that women have equal rights. If you think that women’s struggles are over, you are mistaken. As long as there are discussions about what women can or cannot do with their own bodies, there will be more hard work to be done. Are there discussions of making laws about what men can do with their bodies ? Women need to stick together, not be pitted against each other…
Your agenda reads Women Against Women to me and I am not clear why you feel the need to slam the brave women who have blazed a trail to give you the very rights you are exercising.. These rights did not come to you out of thin air. In Biblical times, men debated whether women had souls and it wasn’t until 1920, after a long hard struggle and a lot of persistence that women won the right to vote. You are able to lead your privileged lives because of feminists…..
Look, this is all about the spin…Being a “feminist” has always met with opposition. Mainly from people who felt threatened by women with an opinion. It was important for these people to give a negative spin on the word as part of their strategy. And sadly, you believe them. That’s okay, I was young and naive once, too.
Now, I am but one of the feminists you are against. But I want you to know that although I know you are extremely capable of speaking out for yourself, I am FOR you. And I will never be AGAINST you, even if you are against me. I can live with that. Women have done that for hundreds of years.
And lastly, I like to have my door opened for me too but I also like to open that door for other people. It is a sign of caring and respect.
New Unsung Heroes
"Hummers"
It has been almost exactly 2 years since I have written on this blog… How did that happen??? OH FACEBOOK … that is what happened… I think I mainly switched to talking more on Facebook .
My work has been evolving and changing because of many things going on in my life… Well, that is what art work is supposed to do since artists are influenced by what they see and do.
My soul searching has had me examining other facets of what it is to be a woman….. Most of my artwork has been trying to give women some heroes to look up to. To share these noble and adventurous women’s stories… I am still doing that but I have added another group of women who are really more unsung heroes…
These women are the ones who are the backbones of who we basically are… They have given us the skills to be emotional, thoughtful, hard working and lovely….. They may be passed off as being more common but really they are just unsung..
I am not sure why the birds are coming into the picture but maybe it has to do with the singing part.
Maybe it is some sort of symbolism….Maybe they mean nothing…
Or maybe they are my way of expressing my gratitude to my Mother (who is a birder) for what she has taught me…Consequently, I never leave the house with dirty underwear on and I strive to be extremely honest even if it ends up costing me money that I usually don’t have…. I may not have always followed her sage advice (unfortunately) but I have tried.
Here are a few of my new pieces…. They are solar etchings with handmade Japanese papers and vintage paper goods…
This one is titled “Waiting”
Waiting
And this one is Pie in the Window
And a Bird in the Gallery
So there you have it….. I will try to keep up…..
Three Suffragists Etchings…..
I started with 3 rather large drawings that I made of 3 suffragists…. Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Carrie Chapman Catt … Sort of the beginning and the end results of the process of getting women the right to vote…. I have been interested for quite some time in the idea of creating images of women using words or objects to form their bodies and drawing their heads… These women had so much to say that I thought it would be quite easy to form their bodies with their words…. Since Susan B was on the road so much, I filled her with advertisements of her upcoming speeches and other ephemera promoting her….. And her infamous statement running down her arm, “Failure is Impossible”.. and a photo of Elizabeth Cady Stanton over her heart…..
I have a good collection of suffrage postcards and wanted to include them some way so I made etchings of three of them and matched them up to the three different women…. The Susan B Lives postcard, of course, was obvious and had to go with my Susan B etching and I think, completes the idea that her spirit is still alive and well in the current women’s movement…. our ever constant fight for equality with the men and generally our place in the world…. Failure is Impossible…. The postcard is something done in probably the 70s…..
For Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B’s best friend, I filled her body with her most important speech, “The Solitude of Self”….. If you are not familiar with this writing, check it out by clicking here.. It is probably the best piece she wrote and speaks passionately of full freedoms of individuals… It was her farewell speech when she resigned as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1892….. Again, remember we didn’t get the vote until 1920….. The postcard I chose to be paired with her etching was probably from either the 30s 0r 40s and was a birth announcement. I felt she was definitely born to fight for this cause …..
And in the third etching of Carrie Chapman Catt, I constructed her body with an article that she wrote for a magazine about Equal Suffrage as an Issue of World Democracy… Carrie Chapman Catt sort of brought a conclusion to the voting struggle along with Alice Paul and all of the numerous courageous suffragists….. I love the postcard that I used with her of George Washington questioning “Did I save my country for this?”….. Well, yes, George W, this is our country too…..
I chose the accent color of red to punch up the striking importance of this part of our history…… Red is a color that is hard to ignore….. And for you printmakers, I printed the two colors on one plate and the color on the postcards was added after the etchings were printed and dried.
Each of these etchings is about 5.5 X 10 inches….
and just a little FYI….. are $145. each, unframed….
Sowing the Winter Wheat 