President Obama made comprehensive health reform a priority. Currently in Congress there are eleven different proposals, none of which include the Single Payer Option that many organizations advocated as the best way to provide health care. Many proposals include only one or two of President Obama's principals. For a side-by-side comparison of these plans, visit http://www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm.

Many proposals require citizens to purchase health care coverage. This is not health care reform. This is mandated exploitation by insurance companies and pharmaceuticals, not a health care system.

 

With $400 million, according to CNN, spent to influence the health care debate – it seems apparent that the concerns of these lobbying organizations will exceed the concerns of the more than 45 million people who do not have insurance, of those whose insurance coverage depends on employment, or of those who are underinsured. If our congress continues to be bought off by these lobbyist, there is little hope that that there will be real health care reform…just more and legalized ways for insurance and medical suppliers to benefit on the ills (and illnesses) of Americans.

 

Health care is a human rights issue. People need to become vocal. If we as citizens don't clamor for true reform, we will get what we deserve. True reform will only happen when individuals speak up and personalize the issue. Contact your representatives, tell them your story, ask for true health care reform such as the single payer option, not pandering to the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Make them accountable.

Liberty and Justice for all, NOW, Washington, D.C.

I listened to President Obama's address to determine if the proposed Health Care Reforms would address women's concerns.

NOW believes that single-payer health care is the best way to achieve the goal of universal, comprehensive and affordable care for everyone. Single-payer gives doctors and patients the power to choose the best individualized medical care. Since support for Single Payer has dwindled, women must work for comprehensive health care for all, including the full range of reproductive health services required to ensure equality for women.

As a matter of human rights, women should not be rejected from coverage for so-called pre-existing conditions, which have been applied to exclude pregnancy and maternal care. As Terry O'Neill, president of National NOW said, "Marginalizing women's health care marginalizes women as a class." Women must insist that family planning, pregnancy care and abortion are basic health care that should be covered in any health insurance reform plan.

Women need health care cost controlled. It is pure sex discrimination to charge women higher insurance premiums. Women also need expanded availability of insurance coverage because as part-time or "pink collar" workers, women often work at jobs that don't offer health care benefits.

Women need to reject President Obama's promise to retain "conscience refusal" laws that can potentially limit services for birth control, HIV/AIDS, abortion, sterilization and just about any procedure that an individual or entity opposes. I am hoping that President Obama will rescind this discriminatory rule.

During President Bush's administration, conservatives used the term "liberal media" disparagingly, even though the press was never liberal. Under direction from Karl Rove, they learned to master spin and continue to do so today with vitriol and impunity. In a Letter to the Editor on Saturday, Todd Tanney of Sarasota said it best: "the conservative propaganda machine is far more adept at attack, smear, innuendo, misrepresentation and creating fear (mostly false) than anything on the left."

Last week there was a plethora of propaganda surrounding President Obama's address to school. Glenn Beck went off on his "indoctrination" rant, warning of secret private armies even though this conspiracy is not supported by facts. WorldNetDaily said Obama's planned speech "raises the specter of the Civilian National Security Force" and promoted comparisons to Hitler's youth brigade. Mark Steyn said the speech is part of a "cult of personality," and NewsBusters' Mark Finkelstein ranted about the striking similarity between President Obama's plan to encourage students to work hard and Chairman Mao's leadership of China . Radio host Tammy Bruce asked parents to keep their kids out of school so they wouldn't be indoctrinated.

Here comes the spin: Even though none of this happened, the conservative media claimed victory stating that the White House had secretly changed the speech in response. Listen to Florida Republican Party chairman Jim Greer's assertion that Obama altered his speech after "the White House got caught with their hand in the cookie jar."

 Following this spin, conservative media got busy enshrining a new hero, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) who screamed "You lie," in the middle of President Obama's address to Congress on Health Care Reform, even though Wilson was not factual. Listen to Rush Limbaugh who wished Wilson hadn't apologized.

But what is disconcerting is the way the more "legitimate" press tried to "balance" reports of this incident, in spite of the fact that Wilson was wrong. Fox tried to convince viewers that Nancy Pelosi's criticisms of the CIA were no different from Wilson 's heckling of the president on the House floor. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post compared Wilson 's verbal attack on the president to Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), who "insisted on making a victory sign with his hand and waving it at Obama."

 You may wonder why  I am concerned. This type of media coverage is symptomatic of a broken media culture. I fear that the press is promoting a group of fringe conservatives who use insults, falsehoods, and who make allegations without facts, and continue to be treated as major players in the reporting of news.

Today, I am 59 yeas old. As I take measure of what I have done with my life I am surprised by the accomplishments and the realization of all that I still want to do. My life is stratified, each layer based on those before it and like the layers of a parfait each strata adding to the blend. The formative years, the experimental years, the back -to-nature years, the familial years, the activist years form the current "parfait" of my life. I wonder what the new layers will be and what will be the cherry, the topping of this life's creation.

There is so much more that I want to do with my life. I am torn between continuing in the current direction and embarking on a new adventure, leaving the strata of activism and entering one filled with travel and the enjoyment of my mate while we still have the health and capabilities to do so, thus completing life-long desires to bicycle cross country, the continental divide and Europe. To do the later, I need to slowly extricate my self from the current personally rewarding responsibilities and commitments and start training and planning for the future. Of course, this means leaving the securities and friendships of my current life for the unknown.

I have never been afraid of the unknown and my life's accomplishments are testimonial to that. But at 59 I am comfortable with my current lifestyle and I do not feel sufficiently independent financially to leave work and the medical insurance associated with it to set forth on new adventures, or so has been my thinking until today.

This afternoon I was speaking with my daughter and her friend and telling them that they can do whatever they want…if they truly want something, they can find a way to do so. So if they can do it in their twenties, what is stopping me from accomplishing my dreams? Not age, but desire. I therefore have to question my motivation. If this is something I really want to do? If yes, then I can make it happen. I may have to make adjustment and compromises might have to fine alternate solutions, but I am confident that I can find a way…and perhaps ease from the current life into the next, not with a demarcation but with a melding of the current and the future.

Now, to search for the solutions.

 

It was with sadness that I learned that Dr Tiller's clinic will not reopen. Since his assassination, women's organizations have urged the FBI and local law enforcement to assess the security needs of targeted abortion clinics and healthcare workers nationwide. The National Organization for Women has asked attorney general Eric Holder and head of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to treat these murders in the same way they would treat politically-motivated domestic terrorism of any other kind and put the full resources of their two departments behind that effort. Other organizations are providing aid to targeted clinics and have successfully requested and received federal protection for some severely targeted providers.

Dr. Tiller murder is a stark reminder that women still do not have control over their bodies and that health care professionals who tend to all aspects of women's health, including abortion and birth control are putting themselves in danger. It angers me that the increase in anti-abortion extremist activity is resulting in Dr. Tiller's clinic's not reopening. Without access to clinics, women have no choice.

Women must renew efforts to maintain safe and legal access to abortion and birth control. We must speak out against the term "pro-life" to describe anti-abortion groups. Murder is not pro-life. We must continue to promote reproductive rights legislation in Florida and nationally. We must let Dr. Tiller's murder be a call to action and not let intimidation by anti-abortion extremists continue.

Reproductive rights supporters are outraged at the news about the murder of Dr. George Tiller of Wichita KS.  Dr. Tiller was gunned down as he was entering the Reformation Lutheran Church to attend services. This courageous, kind man continued to help women even after being shot in 1993, receiving countless threats, and having his clinic vandalized earlier this month.

The doctor was shot for saving the lives of women. He was killed to "rescue" fetuses by someone who could not see the irony of his actions. His death represents a culture of violence often directed at women.

Sara-Mana NOW is grateful that the FBI and law enforcements agencies are treating this killing as a threat to the security of our society, of women and all who aid women.

Women make up more than 50% of the US population and currently earn 48.5% of all the law degrees in the U.S. Yet, women only make up 32% of American attorneys, 27% of federal circuit court of appeals judges and 25% of federal district court judges. Sadly, women are only 11% of the U.S. Supreme Court and no woman has ever served as Chief Justice of the United States.

 

Many women's organizations are urging President Obama to nominate a woman. Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women states, "A woman of color would go even further toward broadening the court's narrow makeup. Obama has the ability to make history yet again, and I am confident that it won't be that hard to do with the number of highly qualified women ready to serve."

 

O'Mahony stated "the best-qualified person, male or female, deserves to be the nominee." On what criteria are we to deem the "best candidate"?  Based on the law of averages, over time one would expect highly qualified women to be appointed as judges in proportion to the population. This disparity is strikingly apparent in the Supreme Court: 89% of the justices are male.  The message is that women and the female perspective don't matter.

 

This has to change. The courts need the women's perspectives. We need justices who reject traditional stereotypical descriptions of women and norms for women's behavior. We need justices who "get it."

The House of Representatives passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (H.R. 1913) on April 29.  This bill provides much-needed protections and tools to combat-and help eliminate hate and bias crimes and helps protect women who are not currently protected under the justice system. Unfortunately, Representative Buchanan voted against this bill. Being anti hate is not a partisan position; it is one of humanity, kindness, common sense. Evidently our misogynistic representative possesses none of these characteristics.

 

Last week, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) introduced the Senate companion bill, S. 909, named for hate-crimes victim Matthew Shepard.  This bill is necessary to ensure that victims of gender-based hate crimes receive the protection they deserve. 

 

Hate crimes are serious problems.  For this reason I encourage Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) and Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) to support this legislation that will provide greater protections to women victims, who are not currently protected by federal hate crimes law.
 

Their support of this and  similar legislation in the future will send a clear signal that hate-driven violence carried out against any individual will not be tolerated in Florida or anywhere in the US.

President Obama’s health insurance option is essential for all 86.7 million uninsured Americans (one in three American under 65). Obviously it is also important for those whose jobs are in peril during these difficult economic times. Not so obvious is the benefit this option could have on those who are insured and on the economy. According to recent studies, the Obama option would provide high-quality insurance, with a choice of doctors, and save 30% of the cost of private insurances. My private insurance only allows me to see only doctors who are members of the plan, only allows payment for “approved” procedures, and cost me out-of-pocket and annual deductibles as well as premium payments shared by me and my employer. If all insured Americans could save 30% of their insurance cost, that money could be spent to help boost the economy.

Additionally, passing this option would force for-profit insurance companies to make their plans a better value, especially if they have to compete with a universal health plan or other health insurance options. Those with private insurance would be given the freedom to work with the doctor of their choice and to receive the care the doctor deems best, not the care that the insurance will pay for.

 

I encourage congress to resist pressure from private insurance company lobbyists and to write an insurance option that will benefit all Americans, those insured and uninsured.

There was a recent play reading of Angelina by Sarasota’s Banyan Theater, about Angelina Grimke, one of the two famed Grimke sisters.  The reading began with a poem by the above title.  A friend of mineI tried finding that poem through Google on the Internet and could not do so, so she asked Susan Jones Mannino, the playwright and actress in the play, if she could send it to her.  The odd spacing is how she received it.

 

Exceptional

            even deviant

                        you draw your long skirts

across the nineteenth century     

                        Your mind

burns long after death

                        not like the harbor beacon

but like a pyre of driftwood

                                    on the beach

                                                            You are spared

illiteracy

            death by pneumonia          

                                                teeth which leave the gums

the seamstress’ clouded eyes

                                                the mill-girl’s shortening breath

by a collection

                        of circumstances

                                                soon to be known as

class privilege

                        The laws say you can possess nothing

                                                                                                in a world

where property is everything

                                                            You belong first to your father

then to him who

                        chooses you

                                                if you fail to marry

you are without recourse

                                    unable to earn

                                                            a workingman’s salary

forbidden to vote

                                    forbidden to speak

                                                                        in public

if married you are legally dead

                                                            the law says

you may not bequeath  property

                                                            save to your children

or male kin

                        that your husband

                                                            has the right

of the slaveholder

                                    to hunt down and re-possess you

                                                                                                should you escape

You may inherit slaves

                                                but have no power to free them

your skin is fair

                                                you have been taught that light

came

                        to the Dark Continent

                                                            with white power

that the Indians

                                    live in filth

                                                            and occult animal rights

 

Your mother wore corsets

                                                            to choke her spirit

                                                                                                which if you refuse

you are jeered for refusing

                                                            you have heard many sermons

and have carried

                                    your own interpretations

                                                                                    locked in your heart

You are a woman

                                    strong in health

                                                                        through a collection

of circumstances

                                    soon to be known

                                                                                    as class privilege

which if you break

                                    the social compact

                                                                                    you lose outright

When you open your mouth in public

                                                                        human excrement

                                                                                                            is flung at you

you are exceptional

                                    in personal circumstance

                                                                                                in indignation

you give up believing

                                    in protection

                                                                        in Scripture

in man-made laws

                                    respectable as you look

                                                                                    you are an outlaw

Your mind burns

                                                not like the harbor beacon

                                                                                                but like a fire

of fiercer origin

                                                you begin speaking out

and a great gust of freedom

                                                            rushes in with your words

yet still you speak

                                                in the shattered language

                                                                                                of a partial vision

You draw your long skirts

                                                            deviant

                                                                                    across the nineteenth century

registering injustice

                                                failing to make it whole

How can I fail to love

                                                your clarity and fury

how can I give you

                                                all your due  

                                                                                    take courage from your courage

honor your exact

                                                legacy as it is

recognizing

                                    as well

                                                that it is not enough?

 

1980

As printed in the Sarasota Herald Tribune Letters to the Editor, Mar 16, 2009

Women are fortunate in the US to have a plethora of feminist activist organizations such as National Organization for Women (NOW), the Feminist Majority and etc. who work endlessly to improve women's lives.

But what do these advocacy groups really do "behind-the-scenes? To illustrate, let's examine their involvement in the economic recovery package to ensure that women are positively impacted and that they play an integral role in the revitalization of our economy and our country.

NOW and the Feminist Majority invited feminist organization to work together to put forward very specific measures for inclusion in the recovery plan.

Amazingly, the recovery team listened to these suggestions and included in the plan money for community health centers, to prevent teacher lay-offs, to train medical personnel. Even unemployment insurance modernization made it into the stimulus package, which means women who previously weren't eligible for unemployment insurance are now eligible.

NOW met with members of congress to ask to "Please make sure, while we're rebuilding our physical infrastructure with shovel-ready jobs, that we are also rebuilding our human infrastructure -- with teachers, nurses, social workers, and the like -- because that infrastructure is fragile too."

These women activists worked countless hours to make a difference to all the women who are unemployed, and all those who are suffering. If they had not labored tediously in this effort, the outcome of the Economic Recovery Bill would not have been the same for women.

Please support feminist organizations that do so much for women.

This week, Floridian women received a double whammy.  First, the Medicaid Family Planning State Option was removed from the economic recovery. This option would have allowed Florida to use Medicaid funds to extend family planning services to more low-income women. Then Governor Crist vetoed a proposal by the Legislature to cut $574,728 from the state budget to ineffective crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) that do nothing to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and that often give inaccurate medical information and put women at risk.

 

Especially in these difficult financial times, women need affordable family planning services. If Florida had used the money to fund birth control instead of this CPCs, more than 100, 000 women could have received accurate and sound birth control.

 

For several years, Florida NOW has called for an immediate halt of state money to CPCs.  Not only do these so-called “clinics” have a history of misleading and intimidating women, they utilize taxpayer money that could be used to provide legitimate family planning services to women in need.

Republicans removed The MEDICAID FAMILY PLANNING STATE OPTION from the economic recovery plan in the House of Representatives. This OPTION would have allowed states (at their option) to use Medicaid funds to extend family planning services to more low-income women, something that currently requires a time-consuming waiver process. States choosing this waiver could significantly expand access to contraception.

The Medicaid Family Planning Option in the House recovery plan is especially important to expand access to contraception in a time of economic recession when an unemployed woman has to choose between spending that $50 on the light bill, groceries, or a pack of pills. Guess which goes first?

According to government studies, every $1 spent on family planning saves $4 in prenatal care and childbirth expenses for unintended pregnancies. It's the only kind of Medicaid spending that actually saves money.

 What is harder to figure out is why President Obama (who just last week lifted the global gag rule and made a strong pro-Roe statement on January 22), acquiesced  on this issue.

President Obama needs to hear that women are angry that something so integral to women's health care has been given the old heave-ho, without so much as a whimper of a fight. And Congress needs to hear that we want them to pass the Medicaid Family Planning Option immediately and fund it appropriately.

For more information about the MEDICAID FAMILY PLANNING STATE OPTION visit the March of Dimes link below and then contact both the president and Congress.

http://www.marchofdimes.com/files/MEDICAID_FAMILY_PLANNING_STATE_OPTION.pdf

These are difficult times. According to the Orlando economist Hank Fishkind, “Florida is in its worst recession since 1976.” The state has lost more than 45,000 jobs in 2008.

Let us put this statistic into prospective. As of October this year the Florida unemployment rate is at 7%, according to the bureau of labor statistics. In 1976 unemployment was 9.7% where as in 1938 it was 19% of labor force. But in 1938 a homemaker was neither part of the labor force nor unemployed. Nor were full-time students, prisoners, children, the elderly, and some individuals with disabilities included in those unemployment statistics. For this reason, comparing today’s numbers to those during depression does not give us an accurate picture; we need to compare the actual numbers of people affected by the loss of work.  Whatever the numbers might be, the reality is that these are difficult times.

Some of you may have been affected by this recession. You may have lost your homes to foreclosures, your jobs and just about everything; others may be seeking to ward off the effects of the recession by putting off having children, putting up your own fruits and vegetables or getting off the grid and becoming self-sufficient. Many may think it is time to pack for the hills as you romanticize a life style depicted by Laurel Ingel in her home on the prairie.

 As a result of the 1975-1976 recession, Dennis and I dropped off the grid, moving from a city to live in the woods without electricity,  telephone, or  running water (unless you can classify the stream as such). I would like to relate this experience to you so you can decide if you should attempt such an adventure.

 Back in the mid 70’s, based on an oral promise for a job, Dennis and I moved from CT to Massachusetts, purchased 20+ acres of pine forest in a north central Massachusetts town named Winchendon. This quaint “town” was really a cross roads, with an Aubuchon hardware, an A&P, a bank, a town hall/police station/ and one 20-table restaurant. Winchendon had once been home to the Morton E. Converse & Company which made wooden toys until 1934. Such a large number of toys were made in Winchendon that it became known as Toy Town.
 

The land we brought was on Brown St, a 2 mile long road behind the mill. As we turned onto Brown Street from Rt. 202, we passed the Open Arms Nursing home, and only a few houses before arriving at our land on the left near the end of the road. It was a small path into the woods, easily missed. One of the first things we did was to build as a landmark a fence made from small trees.





In July, we erected our pre-used tent not far from a stream and just down hill from where we had decided to build our house. Many of you may have learned first hand about the occupancy numbers suggested by tent makers: they are meant for sardines. Compared to tents for camping, our 8 x 20 foot tent was large enough for us to have a twin bed, a chrome kitchen table that was popular in the 50’s, a rack for clothes and a metal cabinet for food storage. We used Coleman lanterns for light and a Coleman stove or the fire for cooking. Dennis dug an open “privy.” We had all the comforts of home. One thing we had that the city did not was a brillant, vibrant view of the Milky Way. That first night I was mesmerized by the clarity and number of stars; I was humbled knowing that I was but one person in such a universe. Very moving.

As a city bred person, being in the middle of the woods was scarry, espcially in the dark. I had recently seen the movie Easy Rider in which Jack Nickleson while sleeping around a campfire was bludgeoned to death. This and the movie Deliverance caused me to spook at each little noise. Our solution was to get a dog…certainly Shamrock would warn us of impeding harm.  One night, as three of us aslept, we were startled awake with a freight train sound. A hoot owl had landed on our tent and, not more then a few feet above us and hooted out to its mate. The sound was deafening and scarry. Other night noises included a skulk of fox fighting over chicken bones in our compost heap, creaking tree limbs, and rustlings of night-time predatory animals. After a while, even a city girl can get used to the silvan night noises.

When we moved to Winchendon, our plan was to prepare the land so that, once I started working, we would have a basement poured and live in it until we could afford to build the house.

One of the first things we needed to do was to clear a "driveway." With an 18” chainsaw, Dennis cut a cuvacious path in the forest. It curved to avoid the largest trees and uneven turf and measured about ¼ mile from road to tent. In the process, we pulled about 60 stumps. To be able to enter our “driveway”, we needed to remove a large 80 ft tree with a 4 ft base just at the entrance to our property. Since it leaned towards the electical line, Dennis devised a plan for our taking the tree down successfully. He would use wedges and cut carefully. I was to “keep tension” on the tree by means of a chain that he he tied one end around the tree and the other end to the bumper of a nolonger road-worthy car that someone had given us. Unfortunately the chain was only 20 ft. long. The plan was for me to keep tension on the chain until the tree started to fall and then duck down into the well in front of the passenger set. The tree collapsed on the car with me in it. Though the roof of the car was smashed, I was unhurt. The dented roof later became helpful in carrying firewood.

There was a stream for bathing. When it got too cold to bathe in the stream, we would boil buckets of water and wash up by the fire. We would rinse each other off with a 2 gallon sprinkling can. This became an evening ritural for about a year and a half. In mid winter, we stood on frozen cold snow and watch the steam vapors enshroud our bodies …invigorating is not quite sufficient a description.

For potable water, we pounded a wellpoint into the ground. A well point or drive point is a pipe with sieve-like openings large enough to allow water to enter but small enough to keep out dirt and sand. We attached a red-handled pump to the pipe. Because of the sandy soil, the water pumped from the wellpoint was clear, cold, and tasty.

We cleared the area for the house and hand-dug a septic system, leach field and a 30-ft. well, moving about 22 tons of dirt by hand in three days. We had the tiles delivered, placed into position, and capped until the house was ready. For a city person, this was wonderful life: I was outdoors, physically getting stronger, learning new things, building a home and a future.

Living in the woods was great…there was no bathroom scale. The hard work, the return to basic foods and the new lifestyle resulted in a 20 lbs or so weight loss in less then a few months. I had shed the city softness for the buff pioneer look. Once, after showering at my parents, oh what a luxery, I noticed in the mirror the muscles on my back and shoulders. The effect was similar to that when seeing oneself in the mirror with a new hairdo, strange.

In September the promised job fell through. Did I mention it was a recession? Did I tell you I moved with only an oral promise of work?

Since we were now making mortgage payments for the land, we could not afford a rent. Returning home was not an option. We opted to use the resources we had and build a log cabin for our home, until such time that we could afford other options. Winter was only three months away; we needed to work quickly if we were to have this house built before it really got cold.

As I was soon to learn, there is a great deal more to building a cabin than I had ever thought. Many of you as a child may have played with Lincoln Logs where the logs are precut and fit snuggly together. Not so when you are starting from scratch.

We cut down trees and ported them on our backs or used logs to roll them on. The cabin measured 16 x 28 ft. We used a come-along and tripods to help stack the logs. Dennis used an ax to hew a cradle on the ends of the logs for the next log to sit it. To fasten the logs, I used an auger to drill holes every few feet through two or three logs and then with a sledge hammer pounded in wooden stakes that Dennis had whittled. Slowly the house started to take form. We purchased plywood for the floor and roof.

Winter was coming. On Halloween it snowed and water frooze in the buckets. I had started working at a hospital about 20 miles from home. I was warm during the day, but frozen at night. Having a job, made our situation more bearable. After paying the mortgage and gas to get to and from work, we had $10/week for groceries. Even in 1976 terms this was a paltry amount for two adults and a dog. We bought, baked beans, day old bread, more baked beans and fish cakes that tasted as if they were made from the remains of cleaned fish scraped from the pier. One day we drove to my parent’s home in Connecticut to find out that, in our honor, Mom had baked home made beans. Dennis and I gave each other a knowing glanced as we passed our plates.

One balmy day in November, I drove to work in the rain. There was a barametric pressure and temparature fall. By 10 am everything was frozen including the transmission in the van. Dennis drove his motocycle in those treacherous conditions to help get the vehicle started. He ended up braking the stick-shift but fortunately was able to kludge together a solution. As we drove home that night, I cried from exhaustion, from the dire situation we were in, from the unseeming end to cold and the forebearance of the winter to come. That night, wearing our caps and socks and whollies, we cuddled close together in bed. We clung to each other not just to keep us warm but also to keep us mored to our goal, like ship-whecked people clinging to a piece of flotsam.

Dennis made a door with smaller trees and hung it so successfully that the door did not bind and fit perfectly. He had shaved the logs so well with a draw knife that the wind did not penetrate. Any frontiersman would have been proud to have this door on their cabin.

On December 2, we moved into the house. In reality, it was like a corral. Light emited from it like a jack-o-lantern. The air blew through as if there were no walls. This was because the logs were imperfect and had not been flattened on two sides to make a tight seal. That night, as it snowed, Dennis and I pitched the tent inside the cabin to try to stay warm. We purchased a chicken brooder, a round stove used by farmers to help chickens hatch and we chinked the walls with old rags and cement. With the stove running red hot, we were comforable within a certain distance of the stove, but still had to keep the milk in a cooler on the table to keep it from freezing. As the stove heated the logs, the sap ran. I seemed to forever smell of wood smoke and pine pitch.

Once it snowed, Dennis created a snow dam to keep the wind from blowing under the log cabin. With money gifts received for the holidays, we purchase insulation and created our “pillow” house, placing the pink side towards the log and the brown paper to the interior of the cabin. This helped stablized the temperature. Dennis would awaken in the middle of the night to stoke the stove and make sure that the fire did not go out because it was extremely difficult to rekindle unseasoned pine.

Some one gave us kitchen cabinets that we placed in the cabin; though the plumbing was not connected, it gave the appearance of modern day life.

Eventually, Dennis found work about 50 miles away, unloading fertilizer from railroad cars. It was hard, dangerous work. The manager allowed Dennis to take the skids home, and we used this for firewood. This dry hardwood was much better than the pine we had on our land. Life was getting easier.

That winter was harsh. Dennis recorded temperatures at minus 31 below zero. We had 8 or 9 feet of snow. In one ice storm we lost about 300 trees.

How did we know what to do? We read books, especially the Whole Earth Catalog: Access to Tools, which featured all sorts of uncommon tools and implements necessary for back-to-basics living. We asked questions of older people about how they did things in the past, of sales persons in hardware stores, of others who were living similar life styles. We tried things; if it didn’t work out, we tried something else.

How did we survive? We were fearless of change, of doing without, of the unknown. We used humor to keep our perspective and spontaneity to keep us fresh. We stayed open to adventure and most importantly we maintained respect for each other and our accomplishments. Each day we took measure and rallied in the progress we had made…however small it may have been. We took time to maintain our friendship and to treasure beauty in life. We counted on each other and took strength in that others before us had done as we were attempting to and they had survived. We looked on the experience as the making of fond memories to recall as we rocked in our chairs in old age.

What did we learn? Besides the obvious learning: how to build a house, how to survive a New England winter without electricity, running water, and the acrutrements of modern day life that had pampered my life prior to moving to Winchedon, I learned that there are simple joys in basic things: a warm fire, hot running water (at work), a simple treat. At work, one woman left her coworkers mini chocolate bars in the break room. Each day, I would take a piece or two for Dennis to savor with tea. She never knew how this act of kindess made our lives sweeter.

Then, we were young and carefree. Now were more linked to the grid. We have cell phones, Internet connections, electricity, credit cards and so much more. Leaving all that behind would not be easy; but having survived once; I know we can do it again…and once again we would enjoy the feeling of hard work and the happiness of creating something together.

I wish you success in your endeavors to live in these difficult times, especially if you too should try to return to basics and live a simple but rewarding lifestyle.

 

As published in the Sarasota Herald Tribune LTE on 12-Dec-08, under the heading: Yank away blanket-pardon option

It is unconscionable that President Bush blanketly pardon his administration (including himself) for  lies that have brought us to a war that has killed and maimed so many Americans and Iranians; for the mismanagement of our nation that has resulted in financial and economic disasters; for the inappropriate inclusion of religious matter into the State and thus ignoring scientific data in medicine, education, environment and for pushing their concept of morality that has resulted in homophobia, increased teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases among our youth; for packing the Supreme Court and Federal courts with judges that are religiously biased and thus creating rulings that favor religious fervor over equality; and for much, much more.

How many of you know someone who has recently lost a job, who is financially insecure on Social Security, who has been denied medical coverage by an insurance company, lost their home, lost their pension plans or lost their life's savings in the stock market? The effects of the economic downturn are pervasive. People are replacing lost high-paying jobs with lower wages. Many have incurred high personal debt to offset the rising cost of living. The New York Times reported that the number of Americans receiving food stamps is projected to reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level since the program began in the 1960s. If families qualify, benefits average approximately $100 per month. How many of you can feed a family of four on that amount?

 During the past 8 years, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, price increases account for the major problem facing families.

• Education books & supplies (+58%)
• College Tuition and fees (+72%)
• Child Care & Nursery (+42%)
• Hospital & related services (+70%)
• Professional Services, e.g., Doctors, Dentists, etc. (+31%)
• Prescription Drugs (+34%)
• Gasoline (+111%), Diesel (+147%)
• Home fuel Oil (+172%)
• Eggs (+137%)

 Yet, wages have not increased on the average of 34-172%. As a result, more and more Americans feel that they are worse off then they were a decade ago. They want change.

During the campaign we heard a lot about change from both major political candidates. McCain said "Change Is Coming to America" while Obama said "Change is coming to Washington."

 Lots of talk, lots of promises, and, for many, lots of lots of hope!

 Like many of you, most Americans are poised for change. They want to see an unstable economy turn back into one in which the American dollar is the world's currency standard. They want to see the destruction to the environment stopped. They want to see dependence on oil replaced with energy alternatives that replenish the environment instead of raping it. They want to change the scorn of the US by foreigners to respect for The Unitied States of America and for that which it stands.

 We Americans want financial security: the ability to work and earn a living wage. We want to create a better world for our children, a possibility that seems unfathomable as more and more Americans are personally affected by such pressing domestic matters as health care, the cost and quality of education, the housing crisis.

 8 Million more women voted for Obama than did men because he supported the causes of social justice and equal opportunity to quality education, decent health care and a clean environment for all Americans. He appealed to women's hopes for a better world.

 Women comprise more than 51% of Americans, yet the women's perspective is often overlooked.  Women's point of view vis-à-vis the economy, social justice, and education must be taken seriously for real change to happen. President-elect Obama and Congress need to pay attention to the women's perspective, to their needs, their hopes, and their priorities because they differ from that of men.

 I want to quickly exam that difference and to outline what women must do to ensure that their voices are heard by the incoming administration that they are responsible for putting into power.

 These tough economic times are a challenge to all of us, but they can be especially devastating to women. Most women agree that personal economic problems present the biggest barriers to their success in the next decade. The lack of pay equity affects their retirement savings, their ability to recover financially from a major illness or medical expense or to survive during layoffs where the amount of money received in unemployment or social security is based on past income. Since women still earn 60-77% less on the dollar than men (based on ethnicity) it is obvious that women suffer more than men do in this financial crisis.

 For these reasons it is understandable that 92 percent of women say Obama and the new Congress should make solving the U.S. financial crisis the No. 1 priority in the first year.

Women must not be content with a stimulus package that creates jobs that will, as Obama said, "…put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms and solar panels; fuel-efficient cars; and the alternative-energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead." This package does little for women. We must insist on a stimulus package that creates jobs for women proportionally to the amount of women who have lost their jobs. One out four families with children under the age of 18 is headed and supported by women as are the majority of single-adult households without children. The current proposed stimulus package will not put food on their plates.

 Women must urge President-elect Obama and congress to create a stimulus package that not only rebuilds our physical infrastructure but also develops and expands our social infrastructure. Jobs that affect the caring and nurturing of children, the elderly, the infirmed, and the disabled are disproportionately staffed by women. A stimulus package directed toward these sectors would not only boost the employment prospects of women at all levels of the wage scale but also benefit society.

 In a country where 1 out of 4 female college students experiences rape or attempted rape and where the leading cause of injury to women is domestic violence, 73% of women say that solving violence against women should be another first-year priority for Obama.

Women want change. I want to show you that, as Gandhi said, "You must be the change you want to see in the world."

 As educated women we must not simply hope for the change we want; we must make it happen. Women are uniquely positioned to be a strong voice for change. We must take on the responsibility of being a powerful force for women and girls.

 You might not be able to visit Capitol Hill but you can take your voice to your representatives, even to the president. Your letters are important because they put a face to the issues by ensuring policy makers that there are real people affected by their decisions. I urge you to all take pen in hand and demand that women's POV be paramount in decisions affecting the citizenry. Make your representatives accountable. If they vote contrary to what is good for women, let them know of your displeasure.

Become a lobbyist. Visit your representatives and senators when they are in the home office. Make an appointment and have a one-on-one with them. Tell him or her how you are being affected personally by whatever you are discussing. Have a sheet with talking points and your position to leave as reference.

 I have been to Tallahassee to lobby on behalf of women in Florida and have met my members of Congress in Washington DC. The first time I did this filled me with a sense of empowerment and possibility. I could make a difference. As I spoke with my representatives some were open and receptive, others were not so inclined. Those who were merely per functionally listening to my argument for the changes I was requesting only increase my desire to stress on them the importance of that change, to clarify and make my point understood. Knowing that I might have swayed one decision maker to vote for the benefit of women made all my efforts worth while. You too can affect change. You too can become empowered. You too can be the change that you want to see happen.

 As Dwight Eisenhower-1954, "Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage."

 Join organizations such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), The American Association of University Women (AAUW), the Feminist Majority to lobby the women's agenda and lead national awareness campaigns on issues affecting women. These organizations are comprised of women who are your peers, who care about what is happening in every state, not just Washington DC. In the past year, together, they have made great progress on higher education and fair pay issues. But the work is not done; we must not lose the momentum, and we must seize the opportunity at hand. For this reason it is imperative that women also join organizations not typically known as a women-issue organization but that lobby and work for the betterment of others such as AARP and NAACP to help all citizens.

 As the transition teams continue to be assembled, we must ask who is at the table when these decisions are made? Whose voices are heard? With Christina D. Romer serving as the Director of the Council of Economic Advisers, Melody C. Barnes as the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, and Heather A. Higginbottom as the Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council we can only hope that the women's voice is heard.

 In addition to making our voices heard, women must become instrumental in generating support to pass legislation that puts women in parity with men. We must not underestimate the challenge we face nor the opportunity we have to bring the change to the status of women in our country. Women must seize each opportunity. Each step brings us closer to equality. What can women do? The most important thing is for women to run for office and for those not running to help get them elected. In January 2009, even though a record number of women will serve in the 111th Congress--17 women in the US Senate and at least 74 women in the house, women are drastically underrepresented. Women must support non-partisan organizations such as The White House Project that train and help women develop the leadership skills needed to become elected.

Upon winning the primary, Obama said, "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

 Are you ready to take on the challenge?

In 1984 my mother-in-law did not vote out of protest. When she started to complain about what was happening in Washington, I commented to her that she had no right to complain for she had not voted. Don't let your voice be silenced, take every opportunity to be heard and to advance the women's agenda.

 Women can make this change happen. Just make your voices heard, contact your legislators. Demand accountability. Join organizations to strengthen that voice. Run for elections and don't stop being the change we want to see in this world.

As Cecile Springer president of the Westinghouse Foundation says,  "Above all, challenge yourself. You may well surprise yourself at what strengths you have, what you can accomplish."

On November 12, the World Economic Forum released THE GLOBAL GENDER GAP REPORT. The report compares and ranks a country's gender gap based on four criteria: economic, political, education, and health.

 Out of 128 countries studied, the United States ranked first place in educational attainment. Women in the US enroll at the various educational levels at the same rate as men do. There is no gender gap in educational enrollment. Before we pour the accolades, we need to look at the other rankings.

 In economic participation and opportunity, the US ranked 12th. This indexed measure the ratio of male vs. female in the following: participation in the work force, income, senior officials and managers, and professional and technical workers.

 In health and survival the US ranked 37th in an index of female life expectancy over male.

 In political empowerment, the US ranked 56th. The criteria for this index included the ratio of women over men with seats in parliament, at ministerial level, and number of years as head of state or government (last 50 years). Countries such as the Phillipines, Latvia, Sri Lanka, Lesotho, Mozambique, Moldova, South Africa, and Cuba outranked the US in this category.

 Clearly women still have a lot of work to do to gain equality. For this reason, the Sarasota-Manatee National Organization for Women urges President-elect Obama to make the advancement of women in economic participation, health and political empowerment one of his priorities. Only thus can the US become a world leader in gender equality.

Written 3/4/2007

I am almost 57 years old and resent ads that depict smooth and unlined-skinned women imploring me not to let wrinkles or the gray hair tell my age. I admit that in my forties I died my hair in an attempt to look younger, more attractive, and more employable. Yes, I had succumbed to the constant barrage by the cosmetic industry to hide my grays, to the pressure that youthfulness was attractiveness. In other words, looking one’s age meant that you were unattractive, undesirable, and no longer sexy.

Two incidences brought me back from this Never-Never Land of I-Never-Want-To-Grow-up people. The first was my attending a Love Your Body seminar, the second when was my friend Judy stated that she had become comfortable with aging and was letting her grays grow in. This statement was the first time I had ever heard someone say that it was OK to look one’s age and that there was nothing wrong with doing so. This innocently made statement of hers gave me the permission to accept the naturally occurring physical changes and to realize that there was nothing “wrong” about growing older.

I must admit that sometimes when I look in the mirror I do not recognize the reflection of the gray-haired, starting to wrinkle person whose spirit is still at 24 years old. I admit to using sunscreen and moisturizers. A few, inexpensive cosmetics, a healthy diet and a regular exercise program are the extents of my anti-aging routine.

According to an article in the New York Times by Natasha Singer titled Is Looking Your Age Now Taboo?, about a million Americans regularly have cosmetic facial injections. This growing pressure to look youthful affects both men and women and paints an unrealistic view of the distribution of age in our society.

Despite that (statistics), the media shows only perfect unwrinkled faces to promote their products. If the model is not quite “perfect”, technology comes to the rescue “erasing” the effects of aging and altering the image such that it no longer resembles the person being photographed but someone’s concept of  the ageless beauty. This “perfect” unrealistic, unrealizable, unnatural epitome of beauty is then promoted as the norm to which we must strive.

The cosmetic industry is working very hard to make women’s psyche susceptible to anti-aging pressures and to promote the belief that only youthful-looking women are attractive and worthy of recognition. With the aging of America, there is great financial incentive for them to do so. In 2005, about $49 billion was spent on cosmetics and toiletries, products that promote products that turning back the clock and making you look ten years younger.

Not only is the cosmetic industry promoting anti-aging measures but so does the medical profession. There is a new wave of anti-aging procedures, medications, and specialist. Injections to either relax the muscles that cause the frown lines or to fill out the creases, lasers and chemical burns, medications and vitamins “guarantee” a more youthful appearance. It is their premise that with a little effort and lots of money (in 2005, about $12.4 billion was spent on cosmetic medical treatments) one can appear young and appealing.

Their efforts to promote there products has changed the way society accepts older citizens. As society believes that gray hair and wrinkles are ugly and unacceptable, it looses its tolerance for those who are aged.  As the disdain for older people becomes ingrained in our culture, one must question what measures society will take to care for the aged.

As the culture eliminates examples of what natural aging looks like, it makes it more difficult for the aging to accept themselves and to perceive themselves as a viable and necessary part of our culture. Since (get statistics about the aged), it is time for our society to stop glamorizing youth and create not just an acceptance but a culture of respect and honor for the older generation.

The cosmetic industry can remain profitable by promoting products that care for the aging skin. One company, Dove is marketing skin-care products that nourish and replenish the older skin--wrinkles and all. By their promoting acceptance of the skin you’re in, Dove is creating a more positive outlook for older citizens. Ads that show older women with wrinkles and gray hair as beautiful, as attractive, and accepted in society are a great benefit to everyone.

As published in the Sarasota Herald Tribune LTE November 6, 2008

The  Obama-Biden election gives hope to women and girls. For eight years women struggled with the Bush administration's slashing women's and civil rights. Even though women now have an opportunity to move forward as women, we must not become complacent thinking that with Obama-Biden, the most feminist, progressive administration ever to lead this country, that change will occur without our hard work. Women must continue to work relentlessly to help bring about policies that will increase equality and opportunity for all.

What do women want from this administration? Women want:

• To close the gender wage gap, increase the minimum wage, and passing legislation that will help women better balance family and work, including expanded paid sick days and family and medical leave
• Access to health care, including the full range of reproductive health services and contraception. Women should not pay more for health care than men do.
• To reverse the Global Gag Rule and halt the ineffective, dangerous abstinence-only sex education
• To appoint judges and justices who recognize and respect women's rights.
• To honor his campaign promise to end the war in Iraq and begin bringing our troops home
• A constitutional guarantee of gender equality
• To end violence against women and girls
• A gender-balanced administration

Hope and change have been the hallmarks of the Obama campaign. The change that women hope to see includes equality and justice for all.