Jan 22, 2021 | 2020 Election, Democrats, Elections, Feminism, Government, Something. To. Say., Women |
Hello Everybody:
I have something to say about the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Now I know once again how it feels, to be happy. I haven’t been happy for four years.
Inauguration Day, it was wonderful to see the US Capitol festooned with flags and banners, to hear the heralding music from the US Marine band, to be moved to tears by the voices of Lady Gaga, J-Lo and the amazing young Amanda Gorman. Seeing the former presidents chatting with each other.
Then the moment I was eagerly awaiting, maybe waiting my whole life for, seeing Kamala Harris raising her hand and repeating the oath to become vice president. She shattered the thickest glass ceiling in the land. It’s been in place since the founding of our country, 245 years ago. Holding the second most powerful office in the land, she isn’t only female, she’s black and South Asian.
I was happy to see the decent, experienced Joe Biden swear to defend the Constitution and then give an inaugural address assuring the nation that all would be done that could be done to end the pandemic.
I could almost overlook the masks on all the guests, and almost ignore the presence of 25,000 troops guarding Washington. But I couldn’t forget the violent, hateful American traitors who tried to destroy our democracy.
Finally, the best thing to happen inauguration day was the departure of Donald Trump. He’s gone. He’s gone. He won’t have us to kick around anymore. Good riddance. I hope I don’t have to talk about him again any time soon. I wanna stay happy.
Till next time.
Jan 2, 2020 | Activism, Bad Behavior, Something. To. Say., Trump, Women
Happy New Year, Everybody!
I have something to say about 2019. Everybody has a top ten list. Since I am a wise old woman, I compiled mine.
My whole year seemed consumed with all things Donald Trump. But Number One on my list is his impeachment in December. Finally, somebody told him, no more.
Number Two was seeing old women leaders exercise power, like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Senator Elizabeth Warren and the best Supreme, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Similarly, young women showed their muscle and that’s my Number Three. The four Congresswomen of color, known as the Squad, shook up the old white men in Congress, who didn’t much like their chutzpah. And Katie Bouman, the young scientist who helped make possible the image we saw of a Black Hole.
Number Five is youth activism. Greta Thunberg and youth across the planet have taken on the fight for climate change and American teenagers continue to protest gun violence.
The MeToo Movement was my Number Six. The resistance gained traction that led to new laws and corporate policies against sexual harassment and sexual assault.
I joined a huge gathering of some of the most successful, brilliant, and celebrated African Americans in the country. My Number Seven was the History Makers, an important reminder of the contributions that black people have made and continue to make to our communities and the nation.
Like any wise old woman, I feel compelled to speak about some personal things that happened in 2019.
My Number Seven is retirement ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. After 62 years of non-stop working, I retired in 2019, not because I wanted to, I was given a push. I realized that I love to work, so I started this blog.
Children and grandchildren are Number Eight. My son and daughter are both happily married and enjoying their careers, and nothing is better than watching my three grandchildren grow and learn. My best times are spent with them.
Number Nine is my health. I’m grateful to still have most of it. I do what the doctors say, wear sensible shoes and grab handrails.
Now Number Ten may seem inconsequential but it’s not. It’s my pets—my toy poodle Coco-Puff and my Siberian cat, Catarina. They are my home companions. They are glad to see me, happy to cuddle and don’t talk back. They made 2019 tolerable. 2020 may be pretty rough. I expect them to ease the pain.
The best to you all.
Jul 15, 2019 | Sexism, Something. To. Say., Women |
U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Dazzles the World
Hello everybody. I have something to say about the world champion U.S. women’s soccer team.
I haven’t been feeling very patriotic lately. But all of that changed when I watched the Women’s World Cup final. I saw the ladies from the USA vanquish the ladies from the Netherlands, two to nothing. They won their fourth World Cup for America. The stadium erupted in cheers and the soccer players, hugged and cried and laughed. It was beautiful. I felt a tear. I was a proud American once again, but that was short-lived.
The cheers from the crowd changed into chants of “Equal Pay.” I had forgotten that last March, twenty-eight members of the women’s soccer team had filed a lawsuit in federal court charging the U.S. Soccer federation with gender discrimination.
The women are demanding the same pay and the same treatment that male players get on the men’s team…a team that didn’t qualify for the World Cup this year and has achieved none of the success the women have. Listen, if men won the World Cup, they would win just over a million dollars. The women have to settle for a quarter of that, 250-thousand dollars. That’s wrong and in this country that’s against the law.
Perhaps the spectacular Gold Cup win by the women will shame U.S. soccer officials into doing the right thing: paying the women, the same money as the men. Better still, because they’re so good, pay the women more than the men.
Until next time.
Jul 1, 2019 | 2020 Election, Politics, Something. To. Say., Women |
Democratic Debate Surprises
Hello Everybody. I have something to say about the two Democratic Debates.
First of all, there were too many darned debaters. To accommodate the twenty candidates running for President, it took four hours over two days. Well, I watched every moment, and I came away with a winner for each night.
The first debate I gave to Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. As she has been saying on the campaign trail, “I have a plan for that,” she did have a plan for all kinds of problems in our country. And during the debate she explained how her plans would work. Her nine rivals couldn’t touch that.
The second debate went to California Senator Kamala Harris. Hands down. She beat frontrunner Joe Biden and she did it with smarts and a forceful delivery. Her most effective moments came in her assault on Biden’s record in the Senate. He tried to defend himself, but he got all flustered.
After I chose my two debate winners, I realized they were both women. It was a wonderful feeling. They proved to be better than the 14 men they were up against.
I thought after Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump, it would be a long time before a woman would be elected president. But thanks to Warren and Harris, I think it may not be long at all.
See you again.
Jun 25, 2019 | Bad Behavior, Politics, Republicans, Something. To. Say., Women |
Good Riddance to Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Hello Everybody.
I have something to say about Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. Yes, go home to Arkansas because all you did was make the job of White House PressSecretary a mockery. Only three women have held that vaunted position, but you took it and destroyed it.
Oh, I know her beloved President Trump, was behind it because he hates the press. But she marched in lockstep with him. And who suffered the most? The American people she swore to serve.
She was supposed to give on a daily basis, pertinent and truthful information to the White House press corps so they could in turn, report the news to the public. But she just stopped talking to the press in any formal way and left that to the President. She used the White House driveway to dribble out a few answers to waiting reporters. And the worst? She lied.
Trump thinks she should run for governor of Arkansas. It is one of the poorest, hungriest and least educated states in the country. Sarah—got any good ideas on improving Arkansas? I didn’t think so. So long Sarah, Huckabee Sanders, and thanks for nothing.
Jun 11, 2019 | Reproductive Rights, Something. To. Say., Women |
Abortion Rights Under Virulent Attack
I have something to say about the attacks on abortion.
In 1973, we women thought the question of abortion was all settled. The Supreme Court decided in the Roe v. Wade case that abortion was a matter of privacy and medicine, not politics and religion.
But this year at least nine states have–in quick succession–passed laws severely restricting the rights of women to get an abortion. Other states are trying to do the same.
Why now? Because Donald Trump appointed two conservative justices to the Supreme Court who are likely to be on the side of striking down Roe. The worst thing about the current fight is that men are behind it. They have no idea what a pregnant woman goes through. All of those state laws were proposed by white men. That’s because they have the power. What do you think would happen if men got pregnant and didn’t want to have a baby? You can believe they would make sure it was as easy as pie for men to get abortions.
Ladies and concerned men, you’re going to have to fight the power.
See you next time.
Jun 4, 2019 | Ageism, Something. To. Say., Women |
I have something to say about fashion.
I was browsing through a women’s magazine and came across an article and photos of what women should be wearing during different decades of their lives. There were clothes for women in their 20’s—very hip, very trendy. For those in their 30’s, really cool casual and workout clothes. For women in their 40’s, the fashions shown were for evening, with short skirts, lots of skin and stiletto heels. And in their 50’s, there were professional clothes, suits and dresses and lovely.
I turned the page and there was nothing else. The article ended—no clothes to look at if you are in you are in your 60’s, 70’s or 80’s. Those age groups seem to be non-existent to the fashion industry.
My son is getting married this year and I went on line looking for a mother of the groom dress. They were hideous. Evening gowns with jackets in ugly lace designs and gruesome colors like gray, and beige, and dusty rose. I wouldn’t be caught dead in one of those mother’s wedding dresses. I want something in hot pink.
But designers either think we older women don’t want flashy clothes or worse they don’t think we should be seen in them. Well, listen up clothing industry, 20 percent of the population is over 60. That’s millions and millions of women who need clothes, and will spend millions of dollars to buy them. We are still working and going places, and meeting people, and we want to look good, too.
Oct 19, 2012 | Journalism, Politics, Sexism, Women |
Should there be any doubt now that women can handle presidential debates, as well as men? That they can conduct a live television event that lasts for 90 minutes before an audience of 60 million viewers? That they can be smart, bold and professional in dealing with the men who would be president and vice president of this great nation?
No. There should be no doubt at all. CNN’s Candy Crowley and ABC’s Martha Raddatz have finally banished that old false notion that “men are better” to the R-I-P grave it deserves.
Of course, after former PBS anchor Jim Lehrer lost control of the first presidential debate in Denver, Raddatz and Crowleywere masterful in comparison. Lehrer, the journalist who was moderating his 12th presidential debate, at times threw up his hands in exasperation as President Obama–but mostly Governor Mitt Romney–ignored the guidelines on time limits for statements and rebuttals. The testy rivals literally wrested the debate away from Lehrer and he was pretty much reduced to the role of a potted plant.
Raddatz then moderated the vice presidential debate where she had been forewarned that Vice President Joe Biden might engage in some “funny stuff.” Biden found Paul Ryan funny and he found himself funny, but under the firm hand of Raddatz, both men did as they were directed. The vice presidential debate was not only enlightening but also enjoyable.
Poor Candy Crowley. She had to moderate the second debate in the town hall format, which became the most contentious presidential matchup in recent memory. There she was with a nervous audience of 80 undecided voters and two men who can’t stand each other. Obama and Romney could not be more different: in family history, socioeconomic upbringing, political ideology, social status, and of course, color. The only thing they have in common is Harvard Law School and nice families.
Obama blew the first debate by appearing disengaged and bored with the whole process. Romney, with an energetic and aggressive style won the debate “by a mile.”
The President was determined to change the public’s perception of him by changing his style, his answers, and his enthusiasm for the second debate. Romney was ready for the Obama makeover. Candy Crowley was ready for both of them.
I wouldn’t have traded places with her for anything. The candidates entered the arena; yes that’s what the debate floor became. The two men were already seething despite the plastered smiles and phony handshake.
This was supposed to be a debate dominated by questions from the undecided voters, but it quickly deteriorated into something that looked like a cockfight.
Throughout the debate Candy was juggling so many balls in the air: listening to the producer in her ear; calling on audience members; watching the time; asking follow up questions; paying attention to the candidates’ answers; deciding who had the next question or rebuttal.
She was doing all this with an up-close and too personal display of male bravado. I was waiting for one of the candidates to beat his chest or jump on the other’s back. It was that nasty.
Candy, with the utmost politeness, struggled to remain in control despite being insulted by Governor Romney. Did she retreat like a shy violet or burst into tears? Not her. She prevailed.
Candy raised two sons. I have to believe that she harkened back to those days when her boys misbehaved and she had to discipline them. Now before her eyes were the President of theUnited Statesand the former Governor of Massachusetts circling each other defiantly like naughty boys. She finally said, with all the power she could muster in her voice, “Mr. Romney, sit down.” And he did.
In 2016, the Commission on Presidential Debates should not hesitate to seek out women to be moderators. Candy Crowley and Martha Raddatz have proved that the best women can stand on equal footing with the best men. Thank you, ladies.
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