Patience & Persistence

Posted on August 29, 2012 by annegautreau in the Dearborn Website

                              Rushing to judgment easily blurs one’s vision.

To call upon an old cliché, haste makes waste. Ironically, we find ourselves in an instant world. Instant coffee. Instant messaging. Instant foods. Instant downloads. Instant technologies. Instant sales. Flash mobs. Instant weather alerts.

In our haste, many Americans have dismissed the consideration of complexity and complication. That which is subtle or nuanced has become an endangered species of the mind. Amid intense florescent glare and decadent decibels delivered by ever bigger sound systems, that which is muted, subdued or delicate is crushed and annihilated. Nuance has been nixed.

What must we do to encourage people to invest in becoming perceptive and discerning? It is a fundamental and essential query for a society still in search of equity for all. We must stay the course and methodically move toward our goals. Patience and persistence will out.

 “We desire justice. And justice has never been obtained in haste and strong feeling.”  — The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark

Women’s Equality Day

This date, August 26th, was selected to commemorate the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment to the constitution, granting women the right to vote. This was the culmination of a massive, peaceful civil right movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world’s first women’s right convention, in Seneca Falls, New York.  August 26, 2012 will mark the 92nd anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment,

The observance of the Women’s Equality Day not only commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, but also calls attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality. Workplace, libraries, organizations, and public facilities now participate with Women’s Day Equality Programs, displays, video showings, or other activities.  Riverside is no exception.  To celebrate this day, participants will sing-a-long with a recording of a forgotten 1917 Suffragist-era song and will also make newspaper hats that speak to the times.  The event will take place at the Riverside Art Museum from 1:00 to 3:00 PM today.

Women’s Equality Day was instituted by Bella Abzug (1920-1998)in 1971.  Bella was known for her feminism, peace activism, large hats,  fiery personality, and many highly quotable quotes, a few of which follow.

  • They used to give us a day–it was called International Women’s Day. In 1975 they gave us a year, the Year of the Woman. Then from 1975 to 1985 they gave us a decade, the Decade of the Woman. I said at the time, who knows, if we behave they may let us into the whole thing. Well, we didn’t behave and here we are
  • “Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as an assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel.”
  • “Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as an assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel.”
  • Maybe we weren’t at the Last Supper, but we’re certainly going to be at the next one.
  • Women will change the nature of power, rather than power changing the nature of women.
  • We have done almost everything in pairs since Noah, except govern. And the world has suffered for it.
  • The inside operation of Congress — the deals, the compromises, the selling out, the co-opting, the unprincipled manipulating, the self-serving career-building — is a story of such monumental decadence that I believe if people find out about it they will demand an end to it.

“Half the Sky” on PBS October 1-2

Some of you will remember when AAUW was a partner organization (along with CARE) in events around the country screening the documentary “Half the Sky,” with live-feed interviews of the co-authors of the book by the same name, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

It was a powerful program and message — well worth repeating and sharing!

Which means this is very good news:

PBS plans to air “Half the Sky” on October 1 and 2 on stations around the country!  Please spread the word.

Women selected to moderate two debates

Posted on August 14, 2012 by annegautreau on the Dearborn, MI website

Jim Lehrer (PBS), Candy Crowley (CNN) and Bob Schieffer (CBS) will host three debates between President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney.

Martha Raddatz (ABC) will host the debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Representative Paul Ryan.

For the first time in two decades, women have been selected by the Commission on Presidential Debates to host debates!

“We picked the people we thought were the best…,” said Co-chairman on the Debate Commission, Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr. “This is a two-year process, and all the way through we looked at new ideas, new people. But historically, we have stayed with television journalists, because the moderators have to be experienced.”

Janet Brown, the executive director of Commission, declared: “You have to look at how journalists handle pressure, how they think on their feet. There is a very fine art to mastering the material, moving in real-time while a producer is in your ear, and having the confidence to tell presidential candidates they’re over time or not answering the question. That takes a lot of skill, and the people best-suited to do this are people with experience. Without it, in real time, moderators are taking a significant risk, which is a disservice to the American people and the candidates.”

Selecting moderators voters can trust is becoming increasingly tricky.
As racial and ethnic diversity continues to grow and a younger demographic comes of age, all decisions become more complex when representing the viewing public.

The Commission strives to select moderators who “have nothing left to prove and are not moving to make a name for themselves.”

Today, women constitute more than half of the electorate and over ninety percent of women are online. AAUW hopes to hear candidates discuss: health care, childcare costs, pay equity and access to higher education.

American Olympic Women

Gabby Douglas is first black woman to win an Olympic Gold Medal  in the gymnastics All-Around competition.  Her Olympic Gold Medal is one of 29 Gold Medals won by U.S. women athletes compared to the U.S. men’s 45 Gold Medals (as of the closing day of the 2012 Summer Olympics).  Overall the Women atheletes won 58 medals compared to the men’s 45 medals  for a combined total of 104 U.S. medals.  The 29 Gold Medals won by our women is almost double their total from 2008, when they had 15 gold medals. If our U.S. women were a country, they’d be in third place in the gold medal race, behind China by just 9

How did all this happen for women?  Forty years ago Title IX gave little girls a reason to dare to dream to be Olympic champions. Now for the first time in Olympics history there are more women than men competing: 269 women and 261 men.  Because of Title IX, American women have had an advantage over the women from most other countries competing in the Olympics.