a maybe different meditation for MLK day today

I am not about to pull down the honor of Mr. Martin Luther King jr. and the wellspring of "fight" which he brought an entire people, a level of hope not forgotten, and now renewed.

really.

However, I do want too add a little balance of reminders.
Ever heard of Myles Horton and the Highlander Folk School? he had set up, against the laws of Tennesee, a place for whites and blacks alike to spend overnight time, as much as they wanted, sharing their THOUGHTS... a place for adults to come and talk. A few people who attended this school, in the 50's, before the famousness of Mr. King jr. were women like Rosa Parks and Septima Clark. Without all three of these people, we may not have heard much about the civil rights movement which was already festering and fostering more and more small actions and back yard "talks." Myles Horton was a white man. Rosa Parks lost her job so she couldn't do that bus thing anymore and eventually had to leave Montgomery. Septima and Rosa met at Higlander in 1955. In the 80's and today, people generally still do not know their stories -- nor how what Mr. King accomplished rests on their backs. Rosa Parks at 80 confessed she had struggled with and it took time at Highlander to let go her own prejudice and take on the spirit of non-violence. Rosa Parks was part native American and her hair was long, thick and wavy. Rosa dn Septima were both members of the NAACP, and struggled some harsh rejections because of it. Septima is to be honored for her insight into what was NEEDED, for the general segregated population like that of John's Island. Septima understood that the people needed to be able to read, understand what the laws were, and vote for themselves. Myles Horton had ideas to just TELL folks stuff and register them. Septima started teaching the people to read and Myles Horton started writing it up for her, seeing the wisdom of her insight. Septima understtod that she and Myles and other "leaders" had to first LISTEN.
They had to let people say what they wanted to say. She set up a system, traveling around, of first LISTENING to a gathering of people -- telling them she agreed, and then asking them to listen to her.
it was called a communist school and raided - Higlander. So after Septima got out of jail they all started training more teachers in more places. After her second heart attack and the Highlander school was totally shut down, Septima became a close associate, with Myles, of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In her own words in, "ready from within," Septima said that the young leaders wer just barely beginning to understand and ambrace non-violence as the method of change, when Dr. King was killed. April, 1968.

another little fact: Eleanor Roosevelt was a white woman firaly hated by many other white women of her own time. WHY? Why do we still quote her and think of her as a strong woman, source of inspiration? Just because she was the president's wife? or perhaps because - for instance - in 1938, at the first big interracial meeting held in the south - Alabama --Mrs. Roosevelt insisted on sitting on "the black side" until a policeman told her she had to move according to local law. She rejoined her husband, indignant.

Another unfortunate fact is that Mr. King (and other male leaders) were not fond of women, and womanized. Septima Clark had been efficient and effective so she was part of his first staff. she says that she personally wrote a letter to him, asking him to NOT lead all the marches and NOT do all the speeches. She asked him to do what she had done, go about training other leaders and speakers for their own marches. He read it outloud to his staff, and they laughed.
Still, Septima says, "In those days I didn't criticize Dr. King, other than asking him not to lead all the marches. I adored him. I supported him in every way I could because I greatly respected his courage, his service to others, and his non-violence. The way I think of him now comes from my experience in the women's movement. But in those days, of course, in the black church men were always in charge. It was just the way things were." p78.

I see as one of the weaknesses of the civil rights movement, the way men looked at women." p 79.
She says that the women's movement had already begun, and was not something that came OUT OF the civil rights movement. Rather, "In stories about the civil rights movement you hear mostly about the black ministers. But if you talk to the women who were there, you'll hear another story. I think the civil rights movement would never have taken off if some women hadn't started speaking up." p 83.

READY FROM WITHIN: Septima Clark and the civil rights movement A first person narrative edited with an introduction by Cynthia Stokes Brown. Wild Trees Press 1986

my Women with Balls two year project.

This is fun. It is all based on one small painting, and some personal study of Anne Sexton's book of poems, The Awful Rowing Toward God. It includes text and numerous numerous photos of women doing totally normal things, like feeding kids, walking dogs, doing laundry, journaling, laughing with friends, etc -- with various types and numbers of physical balls in the picture. Obviously there is a play on words involved, but there is much more to it than that old thing.

My basic complaint from which I jumped on this wagon and launched this project, is that there is no good reason to measure a woman's courage, energy, strength, bravado, or whatever, via a direct comparison to men. In this case the gonads are the spot of value. But men and women alike have gonads. (truly, look it up in basic physiology.) So to tell a woman she's "got balls" is truly not a compliment. It's a fact. But the general assumption is that it is a compliment (or it could be a total put-down of how dare you speak like a man.....). It's absurd. Hence -- the absurdity of having balls in all these photos of normal women. That's the artistic piece.

Another point of hte project comes back to Virginia Woolf again -- A ROOM OF HER OWN. She does such a wonderful job supporting the basic genius of women who simply are true to themselves and do their thing. I have seen, and even own some, quality supportive to women books which focus on more EXTRA-ordinary types. The famous, the scientist who discovered something new, the women who flew across the ocean, etc. Noteworthy and compelling, they are encouraging to women and girls in their own way. Thanks you to all of those women and editors and publishers. But from the perspective of Virginia Woolf, this is a book of normal women -- doing normal things -- and being recognized because that IS their genius.

The book will include some fun facts and myths, as well. I plan to do an entire etiological section on terms such as, "tom-boy." I hope to show the absurdity of comparing men to women, or women to men.

We all have gonads. We all have our genius. So let's try to put a stop to those dumb little jokes like, "she's got balls." Getting rid of the terms would be better than trying to come up with equal ones. I can't imagine saying about Obama, for instance, "boy, he sure has gonads."

Please write and let me know your favorite euphamism or term of comparison --- tom-boy, tom-girl, cock-sure, ... things like that -- and tell us how it makes you FEEL.

I'll post more later about how to participate in the photo series.

ani rose

Virginia Woolf and the Guerrilla Girls

Thank you Virginia. I am re-reading, A ROOM OF HER OWN, and am so happy doing it. I forgot just how insightful and clever it is -- and am a little pissed off that in truth, many of the observations she made, decades ago, are still true. These little speeches are great and if you haven't read them, I invite you.
I bought myself a small seasonal present, the Geurilla Girls HISTORY OF ART IN THE WESTERN WORLD. It's unfortunately small, very fun, and encourages acts of exasperated art.

To me, it seems clear that women still do not have basic equality when it comes to pay, representation, opportunity, and much more. In the arts in general?? Women still are not represented equally in the highest ranking, paid and "socially respected" galleries in most US cities. They are still represented in more abundance as nude or teasing models, though.
Women artists in all media --- ALL media --- do not have the overall funding opportunities.
And so on and so on. It continues.

I've already done my ranting and steaming feminst stage, and I've been a peacenik at heart forever anyway. But still, these things truly bother me. Why is it STILL like this??? It's so systemic.

Virginia says, "I have no need to hate men; they cannot hurt me. I have no need to flatter men; they have nothing to offer me." Well, me too. I don't hate men. I don't blame men for "women's plight." And yes, I am quite capable on my own. However, men and women alike could be reminded that we still don't get equal pay, or coverage, or respect.

I actually got myself a copy of the US census of 2007 (2008 isn't completed yet in all stats). It's all there --- the 70% or more jobs nad work situations listed and the lower pay for women --- almost across the board. Poverty listings? hugely feminine.

The issue came up briefly in the presidential race --- but was easily put away again and seen merely as a way for the candidates to compete. BUT IT'S STILL TRUE!!!


So than you Guerilla Girls (please keep doing your thing) and Virginia Woolf --- and my own past dreams, and hostory of being a "tom-boy." EEEK that term! but that issue is for a different post.