a little red hen

Frustrated about Iraq? Try Counter-Recruitment...

David Solnit emailed last year to ask if he could use a photo of mine for his upcoming book about the Army of None Project.   It was on my blog last year: Harlem Grandmothers   stand smack in front of Harlem's U.S. Army Recruiting Station on West 125th Street.  I'm proud to have its message among the many powerful ones he used.

Elderblogger Maya's Granny wrote a fine post this month after watching the first Ken Burns' World War II series.  She echoed many of us who know there's something very wrong with the way Americans have disconnected from those now serving in the military.  Where do we go with this feeling? 

You may be surprised if you read here regularly, but Ron and I had no idea how long hundreds of activists like David and Aimee Allison, his co-author, have been working in this useful way.  A way thats an opportunity for people like you and me to use our energy to help young people understand what it really means to enlist.  They have filled their book with strong black and white images and much information.  They gave a compelling presentation here in NYC that was one of the most enlightening educational encounters we've had in a long time.

[The website, Courage to Resist, lists dates for the national book tour happening now. Army of None will be in Salinas, California on November 14.] 

An artist, David started with an engaging puppet show geared to an adult audience.  We laughed a little, booed the villains.  Aimee was a medic the the Army Reserves till her discharge as a conscientious objector during the Persian Gulf War.  She'd joined as a way to pay for college. Ater nine years, she still had to pay her own way to a Stanford education.

Two women were introduced, told how they'd worked with other counter-recruitment activists to produce a four-by-five-inch FREE pamphlet, The New Yorkers' Guide to Military Recruitment in the 5 boroughs.  Sixty pages filled with facts and figures-- "Facing a Recruiter," page 14, "War, Combat, & Your Contract," page 8-- of immense usefulness to a young high school student being leaned on by recruiters.

A click on the link makes it possible to download your own copy in digital format.  The authors hope, "You'll create a guide like this one (but better) in your own community."  That's on page 59, with links to information on getting started.

Possibility filled the room at Bluestockings Books.  We were energized by the synergy of presenters and audience--all much, much younger than ourselves.  The bookstore has copies of all these materials.  "What Every Girl Should Know about the U.S. Military," is available from both the Women of Color Resource Center in Oakland, California, and War Resisters League in New York City. 

A thorough and positive description of the contents of Army of None in The Indypendent ends on an ambivalent note,  "...as long as most dissenters...remain content [with] ritual forms of activism that prioritize self-expression and asserting...moral rectitude, it will be difficult for the patient, day-to-day antiwar organizing envisioned by the authors to take root.  But their book is a valuable guide for those ready to try."

What is this little red hen ready to do-- old lady who inadvertently became counter-recruiter by holding up a Gray Panthers' banner in Harlem, wears Grandmothers Against the War button all times?  I seized on opportunity at my doctor's office last week.  On the way, the 125th Street crosstown bus passed same Army Recruiting station and I patted my canvas bag, the one with the button.

When M, the lab tech came to take my blood (we've known one another since he was in sophomore year of night school college) I asked, "Last time you told me about military recruiters calling you with their money offers when you were a high school senior."  Told him about Army of None, gave him a copy of the "New Yorkers' Guide to Military Recruitment."

"Do you believe they called me again in my senior year of college--how do they get all this information?"  M was glad to have the book; it tells how the government obtains just what he'd wondered about.  His college education was on full scholarship, but he was pleased to have a way to speak to others in his community of color in Queens. In that moment, two more became counter-recruiters.

On the way Tuesday night to hear Susan Faludi on her latest book, The Terror Dream, I had dinner with arrested-Granny Judy Lear.  Talked about how the picture in the Army of None was a time we'd demonstrated together.  "Oh, she said, "Barbara, one of  the Grannies, does that!"  Goes to high school college nights where recruiters always show up. Here's a model for older activists:  Barbara seeks out parents of the students to exhange about the realities behind the offers made.  I'm waiting to hear more about this from her.

Do you dream?  I'd like to see Army of None inspire many more of our growing numbers of aging Americans to action.  Is there a Guide to Military Recruitment where you live? 

Would you raise your arm into the air the way people in China once did with Mao's Little Red Book...I can see it now:  a crowd of us on the Mall in Washington--boomers and our crowd of elders all together, waving copies of local Guides, of Army of None, as we lift each and every voice to shout, "Not with our grandchildren!"  Please, Elders, dream and act with me. 

WOOL from Rhinebeck--and those who love it

Two full days at Rhinebeck, aka New York State Sheep & Wool Festival, has left household heavier with many bags of roving purchased by Ron for spinning.  Virtuously (wink, wink, as I calculate how many projects it will take to use half of current stash) my purchase was one skein of Seacolors from Maine--which one can only obtain by being there.  Self-control gave way in the adventure's final moments. 

How It Began.  Through the miracle of cell phones, Xtreme English, on-sabbatical Elderblogger, and I meet up.  She does not currently knit, reveals a longing to make colorful socks like the ones she buys, hands me her latest take on the world.

She first graced these pages under the guise of MAW, an emerging artist.   Pleased to introduce M.E.C., who meant to sign this jaundiced interpretation of knitting wimmim.  However, she, her daughter and I were totally fixated on watching Saturday afternoon's Sheep Dog Trials.     

America is dotted with Sheep & Wool Events to give breeders of these fine animals an opportunity to meet, judge their animals and fleeces.  In this event, the farmer/handler directs her/his dog to go through timed paces in herding sheep.  MEC must have better photos; mine give sheep and one competitor a bit of visibility.  Massachusetts Sheep and Wool was the first place I saw this--andhas glorious close-up.  Their entire site puts the wool source up front--Rhinebeck, please note.

Famous Online Person & Fan Meet 

Clara Parkes, first time book author, creator of Knitter's Review, was gracious in her receipt of her very own Condom Amulet, "Orange, my favorite color!" (Knit from impulse-purchase synthetics, decorated with vintage buttons, plus New York City Condoms and Post-It pad inside.)  My thank-you for her telling the knit world about my Safe Sex project on Knitter's Review.

Read section on "Color" from Clara's The Knitter's Book of Yarn, as we drove back to the festival on Sunday morning.  Ron was driving.  Find it something I've been waiting for--an informed discussion of terms, especially hand-dyed and hand-painted.  Pretty patterns.  I like the name and look of Scaruffle, could be right candidate for stash yarn.

We'd stayed overnight with our friends Mike and Mary whom we'd visited this summer in Cragsmoor.  What a treat to see the Fall colors from high up in the mountains.  The four of us talked about our need to leave "the City" for refreshment in more natural settings.

More Author Meet Ups  Luckily learned about Sunday Book Tent happening (hidden on Rhinebeck website) from Kay Gardiner, friend and knitter of The Ballband Keychain Condom Amulet, soon to appear in online zine (see button at left).  I'd wanted to meet Ann Shayne, Kay's writing partner in book and blog, Mason*Dixon Knitting, a production bringing together Nashville and New York City in a non-musical way.  Sent her home with red amulet. More vintage buttons,  yarn-- found in Pennsylvania antique store-- from torn-up wool dress, probably Amish.  Busy signing books, Ann works away;  Kay smiles for the camera. 

Across the way, Clara Parkes is also busy.    Knitters want to buy books!

Faster than a sheep to shawl competition (inside joke, M.E.C. could illustrate), Ann and Kay on Monday posted someone's photo of elegant, heads-up Ann in a BIG hat.  Made by the irrepressible Lisa Daehlin, here wearing it. Knitter/opera singer, Lisa and I have known each other through yarn, knitting circles song recitals for years.

She's created two Amulets for  Condom Amulet zine.  I was carrying around the most recent--amulet as wire bracelet.  She and a member of the new Ravelry community have a technical exchange.  A months-old online group, Ravelry was everywhere. Saturday you knew who they were by their ID buttons; Sunday, tee-shirts.  Kay and Lisa tell me it is the latest, best idea. 

Rhinebeck: where man discovered wheel

   

It was 2002 to be precise on a damp day at the Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, New York.  Ron Bloom, a 60-something, began to spin.  Then the reluctant journey into knitting where he found his niche making button hats at a knit retreat in Maine (which we learned about from Knitter's Review).  All the hats were from wool he spun. Last month, for a racquetball partner's new baby boy, he discovered that it was pretty easy to shift from wool to Cascade Fixation cotton for this hat.

Weaving under the influence of Sheila Hicks and her small pieces continues to be his primary interest.  A few months ago, Mark Rothko's paintings with their dark color blocks caught his attention as another design source--along with adding objects to his pieces as in the two above.

While he searches this weekend's festival for particular colors for his work, my goal is to beware of the temptation to buy yarn.  There is way too much on our shelves; I'm behind in using beautiful fiber he spun last year!  On my list for Saturday is connecting with the blogger, Xtreme English.  We've talked about watching the sheep dog trials--always fascinating. 

Sunday is a big brouhaha of a Book Tent where I'll finally meet Ann Shayne of the notorious Mason * Dixon Knitting duo, and Clara Parkes of Knitter's Review (see above) whose new book on choosing and using yarn is billed as a compendium of everything knitters need to know to become more confident in their work.  I think the resident weaver and I could both use that!

If you're old and gay, is that an issue?

Because I have not seen discussion of issues particular to being old and gay, I get the idea that most Elderbloggers are women and men who are straight.  "Wrong," the little red hen voice yells, "shows how limited your worldview is!"

True.  Unlike my younger life with its activity in women's studies, feminist organizations, my personal life is spent in a heterosexual environment.  There are a few friends who are "other."  Narrowness happens.  Insularity in communities happens--often for reasons that make sense. Somethimes not.    We all seek comfort.

Aging and Gay, and Facing Prejudice in Twilight was a front page article in October 9, New York Times.  I had to go to south to the blog Birmingham Blues to see if there'd been conversation she knew about.  (We became acquainted through something this summer on my blog--not related to gender.)  My visit revealed that October 11 was "National Coming Out Day," something that may have prompted the Times story.  She also encouraged the rest of us to "come out" in support of our neighbors.

Life in a retirement community, a nursing home can be painful for elderly women and men who are gay.  "I felt like a pariah," the Times quotes one woman.  Those in my own age group have spent a lifetime negotiating where it is safe to be "in" or "out" with their sexual preference-- work, school.

On an Elderhostel trip 15 years ago, I remember a retired lesbian couple amongst the ten or so  straight couples.  What must it have been like to be in such a stark minority?  Does one have to restrict travel to tours designed for gays?

"What do you have to say that's new?" the little red hen voice asks with some exasperation.  Sometimes it's a beginning to raise the issue, to ask if Elderbloggers, a small group stretching assumed abilities of older folks, to consider how our comfortable boundaries might be stretched, be more inclusive.  Do you know Elderbloggers who talk about older life as a gay person, a person of color? 

Thanks to her post on Alternet about AIDS denial, I found Greta Christina's Blog  and read her powerful response to Coming Out Day, took the advice from Birmingham Blues that led to Pam's House Blend.  It's always the right day to come out, isn't it?

   

Mysteries Solved through Blogger Alert

the blogger known as Doulicia Other Elderbloggers may have pictured something like this, but I have not seen it.  A frequent reader of the blogger known as Doulicia, I figured out what these two things were amongst baby stuff saved by my mother.

Riffing about Creativity on the internet, she used the phrase "thumb sucking."  Oh, someone has a "cure" or a theory--something new.  I clicked and landed at a knitting site, Good Natured Ribbing.  Here I discovered her "maybe this will get her to stop" invention--fingerless glove with full thumb.

Aha, that's what these pink things are from the 1930s.  Someone crocheted stoppers for my bad habit.  I never knew that I sucked my thumb but most babies do, so why not.  Only one of these looks used.  Can't imagine that anyone used two at once.

The cord intrigues me.  Is it crocheted too?  Ever since learning how to I-cord, I want to add to my small store of finishing techniques.

Though Good Natured Ribbing does not have a pattern on her blog, she does have an invention that appeals to those favoring double-pointed needles--the Knitzi device.  If you've used these, please let me know.    

Jenna Bush Wear A Condom Amulet?

She just might.  Aren't you surprised?  Blogger Dana Goldstein was too when she read an interview in the Washington Post in connection with Jenna Bush's new book, Ana's Story.

Not only is it directed at teens, it is focused on her support of HIV prevention strategies.  "Everyone knows that condoms prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS," she said in the interview.

Seemed the right time to show one of my recent amulets.  It is ALL Chinese, except for its maker, yours truly.  All its parts were assembled in China, during a visit in 2000.  Red and yellow yarn was purchased in Shanghai.  There is a story about the "cord."  Near a market in Kunming we noticed a doorway curtain made of colorful small objects. 

Moving closer, we saw it was long strands of gum and candy wrappers folded over paper clips, five feet long.  As we admired them, a woman parted the curtain, smiled and said, Ni hao--hello in Mandarin.  Through our guide we communicated our wonder at this unusual curtain.  She told us to wait, went back into her house, returned with a large basket of MORE strands.  We offered to buy some.  She would not hear of it:  they were a gift.  We took two, thanked her profusely. 

Few have ever seen a likeness of the young Chairman Mao.  Unlike other objects we saw in China, this was definitely not something new made to look old.  Its tiny handcrafted safety pin on the back of the celluloid (?) button marks it as something that must have appeared during the Cultural Revolution. 

So I offer my double-knit Condom Amulet to Jenna Bush for her to wear at her next important political gathering.  It will be a great opening for talking about safe sex.  Do you wonder if her book reflects oppositional behavior or there is someone in her circle promoting sensible ideas? Whatever.  She's on my side in this one.  Thanks, Jenna.

Women, Our Books, Our History

Once upon a time, there were many women's bookstores in the U.S.  In Other Words, the spacious Portland, Oregon space pictured above, is one of the few remaining.  Self-described as a "community center,"  it lives up to that with a remarkable range of offerings --performance, book readings, Spanish classes, childbirth education--and a DIY (do-it-yourself) section. 

"Eco-friendly personal products" also have shelf space; I'd heard about but never before seen GladRags, reuseable, cotton menstrual pads.

As I walked around, explored the extensive zine selection, sat comfortably to read and daydream, I was reminded of the halycon days of the 1970s and '80s when enthusiasm for women's literature and women's space led to feminist bookstores coast to coast.  There were brave, small places like the tightly-packed storefront in Beloit, Wisconsin, where I once presented a workshop--now gone.  And bigger ones, especially Amazon Books in Minneapolis, founded in 1970, still "fostering the strength, wisdom, beauty, diversity of women, girls and their families."   

In the heyday of the second wave, I'd drive to Waverly, the left-of-center Baltimore community, to 31st Street Books, a non-profit collective.  It was begun by women who thought its street location was a safer name choice than its purpose.  Baltimore, sleepy little rusting industrial city, famously racist, was a curious location for feminist thought and action.  But there it was in the late 1960s, 1970s.

Women: A Journal of Liberation started there and The Feminist Press..  In 1969, Florence Howe bought a large house in Mt. Washington, another Baltimore neighborhood where housing prices had dropped sharply after the riots following the death of Martin Luther King in 1968.  Her partner, Paul Howe, was denied  tenure at his university as a result of his anti-war activity.  The two of them took The Feminist Press to New York where it thrives to this day a a unique publisher of books by and about women's.

Though we did not know them, Ron and I were told the house was for sale by a friend in the alternative education movement.  Even cheaper two years later, 5504 Greenspring Avenue became ours in 1971--all leaky pipes and antique wiring, and more space than we needed.  But we found ways to make it our own, raise our children.  In 1976, I began my practice as a feminist therapist.

The history of 31st Street Books seems lost but I might have to search more deeply into an online resource I've just found, Women & Social Movements in the U.S.  If you or I have our own remembrances of events/people to add, it seems to be possible to do so in the section on The Second Wave & Beyond.  We have the women's movement and women's studies programs in high schools and universities to thank for our progress so far.  Supporting women's bookstores is an important way to sustain voices not heard elsewhere on issues still unresolved--control by us of our bodies, for example. Readers here can add others--spouse and elder abuse, among many.

And Baltimore, once dubbed, "Charm City," continues to surprise.  Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse  (a hat tip to Emma Goldman, famous anarchist of the early 20th century) opened in Waverly a couple of years ago.   Like Bluestockings in New York City, it' s  not on the current list of feminist bookstores, self-describes as "radical," with an emphasis on cultural events.  Just as in my recent visit to In Other Words, where I reconnected with Off Our Backs, the feminist journal that once was a newspaper, Red Emma could offer other unexpected small publications and zines.  Have to check it out the next time I visit.

Grace Paley, A Remembrance

Remembering the late Grace Paley in New York City, the link takes you to a video created by Liza Bear, one of many, many longtime admirers. 

You will join an outdoor gathering in Greenwich Village  of a  group of friends who recently created a memorial that was peace rally plus a reading-- a perfect tribute to the writer and peace activist who died this summer at 84.

Reading Grace's poems, the biographer Bllanche Weisen Cook  gave an enthusiastic rendition of her delightful poem of appreciation for old bodies.  If you know the poem and where to find a copy, please let me know.

Update:  Thulani Davis remembers this long, creative life at Women's Voices for Change.