a little red hen

Whiteness: big bubble surrounds me

It happened Tuesday, February 19.  Four days later and no mention in major media that comes into my apartment in New York City.  Surfing, I happened upon this march in Texas at Bitch PhD, a feminist blog who got it via Pandagon, another feminist blog.

You see in the photo 2,000 students at historically black Prairie View A & M University as they march over 7 miles to exercise their voting rights.  Because?  The number of early registration sites near the campus--where there are 3,000 students registered to vote--had been reduced in the county around the school from six to one.

Their banner reads, “It’s 2008. We will vote.”*  No one makes it hard for me to vote.

A YouTube video of the march is HERE at the Burnt Orange Report, a blog focused on Texas politics.   Besides learning more about this significant voting rights event at Texas A & M, I read other sites new to me.  With all the excess of narrow coverage on the primary races it was at Black America Web that I learned of the discordant exchanges between Obama and TV commentator Tavis Smiley--and responses to that in the African American community.

*The Rev. James E. Orange, a project organizer in SCLC and aide to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, brought young people like himself into the movement, died at 65 last week.  It is his legacy that these Texas students continue.

CORRECTION:  The school is Prairie View A&M University not Texas A&M--thanks to Virginia for noticing the error.

You Got a Problem with CONDOMS?

Rejection.  Not good with it.    

Rejected... as a winner in PDX.

Rejected as an "original" knitter in a One-Skein Knit Contest.

The envelope came in the mail today from Portland, Oregon's Yarn Garden.  Not that I expected to win first prize--or second.  Maybe a "Thanks for the thought" consolation greeting.

But nothing?  And they enclosed everything in my return envelope--

OSU (Oregon State University) amulet, carefully knit in school's colors,

New York City's 2007 condom (good through 2011),

Female condom (you don't see these every day),

How-to instructions (see above), and

#15 of my handmade, bright yellow zine (hey, pass it along to a local woman--with the condoms).

No note.  Not even a printed form, "We had so many entries..."

How about a message of sisterhood in the struggle for Safe Sex.  Nada.  You think they're telling me something: SAFE SEX not appropriate for knit competition?

Guess I'll have to tell my grandson that Grandma is too edgy for the yarn store in his neighborhood-- and I pull my hood up when we walk by.  Tell my knitting buddies at www.KnitaCondomAmulet.com.  And Pearl Chin at KnittKnitty City.

And I'll have to go public in the Knit/Crochet a Condom Amulet group on RAVELRY, the 6,000 member online group.  (By the time you read this probably up to 7,000.) 

[Enlarge the amulet image to read the pattern.  I'll be posting on Ravelry soon.  If your're a member, find me there as aLittleRedHen.]

The Vagina Monologues and MACBETH

Lisa Daehlin, the exceptional knitter/crocheter/singer, and I were the over-twenty-somethings at last Saturday night's "The Vagina Monologues" at Columbia University.  Though 2008 marks the tenth anniversary of Eve Ensler's "organized response against violence against women," it was a first-time for each of us.

We both were impressed by how much has changed for college students.  The auditorium, on the second of three nights, was mostly women plus a representative number of men.  We joined their enthusiasm, were touched by the openness about their concerns. Lisa was an undergraduate twenty years ago-- nothing like this in Minneapolis, her home base.  And we know what a desert it was in the 1950s, my era.

Original monologues were a first at this year's presentation.  Performed with great fervor, they were less "polished" than the VM script itself and very powerful.  The six performers were talking for themselves about eating disorder, about gender identity.  Very funny one about visiting a therapist.  The only review online is HERE from an undergrad magazine at Columbia.  None in "The Spectator," semi-official daily emanating from the School of Journalism.  Because Barnard College is the source?  I've always been puzzled by the relationship of Columbia to this women's college.

At intermission I talked with two Barnard women at a table in the lobby to promote this year's "Take Back the Night" events in April.  That energy began in 1976 in Belgium with marches through dark streets by women who wanted to feel safer in the public space.  These were happening more generally throughout the U.S. in the 1980s.  I'll have to dig up a photo from one in Baltimore--and that red tee-shirt.  Currently it is college campuses that keep the flame alive on this issue-- as crucial as ever.  I'd like to see this year's efforts draw in the community around Columbia, my community--a concept that's always a challenge.

Oh yes, Macbeth with Patrick Stewart.  Ron and I saw that the next day at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.  Talk about culture disjuncture!  Again, it was via another that we happened to be there.  A friend could not attend, asked if we'd buy her tickets.  Okay--and who was Patrick Stewart?  Do I hear a gasp from readers younger?  We were very busy in the day of "Star Trek."  Seeing clients at night, raising kids by day.  All the pyrotechnics that worked for last year's "The Coast of Utopia", Tom Stoppard trilogy, were mostly annoying for me in this production.

Flashing light shows?  We had not done discos either; amazing how culturally disadvantaged we can feel.  [Aside:  This is why much on TV, stuff in the entertainment section of NY Times does not speak to us pre-boomers.]  My very least engaged moment, enjoyed by Ron and NY Times, was this one.  Stewart walks to refrigerator (Macbeth reimagined as 1950s Russia, see review above), takes out plate, slices bread and deli meat (symbolic?), makes sandwich and eats it while speaking.  Somewhere in Second Act. 

Patrick Stewart is a fine actor; we could feel that beyond the distractions.  I would love to see him in something more about the play, less about the production.  We came back to ourselves with a Middle Eastern meal at a modest place on Atlantic Avenue--Bedouin Tent, no website.

 

Blog Expert Minus Portfolio

For the longest time I've wanted to use this photo of myself as, well, "Our Lady of Curious Notions"?  It appeared, according to bloggers at Rhinebeck 2007, on Sunday morning, the last day of the event.  Disappeared at once. Captured on digital, by Kay Gardiner, it came to light in her blog post, "Oz."

And that is my intro to a radio interview heard as I lunched and knit today.  "Blogsifting" was the title (link will take you to a rewind) on WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show.  Sarah Boxer of the New York Times has written a book,  "Ultimate Blogs, Masterworks from the Wild Web."  Selecting 27 blogs from the 80 million-plus out there, she sets herself up for much attention.  Clearly that's the objective.

Last month, just before her book appeared, Boxer wrote, "Two years ago, I was given a dreadful idea for a book: create an anthology of blogs" in an article in the New York Review of Books.  We definitely knew where she was coming from.  Ronni Bennett described it accurately as "snarky."  Boxer article was timed to appear as her book hit the stores.  Tonight she and two bloggers with her on the Lopate show appear at a local Barnes & Noble.

"It's not so hard to find good blogs," Boxer explained--and pointed to her own book as "the way."  She herself has never been a blogger.  Knows how to research and has read many.  If I were to be as bold to do a book on the subject, my direction would be toward categories of blogs--regional, mommy, visual, elderblogger, etc.  We learn what Boxer likes but nothing of the rich dimensions of the blog world.

Both bloggers on the program--and I guess her extra-special faves--were very likeable.  If I cared about the ins/outs of classical music, Alex Ross' blog, The Rest Is Noise would be on my list.  He is also music critic for The New Yorker magazine.  A thoughtful guy, he sees the breeziness of blogs linked to certain late 19th century writing.  Jennie Portnof, who blogs at Johnny I Hardly Knew You has been at it since 2000, is a poet, believes blogging emerged from and were influenced by the way interactions happened on the Muppets shows--an aside here, another there. 

On the "ethics of blogging" she replied, "Not to hurt anybody."  In contrast, Boxer disagreed, "...many bloggers are incredibly mean to people!"

LRH does love radio and felt connected to the larger world by the enchange of two thoughtful people helping Lopate--clearly not in the blog-loop--understand its value and attraction.

Here's an idea.  A weekly program coming from different parts of the country (this show was too NYC, white, college-educated)...2 or 3 bloggers talk with a non-blogging moderator.  Improve on this, if you wish.  I have to get the mail.

A Day Late, but Always Timely

Many thanks to Marrtha Knits, knitting friend in Brooklyn.  She wondered if I'd seen this candy heart and message from Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood. 

Nope...my contributions go to local PPs rather than National (we all make choices)--especially with more and more clinics and providers around the country under seige.  It was Alabama this past summer where a massive effort by anti-choicers once again threatened staff in Birmingham. 

Last week, another alert from the Feminist Majority about intensifed attacks  on women and the privacy of our medical records--in Kansas:

... subpoenas follow the grand jury’s demands for the medical records of some 2,000 women from Dr. George Tiller’s Wichita clinic. Dr. Tiller’s attorneys appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court, arguing that turning over the records would violate patients’ privacy. The Kansas Supreme Court temporarily blocked the subpoena while it reviews the case. 

Well, some of us do know what's the matter with Kansas, where you-know-who won Republican seal of approval in the recent primary.  I hasten to add that all is not as it should be right here in New York City, blue-state's center (?). I might be arrested--at least shooed off, by the N.Y. Police Department if I attempted to distribute free condoms in front of a high school.  (But not at Columbia University as we did last May.)

I'd be interested in hearing from readers about how you make decisions about giving dollars for choice and related issues of Safe Sex.   Requests from organizations, a friend's plea, a memory?

In honor of National Condom Week, a close-up of my newly-knitted Condom Amulet, "Old Stockings 'R Us,"  (vintage buttons, pantyhouse, 2 stockings).

Photo by Kay Gardiner, Mason-Dixon Knitting as we plotted Knitty City exhibit. Her iconic Condom Amulet creation, "Ballband Key Chain" appears HERE and on Ravelry, new and growing knit and crochet community site.

Knitting Grandparents, Here & There

This sweater, just finished and sent off to our 5 year old grandson in Portland, could be described as a SDS...that's shaggy-dog sweater.   That would mean one with a very long story.

Since Zach, the recipient, is sensitive to wool, the challenge was finding a fiber that would have body and be "...soft, Grandma."  First I asked his mother to buy something that seemed right for him at Yarn Garden near her home in Portland.  Since she is not a fiber person, that purchase had to be exchanged on our next trip there.   But I went to work too quickly-- the size was too small.  Ripped, began again.

Yarn is GOA from GGH (Germany), 50 % cotton, 50% wool.  Very nice feel.  My only innovation, twisted rib at bottom and cuffs.  Very useful input from Maxine and Betty at Knitty City rescued me from a what was touted as a basic pattern in "The Pattern Companion Knitting." Guess that was why it was on sale at a non-knitting store. 

Ron, the other knitter here, was asked for one of his wool hats while we were in Portland last month.  Zach was not sure if that would work work for him until he learned they're partially lined to eliminate scrachiness.  "The whole thing, Grandpa," he advised.  Even the tiny space at the very top was lined.

Produced everyone's favorite photo of the two of them in Ron-made hats.  Wonderful to look at as we think about our far-away grandchildren on Valentine's Day.

My Own "Third Place," a NYC Yarn Store, #1

VALENTINE'S DAY is almost upon us. Consider a different kind of gift.

At Knitty City, Manhattan's least-advertised, yet very popular yarn store, a curious recycled object adorns a mannequin in the window.

Once inside, a visitor sees "Knit a Condom Amulet," a new exhibit of my three-year old project at my LYS (local yarn store).  Imagine, a knitting store that promotes Safe Sex for V-Day. [click blue condom at left-- Free patterns for 7 amulets.]

Not your usual knit store,   "community center with beautiful wares" is more accurate.

My "third place" is how I see it.  Usually that means the space between the first space, home and the second, work.  From the 1920s to 60s, married women who did not work outside their homes often found community in local knit stores.   "Beauty shops" also functioned as important gathering places for talk among women; some still do.

Libraries?  They fit the idea of being "free and open to the public," the strictest definition of third places but discourage verbal exchange.  In some boroughs of New York, libraries have community rooms for organized groups to meet.  It is not a concept valued at higher administrative level and depends on a yarn-crazed librarian in a local branch.

Starbucks?  Promoted themselves as a third place in the beginning.  It was in a nearby one that the original UWS (upper west side) knit circle began in 2002--and continues in another Starbucks at 87th and Columbus.  The difference is that Knitty City is open six days a week and is entirety about craft.

At the front of the shop I've photographed two women (left) who are designers.  Listening to them opens my world to the working world of freelance design.    Phyllis barely notices Lennie,  the dog, on her lap.  Once you sit in that big, comfortable  chair, you get a lap dog; not a problem for this customer's son checking his cell.          

Periodically other dogs are walked in, but Lennie is a regular.  He belongs to Gail, seen here labeling new yarn stock, one of several staff who answer ANY how-to yarn question-- within reason.  We worked together in 2006 to put up my last show here, This Dirt Museum Redux, to raise awareness about kitchen composting through knit red wiggler worms.

Between knitting instruction with customers, Maxine Levinson (in gray sweater) provided ongoing advise and consent to the Safe Sex exhibit. She created several inspired names for amulets and edited the wall text.  Her own Condom Amulet added a new style in her highly functional, "Beltway," which is color-coordinated with New York City's famous 2007 condom design.

As we were finishing, Bert Rachel Freed, who teaches weave and bead crochet classes, came by with "A Night on the Town," a sparkly and elegant addition.

Would you add one?  We're glad to put it up on the wall with its title and your name. 

      

Super Tuesday: 21st Century Possibilities

Enormous changes in my lifetime.

What better reflection of that than this four-language sign near my polling place?

As others await to see who "won" between Clinton and Obama, I celebrate where this idealistic and flawed country has moved.   From celebrating white women's "progress" in the 1940s--which brought us to Hillary Clinton running for president.

And these courageous African-American women in Georgia, politicking before the 19th amendment was passed, are among the major players who have brought Barack Obama to try for the same prize.

This is the triumph of affirmative action.  It's what Ron and I grew up with in immigrant families.  These values were absorbed by our children whom we admire as they are passed on to grandchildren.

Dark voices will make every effort to get our attention in the coming year, to speak to our fears of difference and change.  They will try to divide us.  For those of us who worked toward the goal of true democracy, it's time to step aside and listen.

Elders can support the move forward by those younger.  Let's bring along the best from the 20th and join hands in the 21st century.  [click on images to enlarge] 

60 On Up, Lillian Rubin's Straight Talk on LATER Aging

The only picture in this book is on the cover.  See?  Down at the lower left is the author--Lillian Rubin herself.  An 80-plus sociologist and psychotherapist, her subtitle is "the truth about aging."  The "truth" is mostly geared to those who are white, middle-class, and educated   Not everyone.

That's fine with me.  Are you surprised?  It would be very presumptious for Rubin to be take on the entire population over 60.  We need more voices to tell us what it's like to be a black man--middle-level, never-married who retired at 64 from a government job, for example.  His life and mine are miles apart.

Perhaps her book will inspire others, to write about aging after 60 from varyious perspectives-- race/class/gender identity.  Some experiences will be similar.  All of us past experiencing these years move uncertainly in a swiftly changing world with few guidelines. 

While she includes problems currently discussed frequently in the media--aging children caring for their parents-- her own anger when her difficult, 85 year old mother on the opposite coast resisted the move to an assisted-living facility.   Rubin was in her late sixties.   She notes:

By the time the leading edge of the baby boomers reaches their seventies and eighties, they'll have 100-year-old parents to deal with...

Though the book is filled with the reality we know--the consequences of often roleless and longer life spans, the loss of social networks--I enjoyed reading it. It was as if a conversation was going on between us.

A sociologist and psychotherapist, Rubin speaks of "age grading" where people separate themselves by age.  My own efforts to point this out among peers is always met with resistance.  Many have commented on the discomfort felt by pre-retirement individuals toward colleagues who have left the work force.  In an ageist culture the next division is the old vis a vis the older.  Personally I feel it in my seventies from women in their sixties.  I sense its their fear about the future.  Very understandable with so much media emphasis on bad news about the elderly.

Rubin is an insightful writer whose articles on race, class, gun control (to name a few) continue to appear in Dissent magazine.  Missing for me in 60 on Up were ideas for how--or if--those over 60 might bring about change for themselves.  Personally she did it by starting to paint after 70.  Would she like my workshop idea, "Blogs and Zines for Geezers" as a way toward both agency and creativity?

Pleased her photo was on the cover--only wish it had been larger.  [Thanks to bloggers Ronni Bennett and Cowtown Pattie for the link to an hour-long interview with Lillian Rubin where she mentioned that her publisher would not put "80" in the title because "...people would not buy it."  More provocative issues like sex and unconditional love are addressed.  Some of her ideas on living a long life surprised me--a good thing!]