a little red hen

Boston this time, New York City then, and next?

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Making sense of what is happening is beyond me. Bombs at Boston Marathon unmoored me--along with many, many others [live feed from Boston CBS].   Grandmothers need to think more clearly.  I'm in search of better language for upbeat conversation about the future.  

Pretty and pink on the street here in Portland, Oregon. Slight distraction from the news...state legislators may lose their will on gun control as they did in Congress...dumbness from dependable right wing--New York's Steve King in the House uses Boston tragedy to put skids on immigration reform.

The first image I saw of the explosion at the Boston Marathon brought back memories of how I experienced New York in the days after September 11, 2001.   It happened on a Tuesday.  I was deep into preparations for my most ambitious environmental work, an art installation at Queens Botanical Garden.  I needed to buy more fabric in a place close to the World Trade Center.  Everyone, everywhere talked about how to give support to those living close to the site, children who had seen it happen and had to evacuate schools. Hard to stay centered around my own concerns--important to me, small in the big picture.  

The show was meant to celebrate a better day for the enviroment in New York City.  Fresh Kills on Staten Island, where the City's garbage had been dumped for over forty years, had been closed to create a cleaner environment for families who lived there.  But shortly after 9/11 the City announced that the remains of victims of the terrorist attacks would temporarily go to Fresh Kills.    After a few days, it was decided that the show could open as planned--with a shifted focus.   The Garden's Director correctly sensed that the public gardens would offer respite for many.   

Downtown, most of the streets near the World Trade Center were blocked off.  Canal Street where I wanted to go was one of them. Smoke from the Towers still filled the air when we could get near the store; in the upper lefthand corner a pigeon flies.   We watched Sanitation and Army trucks passed by over and over again.  Young NYPD officer man let us past the barrier to the store on the other side.

What did we learn from 9/11 that will support us now?  The two brothers bombers have been identified.  One is dead, the other badly wounded.  The negative chatter has begun again about Muslims.  How do we reassure our families?  Do we ignore what has happened, or bring out the flags.   Oppressively flagged after 9/11--what we really needed was leadership to help us examine our values and prepare for how those awful events might change our world. But Rudy Guiliani, New York's Mayor then, and George W. Bush were too limited for that sort of thinking.  Their urge to DO SOMETHING only led in the opposite direction. Two wars.

Earlier this week, I wrote this post's headline.  As if reading my mind--and so many of us--David SarasohnI the Sunday Oregonian writes a commentary, Watching Boston and waiting for Portland's time."

We could have been Boston.  For Portland, of course, that has two meanings. There's our creation myth about Francis Pettygrove from Maine, winning a coin flip with Asa Lovejoy of Massachusetts, who wanted to name [us] after his hometown of Boston.

Then there's the more immediate reality that Portland or any city in the country--could at any instant find itself...Boston...its street running with blood and its emergency rooms swamped with casualties.

He talks with Martin Schrelber, a trauma surgeon, at Oregon Health & Science University, the state's health and research institution.  Its many buildings stand up the hill from where I live.  Dr. Schrelber is very direct, "Our reality is not if it is going to happen [here] but when."  He says OHSU has a plan, along with the city's other trauma hospital.  That plan is rehearsed every six months.  For details, see Sarasohn's article.

Am I reassured?  Not at all.  While impressed with the doctor's dedication to emergency preparedness and his difficult work, it is a different plan I seek.

 

 

 

Life in Gun Control Lane: Rally @ Oregon Legislature

April 4, 2013 in Salem, Oregon.  Anniversary of MLK assassination 45 years ago.  

April 4, 1968  Oberlin, Ohio.  Due date for first child, we were devastated. Uncomforable with response by small college town to angry black community.* 

Everything about being part of the day at the Salem Rally was inspirational.  Heard moving remarks by  family members of those killed by guns at Clackamas Town Center and other places.  Bravely they have joined the fight for gun control.

Six of us women of age made the trip to visit with our legislators who all are working hard to move bills through the Oregon State legislature.  In the morning we were in the offices of  Represenative Jennifer Williamson first.  Then on to Senator Ginny Burdick, a woman of great personal courage who speaks in a matter-of-fact way about the death threats she has received for her longstanding support of improved public safety through gun control laws.  Ginny wears the two stickers her office handed out about those bills--background checks and K-12 safety in schools. 

Not a surprise that we were almost almost entirely women.  I heard someone say recently that we'd know progress had been made toward our goal when a large number of men turned out for these events.  Those I heard were gun owners eager to make a case for their representing the "sensible" gun owners.

When they form a new organization, separate from the NRA, it will be easier for me to hear them.  Even though the majority of the state's population is in Portland and its metro area, laws or lack of them, favor those in rural areas.  Only the mayors of Eugene, where the University of Oregon is located, and Portland are participants in Bloomberg's "Mayors Demand an End to Illegal Guns" coalition.  And here I was in Salem, the state capitol, third largest city in the state (pop. 154,637), and a mayor who has not signed on. 

Since moving here, I've been amazed that government buildings have little concern about security.  Back in New York City I was always ready to hold open my purse for checking not only at City Hall but museums too.  Attending court hearings in 2006 for Grandmothers Against the War, I even had to give up my knitting needles.  Here, one simply walks right in with a smile.

The State House was built in 1936, the third one after fire destroyed two.  I liked the feeling of being part of the democratic process as I walked its halls.  The Impressive rotunda, the carpeting with images of chinook salmon and wheat representing fishing and agriculture central to Oregon's economy and identity. Sorry I was moving too fast to get a photo of the carpet to show grandkids.

At noon we gathered for the Rally.  There were 150 of us, an accurate count by the media, and 50 of the very loud, anti-control NRA guys.  Of course some of them carried weapons so we would not miss seeing what they feared losing if stricter gun controls were enacted.  

Under a tent the coalition that had organized the Rally erected a Memorial Wall. Children's shoes were lined up across the bottom.  Any of us could post photos, thoughts. My two contributions were a cartoon--teacher thanks a student, "Why Bobby how thoughtful.  A holster for my glock!"  And a "Sensible Firearms Resolution" a neighbor of mine had written.  

The Oregon Alliance for Gun Control is three groups--two that have been around for a while, Oregon Ceasefire and the Brady Campaign.  The third is new:  Moms Demand A Plan.  I hope this coalition approach continues; we have so much more strength, can pool our resources more effectively.  And we are all working toward the same goal.

No surprise that it was raining off and on.  Though most longtime Oregonians are loath to use umbrellas, many popped up in the crowd.  Toward the end of the Rally, I found myself standing behind our friends Carl and Olivia.  They were in Clackamas Town Center when the shooting began and Carl (at left in photo) spoke of the need to keep close to young adolescent boys and they struggle with their values.

Olivia brought one of her beautiful paintings inspired by her pain when she learned of the massacre at Newtown.  My neighbor, who gave me a ride and helps me understand this Northwest Territory, took our picture. 

On Facebook, I've both connected with the local group and learned what women are doing nationally through Moms Demand Action.   Representing the Moms in Portland,  Jenny, here with Sen. Burdick, collected speakers (legislators and community people) who kept our attention.  For a change there was no foolishness from the antis.

Though it was exhausting for me and my senior lady friends, we're ready to go forward in this difficult struggle.

*Now, 45 years later, my grown child has young children who need protection from gun violence.  

Video that solves EVERYTHING

 

Many thanks to Pied Type who posted this CURE.  For what, you ask.  Listen and discover!  

New York Times discovers Oregon gun "issues"

Many false starts for this blog is about my horror with the gun culture in Portland, in Oregon.  I  attended a gun control rally last month.  Horror?

Yes.  I had never been in a public place and seen men with rifles.

Walking among us--women, children, old people. Neighbors of mine have gathered since the gun murders in our own city at Clackamas Town Center, followed by the elementary school in New Town, Connecticut.  We were at a rally to support gun control.  City Hall in downtown Portland.

An hour earlier friends and I had listened to a plea from Penny Okamoto of Ceasefire Oregon to mobilize ourselves to move along legislation under review in the state house. She is the hardworking, unpaid staff person.  There is no paid staff for the group.

At the rally I'd met, talked with state senator Ginny Burdick, who represents this area.  Another hardworking woman who has spent years trying to get more human-centered gun control legislation passed.  Another hardworking woman.

I cannot get used to the idea often voiced that we should speak of  "gun safety" because that is less infuriating to our opponents than "gun control."

Then the opposition, supported by the head of the state Republican Party went to Burdick's home and videotaped her daily life--like taking out trash.  We were prepared to attend a meeting she called on upcoming legislation.  She cancelled the meeting.

Next, Steve Duin, among the few readable columnists in the sad daily, had a Sunday piece with this headline  "Intimidation tactics may silence Salem..." [Salem is the state capitol not the one with the witchhunt history in Massachusetts].  

Now we learn that Mitch Greenlick, another member of the state legislature, has been subject to pro-gun ire that speaks to precisely who these people are, the racist anti-Obama men and women we've heard about nationally, the Tea Party enthusiasts:

"But even Greenlick has been surprised by the abusive, obscene and anti-Semitic tenor of the reaction to his support for gun-control legislation after the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre."

The next day there was an Op-ed column by Joe Nocera in the New York Times.  "Politics by Intimidation"  tells the Oregon gun story.  Must come as a surprise to all those convinced that Portland, the City of Roses, was like the light-hearted view from "Portlandia," great restaurants, craft beer overflowing.  But guns?

Living in Baltimore, in Harlem, I never felt as edgy about being on the streets as I do now. Day or night who knows if I may be sitting in a restaurant next to someone with a concealed weapon.  And he has a disagreement with his wife? 

Women, we are the ones...we must seize the moment

Needed right now:  more women like Rosa Parks.  The Detroit News on the centennial of her [The link is to a new biography that begins with her activist life before her famous bus ride.]  The Detroit News on the centennial of her birth (1913) marked by a new Forever postage stamp and Obama unvieling of her statue in the Capitol.

Charming and satisfying for us old ladies from the Second Wave to travel down memory lane as our moment in 20th century feminist history rolled by on"Makers:  Women Who Make America." Surprised that public television would offer something with the "F word so prominent.

Most satisfying for me was that two younger women I suggested it to--one in college, the other in her forties--watched and responded with enthusiasm.  In another time we would all have been in the same room, the same movement, working on gun control, violence against women.  So many issues, so little time.  That was the theme in early meetings of the Women's Political Causcus in 1972 in my Baltimore living room.

Needed right now:  women to move gun control into the direction that only women have the courage to do, i.e., take on the biggest challenges.  Think Elizabeth Warren and banking.  Now Robin Kelly, Illinois legislator now running for Jesse Jackson's Congressional seat with a total focus on gun control.  While looking for a photo of her, I encountered a vicious site, "Legal Insurrection," a window into her crazed Republican opposition.  [photo: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP] 

 The Griot, an NBC blog, reported on her win and her commitment to "fight to ban assault weapons. To close the gun show loophole.  And to ban high capacity magazine clips...We will do whatever it takes to end this epidemic of gun violence, once and for all."

Women's History Month was marked on March 1, at  Folkways Notebook with a post on  Women and Inequality.  Barbara linked to the L.A. Times on the reauthorization of VAWA, the Violence against Women Act.  The Times used a group photo of Native American Women at a meeting on the Tulalip Reservation (Washington state).  They have gathered to promote passage of the Act which has special meaning for them.

Needed right now:  women of all colors to move voting rights into the center of public discourse.  The League of Women Voters' blog  keeps its eye on what the Supreme Court is up to in Shelby County v. Holder.  That's how I found the February 27 rally outside the court on February 27.  Speaking on the Voting Rights Act to is Francine Lawrence, president of the American Federation of Teachers. 

 

Often I miss being back East.  And then I found in the Oregonian, our conservative, clueless local newspaper, a photo [Bilal Hussein/AP] from Beirut.  "The Uprising of Women in the Arab World"  commenorating March 8, International Women's Day. 

Translation:  I want society to see me as a woman first before they see me as a mother, wife or daughter.  

Women's, the people's action, continues in many places.  

Related articles

One Billion Rising: a more loving Valentine to all of us

 

  

 

Rise wherever you are with me, with our sisters around the world.

Gabby Giffords demands your effort on gun control NOW

 

Has each of us done enough?

Mayors against Illegal Guns posted this today.  You could copy it to your blog too.

ROE v. WADE is forty: CHOICE still needs your support

 

Ultra Violet teamed up with Daily Show co-creator and producer, Lizz Winstead about what's at stake on the 40th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.  I'm on my way to a Planned Parenthood event where Sarah Weddington will give the address.  She was the lawyer who took Roe to the Supreme Court.

More later....

Baby-sitting the day after...

Usually we spend Saturday nights with our three grandchildren.  Their busy-busy parents take the opportunity for long walks and/or dinner in a restaurant.  Every now and then we carry along something we want to share with the kids--a book, barrettes for the girls.

Without talking with one another, I knew each of us was prepared for something one of them might say about the shootings in Clackamas Town Center here in Portland or Newtown, Connecticut.  Most likely would have been Zach, our oldest grandchild at ten years and very aware of the world around him.  But he did not.  They do not watch or hear television news.

We had a wonderful evening with Elie, the four year old.  She has a longer attention span than a few months back, more interest in many-paged stories.  She amused us and herself trying on a headdress--probably from a Hanukkah party she'd enjoyed.

Earlier this month, I copied and gave to several people in the non-sectarian retirement community where we live a New York Times op-ed piece, "The True Meaning of Hanukkah,  Written by Hilary Leila Krieger, Washington bureau chief for The Jerusalem Post, who makes the point that  the holiday is "...both overexposed and misunderstood." Christmas decoration/observance is prominent and the assumption in our place. Residents assume everyone must be a participatant in one of two holidays.  Not us.  

Of course I realize that the article only clarified what Hanukkah is about.  Well-meaning people who wish us a "Happy something" are unaware that we manage without  at this time of year.  According to the Pew Forum,

 "Unbelief is now the world's third largest religion." 

Growing up in the 1940s and 50s, people like myself were common:  we identified as culturally Jewish and did nothing of a religious nature.  In the mid-1950s, I returned to St. Louis for the Christmas holidays and was told by my amused parents that some Jewish families were putting up Christmas trees they called "Hanukkah" bushes.  Many my age recall having a wonderful time singing carols, exchanging presents for Christmas with our friends.  It was a simpler time, not necessarily better in all ways, but less complex.

With our own children, we brought in a tree, decorated, and focused on the New Year as a way to rationalize some celebration while their friends were doing their more religious thing. "Attempted" is the operative word because the "tradition" did not become as strong as it might if commerce had caught up with us.  Cannot have a holiday in America without department store and media recognition. 

Festivus could have worked for us.  But we only learned about it watching re-runs of "The Seinfeld Show" in the 1990s. Too late for us with kids gone from home.   

Each of our children has figured out his/her own low-key way. Eli and her brother now attend mostly Jewish schools; their sister Zoe continues in public.  Holidays for them are a mix in the way America can be most in synch with our larger values.  We were grateful this Saturday night to be where we were, feeling almost religiously blessed for the safety of our families.

I DEMAND A PLAN...you should join me

How much pain have you felt the past few days?  How many petitions have you signed? You can take action to honor the memories of the children and adults murdered in the past week's violence .    Select one of the many videos on the Mayors Against Illegal Guns website...click HERE for ONE .  

 Kamaljit Saini's mother Paramjit Kaur was fatally shot in the back while praying at a Sikh temple on August 5, 2012. Five other people were also killed, and four were wounded. The shooter, Michael Wade Page, had a criminal history and extensive links to the white supremacist movement.

That date last summer was my 79th birthday.  How many more senseless acts of gun violence before my 80th.  Please join me: post one or more of these many videos on your blog. DEMAND A PLAN NOW from President Obama and members of Congress.

AMERICAN VIOLENCE is a new category for this this blog, A Little Red Hen.  Because there are so many kinds you and I hear about and experience every day.