Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Gay Day
To all my brothers and sisters who on this day celebrate human sexuality in all its diversity and joy with provocative abandon and scandalous good humor.
---So Much for Sex
You have a dong
or you have a ding;
---at various times
------& different places
you may ding-ding
or you may ding-dong
or you may dong-dong.
Anyway, the music is lovely
& you can’t go wrong.
------© Rafael Jesús González 2011
May justice and universal human rights, respect, compassion, peace prevail under the universal flag of the rainbow.
A mis hermanos y hermanas que en este día celebran la sexualidad humana en toda su diversidad y alegría con provocante abandono y escandaloso buen humor.
-
---Tanto por el sexo
Tienes un don
o tienes una doña;
---en varias ocasiones
------y en distintos lugares
harás doña-doña
o harás doña-don
o harás don-don.
De todos modos la música es linda
y no necesitas perdón.
----------© Rafael Jesús González 2011
Que la justicia, los derechos humanos universales, el respeto, la compasión, la paz prevalezcan bajo la bandera universal del arco iris.
-
-
Saturday, June 25, 2011
riverbabble 19, summer 2011
riverbabble 19
Summer Bloomsday Issue
Poetry
-------------Elaine, Lily Maid of Astolat
-------------Mortician's After Hours
-----------La entrega de coyote / Coyote's Surrender
-----------Obra maestra / Master-Piece
Juan Domingo: Moon Coyote
Emily Severance: Kink
James Duncan: I'll drink you down at dawn
Karen Schubert: Concealed by a Doorway, Can't Turn Away
Nancy Flynn: Faux Elegy After Mario & Thaeng's Vows
Brad Rose: Second Cousins
Gregory Owen Pearse: Tea With the Emperor
Christopher Mulrooney: the black box
Cindy M. Kelly Fish Story
George Korolog: Listening to James Clay
Maude Larke: Firebird
Ken Poyner: Shotgun Wedding
Armando Rendon: Bike Repair
Phibby Venable: Eleven Swans
Fiction
Sandra O'Briant: Against the Rules
Tom Sheehan: Ivaloo Outside the Lines
Mitch Duckworth: First Snow
Phibby Venable: The Man in the Train is Waving
Flash Fiction
Chella Courington: Monsoon Days
Jim Eigo: Moonless
Jason Price Everett Sarcology
Kawika Guillermo: Learning to Love
Aryan Kaganof: The Cuckolding
Len Kuntz: Night Swimming
Doug Mathewson: Planet Betty, the New World
Brad Rose: Spikes
Jerry Vilhotti: Gotcha!
Elizabeth Weaver: The Gift
Reviews
Meg Withers: Review of Girls & Women
Photography
___________________________________________________________________
JAMES JOYCE, Ulysses, p. 638., 18, 1378-1333.
___________________________________________________________
| Submissions | Contact Us | Archives | Staff
Pandemonium Press
2nd printing
available now on Amazon.com
or from
the publisher: pandemoniumpress@gmail.com
Leila Rae, editor
riverbabble
http://iceflow.com/riverbabble/Welcome.html
---
-
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Summer Solstice & Cance
--
---------Cáncer
El cangrejo anhela,
después del largo día,
arrancar del cielo
esa moneda de plata fría
que es la luna.
---Sus ojos son cuentas de rubí
---y en las entrañas
---guarda un perla sensitiva
que anhela llevar muy hondo,
---------------------muy hondo
al punto cardinal del agua,
---al fondo primordial del mar.
--------------© Rafael Jesús González 2011
-----------Cancer
The crab longs,
after the long day,
to tear from the sky
that coin of cold silver
that is the moon.
-----Its eyes are ruby beads
-----& in its entrails
-----it keeps a sensitive pearl
which it longs to carry very deep,
---------------------------very deep
---to the cardinal point of the waters,
the primordial depths of the sea.
--------------© Rafael Jesús González 2011
-
Monday, June 20, 2011
'La Musa' is epicode to the moon by Raymund Eli Rojas
-
'La Musa' is epicode to the moon
Like an epic poem, Rafael Jesús González's "La musa lunática/The Lunatic Muse" (Pandemonium Press) explores the night's light in its fullness, blueness and spaciousness.
González has collected 26 verses of lunar obsession that start with Christmas in El Paso and lead readers over steeples in Cambridge.
A veteran Chicano poet, González attended El Paso High School before joining Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso), where he was a member of the literary scene of the late 1950s with the likes of Abelardo Delgado, Arden Tice and Robert Burlingame. He edited "Desert Gold: An anthology of Texas Western College Verse" (1964) before moving to California's Bay area and becoming part of that literary scene.
The new volume is filled with verse and narrative poems. González opens up with his lunar obsession in "Lunatic Obsession":
In the desert around Cd. Juárez/El Paso where I was born, since a child I knew the moon to be, not the mother, but certainly the godmother of my soul . . . Much as I would have liked to believe, the moon was not mine alone; everyone loved her, and she kept appearing not only in the sky, but in the lines of the poems my father and mother read to me.
In "Thieving Moon," the poet writes of crime committed, crime that one loves to love, committed at night while one is in sleep:
The full moon peeringthrough my window
has scattered sleep,
She strikes from the crystals
sparks of colors
(nocturnal rainbows
full of absence).
Were she not so lovely
I would call the police
to come
for this thief of dreams.
It would seem that readers might grow tired of poems on a solo theme, but González's mastery of the verse enraptures. He writes in Spanish and English -- sometimes marrying the two in a single work, a single sentence. In "La musa lunática/The Lunatic Muse," he also includes Spanish and English versions for each poem. González best excels in his Spanish verse, an idiom in modern Chicano Literature now near extinction.
González has been nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize. In June 2007, he was honored for excellence in poetry at the 20th World Congress of Poets.
After reading "La musa lunática/The Lunatic Muse," readers will look up at the night sky, never to see the moon the same again. Every full moon's night, Rafael Jesús González' verse will certainly ring in our ears: "Sometimes the full moon / is so cold that is seems / not to deserve being so beautiful."
Raymundo Elí Rojas is the editor of the Pluma Fronteriza newsletter, which highlights El Paso's Chicano literary scene. He also edits Libros, Libros: New Books in Chicano/Latino Letters and the Pluma Fronteriza Blog, plumafronteriza.blogspot.com. Both focus on Chicano Literature.
-
Friday, June 17, 2011
Solstice in the Streets actions, June 22, 2011
-
-
Solstice in the Streets:
Celebrating the Earth
& the Rights of all
wherever you may be
If in San Francisco come meet at 11:00 AM on Wednesday, June 22, the day after Summer Solstice, at Embarcadero Plaza (Embarcadero BART station). Until 2:00 PM we will march, make music, dance, do street theater, spoken-word, and nonviolently demand a better nation and a better world. Be free to create your own art-action and join us.
Let us join together in community to celebrate the Earth and all life it sustains to reclaim our power and joy to oppose the institutions which are destroying the Earth and devastating people's lives.
Whether we are veteran artists and activists or stepping out for the first time, our actions will enliven the streets with our imagination of a healthy and compassionate world. Unite under the flag of the Earth and the International rainbow flag of Peace.
For up-to-date information & to post:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=213233098687312
blog: http://solsticeinthestreets.blogspot.com/
Our imaginations are the limits.
Let us join to demand:
- Peace Not War
- Food Not Weapons
- Schools Not Prisons
- Sustainable Not Nuclear Energy
- Human Rights Not Oppression
- Equality Not Discrimination
- Justice for All
Not Privilege for the Few
- The Rights of the Earth
Not Profits for the Wealthy
and much more.
Send this message far and wide: put it on your Facebook page, your webpage, your blog, e-mail it to your lists, twitter it. Let us bring our joy and our outrage in a nonviolence protest of beautiful art and inspiration to awake us all to the changes we must make.
Solsticio en las calles:
Celebrando la Tierra
y los derechos de todos
dondequiera que se encuentren
Unámonos en comunidad para celebrar la Tierra y toda vida que sostiene. Unámonos para reclamar nuestro poder y nuestra alegría en oposición a las instituciones que destruyen la Tierra y devastan las vidas de la gente.
Si somos artistas y activistas veteranos o salimos por primera vez, nuestras accionesanimarán las calles con nuestra imaginación de un mundo sano y compasivo. Unámonos bajo la bandera de la Tierra y la bandera internacional arco-iris de la paz.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=213233098687312
blog: http://solsticeinthestreets.blogspot.com/
Nuestras imaginaciones son los límites. Unámonos para exigir:
- Paz No Guerra
- Comida No Armas
- Escuelas No Cárceles
- Energía Sostenible No Nuclear
- Derechos Humanos No Opresión
- Igualdad No Discriminación
- Justicia para Todos
No Privilegios para los Cuantos
- Los Derechos de la Tierra
No Ganancias para los Ricos
Y mucho más.
Difunde este mensaje por todas partes: ponlo en Facebook, tu página web, tu blog, envíalo en e-mail a tus listas, difundirlo de cualquier manera. Traigamos nuestra alegría y nuestra indignidad en protesta no violenta de arte e inspiración para despertarnos a los cambios que debemos hacer.
-Wednesday, June 15, 2011
full moon: Moon for a Witch
--------Luna para una bruja
-----------------------a Star
La buena bruja se para
bajo la luna llena
e invoca los halcones de las estrellas
a cazar las estrellas oscuras
invisibles pero palpables
en los corazones fangosos
de los quienes blasfemaran
el aire sagrado, el fuego sagrado,
el agua sagrada, la tierra sagrada.
En espiral sus alas rozan
la cara llena de la luna,
esas aves del espíritu arco-iris,
la quinta cosa más sagrada.
-----------© Rafael Jesús González 2011
------Moon for a Witch
-------------------for Star
The good witch stands
under the full moon
& invokes the star-hawks
to prey upon the dark stars,
invisible but palpable
in the dank hearts
of those who would blaspheme
the holy air, the holy fire,
the holy water, the holy earth.
Spiraling, their wings brush
the full face of the moon,
these birds of the rainbow spirit,
fifth most sacred thing.
---------© Rafael Jesús González 2011
-
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Flag Day
--------The Flag
At our best
we show our true colors,
fly the flag that stands
for our deepest, broadest
allegiance to each other,
to the Earth holy & diverse.
These are my colors:
red of my love that colors all
& is the root & flower & fruit,
the heart of my belief
& what I know of truth.
orange of my abandon, my surrender
to my living, mindless of laws
that would fetter the steps
of my wildest dances.
yellow of my joy that tastes
of the sun, exultation in the
wealth of the senses,
root of my power & my love.
green of my hopes that wing
my desires & lend will
to my acts, that inform
even my opposition
to outrage.
blue of my memories
that make my history of wings
that soar to the mountains
& drop to the ravines,
complex topography of myself.
purple of my sorrows, my remorse,
my shame for betrayals of the heart,
most often of omission,
through weariness or fear.
This is my flag;
-----its colors run,
diffuse at the edges,
-----blend, shade
into hues, half-tones
-----difficult to name.
The tongues that praise it
are so many, so varied, & so sweet
their chorus rivals the birds’
& silences the angels in their flight.
Known everywhere
-----as sign of peace & joy,
let this be our flag;
----------its colors dance.
---------© Rafael Jesús González 2011
(Arabesques Review, vol. 3 no . 3, 2007; author’s copyrights)
When the earth is ravaged and the animals are dying, a new tribe of people shall come unto the earth from many colors, classes, creeds, and who by their actions and deeds shall make the earth green again. They will be known as the warriors [peace-makers] of the Rainbow.
It has been several centuries that Samuel Johnson said that patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels. It is true today as much as ever and the scoundrels are fond of waving flags of various stripes and colors to hide or flaunt their villainy.
All flags are beautiful, but association often makes them ugly. However, there is one flag, universal enough that even nature flies, which inspires me and I do not hesitate to raise. It is the rainbow flag of peace .
For good reason have the colors of the prism been sign of peace and joy. It was the rainbow that appeared to Noah as a sign of peace, and in almost all cultures I have studied or heard of, the rainbow is an auspicious sign of hope, promise, joy.
Justly so, the peace movement throughout Europe, Latin America, and throughout the world, has flown the rainbow flag as the flag of peace.
-
It is also the flag of the Rainbow Family (or Tribe) flown at Rainbow Gatherings that since 1969 convene yearly in the name of sister/brotherhood to celebrate life and the Earth in peace and joy. (According to an Old Native American Prophecy, When the earth is ravaged and the animals are dying, a new tribe of people shall come unto the earth from many colors, classes, creeds, and who by their actions and deeds shall make the earth green again. They will be known as the warriors [peace-makers] of the Rainbow.)
It is as well the flag of diversity, tolerance, dignity, respect, celebration first flown in 1979 by those who refuse to have human sexuality narrowly sanctioned and defined, its variants persecuted.
In a somewhat healthier democracy in 1984, it was the Rainbow Coalition that attempted to represent and empower all the diverse elements of the nation.
These colors contain all others our human perceptions can discern. Offered the full pallet of the spectrum from which to pick my colors, I refuse to choose; I’ll have them all, thank you.
All are my colors and this my flag of choice. It now hangs, with my prisms, in my window as sign of my allegiance to the Earth, to my fellow creatures, to justice, to peace.
I pass it on to you. Under these colors let us heal the nation and make peace with the world, create it anew in reverence for the Earth, in justice and sister/brotherhood.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------June 2003
-----------------La bandera
En nuestro óptimo
mostramos nuestros verdaderos colores,
volamos la bandera que señala
nuestra más profunda, más amplia
devoción uno al otro,
a la Tierra bendita y diversa.
Son estos mis colores:
rojo de mi amor que ilumina todo
y es la raíz y la flor y el fruto,
el corazón de mi creer
y de lo que sé de la verdad.
anaranjado de mi abandono, entrega
a mi vivir , despreocupado de leyes
que encadenaran los pasos
de mis más extravagantes bailes.
amarillo de mis regocijo que sabe
a sol, exaltación
en la riqueza de los sentidos,
raíz de mi poder y mi amar.
verde de mi esperanza que da alas
a mis deseos y presta voluntad
a mis actos, que informa
aun mi oposición
al ultraje.
azul de mis memorias
que forman mi historia de alas
que suben a las montañas
y caen a las barrancas,
compleja topografía de mi ser.
purpúreo de mi tristeza, remordimiento,
mi pena por las traiciones del corazón,
más bien de omisión,
por motivos de cansancio o temor.
Es esta mi bandera;
----- se corren sus colores,
se difunden en sus bordes,
------se mezclan, se matizan
en tonos, medios tonos
-----difíciles de nombrar.
Las lenguas que la alaban
son tantas, tan variadas y tan dulces
que su coro rivaliza con el de las aves
y silencia a los ángeles en sus vuelos.
Reconocida por dondequiera
------como signo de la paz y el regocijo,
sea este nuestro pabellón;
----------bailan sus colores.
--------------© Rafael Jesús González 2011
Cuando la Tierra sea violada y los animales muriendo, llegará al mundo una nueva tribu de gente de muchos colores, clases, creencias y quien por sus actos y hechos harán otra vez verde a la Tierra. Serán conocidos como los guerreros [pacificadores] del arco iris.
Hace varios siglos que Samuel Johnson dijo que el patriotismo es el último refugio de canallas. Es cierto hoy tanto como siempre y estos canallas gustan blandir banderas de varias rayas y colores para pavonear o esconder sus villanadas.
Todas banderas son hermosas pero la asociación frecuentemente las hace feas. Pero hay una bandera suficientemente universal que aun la naturaleza vuela, que me inspira y no vacilo en alzar. Es la bandera arco iris de la paz.
Por buena razón han sido los colores del prisma signo de la paz y regocijo. Fue el arco iris que le apareció a Noé como seña de paz y en casi toda cultura que he estudiado y de cual he oído el arco iris es seña auspiciosa de esperanza, promesa, alegría.
Justamente, el movimiento de paz por toda Europa, América Latina, y por el mundo entero, ha alzado la bandera arco iris como la bandera de la paz.
-
Es también la bandera de la Familia (o Tribu) Arco Iris (Rainbow Family or Tribe) portada en todas las Reuniones Arco Iris (Rainbow Gatherings) que desde 1969 se reúnen cada año en nombre de la hermandad para celebrar la vida y la Tierra en paz y alegría. (Según una profecía de los indios de Norte América, Cuando la Tierra sea violada y los animales muriendo, llegará al mundo una nueva tribu de gente de muchos colores, clases, creencias y quien por sus actos y hechos harán otra vez verde a la Tierra. Serán conocidos como los guerreros [pacificadores] del arco iris.)
También es la bandera de la diversidad, tolerancia, dignidad, respeto, celebración portada por primera vez en 1978 por quienes se rehusan que la sexualidad humana sea estrechamente sancionada y definida, sus variantes perseguidos.
En 1984, en una democracia algo más sana en los Estados Unidos, fue la Coalición Arco Iris (Rainbow Coalition) que intentó representar y habilitar todos los elementos diversos de la nación.
Estos colores contienen todos los demás que nuestra percepción humana puede discernir. Ofrecido la paleta completa del espectro de la cual escoger mis colores, me niego a escoger; los tomo todos, gracias.
Todos son mis colores y esta mi bandera por preferencia. Ahora cuelga, con mis prismas, en mi ventana como signo de mi devoción a la Tierra, a mis prójimos, a la justicia, a la paz.
Te la paso. Bajo estos colores sanemos a la nación y hagamos paz con el mundo, creámoslo de nuevo en veneración a la Tierra, en justicia y hermandad.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------junio 2003
Ché (6/14/28 – 10/9/67)
----------Ché
----Ernesto Guevara de la Serna
------------14/6/28 – 9/10/67
Entre el acero y el oro
en la escuela de la higuera
se apagó
---(apagaron)
una rosa de llamas;
segaron una azucena
------hecha roja de sangre,
un corazón ancho y profundo
y a la vez intratable, endurecido,
de una terrible ternura,
de una compasión violenta,
adicto a la justicia;
sanador de medicina amarga
que frente al ultraje
amartilló el bisturí
------en bayoneta,
fervoroso cirujano
de cánceres sociales.
Le cortaron las manos;
de las balas en su cuerpo
brotó el mito
y la palabra ‘Revolución’
recobró nuevo lustre
-----nuevo tinte.
Su epitafio, el lema:
‘Hasta la victoria siempre.’
------© Rafael Jesús González 2011
----------Che
----Ernesto Guevara de la Serna
----------------6/14/28 – 10/9/67
Between steel & gold
in the school of the fig
was extinguished,
-----(they extinguished)
a rose of flames;
cut down a lily
----made red with blood,
a heart wide & deep
& at once intractable, hardened,
of a terrible tenderness,
of a violent compassion,
addicted to justice;
healer of bitter medicine
who in the face of outrage
hammered the scalpel
-----into bayonet,
earnest surgeon
of social cancers.
They cut off his hands;
from the bullets in his body
bloomed the myth
& the word ‘Revolution’
took on a new luster
------new color.
His epitaph, the motto:
‘Until victory forever.’
------© Rafael Jesús González 2011
- - --
-
-
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Federico García Lorca 6/5/1898 - 8/19/1936
-
---------Sevilla de las Escobas
-------------------------a Federico García Lorca
Cuidado Sevilla que vas a perder el alma;
la Taberna de las Escobas ya está cerrada.
Hay sólo ecos en la solera
y donde corrían los finos,
amontillados y olorosos
está un ángel, piel de escarcha
con un copón de sollozos.
Cuidado Sevilla mía, Sevilla de los gitanos
que en el rincón de guitarras
sólo hay papeles floreados.
Lope con elegante ademán bebe su solera fina
dando la espalda a Byron y Béquer
que se disputen el amor de La Giralda.
Cervantes y Dumas discuten en laberintos de sueños
el hecho que la taberna fue violada por sus dueños.
(En el portón del Patio de los Naranjos
los santos de piedra guardan
sus silencios almidonados.)
El cardenal arzobispo trata de ocultar
bajo su casulla de oro
el tiritar de pericos y la luz de su tesoro.
¡Ay! hija de La Giralda, Sevilla enamorada,
la Taberna de las Escobas ya está cerrada;
un azulejo malhecho lo hace de epitafio oscuro
donde un barbero burlón se mira fumando un puro.
Allá en el Cortijo de Frías los condes cantan borrachos
y en el puente de San Telmo el río se cruza de brazos
mientras al pie de la Torre del Oro
se enamoran los muchachos.
¡Ay! Sevilla de naranjos, de aceitunas y claveles
ni bulerías ni soleares podrán cambiarte la suerte.
(En la sala capitular al centro de la cabeza
tengo un concilio de duendes
para canonizar la taberna.)
-----------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2011
(Isla Negra, Casa de Poesia y Literatura 5/6/09, Buenos Aires;
Director Gabriel Impaglione; derechos reservados del autor)
-----------Seville of the Brooms
---------------------------to Federico García Lorca
Take care, Seville, or you will lose your soul;
the Tavern of the Brooms is now closed.
There are only echoes in the cellars
& where ran the finos,
amontillados & olorosos
there is an angel, skin of frost
holding a goblet of sighs.
Take care my Seville, Seville of the gypsies
for in the corner of the guitars
there are only flowered papers.
Lope with elegant demeanor drinks his fine sherry
turning his back on Byron & Béquer
who dispute the love of La Giralda.
Cervantes & Dumas discuss in labyrinths of dreams
the fact that its owners violated the tavern.
(On the gate of the Patio of the Oranges
the stone saints keep
their starched silence.)
The Cardinal Archbishop tries to hide
under his chasuble of gold
the tittering of parrots & the light of his treasure.
Oh, daughter of La Giralda, enamored Seville,
the Tavern of the Brooms is now closed;
an ill-made tile stands for dark epitaph
where a mocking cigar-smoking barber looks at himself.
There in the Cortijo de Frías the counts sing drunkenly
& on the bridge of San Telmo the river crosses its arms
while at the foot of the Tower of the Gold
the boys fall in love.
Oh, Seville of oranges, of olives, & of carnations
not bulerías nor soleares will be able to change your fate.
(In the chapter chamber in the center of my head
I hold a council of gnomes
to make the tavern a saint.)
-----------------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
19th Amendment to the US Constitution — Women Suffrage approved by Congress 6/4/1919
When women's suffrage was gained in the U. S. in 1920, my mother Carmen González Prieto was newly come to the U.S., not yet thirteen. She did not become a citizen of the United States until 1957 while I was serving with the Marine Corps in Kaneohe Bay, the territory of Hawai'i. Shorty after she died at the age of 86, while I was visiting my brothers in El Paso, I accompanied them to vote; everyone at the voting place asked where Mrs. Carmen González was; they had never known her to miss voting since she became a U. S. citizen. (She always voted Democrat.)
Women Suffrage
by Deborah Tutnauer
(2010)
This is the story of our Mothers and Grandmothers
who lived only 90 years ago.
Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.
The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.
And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.
Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.
So, refresh my memory.. Some women won't vote this year because - why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.
All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'
HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.
The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'
Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. ?We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.
(Helena Hill Weed, Norwalk , Conn. Serving 3 day sentence in D.C. prison for carrying banner, 'Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.')
History is being made.
(2010)
The Declaration of Sentiments
Seneca Falls, New York, 1848
(Source: U.S. Dept. of State)
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to assume among the people of the earth a position different from that which they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to such a course.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it, and to insist upon the institution of a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they were accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their duty to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to demand the equal station to which they are entitled.
The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise.
He has compelled her to submit to law in the formation of which she had no voice.
He has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men, both natives and foreigners.
Having deprived her of this first right as a citizen, the elective franchise, thereby leaving her without representation in the halls of legislation, he has oppressed her on all sides.
He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead. He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns.
He has made her morally, an irresponsible being, as she can commit many crimes with impunity, provided they be done in the presence of her husband. In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all intents and purposes, her master-the law giving him power to deprive her of her liberty and to administer chastisement.
He has so framed the laws of divorce, as to what shall be the proper causes and, in case of separation, to whom the guardianship of the children shall be given, as to be wholly regardless of the happiness of the women-the law, in all cases, going upon a false supposition of the supremacy of man and giving all power into his hands.
After depriving her of all rights as a married woman, if single and the owner of property, he has taxed her to support a government which recognizes her only when her property can be made profitable to it.
He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty remuneration. He closes against her all the avenues to wealth and distinction which he considers most honorable to himself. As a teacher of theology, medicine, or law, she is not known.
He has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education, all colleges being closed against her.
He allows her in church, as well as state, but a subordinate position, claiming apostolic authority for her exclusion from the ministry, and, with some exceptions, from any public participation in the affairs of the church.
He has created a false public sentiment by giving to the world a different code of morals for men and women, by which moral delinquencies which exclude women from society are not only tolerated but deemed of little account in man.
He has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs to her conscience and to her God.
He has endeavored, in every way that he could, to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life.
Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of one-half the people of this country, their social and religious degradation, in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the United States.
In entering upon the great work before us, we anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule; but we shall use every instrumentality within our power to effect our object. We shall employ agents, circulate tracts, petition the state and national legislatures, and endeavor to enlist the pulpit and the press in our behalf. We hope this Convention will be followed by a series of conventions embracing every part of the country.
Resolutions
Whereas, the great precept of nature is conceded to be that “man shall pursue his own true and substantial happiness.” Blackstone in his Commentaries remarks that this law of nature, being coeval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is, of course, superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries and at all times; no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this, and such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their validity, and all their authority, mediately and immediately, from this original; therefore,
Resolved, That such laws as conflict, in any way, with the true and substantial happiness of woman, are contrary to the great precept of nature and of no validity, for this is superior in obligation to any other.
Resolved, that all laws which prevent woman from occupying such a station in society as her conscience shall dictate, or which place her in a position inferior to that of man, are contrary to the great precept of nature and therefore of no force or authority.
Resolved, that woman is man's equal, was intended to be so by the Creator, and the highest good of the race demands that she should be recognized as such.
Resolved, that the women of this country ought to be enlightened in regard to the laws under which they live, that they may no longer publish their degradation by declaring themselves satisfied with their present position, nor their ignorance, by asserting that they have all the rights they want.
Resolved, that inasmuch as man, while claiming for himself intellectual superiority, does accord to woman moral superiority, it is preeminently his duty to encourage her to speak and teach, as she has an opportunity, in all religious assemblies.
Resolved, that the same amount of virtue, delicacy, and refinement of behavior that is required of woman in the social state also be required of man, and the same transgressions should be visited with equal severity on both man and woman.
Resolved, that the objection of indelicacy and impropriety, which is so often brought against woman when she addresses a public audience, comes with a very ill grace from those who encourage, by their attendance, her appearance on the stage, in the concert, or in feats of the circus.
Resolved, that woman has too long rested satisfied in the circumscribed limits which corrupt customs and a perverted application of the Scriptures have marked out for her, and that it is time she should move in the enlarged sphere which her great Creator has assigned her.
Resolved, that it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.
Resolved, that the equality of human rights results necessarily from the fact of the identity of the race in capabilities and responsibilities.
Resolved, that the speedy success of our cause depends upon the zealous and untiring efforts of both men and women for the overthrow of the monopoly of the pulpit, and for the securing to woman an equal participation with men in the various trades, professions, and commerce.
Resolved, therefore, that, being invested by the Creator with the same capabilities and same consciousness of responsibility for their exercise, it is demonstrably the right and duty of woman, equally with man, to promote every righteous cause by every righteous means; and especially in regard to the great subjects of morals and religion, it is self-evidently her right to participate with her brother in teaching them, both in private and in public, by writing and by speaking, by any instrumentalities proper to be used, and in any assemblies proper to be held; and this being a self-evident truth growing out of the divinely implanted principles of human nature, any custom or authority adverse to it, whether modern or wearing the hoary sanction of antiquity, is to be regarded as a self-evident falsehood, and at war with mankind.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton 1848
-
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Call to the Solstice Streets, Wednesday, June 22
-------Call to the Solstice Streets
And when the Solstice comes
& we must celebrate life & the Earth
let us take our rainbow standards of peace
& in joy take to the streets
& dance our angry demands
for the Earth, justice & peace
before the doors of power & greed.
Sing, “Awake! Awake!” to them who walk
asleep the bright hours of their days
while the world crumbles about us.
Awake, awake, my brothers & my sisters,
& turn this hell we are making
into the paradise we were taught was lost.
---------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2011
-------Llamada a las calles del solsticio
Y cuando venga el solsticio
y deberíamos celebrar la vida y la Tierra
tomemos nuestros pabellones arco-iris de la paz
y en alegría tomemos a las calles
y bailemos nuestras demandas furiosas
por la Tierra, la justicia y la paz
ante los portones del poder y codicia.
Cantemos — ¡Despierta! ¡Despierta! —
a l@s que caminan dormid@s
las brillantes horas de sus días
mientras el mundo se desmorona
alrededor de nosotros.
¡Despierten! ¡Despierten!,
mis hermanos, mis hermanas,
y volvamos este infierno que hacemos
al paraíso que se nos enseñó fue perdido.
--------------------© Rafael Jesús González 2011
por la Tierra, la justicia, la paz.
Puede haber variaciones de este tal que contengan los tres elementos: el Sol, la Tierra, la paloma de la Paz para que el mismo símbolo básico se use comunmente por todo el mundo para significar una comunidad unida para sanar la Tierra y traer la justicia y la paz a todos. Si gustas, diviértete diseñando tu propia variación del logo.
Let us join together in community to celebrate the Earth and all life it sustains. Let us join together to reclaim our power and joy to oppose the institutions which are destroying the Earth and devastating people's lives.
Whether we are veteran artists and activists or stepping out for the first time, our actions will enliven the streets with our imagination of a healthy and compassionate world. Unite under the flag of the Earth and the International rainbow flag of Peace.
In San Francisco we will meet at 11:00 AM on Wednesday, June 22, the day after Summer Solstice, at Embarcadero Plaza. We will march, make music, dance, do street theater, read poetry and nonviolently demand a better nation and a better world.
If you would like to be kept informed of Solstice Streets actions in San Francisco see Facebook:
But wherever we are in the world on the Solstice, universal holy day of the Earth,
let us undertake nonviolent actions for the Earth, justice, peace. We are an international community on a globalized Earth without borders; let us come together in peaceful nonviolent action to demand a whole, just, peaceful world.
Our imaginations are the limits. Let us join to demand:
- Food Not Weapons
- Schools Not Prisons
- Sustainable Not Nuclear Energy
- Human Rights Not Oppression
- Equality Not Discrimination
- Justice for All Not Privilege for the Few
- The Rights of the Earth Not Profits for the Wealthy
and much more.
Send this message far and wide: put it on your Facebook page, your webpage, your blog, e-mail it to your lists, twitter it. Spread it in all ways you can.
Let us bring our joy and our outrage in a nonviolence protest of beautiful art and inspiration to awake us all to the changes we must make.
Si quieres que tenerte al tanto de las acciones en las calles del solsticio en San Francisco (en inglés) visita Facebook:
unámonos en acción no violenta para exigir un mundo sano, justo, en paz.
Nuestras imaginaciones son los límites. Unámonos para exigir:
- Paz No Guerra
- Comida No Armas
- Escuelas No Cárceles
- Energía Sostenible No Nuclear
- Derechos Humanos No Opresión
- Igualdad No Discriminación
- Justicia para Todos No Privilegios para los Cuantos
- Los Derechos de la Tierra No Ganancias para los Ricos
Y mucho más.
Traigamos nuestra alegría y nuestra indignidad en protesta no violenta de arte e inspiración para despertarnos a los cambios que debemos hacer.
-