Like all issues, the removal of children from the polygamous "Yearning for Zion" group because of alleged abuse is complex and has many sides to it. On the face of it, the anonymous phone call from a 16 year old who was claiming abuse, but who then could not be found, seems to render the whole episode suspicious (who REALLY made the call? Were the police looking to close down the community?) and of questionable origins.
Having said that, I want to say how surprised I am that the courts have upheld the parents and ruled that the children will be returned to them soon. I want to go on record as saying that sooner or later, there will be a case which overturns this one. As I watch the news coverage and see the women in 19th century prairie attire, with identical hairstyles from that same era, I am struck that at the very least, the existence of an apparently sanctioned "cult" in which women can be "kept" as a harem, and stuck in a lifestyle over a hundred years old, is, on its face, abusive. Add to that that young girls who are barely teens are "married" to middle-aged men and forced to bear their children, makes the situation even more abhorrent, and in my opinion, illegal.
I always thought that bigamy was illegal. How is it that polygamy is o.k.? Where is the outrage from all those folks who think that gay marriage will undermine "real marriage?" i.e. one man, one woman.....Where is the outrage from the folks that perceive the oppression of women in Muslim cultures because they are kept behind the veil? In our culture, being kept in a compound, wearing identical dresses and hairstyles of another century, and being one of many wives to the same man, seems to me to be equally or more oppressive.
The reason, finally, that I think this case will be overturned some day, is that it reminds me of the progression of court cases from Plessy v. Ferguson in the 1890s, that determined that "separate but equal facilities" for blacks were constitutional, to Brown v. Board of education in 1954, which ruled that "separate facilities are inherently unequal." I would say that polygamous marriage is inherently abusive. How long will the courts take to come to that same conclusion?
Friday, May 30, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Call Me Crazy
I just checked my email and had a message from Chelsea Clinton.....I know, I know, so did a million other people.....BUT, I just have to say that I'm beginning to wonder if the Clinton campaign is in La-la land. I have been and continue to be a Hillary supporter. On the other hand, for "Chelsea" to email with an opportunity to vote on my favorite campaign t-shirt makes me just say "What???" Why didn't they think of doing this in January? Are they trying to raise money? Do they think that with 3 primaries to go and lagging in the delegate count that anyone really cares about a t-shirt design?
I'm just dumbfounded. I guess my reaction tells me that even I, a diehard Clinton fan, believe that it's over, or may as well be. Sad, but true.
My other reaction is, "Doesn't the campaign have anything better to do with its time?
Yikes!
I'm just dumbfounded. I guess my reaction tells me that even I, a diehard Clinton fan, believe that it's over, or may as well be. Sad, but true.
My other reaction is, "Doesn't the campaign have anything better to do with its time?
Yikes!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Random Thoughts
Random Thought #1
I wish I had a pint of Ben & Jerry's Phish ice cream or coffee heath bar crunch.......I would eat all of it. Instead, I'm reduced to a handful of chocolate chips
RT #2
Spring has been absolutely gorgeous at my house. The tree outside the kitchen door has been full of brilliant pink flowers, and as they fade slowly the petals have blanketed the ground beneath. This tree has been beautiful other years, but I haven't had as much chance to enjoy it, or simply stand at the kitchen door and contemplate it.
Similarly, I have seen more different birds at the feeder this year than ever before. I was actually watching while an indigo bunting, which I've never seen before, stayed at the feeder for 20 minutes or so one morning. A pair of orioles are eating the oranges I have out; some little redpoles (sp) are responsible for cleaning the feeder out every second day; the male cardinal is busy chasing a catbird away from the female. A male and female rose-breasted grosbeak have been at the feeder this week. Several wrens vie for the wren house hanging from the crabapple tree.
RT #3
I've been thinking a lot about my dad this week. First, I thought of him as I tied string (the same string he used to use to tie newspapers together into rolls) in between two stakes at regular intervals so that the peas would have support as they climb. Just the fact that I have vegetables growing this year reminds me of dad and the beautiful gardens he used to tend so faithfully, and the bountiful harvest he always had, and which he shared with others through the Co-op in Laconia.
I thought about him as I hung fencing around the raised bed, carefully pounding in the metal stakes with a hammer that had been his.
I thought how I should write down the date I planted the peas, chard, lettuce and onions and how I should have kept track of how long it took for each to come up. I thought about recording the amount of rain when it fell so I would know when I need to water. Then I thought of all his painstakingly kept records we had thrown out, and thought, what is the point of such record-keeping, as eventually, it will all be thrown out.
I thought how many years dad stacked wood in exact 4 x 4 x 8 rectangles as I moved all my outside wood into the basement into a somewhat less than perfect stack and wondered what fraction of a cord I had. I made a mental plan as to how I would stack the ultra-dry wood I'm going to get from the Geeslins back toward the house under the deck, while putting the newly cut wood from the three choke cherry trees under the outer edge of the deck. I started a stack of the smallest pieces of the choke cherry branches and covered them with corrugated plastic, to keep the rain off, just like dad did.
It's hard to work outside and not think of dad. I wonder how long I'll be able to maintain the lawn and gardens and will I, like dad, find it impossible to hire people to do the work I've always done.
RT#4
I've pondered the fact that at the same time I am marveling over the beauty of Mother Nature, people have died by the thousand in the cyclone in Burma and the earthquake in China. How can the world be so serene here and so dangerous and deadly over there? When Senator Kennedy was discovered to have a malignant brain tumor, I felt that we had experienced our own form of Mother Nature's negativity - a tsunami of grief for the family that has experienced so much already.
RT#4
I returned to the classroom this week to teach two Peace Studies classes and found the kids to be engaged participants, eager to think about how they can become "peace activists." That same night, I had dinner at a friend's house and had a chance to meeet two extraordinary activists - one who works for Non-Violent Peace Force, a group who goes into countries where there is violence and stands beside the victims of the violence hoping to protect them from their aggressors - the theory being that it is harder to bomb a house in which Americans are staying; the other is on her way to Nairobi where she will be running a training program for 15 teams of African women to learn how to build a water filtration system and use a small solar cooker to pasteurize their water. I am privileged to have the chance to meet people like these who are devoting their lives to others.
I wish I had a pint of Ben & Jerry's Phish ice cream or coffee heath bar crunch.......I would eat all of it. Instead, I'm reduced to a handful of chocolate chips
RT #2
Spring has been absolutely gorgeous at my house. The tree outside the kitchen door has been full of brilliant pink flowers, and as they fade slowly the petals have blanketed the ground beneath. This tree has been beautiful other years, but I haven't had as much chance to enjoy it, or simply stand at the kitchen door and contemplate it.
Similarly, I have seen more different birds at the feeder this year than ever before. I was actually watching while an indigo bunting, which I've never seen before, stayed at the feeder for 20 minutes or so one morning. A pair of orioles are eating the oranges I have out; some little redpoles (sp) are responsible for cleaning the feeder out every second day; the male cardinal is busy chasing a catbird away from the female. A male and female rose-breasted grosbeak have been at the feeder this week. Several wrens vie for the wren house hanging from the crabapple tree.
RT #3
I've been thinking a lot about my dad this week. First, I thought of him as I tied string (the same string he used to use to tie newspapers together into rolls) in between two stakes at regular intervals so that the peas would have support as they climb. Just the fact that I have vegetables growing this year reminds me of dad and the beautiful gardens he used to tend so faithfully, and the bountiful harvest he always had, and which he shared with others through the Co-op in Laconia.
I thought about him as I hung fencing around the raised bed, carefully pounding in the metal stakes with a hammer that had been his.
I thought how I should write down the date I planted the peas, chard, lettuce and onions and how I should have kept track of how long it took for each to come up. I thought about recording the amount of rain when it fell so I would know when I need to water. Then I thought of all his painstakingly kept records we had thrown out, and thought, what is the point of such record-keeping, as eventually, it will all be thrown out.
I thought how many years dad stacked wood in exact 4 x 4 x 8 rectangles as I moved all my outside wood into the basement into a somewhat less than perfect stack and wondered what fraction of a cord I had. I made a mental plan as to how I would stack the ultra-dry wood I'm going to get from the Geeslins back toward the house under the deck, while putting the newly cut wood from the three choke cherry trees under the outer edge of the deck. I started a stack of the smallest pieces of the choke cherry branches and covered them with corrugated plastic, to keep the rain off, just like dad did.
It's hard to work outside and not think of dad. I wonder how long I'll be able to maintain the lawn and gardens and will I, like dad, find it impossible to hire people to do the work I've always done.
RT#4
I've pondered the fact that at the same time I am marveling over the beauty of Mother Nature, people have died by the thousand in the cyclone in Burma and the earthquake in China. How can the world be so serene here and so dangerous and deadly over there? When Senator Kennedy was discovered to have a malignant brain tumor, I felt that we had experienced our own form of Mother Nature's negativity - a tsunami of grief for the family that has experienced so much already.
RT#4
I returned to the classroom this week to teach two Peace Studies classes and found the kids to be engaged participants, eager to think about how they can become "peace activists." That same night, I had dinner at a friend's house and had a chance to meeet two extraordinary activists - one who works for Non-Violent Peace Force, a group who goes into countries where there is violence and stands beside the victims of the violence hoping to protect them from their aggressors - the theory being that it is harder to bomb a house in which Americans are staying; the other is on her way to Nairobi where she will be running a training program for 15 teams of African women to learn how to build a water filtration system and use a small solar cooker to pasteurize their water. I am privileged to have the chance to meet people like these who are devoting their lives to others.
Monday, May 12, 2008
What did you do today?
Having an accomplishful day has always been important in my birth family. Now that I am "retired" from teaching, I have many days when I don't feel particularly "accomplishful," and on those days, I feel vaguely ill at ease. Lately, I've been trying to figure out what it is that makes me feel like I have made good use of my time and what it is that makes me feel like I've done absolutely nothing of consequence all day.
Take today, for example. Today, I think I accomplished quite a lot. The day got off to a rocky start when I decided to look at my calendar at 8:30, still in my pajamas, to discover that I had a dentist appointment at 9:00 in nearby Dover.......well, that caused me to take the shortest shower I think I've ever taken, and exceed the speed limit in a way that I haven't been doing lately in my miserly attempt to save gas. After such a come-from-behind start to the day, I proceeded to get the car washed, it having been the target of low-flying birds overnight, and then came home and balanced my bank statement the first time I tried.
I tossed in laundry, and hung it out to dry, in spite of the fact that skies were cloudy and i thought it might rain. While I was outside, I emptied out last year's pots of chrysanthemums and made 3 neat stacks of empty pots under the screen porch, dumped a trashcan full of leaves I had raked a few days ago and rearranged wheelbarrows and garden carts so that I could wheel the lawnmower out and plug in the battery so that I can use the key starter. Before I had lunch, I did 45 minutes or so of raking and cutting back bushes along the back side of the stream that flows through the yard.
When I went inside for lunch, I already felt accomplishful. I read two essays while I ate lunch, then retired to the computer where I sent out multiple emails to try to recruit more people for my summer institute. When I tired of doing that, I worked on a spreadsheet of names and addresses of people who have come to our events this year. At close to 4 o'clock, I remembered to call mly mother, and then I headed back outside to reward myself with some more raking and clean-up of the back lawn. I cultivated between the rows of vegetables coming up in one raised bed and continued my raking of endless willow branches until after 5. I resisted the desire to try to start the lawnmower and do some mowing, knowing that the battery is supposed to charge for 24 hours.
So.....here I sit, feeling good about my day, and watching Dancing With the Stars, and I feel very accomplishful. Since I have to deal with this darn Puritan/Calvinist work ethic, I think I should reflect on what it is that makes today accomplishful. I realize that devoting a chunk of time to something seems to be important. Some days I try to do too many different things. Today I really focused on lawn work, because I thought it was going to rain, and once the back gets soggy, it will be days before I can walk back there. So.....not only did I spend a lot of time out there, the type of work left visible results, and that seems to be important to me as well. I attribute my desire to actually be able to see results to the 33 years of teaching and having mostly intangible results. The work I did on the project was good today as well, but emails are very intangible. I did what I did to reduce the amount of time I will lie awake thinking about what else i can do to try to beat people out of the bushes. Only one person actually answered an email today, but I think I'm closing in on doing all that I can, and then it's out of my hands.
At some point, maybe I'll be able to just do anything with my day and not obsess about needing to accomplish anything. For now, that seems to be a ways away. It's about a lifetime of "doing" and only a short exposure to just "being."
Take today, for example. Today, I think I accomplished quite a lot. The day got off to a rocky start when I decided to look at my calendar at 8:30, still in my pajamas, to discover that I had a dentist appointment at 9:00 in nearby Dover.......well, that caused me to take the shortest shower I think I've ever taken, and exceed the speed limit in a way that I haven't been doing lately in my miserly attempt to save gas. After such a come-from-behind start to the day, I proceeded to get the car washed, it having been the target of low-flying birds overnight, and then came home and balanced my bank statement the first time I tried.
I tossed in laundry, and hung it out to dry, in spite of the fact that skies were cloudy and i thought it might rain. While I was outside, I emptied out last year's pots of chrysanthemums and made 3 neat stacks of empty pots under the screen porch, dumped a trashcan full of leaves I had raked a few days ago and rearranged wheelbarrows and garden carts so that I could wheel the lawnmower out and plug in the battery so that I can use the key starter. Before I had lunch, I did 45 minutes or so of raking and cutting back bushes along the back side of the stream that flows through the yard.
When I went inside for lunch, I already felt accomplishful. I read two essays while I ate lunch, then retired to the computer where I sent out multiple emails to try to recruit more people for my summer institute. When I tired of doing that, I worked on a spreadsheet of names and addresses of people who have come to our events this year. At close to 4 o'clock, I remembered to call mly mother, and then I headed back outside to reward myself with some more raking and clean-up of the back lawn. I cultivated between the rows of vegetables coming up in one raised bed and continued my raking of endless willow branches until after 5. I resisted the desire to try to start the lawnmower and do some mowing, knowing that the battery is supposed to charge for 24 hours.
So.....here I sit, feeling good about my day, and watching Dancing With the Stars, and I feel very accomplishful. Since I have to deal with this darn Puritan/Calvinist work ethic, I think I should reflect on what it is that makes today accomplishful. I realize that devoting a chunk of time to something seems to be important. Some days I try to do too many different things. Today I really focused on lawn work, because I thought it was going to rain, and once the back gets soggy, it will be days before I can walk back there. So.....not only did I spend a lot of time out there, the type of work left visible results, and that seems to be important to me as well. I attribute my desire to actually be able to see results to the 33 years of teaching and having mostly intangible results. The work I did on the project was good today as well, but emails are very intangible. I did what I did to reduce the amount of time I will lie awake thinking about what else i can do to try to beat people out of the bushes. Only one person actually answered an email today, but I think I'm closing in on doing all that I can, and then it's out of my hands.
At some point, maybe I'll be able to just do anything with my day and not obsess about needing to accomplish anything. For now, that seems to be a ways away. It's about a lifetime of "doing" and only a short exposure to just "being."
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