>While waiting to pick up Obama Rally tickets, I saw the usual assortment of bumper stickers. “Don’t blame me; I voted for Kerry.” “Rebuild Iraq; then come home and rebuild our schools.” “Give peace a chance.”
But the best bumper sticker, the slogan I wish I’d thought of myself, was this one.
>
A while ago, not too far back, PunditMom proposed a revolution: an election revolution. Based on Melinda Henneberger’s book, If They Only Listened to Us: What Women Voters Want Men to Hear. PunditMom points out an important section of Henneberger’s book:
“As she was promoting her book, Henneberger quoted a statistic in one article that if every woman who voted in the 2006 national elections had contributed just $27 to any presidential candidate or party, we would pour $1.3 billion dollars into the political system.”
$27 = $1.3 billion. Billion, with a Big B. That’s a lot of Bucks, and a lot of support.
Women are good at talking, blogging, writing letters, and more. We rock the cradle, but we haven’t moved into the White House, much less begun to rule the world. Legislators rarely hear us in part because we don’t have the financial backing. Face it: money talks, sings, dances, and plays the accordion. Well, maybe not the accordion. But rather than replace your accordion case, please consider donating to a candidate of your choice this campaign season.
The heart of the $27 revolution is the concept that the candidates need to hear from us, and actions, particularly check-signing actions, speak louder than words. For example: if I spent $27 in my classroom, it might by 25-30 notebooks or three sets of holiday pencils. If a pro-education candidate wins office, legislation with better funding for schools may become law. This is worth much more than a notebook and a few pencils per child.
On that note, I’ll end my pitch. Please let PunditMom know who you’re backing…or if you’d rather keep the name quiet, just let her know you’ve taken action.
>A teacher died and went (of course) to Heaven. At the gate she was asked, “How can you be of service here?” She replied, “Well, I’m a teacher, so I’d be happy to teach here, too.” The new classroom appeared: 40 students, no materials, no books, no tech support, no clerical assistance. She reacted strongly. “This looks impossible! How can you expect me to do my best work in a situation that’s set up for failure?”
Bang. Switch venues.
Now in the opposite locale, a handsome devil asked her the same question. “How can you be of service here?” She replied with a sigh, “I’ll teach.” Her new classroom appeared, this time with a much different set-up. 15 students. Books, papers, pencils, pens, computers with current software, clerical time, useful professional development, and more. “What? How? I don’t understand,” she stammered.
The devil responded, “Well really, Mrs. Teacher, think about it. Whenever you asked your elected officials for this kind of classroom, where did they tell you to go?”
As the 2007-2008 school year ends, please consider how to make the future of education even better. Please vote for candidates who understand and support quality education for all students.
>I couldn’t stand Wolf Blitzer’s condescension any longer, so I left CNN for Fox News.
Is it silly that I set my Hillary campaign purse in a prominent place? I’m proud of it, proud of her. She is and will remain an amazing woman, an idol of mine. I can only dream of having her strength, resiliency, and intelligence.
My Hillary ’08 campaign button is a keeper. The “novelty items”? I gave those away to a young liberal I call La Petite.
I found this op-ed piece while waiting restlessly for the rally to begin. New York Times columnist Gail Collins really gets it. She talks about how today’s feminists became accustomed to ridicule as a tool to put them down. She describes Hillary’s campaign as historic and wonders if Clinton’s exit will be treated with the respect it deserves, as Obama’s certainly would if he were in her shoes.
Collins’ conclusion resounded with me.
“For all her vaunting ambition, she was never a candidate who ran for president just because it’s the presidency. She thought about winning in terms of the things she could accomplish, and she never forgot the women’s issues she had championed all her life — repair of the social safety net, children’s rights, support for working mothers.”
I will always admire Hillary Clinton — not for her titles of First Lady or Senator or Presidential Candidate, but for all she’s accomplished. I truly believe she’s not finished accomplishing yet.
>I am of two minds today. Call it cognitive dissonance, call it life in American politics, but I am torn. Part of my heart is singing; part is crying.
I’m thrilled to see the first African-American presidential candidate secure his nomination.
I’m crushed to watch the first viable female presidential candidate prepare to concede.
I was excited to have two good, no, great choices in the Democratic primary.
I had a terrible time making my decision at the polls.
My children are old enough to understand that they’re watching history in the making. My daughter will be able to tell her children and grandchildren about her first opportunity to vote in a presidential election. It’ll be even more historic when race is no longer an issue for the highest office of the land.
I’ve savored watching Senator Clinton go higher and higher, showing that America could accept her and support her as a front-runner — for a while.
I’ve felt a great let-down as I realized that there are few other women of her stature willing to take on this race.
It’s fulfilling to finally see a strong, intelligent woman stepping out of the shadows and taking the well-deserved spotlight.
It’s downright depressing that America isn’t quite ready for her to go all the way.
>
1. If she drops out now, she’ll look like a quitter. Despite her courage and energy in mounting the campaign, despite her success in raising campaign funds, despite being seen as a favored candidate — the media will call her a loser. A quitter. They’ll be wrong, but they’ll say it.
2. If she drops out before the convention, the press will play on the perception of the “gracious woman, giving way to the man.” Bleh. Gag. Aren’t we over that 50s era sexism?!
3. In the celebration of the first viable African-American candidate, the public will forget that the first viable female candidate also made history.
4. Staying in until the end shows her strength, her tenacity, her energy. In politics, this can only be good.
5. Staying in the race until the convention means the record will show her success in delegate numbers rather than her presence as a dropout. Numbers talk, sing, and dance.
6. And it’s not over until the Viking lady sings, either.
(For a related post, check out Julie’s post at MOMocrats discussing her latest advice for Senator Clinton.)
>I get my news from a variety of sources: my local newspaper, news websites online, and more. I find people who are like-minded online, too. This primary election — you know, the longest one in recent history — isn’t as dull as some say. In fact, even as I worry that Party conflicts may provide the opposition with too much ammunition, I’m finding it downright fascinating.
Teaching is a political profession. Besides the internal district politics, administrative power and control, my daily work is affected by decisions made in the state capital and in Washington, D.C. When my friends tell me that they just want to “close their doors and teach,” I want to grab them by the shoulders, look them in the eyes, and say, “You can’t shut out the laws! You need to help make them! And change them!” And then I want to go home and write a letter to my senators and congressional reps.
A few years ago Rod Paige, then Secretary of Education, called my national association (the NEA) a nasty name. He asserted that our tactics were terrorist in nature. I wrote letters. I sent emails. Many, many educators did the same. By calling teachers terrorists, he put us in the category of those with whom our government is at war. This kind of outlook in the Bush cabinet has been very damaging to public education.
Now the NEA (National Education Association) is looking for slogans to help publicize the need for professional wages in education. I have a few ideas, and I know there are clever educators who can access their inner salesperson and come up with a really good campaign. What do you think, boys and girls? Women and men? Ladies and gentlemen of the classroom and beyond? Educating everyone takes everyone — in the village and beyond — and it’s not cheap.
My slogan thoughts so far:
Do the math: pay like a pro.
No Classroom Left Unfunded
A “free” Public Education is priceless, not costly.
There are slogans built into existing quotes, too:
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
But for now, I’ll keep informed on the upcoming election and I’ll keep writing creative and effective lesson plans to connect with students in every way I can. I feel fortunate to work in a great field, one where I can make a difference. My votes can help ensure support from the legislatures and the White House.
Yours can, too.
>If you know the name Julia Ward Howe, you probably know her as the writer of the lyrics to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Ms. Howe’s poetic voice also suggested Mother’s Day, long before it became a holiday, as a day to celebrate celebrate peace.
The first stanza of her Mother’s Day Proclamation reflects her protective feelings as she wished for the men in her life to be safe from the ravages of war.
“Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
MOMocrats are celebrating Mother’s Day all week by asking moms to share their dreams. I join them as Mom, as teacher, as political liberal, but mostly as dreamer.
I dream that differences will be valued, not disdained.
Eye color, hair color, body shapes, and skin shades will be appreciated for their beauty and variety.
Cultural traditions will not disappear, but will thrive and grow together into a rich and fascinating sharing of knowledge and beliefs.
I dream that blindness will be merely a different way of seeing, and deafness impair only the quantity, not the quality of the language ‘heard’.
Children will matter because they own the future. Their education, academic and social, will become and remain of utmost importance.
The mediators and the peacemakers will be recognized as the strongest leaders.
Questions will come from curiosity, not ignorance, and the answers will breed respect.
Knowing each other, knowing ourselves, will lead to knowing that fights and conflicts, wars of all kinds, will cease to be of value.
>Kathie Lee Gifford doesn’t get it. The Today Show’s Hota Kotb doesn’t really get it, either. Three well-known bloggers took some time out from BlogHer Business conference to sit down and talk about blogging for the Today Show. They were introduced as “mommy bloggers” — as in “Oh, no, not the mommies!” The feature was edited to make the women sound like they sit around all day chatting online and make a living doing it.
The lovely Mir was initially concerned about the final production making her look “like a dork” in public. After the feature aired, she was more concerned about the obnoxious “Tell me your secret!” emails that were the price of her 15 minutes of sound bite fame. No one editing the production realized that these women are the exception, not the rule, of the blogging world. They don’t make a living talking about diapers. They make a living as freelance writers; their clients are often online. Believe me, they work. How would I shop for Christmas and birthdays without Mir’s Wantnot?
Punditmom gets it and explains it well. Many women started blogs because they were not finding their voices and those like them in mainstream media sources. We may or may not be moms, and we may or may not blog about our children. We do, however, have a voice: a strong and ever-growing collective voice.
Jenn at Mommy Needs Coffee (I think she’s my doppelganger with a Texas twang) wrote about blogging for passion or products. If a blogger writes only for the products, the writing doesn’t stay fresh long. I don’t know anyone who subscribes to a feed reader or bookmarks a blog just to read paid posts or ads. It’s the personal nature of the blogosphere medium that makes it interesting and exciting.
I liked Mir’s comment that blogging is cheaper than therapy. It’s the reason I started reading blogs and writing my own. I continue because I enjoy it. Getting the occasional free book to review and winning a prize now and then are bonuses.
To read a summary of Mir’s experience and to view the clip, check out The Business of Mommyblogging on BlogHer. It’s worth it. You’ll get it.
>It’s the end of the solo-ensemble festival season, and I cleaned out my Judge’s Bag last night. This is the bag I pack in February and leave packed until early May. On those early Saturday mornings, I just pick up my bag and hit the road, knowing I will have everything I need when I get there. A quick stop for Jo to Go coffee, and I’m on the road.
I took out:
These will get redistributed between my purse, the medicine cabinet, and my desk at school. The pencils will probably end up with students who need them.
But the bag is not empty. For next year, I left:
And in other “bag” news, I knew there was a good reason I didn’t buy a new purse when my other one broke. Check out the MOMocrats! I may bake cookies, but I don’t stay home and have teas.