Sights around the campaign office

Back in my little corner of the offices, there was a small area set up for canvassing school. Our trainers will train anyone who volunteers. Folks who usually train were busy doing other work this time. I was entering data from a recent phone bank.

Many were busy handling the crowds that had lined up at the door and around the streetcorner for tickets to President Obama’s upcoming appearance. Our campaign coordinators knew what they were doing. They had one door for an entrance, lines on the floor in blue tape, and volunteers at every bend in the line.

line for tickets

The line was diverse. Men, women, black, white, Hispanic, old, young, and —

Service Dogs for Obama

— furry and four legged fans. Support for the President crosses all boundaries. It’s too bad intelligent dogs like this one can’t vote.

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BYOB – Bring Your Own Binder, Mitt.

Dear Mitt;

The “Binders full of women” comment continues to eat away at me. It’s more than just a Twitter hashtag. The Binder bit brought you to a new low.

You see, Mitt, we women are intelligent, capable, competent people. We’re not a separate race. We feel, we love, we care, and we worry. We worry a lot. When a candidate for the highest office in the land thinks he’s being fabulous by claiming he found “binders full of (qualified) women” for professional positions, we worry and we wonder.

We wonder —

  • Why did you know of no qualified women until the Binders showed up on your desk?
  • Why did women’s groups have to push you to hire women – in 2003?!
  • When did you realize that you slipped (another case of Romnesia, no doubt) by claiming you’d sought out qualified women to hire? Did you not know the very women you’d mentioned would handle their own fact checking? Did you not care?
  • Why are we still fighting these battles?
  • How did it happen that banning birth control is even on the table for legislation? Isn’t this ridiculous? No, don’t answer that second one.

In my mind’s eye, I keep seeing Mel Gibson in the movie What Women Want. Mel had to get struck by lightning in order to really hear what women were thinking and saying. Mitt, you don’t need a lightning strike. You simply need to listen. Listen, that is, with an open mind.

Instead of telling us females what we need, ask us. Ask us why birth control matters. Ask us why we think it’s utterly insulting to imply we’re incapable of making our own health care decisions. Ask us why we’d like to be considered qualified professionals. Consider why we might rather fill offices than fill three-ring binders. Put yourself in our shoes.

Maybe that’s the crux of it, Mitt. You seem to be incapable of empathy for anyone born female. You don’t know how to wear our shoes.

Frankly, Mitt, leave me out of your binder. Since you consider me a lesser being, I’ll stick to my own professional networks. I don’t need a lightning strike to show me that your Binders full of Women are just another token. I get it. I do.

When will you get it, Mitt?

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The year of the (little) woman?

I saw it in the headlines again: The Year of the Woman. I thought, “Again?” Or should I say “Still?” Let’s see. To define a term, it’s often helpful to find out what it’s not.

It’s not the year of the soccer mom or the hockey mom. The WalMart mom is likely to be part of the 47%, so it’s not her year, either. It’s not the year of any mom, that is, unless it’s the mom who is worried about getting or keeping health care coverage for her children.

Is it the year of the young woman, the woman in her childbearing years? She may need health care, and if she’s struggling to find full time work, she might not have coverage. If she’s not using birth control or if it fails, she may need prenatal care. In some cases, she may need to terminate the pregnancy.  What if she miscarries? She’ll need medical care, counseling or therapy, and reassurance that she can try to carry to term again – or not, if she wishes.

Is it the year of the senior woman? The one looking at Medicare and wondering how the new plan will affect her access to doctors, prescriptions, home health care? This woman needs to understand her options and vote accordingly.

And that’s where the so-called “year of the woman” comes in. Pundits are asking, “How will the women vote?” Oddly, they’re considering the women vote to be one block of voters voting en masse Democratic or Republican. That’s not the way women think.

If it’s really the year of the woman, let’s respect each and every woman. Let’s make sure that she knows she can get pregnancy tests, pap smears, prenatal care, and other reproductive health care if she needs it, whenever she needs it, without question. Let’s make sure she’s the last word in whether or not she needs an invasive vaginal ultrasound — not someone in a suit speechifying bad science under a marble dome.

Let’s make sure the woman that votes today knows that rape is rape and rape is violence against women. Let’s make sure that people who would blame the victims of such violence are not the people making laws that decide on medical procedures for those very victims.

I don’t want today’s mother or grandmother to worry about the safety of her children or grandchildren because of backwards attitudes in official places. I don’t want a victim of violence to have to sacrifice a year of her life carrying a child to term unwillingly. I don’t want an older, wiser woman to have to limit her visits to the doctor because she runs out of vouchers.

If yet another Year of the Woman is really happening, let’s make it a year to remember. Let’s make it clear that we won’t be the little woman of some mythical olden day; we are adults with the same rights and responsibilities as the other gender. Let’s make it the year that we women recognize ourselves as strong, intelligent, and independent voters.

 

 

 

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Through the inbox at work –

Believe it or not, even in a heavily regulated work environment, interesting items sneak through the filters and land in my inbox. I shared the voter registration set-up yesterday. Today it came in the form of the abstract to an article in a professional journal. Not the entire article, but just the summary abstract that described it.

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Obama administration pumped $100 billion into public K-12 and higher education, saved over 300,000 education-related jobs, doubled spending on special education services, and added $10 billion to Title I programs to serve disadvantaged students. A year later, Obama championed another $10 billion to save more teacher jobs.

So far, so good. This sounds like basic Daisy, stereotypical teacher talk, right? Teacher = Obama Backer.

Wrong. We teachers are intelligent beings and independent thinkers. We do not vote as a block; we vote as individuals. We pay attention to our associations’ endorsements, but we don’t follow those recommendations automatically. Here’s the rest of the abstract:

 Both major national unions — the NEA and AFT — have endorsed Obama’s reelection bid. But they have not done so on account of the money. Unions haven’t fully embraced several significant Obama education policies, including his support for including student performance on tests as a measure of teacher performance, more charter schools, and measures that would make it easier to fire ineffective teachers. What’s developed is a complicated, evolving relationship between the administration and the teacher unions.

Contrast that with Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker who has absolutely no relationship, evolving or otherwise, and – oh, let’s not go there.

And on an entirely different note, check out this real life math problem I posed to the math teachers with whom I teach.

If I want to order 60 copies of a book from a commonly-utilized bookseller, the book costs $2.99 or 75 bonus points and bonus points are awarded 1 pt. per dollar spent. How many books do I need to buy with cash to get the rest with bonus points!

Extra credit: I’ve already accrued 312 bonus points from other past purchases.

 Have fun!!

No one answered my email yet. Maybe they’re waiting for me, a reading and writing verbal linguistic type, to prove my worth. Readers, it’s up to you. Can you help?

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Voter registration: it’s all in a day’s work

I returned to my cubicle after a sick day, and oh, my, the work had piled up. My gradebook was packed with portfolios, tests, and quizzes all waiting for my expert grading skills. My inbox was bulging, and many were seriously must-have-attention-now messages. My physical mailbox was full, too – full of the big white envelopes that families mail to me filled with portfolios and collections of math work.

Meanwhile, I got on the phone and made up as many of the previous day’s scheduled phone calls as humanly possible.

The saddest relic of the sick day? Communication broke down, and many of the students who normally attend my Monday virtual class didn’t get the word that it was cancelled. I received phone messages and emails that bordered on rude. How dare I become ill for a day and throw a wrench into the well-oiled machines of their schedules! Deep sigh, deep breath, cough, cough, cough, and I headed back to the list of make-up work. I couldn’t control the cancellation of my class, and I did what was within my power to communicate the cancellation.

But as I addressed the most pressing concerns, wrote up a placement change for a student, gathered information on state test accommodations for another, and then step by step did a quality job of grading, I felt a little better. Not relaxed, but calmer.

And then the following memo turned up in my work inbox:

From 11:00-1:00 today the League of Women voters will be at (the charter high school in our building). If you need to register to vote, change your address or request an absentee ballot (and you are a city resident), feel free to come down to the main hallway and talk with our volunteers.

A sign that life is good, and our society still has hope for positive change: Voter registration was going on downstairs. I wonder if flu shots are available there, too?

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Health Care and PBS

About a year ago, I was facing two major appointments followed by eye surgery — twice.

Pre-op physical first. I told the scheduler that I had a complete physical in August. No use; the Almighty Computer wouldn’t register a shorter appointment. I had to schedule the full 30 minutes. Luckily, doctors are smarter than the scheduling computer, so this was quick and painless.
Cataract surgery: The left eye had its cataract removed on a fine Friday morning. Right eye happened two weeks later. Recovery was smooth, despite my nerves.
So… I was “down one eye” for a while. I was grateful to work in a cubicle; I wouldn’t have to worry about rowdy students throwing things at me. Two years ago I would have worried about chairs flying through the air. No more! My coworkers aren’t the “throwing chairs” types. (Paper airplanes at times, but that’s another story.)With 20-20 hindsight, I see that I might have better off scheduling these surgeries some other time. I made a serious effort to miss as little school as possible by using a long weekend and having both eyes done on Fridays. October was also the month for parent-teacher conferences, a field trip out of the office, and the start of the not-to-be-forgotten state test season
Under the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies cannot refuse me coverage because of my pre-existing condition, cataracts in both eyes. Health care is important, whether for the eyes or the ears or any other body part. I support President Obama because he made health care for all a priority for all Americans. I’m beyond my reproductive years, but I still support women’s rights to make their own health decisions with their own doctors. When I get older and wiser and face coverage through Medicare, I’d rather see Obama’s version than Romney’s vouchers.
And when I reach the next fork in the road, I’ll support the network that reminds me that it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

“Fozzie, turn left at the fork in the road.”

Thanks, PBS.

“I’m on my way to New York to break into Public Television!’

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Mr. President, be strong!

Dear Mr. President;

Four years ago, I suggested it was okay, even advisable, to show your strength. Taking the high road doesn’t always mean letting the competitor have the advantage.  Wednesday night, I worried. Thursday through my workday, I worried.

I’m still worrying.

President Obama, you remain calm in the face of stress. You think through your decisions in order to make the right ones. You understand the seriousness of your job. The gray hair and frown wrinkles show that you’ve internalized the conflicts and challenges you’ve faced, that you’ve aged much more than you might have had you remained in the Senate.

Mr. President, you are a skilled listener and negotiator. Your body posture gives nothing away. You might seem to agree with an enemy even as you’re planning to disagree publicly and take action to prove it.

In a campaign debate, these strengths can appear as weaknesses. Each time Mitt lied, we saw you tense up a little – only a little. Those who don’t understand might think you didn’t notice or that you – gasp! – might agree or give in.

But Mr. President, we heard you the next day in Madison. You reminded your followers that taking on the opposition means acting, not shouting. It means voting, not booing. It means pointing out the ridiculousness of considering PBS a moocher. Big Bird, one of the 47%? Say is isn’t so!

Now, Mr. President, it’s time to stop being polite. It’s time to show the world what your competitor already knows; you are a force with which to be reckoned. You are willing to stand up, speak up, and rise up swinging. You’re willing to stop putting up with the dangerous garbage spouted by the Republican Ticket and their Tea Party Pals.

So Mr. President, show that strength. You don’t have to hide it. When Mitt tries to leave you speechless, speak right up and show him.

Show him that you are the President, and you intend to remain so.

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Ladylike?

Todd Akin, the idiot, er, candidate from Missouri who claimed women can “shut that whole thing down” when raped, has done it again. He opened his mouth yet one more time and showed that he views females to be inferior beings.

He complained that his opponent, Claire McCaskill, “came out swinging” and seemed “aggressive” in their debate. This threw him a little, took him unawares. He thought he remembered McCaskill in her 2006 campaign being “…very much sort of ladylike.” Apparently he didn’t expect the little female to be strong competition to an old-fashioned guy like him. If you ask me, he didn’t expect McCaskill to be strong, period.

Remember the movie Field of Dreams? Annie Kinsella accuses an ultra-conservative PTA mom of having lived through two 1950s and jumping straight into the 1970s without ever experiencing the peace, love, rock and roll of the 60s. Akin is stuck in the past somewhere, too, in an unrealistic vision with unrealistic plastic people.

When a candidate is strong, that’s good. If a candidate has enough knowledge and skill and strength to come out swinging in a political debate, that scores points in the candidates favor.

Male or female, I want my senator to be intelligent, articulate, and yes, strong. Male or female, that legislator needs to be able to come out swinging when it’s necessary. Ladylike? I’d rather see someone with strength, knowledge, and ability to work in a team.

Ladylike? I think we’re looking for womanly, myself. No apologies for being female, and no tolerance for inaccuracy and idiocy and condescension.

Hm. That sounds a lot like Tammy Baldwin for Wisconsin as well as Claire McCaskill for Missouri. Come November 6, I know who deserves my vote.

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Voters and Packers and Bears – oh, my!

When do Green Bay Packers fans line up for hours to see a fan of their arch-enemy, the Chicago Bears?

When that Bears fan is President Obama, that’s when.

There were some scattered rain showers, and the temperatures were cooler by the lake, but nothing stopped this crowd from seeing the President, hearing the President, and cheering him on.

Tammy Baldwin opened for him – now she can say she was an opening act at Summerfest! – and helped energize the crowd. Not that the crowd needed much encouragement; there was a hum and a buzz as the fans, er, voters waited for the headline event.

POTUS_MKE_09222012_JOSH_POTUSCROWD

Add a few cheeseheads hats, and the scene could resemble a game at Lambeau Field.

POTUS_MKE_09222012_JOSH_HEADON

“We are not Bears fans first or Packers fans first; we are Americans first.”

I’ll add to the playbook. The election is coming up quickly. Before we know it, it’ll be voting day. There’s no overtime in elections. Let’s consider summer to be training camp, and September the preseason. Now it’s the real thing, and the final score will be, well, final. Are you in?

November 6th is coming all too soon.

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Mitt, Mitt, Mitt.

Dear Mitt;

May I call you Mitt? After all, you’re not really earning my respect these days. The first name will have to do.

Microphones off or on, Mitt, you must think about what you say. Or maybe, just maybe, you really did think about that statement. That’s what scares me. It was, after all, full of your favorite terms. It had a number – a percent, no less! It described a segment of the population that you see as beneath you, which showed clearly in your choice of words. Let’s see.

-dependent on government 

Mitt, I work in the public sector. Does that make me dependent on government? My children attended public schools, and my daughter attended a state university. If that makes us dependent on government, then I guess we fit the profile. By the way, your perception of middle income? Way, way high. We ordinary public school teachers don’t even dream of reaching your estimate of $250,000.

-think they are victims

No, Mitt, I’m not a victim. I’ve been through a lot in the recent past, including a long (unpaid) medical leave from my job (see above). I’m a disabled adult and I wear two hearing aids, but I’m not a victim, Mitt. I’m a survivor. .

-entitled to health care

Health care, Mitt, is a right, not a privilege. Here’s where we differ. No one should have to wait seven months to see a specialist. No one should have to turn down a necessary prescription because it’s a Tier 3 and the co-pay is too high. No one should have to turn down medicine in order to buy food. Which brings me to —

-entitled to food

What exactly are you saying? That people should starve? Have you ever watched a child wolf down his school-funded breakfast on Monday morning because he hasn’t eaten all weekend? No, I didn’t think so. Or – maybe you did mean that hunger doesn’t exist, much less actually matter. (Uh, Mitt? That “Let them eat cake” quote wasn’t really Marie, but she lost her head over it. America still has peasants who have no bread, make no doubt about it.)

-entitled to housing

Once again – are you saying that a home is optional? Home doesn’t have to be fancy. An apartment, a room in a shelter, space in a relative’s basement – housing takes many forms, as does homelessness. Mitt, I’ve seen it firsthand. Have you? Frankly, having a roof over one’s head is not optional.

My job is not to worry about those people.”

Really? If you don’t worry about them, who will? We public school teachers (you know, the ones that Scottie-in-Madison calls Thugs) worry about our students. We worry about their families, and we worry about the village that raises them. It’s a village where we worry about each other, and then we take action. If you’re not worrying, I’m sure you’ll take no actions that might make a difference to anyone on your list. A list, by the way, that includes nearly half of the voters in the United States.

No wonder those voters stick with Barack Obama. It’s not because we’re entitled, but because President Obama has earned our respect. And that, Mitt, makes him entitled to another four years in office.

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