Tolerance - We sure need more of it

Carolyn Howard-Johnson was featured in the Pasadena Weekly last week. Her topic: tolerance. Here's some excerpts from the article:

Perhaps known best for her novel “This is the Place,” about the struggles of Mormon women in 1950s Utah, Howard-Johnson is faced with a barrage of questions every time the Mormon community surfaces in the public eye. Given the current American fascination with this enigmatic and often misunderstood Christian sect, Howard-Johnson answers a lot of questions.
“There is great misunderstanding about Mormons,” Howard-Johnson said. “And my book is about mainstream Mormon culture. It’s meant to promote tolerance rather than to disparage.”
In addition to “This is the Place,” Howard-Johnson has written “Harkening,” a collection of short stories from out-takes from her novel, and two how-to manuals on promoting books: “The Frugal Book Promoter” and “The Frugal Editor,” from which she teaches a UCLA extension class.
Growing up in Salt Lake City, Howard-Johnson said she did not always see the potential for her own literary success.
“My Dad was Mormon and my Mom was Protestant,” she said. “I came up with the idea for a book about Mormons when I was 18, but didn’t write it until I was 60. Back then, I didn’t realize that women could have both a family and a career.”
“In Utah there’s a lot of prejudice coming from both the Mormons and non-Mormons. And because of my parents’ different backgrounds, I could see both perspectives,” she said.

Rather than denounce any specific group, Howard–Johnson has forged a less specific — and less bloody — battle. She has declared her war on intolerance.
“Americans are generally bad at accepting people for who they are,” she said. “They constantly want to change people. I think that intolerance is what’s causing most of the problems in the world.” Always one to see both sides of an issue, Howard-Johnson added that even though Mormons have faced multifarious injustices from uninformed media, they are not blameless.
“When I was a child, one of my best friends, who was Mormon, said to me, ‘I can’t wait until you die so that you’ll know that what Mormons believe is true,’” she recalled.

Howard-Johnson was diagnosed with cancer when she was 55. At that time, she had not published any books. Before her illness, the only writing she had done was for magazines and promotional work for her family’s small, independent retail chain. “I think that one of the reasons that I got sick was that I wasn’t following my own star,” she said.
Within two years, Howard-Johnson wrote both “This is the Place” and “Harkening.”
But Howard-Johnson faced great difficulty in getting her books published. So, naturally, once she had succeeded in selling them, Howard-Johnson’s next pursuit was to write a how-to book about publishing.
Through her writing, Howard-Johnson strives for unity by pointing out the similarities among people.
“Combating intolerance has always been my biggest motivating factor,” she said. “I really think that we’d all be so much happier if we just got over it.”

You can read the whole article, Life's little banquets by clicking on the link:

http://www.pasadenaweekly.comcms_story_detail_life_s_little_banquets_6098

Watch Women Fighting Back!

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-mexwomen2-2008aug02,0,5341947.story

From today's the Los Angeles Times -

Latin American audiences are glued to episodes of a TV show about abuses no longer endured.

It's the hit Latin American TV series "Mujeres Asesinas" (Women Assassins), a high-gloss revenge fantasy about the fury of women scorned that has become a major TV hit and a minor pop-culture phenomenon in certain Spanish-speaking parts of this hemisphere.

Loosely adapted from real-life crime stories, "Mujeres Asesinas" follows a fairly simple formula. In Mexico, viewers saw two episodes each week in which women are grievously wronged, usually by a man (father, husband, lover, "john"). Most of the female characters formerly were mild-mannered, long-suffering types. But they are transformed by the abuses they endure into hellions with telltale nicknames such as Patricia "Avenger," Martha "Suffocator" and Margarita "Poisonous."

Each of the segments builds to a gruesome climax, in which the crime is reenacted. Every episode also concludes with a moral coda stating what just deserts were reaped by their homicidal protagonists.

Predictably, "Mujeres Asesinas" has stirred talk in the Latin American media about whether it might incite women to commit more acts of revenge-fueled violence. What do you think? Let us know. Should men be afraid?

"We are a little macho in the Latin American world. And this is what is shown in all the chapters," - not the only place in the world!

Male and female fans of "Mujeres Asesinas" from as far away as China and Croatia are busily posting admiring comments about the series, along with their own personal tales of woe, on the show's official Facebook page. "A wounded woman would be capable of everything," one female fan wrote. "I believe that we are all disposed to fight." - Read "Beauty Bites Beast" and find out just how and why we should all know how to fight back (email us at pfield@5050Leadership.org with your credit card information and we'll send a copy right out to you - $20 plus $3.95 s+h

"In the end, violence within families or sexual abuse could be in all the world," said Leo Marker, the Mexican series' press director. "It's on all sides, not only in Latin America."

Fuzzy math: Contraception = Abortion

Yes, that's right, the Bush administration is currently considering a ruling that lumps contraception in with abortions. So it is not enough that our right to choose whether or not to give birth after conception, now we are being told that we can't even do what's necessary to ensure we will not get pregnant.

Health and Human Services chair, Michael Leavitt, is looking at a ruling that says, "any of the various procedures--including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action--that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation."

It is bad enough that more and more states have made or are making abortions illegal, but now whether you have been raped, are a child yourself, have an abusive husband or boyfriend, or you have health issues that would make pregnancy and birth life-threatening to you, you now not only will be "implanted" but you have no say in what happens thereafter.

If this angers you as much as it does me, then here's some ideas for action.

Contact one of the main organizations such as Planned Parenthood - www.plannedparenthood.org or NARAL - www.naral.org or NOW www.now.org and get on their email list for alerts on what they are planning to respond to this.

Contact Michael Leavitt at Health and Human Services mlo.5@hhs.gov or call him at 202-619-0257 or toll free at 877-696-6775 and let him know this is completely unacceptable.

So please, take action now.

Ideas for dealing with angry white women...

Check out Ellen Snortland's column in the Pasadena Weekly with some tongue-in-cheek ideas for how to deal with the likes of me - an often angry white woman. She sums it up in her last sentence: Name one white middle-aged, overweight, average-looking female counter-balance to pissy Rush Limbaugh and his ilk. See? To quote the late, great George Carlin, “The status quo sucks.”

http://pasadenaweekly.com/cms/story/detail/rage_management/6124/

What Effect has Hillary's run had?

What Effect has Hillary's run had?
By Britteny Elrick

As we look back on the past century, we must take a moment to pause and be grateful for the tremendous sacrifices that have brought American women to where we are today.

Eighty-nine years ago, the courage and persistence of the Suffragists was instrumental in the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment. Since that pivotal year, women have gone from being considered “unqualified to vote,” to having the first female Presidential candidate appear on ballots.

Hillary Clinton’s run for President was a historical milestone and an enormous breakthrough. Regardless of your political preference, it must be acknowledged that a door has not only been opened for us, but we have been led through it. As Hilary stated in her resignation speech, “Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it and the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time.”

That being said, what are your thoughts about Hillary’s run?

What effect do you think it has had on this country, and furthermore, the world?

What impact will this have on future generations?
Ready, set, discuss

Poem: Habitation

Habitation by Margaret Atwood

Marriage is not a house or even a tent
it is before that, and colder:
the edge of the forest, the edge of the desert
the unpainted stairs at the back where we squat outside,
eating popcorn
the edge of the receding glacier
where painfully and with wonder at having survived even this far
we are learning to make fire

Sent to us by Joan Krieger Hoffman

Africa Prize - Call for Nominations

In October, The Hunger Project will award its coveted Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger to honor Civil Society Leadership for the Empowerment of Women. We will celebrate community leaders, either individuals or organizations, who work tirelessly and selflessly to organize, advocate for, and provide opportunities to African women.
The Hunger Project has awarded the Africa Prize for Leadership since 1987. The Africa Prize is designed as a strategic intervention to honor and shine a spotlight on the African leadership that is essential for the continent’s development

The Africa Prize is awarded to Africans who exhibit exceptional leadership, exemplifying courage, vision and commitment to the well-being of the African people. These effective and dynamic leaders work in areas including science, agriculture, education, health and public policy. Their actions reflect initiative, creativity and, in some cases, personal sacrifice.

The 2008 laureate will join the ranks of previous laureates, which include, among many others, the first elected woman president in Africa, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; human rights leader Nelson Mandela; environmental activist Wangari Maathai; and champion for children’s education, Graça Machel.

The 2008 Africa Prize will be presented at a gala award ceremony on Saturday, October 18, at the Hilton Hotel in New York City. For the first time ever, The Hunger Project will not announce the winner until the night of the event. Do not miss this opportunity!

Your attendance will send powerful messages to the world, that:
civil society has a critical role to play in the empowerment of Africa’s women
women’s empowerment must be central to international development approaches worldwide
civil society is the very embodiment of self-reliance in action

Through your attendance and visible support, civil society will obtain greater clout, prominence and empowerment. Moreover, you will deepen your commitment and feel the inspiration of being part of The Hunger Project. We are producing incredible results, but more must be done. Bring your friends and family to this event, and let us celebrate together!

Purchase your tickets now at www.thp.org/fallevent08!

We invite you to submit nominations for the 2008 Africa Prize!

Nominations may be submitted online in English, French or Portuguese at www.africaprize.org. Any individual may nominate. Eligibility criteria and more details about the Africa Prize can also be found on this website.

The Africa Prize includes a cash award of US$100,000 to further the laureate’s work for the empowerment of women, and will be presented at The Hunger Project’s annual gala dinner on Saturday, October 18, in New York.

The deadline for nominations is August 1, 2008.