Sunday To Monday Ramblings

 This week, we celebrated St Patrick's Day- normally a huge boozy event ( although not at my house in years)  I celebrated with a friend who is in my "pod" and had a wee dram of whiskey.  Traditional meal included Corned beef and cabbage, with potatoes and carrots, Irish soda bread and my "grandmother's spice cake."   My kids swooped by and picked up some leftovers- I am pleased to say that both my grandsons like corned beef.

Every year, I think about what it must have meant to be Irish in the early 1900's  My family came here in the 1890's, which means they survived the Great Famine and came here later.  I know the Irish couldn't get jobs or in some places, buy land.  A lot of them took "unwanted" jobs- Cops and firefighters.  Those became prized jobs with good pay over the years, but back then they were looked down upon.

I actually started writing this yesterday and life intruded, so here I am on Monday morning, trying to pick up the thread of meaning.

I have been reading messages on Facebook regarding the rise in attacks on Asian people.  This has been going on for years, but has accelerated thanks in no small part to the Orange Shitgibbon.  He is still trying to overthrow the government, trying to destabilize everything in hopes of avoiding the judgment of law he so richly deserves.  I honestly CAN'T with people who say, "oh leave him alone.  That's in the past" Ok   so I rob a bank, shoot your grandmother, burn down your house and I should be left alone because it is in the past?  Sheesh.  

I see a lot of hand wringing from people of my ethnic background, complaining that not all of us are racist.  That's true.   I have two, somewhat conflicting thoughts

1-The shoe is on the other foot and it doesn't feel so good, does it?  Does it give you pause, to think how people of color feel every day and this has been going on... forever?  Maybe it will make you think , if you actually lump someone into a group , based on the color of their skin or where their ancestors hailed from.

2-How does it feel, if you are a person of color, to apply the same vitriol you have been fighting for years to another person?   Does it make you feel bigger? Braver?  Empowered?  Maybe for a moment or two, but it is no more right when you do it than when we do it.

  Do we need to punish or do we need to heal? Obviously this statement is in direct conflict with the need to punish a criminal whose acts have caused such grief in this country.  Is racism in and of itself a crime?  No, I don't think so.  It's when you ACT on that belief that you are somehow better than someone, work to injure that person in some way , that it becomes a crime.  

I know in recent years, there have been complaints about people using Dr. Martin Luther King's words to prove a point, but as a child I heard this and it has always resonated with me:

    "I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their        character"

Simple words, with great power.  I remember too, something I heard and try to keep in my mind as I struggle with biases I did not know I had.  The first thought you have is what you have been conditioned to think, the second is who you are.  Sometimes I think   WHOA  where did THAT come from and brush it out my mental threshold and out of my head.  We can all do better.  As Maya Angelou said "Once you know better, do better."

I hope to.

When a plan comes together and your words do their job

I've been writing this blog for a while, trying to get  my skills back, or maybe amuse myself or maybe someone else will get something out of it.

Last night I got a message from someone that made me happier than I have been about this blog on a long time.  I wrote a piece about my friend Kaye Thomas, who had died and how we fought to get him a proper military burial ( he had a PURPLE HEART for goodness sake). I posted his full name in the title, hoping that someone from his family might see it and know what happened.  I got a note from a distant cousin.  

It worked.  

The thing I meant for that piece to do ( Happy Birthday, Kay Darwin Thomas https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/6665959645641290322/4882147872705152208)   reached its intended audience.   It gave me a small peace in my heart.

I have one or two people who comment, and I REALLY APPRECIATE seeing their thoughts on my musings.  I can see how many views I have had and sometimes, I am surprised at the number of people who have read it.  I suppose if I had more time to really devote to this, I might write more consistently and really create something out of this.

For now, I just want to keep writing something, with my cup of coffee before I dive into my day.  Knowing that the words I put online in 2013   FINALLY made it is sort of a "message in a bottle"

Thanks for reading.

Monday International Women's Day ( I started this yesterday and life intruded)

 Monday morning and I have nothing in my head. Pandemic nightmares continue to wake me and going back to sleep, I fall right back into them.   I try getting up for a bit, reading something- I am currently reading the Lydia Crow series and am enjoying it.  Nada.    I am hopeful for a future where I do not have these dreams.  Maybe when we can go places and do things, albeit masked and socially distanced, I will feel more like myself.  Maybe it's my vintage catching up with me.  We shall see.

It's International Women's Day and all around the world, achievements of women are being celebrated and highlighted.  Like Black History, Women's history is our nation's history and we have one day, or one month to celebrate it, then it reverts to old white men and their fairy tale achievements?  Winners write the history books, that's a facet and I often feel like this day is a patronizing pat on the head.  

I did not watch the Harry and Meghan interview last night, but if anyone is surprised at the attitude toward Meghan's ethnicity in the Royal Family, they have not been paying attention.  I am sure it will take a long time, maybe in William's reign, before race is not a prime factor- virginity was when Diana was chosen to be Charles' bride, as if purity in a woman was a primary factor in her bearing children who would be part of  The Firm.  I read somewhere that men want women tobe virgins so they have nothing to compare them to.  Probably so.  

As we celebrate Women's History Month, I think of the history of women in my own family, celebrate their struggle, their triumphs over grief.  While we look to those who lead, who achieved great things, we cannot forget those whose small contributions to the lives of those around them are as great in many ways that they themselves could never understand.   I think  of my great-grandmother, a nurse-midwife who raised her children mostly alone after her husband died.   I think of my grandmother, losing all three of her sons in a three month period, and raising her daughters, again mostly alone after my grandfather was killed in an accident.  Those women remain my role models, the strength of their resolve is my strength.  It is fine to tell stories of famous women of courage, but we must also share our stories of small acts of courage in the everyday.  We might not make a difference to the whole world, but we can change someone's whole world.

Phases you shouldn't use

 I have a friend, whose family nickname is  "Peanut"   She's an awesome singer and I am part of her "support-group fan base" that she calles "the Peanut Gallery"     Now, as a child of the 60's the only reference I have to that term is the Howdy Doody Show, where the small fry in the audience who sang along and clapped and did what small kids in a group will do, were called "the Peanut Gallery".  Recently, I across an article that said the term had a racist beginning, that it referred to the theater section in the segregated south, up in the balcony.    Wikipedia makes no mention of it, simply that it was the cheap seats and that patrons would throw peanuts at the vaudeville performers from the balcony area.  The racist connotation is never mentioned.  Here is my question;  If a phase began with racial undertones, can it be reclaimed to become something that is not?  Has the use of the term for sweet kids on t TV show or a somewhat rowdy audience replaced the term in the American lexicon?   Should we be aware of the origin and not use it, or should we talk about the original context and balance it with the current pop culture reference?  Am I being tone deaf? Probably, but in my mind the term has two meanings.  

I need answers.

Have you ever used the term "Paddy Wagon"?  I remember a Flintstones episode, where the cops tossed Fred and Barney in the Paddy Wagon and hauled them off to jail.  Did you know that is a racist term?  It is.  "Paddy" is pejorative slang for anyone of Irish descent.  They used to go around on a Friday night and round up the Irish, drunk or sober and keep them in jail for the weekend, often keeping part of the money they had earned for the week as a "fine".  the police van was nicknamed The "paddy Wagon"  Years ago  LAPD had a St. Patrick's Day "free ride home" program.  Nice,  HOWEVER they called it the PADDY Wagon.  I called the head of the program and told him it was offensive to  Irish Americans ( since I AM of Irish ancestry , I felt comfortable telling him)  He ARGUED with me, told me his wife was from Ireland and she wasn't offended.   I told him that people whose ancestors  were treated to this practice were offended and no disrespect to his wife, but her family didn't live through that particular indignity.  The next year, it was called something else.

As we learn the origins of seemingly innocuous phases that are part of the lexicon, we need to examine and discard terms that are insulting or a painful reminder of the past.  We need to talk about the past, learn from it and move on from it.  We cannot change what was, only what will be, and by learning history,avoid repeating it.

Thursday

 I am not inspired by anything much this morning.  Coffee is my bestie.  Sleep is not restful and I blame the pandemic.  I need a break.  Often, when I am bemoaning the current state of the world, I think about Anne Frank's mother.  Not Anne, but her mother.  How did she keep it together.  Anne had "Kitty" to pour everything into, but what about Edith ( I had to look up her name)  How did she cope?  Was she able to peer out a window and dream of her former life?  Did she even hope?   I doubt Anne mentions it,  as a typical teen probably saw her mother as the gatekeeper, keeping her from any fun.  How did she feed her family?  I don't really want to re-read Anne's book at this point, but maybe one day when I have time I will ( Otto edited it heavily, from what I hear, to present his daughter is a better light.)

Tiny Book writing

Write a poem about what you can see from your window in the style of William Carlos Williams "The Red wheelbarrow  Here's his poem;

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

Here is mine:

My neighbor's butterfly geegaw

spins

in the gusty morning air

startling sparrows

and the  yellow cat

who was sitting beneath it

Probably not as poignant as Williams, whose notes to his wife were more poetic than my little attempt.  I like Williams.  I wish I had a quarter of his talent.  Same with Mary Oliver.  Both write deceptively simple poems that have so many layers in them, you keep going back and seeing more meaning.

I'm quite a hack, by comparison, BUT poetry is a release for me and I write it to amuse myself, mostly.   I haven't been writing poetry lately.  Maybe I should go back to the medium to see how it goes. 

Tiny things to write about AND some political thoughts

I know, I know, since the Evil Orange is no longer the President ( no matter WHAT  QAnon and other rabid dogs might think) I am trying to move away from political commentary as much.  I WILL say that IT'S ABOUT TIME that his taxes were released to the District Court of New York.  He is crying and whining that he is being "Persecuted"  well, if there is nothing WRONG with your taxes, what are you worried about?  I would hazard a guess that his taxes will show that he is NOT the mega-millionaire he claims to be, and if that his true, he lied to his followers( Surprise!)  and if it is a LIE, if he cheated the government on his taxes, well he should serve time, just like Wesley Snipes  who did time, or have to sell off his possessions, like Willie Nelson did.  I have a feeling he does not really OWN all that property he claims he owns, as he was selling his name as a brand to people who thought it gave the place a certain cachet.  They are ditching that now in a lot of locations, from what I understand.  This will be and interesting development, and it is the reason he fought so hard to stay in power, to avoid prosecution for his crimes ( and let's face it tax evasion is a crime and ANYONE who does it  is a lowlife snake)

His kids are- to use a 70's expression - Freaking and Peaking ( I am not sure but there are signs of drug use in Jr- he really needs an intervention.)  They are going down with the trump ship and they really don't have the life skills to start over.  But we will see

Here is my Tine Thing for the day: ( the tiny things to write about book, which I am randomly picking something from)

Write about moving to a place you have never been to:

I am moving to South Carolina.  The place has beaches and small towns and I have longed for it since I heard James Taylor sing about it ( on second thought was he talking about NORTH  Carolina?  dunno)  I think I would like the pace, the food- although I may need to import totillas or masa- again dunno)  Besides, my friend Candace lives there.  HMMMM     I wonder if the state can HANDLE two of us.

Monday morning

 For a variety of reasons, this weekend was not much of a weekend.  My day off was interrupted and while I don't mind helping out a bit, I really lost the focus of what I had planned to do and things got discombobulated.  I am looking forward to some real time off and away from responsibility, which we are planning soon ( keep your fingers crossed or a candle lit, I really need a break!)

I have been making door hangings to decorate the front door of my place.  It's a small thing, but I really am enjoying the process of making small art.   I do not consider myself artistic in any way ( except MAYBE in my writing, which is more a release of anxiety than art) but the hangings are turning out like I want them to.

This month I celebrate my Celtic Heritage and put up one that says Erin Go Bragh on it.  You will see this draped all over bars- or would before the Pandemic.  It means Ireland Forever.  It is used for St Patrick's Day, which is frankly, weird.

From what I understand, in Ireland, St Patrick's Day is NOT a day to drink green beer, or get "tits up" in a local pub. NO ONE eats corned beef. That's the AMERICAN version, replete with parades and turning rivers green with some kind of dye.  My Dad said that when he was a kid it was a religious holiday and everyone in his family went to church (now my GREAT Grandparents were from Ireland so they were all here in Philly-delphia-haha-, but they celebrated it as befitting the Patron saint of Ireland)  Recently- within the last 20 years or so, the Irish caught up with the rest of the world celebrating THEIR holiday ( talk about Cultural Appropriation!) and have parades and the like, but really it was not a binge drinking day.  

Take a second.  When you hear that someone is Irish, what is your first thought.  A-  they like to drink a lot,  B-They have foul tempers and like to fight or C- why don't they have red hair?  All of these myths about the Irish, these stereotypes are firmly ingrained.  Do you think of scholars?  I bet you don't,  but there is a wonderful book  "How the Irish Saved civilization" by Thomas Cahill which details the work of Irish Monks to save literature and history while it was being destroyed in most of Western Europe,  Do you think of the indomitable spirit of a country that the British  have tried to wipe off the planet for centuries ( and yes I also have English ancestry , so I am basically a war unto myself)  Read about the potato famine- they purposely sent blighted plants to destroy the crops.  My dad said they then told them that the reason was they had over farmed the soil.  For years, people believed THAT lie,

So, on March 17 I will be raising a wee dram AND eating corned beef ( it's on SALE for goodness sake HOW could I pass it up) and celebrating the spirit of the Irish, fun loving but fierce when necessary.  SLAINTE!