We got a chance to have a girls night out to see a local comedy troup called the Lylas. It was good to remember that I could laugh until I started crying. It has been a while. Mostly because being a grown up is just so...well grown up. I'm glad that we took a little time out to laugh. It is good medicine.
Tonight, Shelley and I are interviewing a Respiratory Therapist on our radio show Listen 2 Women. To hear our radio show go to WPVM.org at 4pm EST or if you're in the WNC area tune in at `103.5 fm. Listen 2 Women archieves can are also be found online. Listen 2 Women is a women's radio collaborative.
Also, keep an eye out for Breathe Magazine. I've got a column in there called "Sustainability in the City: One Woman's Quest for the Green Life." Breathe is a sister magazine to the Blue Ridge Outdoors and will soon be available, for free, anywhere where Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine's are available.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Counting questions
This is an example of when all my worlds come together. I got up early to swim this morning, so I was tired mid-day. When my almost 3 year old daughter went down for a nap around 1, so did I. But first I turned on the TV -- just for a little bit. I ended up getting sucked in to watching CSPAN because Thomas Friedman of the NY Times was interviewing Al Gore and Bono at the World Economic Forum.
Two interesting points.
One, Gore cited a study just released by the League of Conservation Voters that counted all major debate and interview questions asked of the US presidential candidates in 2007. Over 2,900 questions were asked, but only 25 mentioned the climate crisis and only 6 specifically referenced global warming. Not many more than the 3 that were asked about UFOs. Here's the link: http://www.whataretheywaitingfor.com/facts.html
Two, a question posed to Bono got me thinking. Friedman asked if in his travels, has he seen countries hit by these three things: ravaged by the climate crisis, facing extreme poverty, and instability/political crisis? Absolutely. Think about it -- global warming impacts the availability of food (not enough) and water (flooding or drought), leading people to move in search of land or resources, causing stress and strain on communities and countries. I admit, that I had not thought about the interaction of these three major phenomena before. But now it seems painfully obvious.
The downturn in the interview came when they all laughed, saying that they are a few of the only 500 people who are talking about these issues. What? Maybe they are the only ex-Vice President and world famous activitist/musician talking about it on TV. But the rest of us are talking about it too -- in fact, we're talking about it all the time. That's why Leah facilitated a meeting of our local Bike and Pedestrian Task force this morning. And we're doing things on a daily basis. Small steps from taking cloth bags to the store, to teaching our children to save water and grow vegetables. They are pretty arrogant if they think they are in an elite 500 Club of famous people who care.
Anyhow, I'm glad I turned the TV on during my naptime. It also makes me want to ask climate change questions as many times as possible in 2008. Let's get our questions counted.
Two interesting points.
One, Gore cited a study just released by the League of Conservation Voters that counted all major debate and interview questions asked of the US presidential candidates in 2007. Over 2,900 questions were asked, but only 25 mentioned the climate crisis and only 6 specifically referenced global warming. Not many more than the 3 that were asked about UFOs. Here's the link: http://www.whataretheywaitingfor.com/facts.html
Two, a question posed to Bono got me thinking. Friedman asked if in his travels, has he seen countries hit by these three things: ravaged by the climate crisis, facing extreme poverty, and instability/political crisis? Absolutely. Think about it -- global warming impacts the availability of food (not enough) and water (flooding or drought), leading people to move in search of land or resources, causing stress and strain on communities and countries. I admit, that I had not thought about the interaction of these three major phenomena before. But now it seems painfully obvious.
The downturn in the interview came when they all laughed, saying that they are a few of the only 500 people who are talking about these issues. What? Maybe they are the only ex-Vice President and world famous activitist/musician talking about it on TV. But the rest of us are talking about it too -- in fact, we're talking about it all the time. That's why Leah facilitated a meeting of our local Bike and Pedestrian Task force this morning. And we're doing things on a daily basis. Small steps from taking cloth bags to the store, to teaching our children to save water and grow vegetables. They are pretty arrogant if they think they are in an elite 500 Club of famous people who care.
Anyhow, I'm glad I turned the TV on during my naptime. It also makes me want to ask climate change questions as many times as possible in 2008. Let's get our questions counted.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Race, Class, Gender
So, I haven't yet decided on a candidate, but have spent a lot of time reading the front Democratic, front runner's websites. Not surprisingly, I've found that there isn't much difference between their platforms and the election really is about race, gender and class. Perhaps, it is also about history and "so called records" but as Obama put it "No one's hands are clean".
Speaking of keeping it clean. On the last Listen 2 Women show, I read a letter written by a women who are sick of Hard Ball's host Chris Mathews comments regarding women. Read the letter http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2008/01/womens-groups-to-protest-sexist-chris.html. The protest resulted in a long apology by Mathews on his show. It was basically the "I'm a good guy" and therefore "Not a sexist" even if "I said things that hurt people" and were "dismissive" to a women running for president. http://mediamatters.org/items/200801170019. It's worth watching the video. I know I'll support the nominee. The primary in North Carolina happends so far after Super Tuesday no one will even know it happend, but as a women I want Hillary to win or lose on her merrits. It's disheartening to see how much overt sexism still exists.
Speaking of keeping it clean. On the last Listen 2 Women show, I read a letter written by a women who are sick of Hard Ball's host Chris Mathews comments regarding women. Read the letter http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2008/01/womens-groups-to-protest-sexist-chris.html. The protest resulted in a long apology by Mathews on his show. It was basically the "I'm a good guy" and therefore "Not a sexist" even if "I said things that hurt people" and were "dismissive" to a women running for president. http://mediamatters.org/items/200801170019. It's worth watching the video. I know I'll support the nominee. The primary in North Carolina happends so far after Super Tuesday no one will even know it happend, but as a women I want Hillary to win or lose on her merrits. It's disheartening to see how much overt sexism still exists.
Democracy Now! report on Congo
This was copied from the Democracy Now! daily news digest yesterday.
* Corporations Reaping Millions as Congo Suffers Deadliest Conflict SinceWorld War II *
A new mortality report from the International Rescue Committee says that asmany as 5.4 million people have died from war-related causes in the Congosince 1998. A staggering 45,000 people continue to die each month, both fromthe conflict and the related humanitarian crisis. Amidst the deadliestconflict since World War II, hundreds of international corporations havereaped enormous profits from extracting and processing Congolese minerals.We speak to Maurice Carney of Friends of the Congo and Nita Evele of CongoGlobal Action.
Listen/Watch/Read: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/23/corporations_reaping_millions_as
You can hear DN! three times a day on WPVM 103.5 FM. DN! covers the international and national news the way mainstream media won't.
For more on Congo and how to take action, see our August 23, 2007 post about the V-Day campaign.
* Corporations Reaping Millions as Congo Suffers Deadliest Conflict SinceWorld War II *
A new mortality report from the International Rescue Committee says that asmany as 5.4 million people have died from war-related causes in the Congosince 1998. A staggering 45,000 people continue to die each month, both fromthe conflict and the related humanitarian crisis. Amidst the deadliestconflict since World War II, hundreds of international corporations havereaped enormous profits from extracting and processing Congolese minerals.We speak to Maurice Carney of Friends of the Congo and Nita Evele of CongoGlobal Action.
Listen/Watch/Read: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/23/corporations_reaping_millions_as
You can hear DN! three times a day on WPVM 103.5 FM. DN! covers the international and national news the way mainstream media won't.
For more on Congo and how to take action, see our August 23, 2007 post about the V-Day campaign.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
What really bothers me
Watching the Democratic debate in South Carolina on Monday night really bothered me. Not the personal attacks exchanged between Clinton and Obama. That was kind of entertaining.
What really bothered me was that I only heard from Clinton, Obama, and Edwards. Where were the other candidates? CNN thinks they have the right or the intellectual superiority to decide who participates in the debate? It infuriates me that they excluded the other candidates. I want to hear what they all have to say so I can make an informed decision. The media is essentially telling us that Clinton, Edwards, and Obama are the only three candidates we need to care about. Don't figure it out for yourself, just let us decide. How arrogant.
It just means voters have to work harder to make our own decisions instead of letting "the media" co-opt our freedom of choice.
Here's a video on Kucinich's website about being invited, then barred from participating in the Las Vegas debate: http://www.lasvegassun.com/videos/2008/jan/16/74/#.
What really bothered me was that I only heard from Clinton, Obama, and Edwards. Where were the other candidates? CNN thinks they have the right or the intellectual superiority to decide who participates in the debate? It infuriates me that they excluded the other candidates. I want to hear what they all have to say so I can make an informed decision. The media is essentially telling us that Clinton, Edwards, and Obama are the only three candidates we need to care about. Don't figure it out for yourself, just let us decide. How arrogant.
It just means voters have to work harder to make our own decisions instead of letting "the media" co-opt our freedom of choice.
Here's a video on Kucinich's website about being invited, then barred from participating in the Las Vegas debate: http://www.lasvegassun.com/videos/2008/jan/16/74/#.
Friday, January 4, 2008
This has nothing to do with Iowa
We are missing an opportunity here. An opportunity to talk about the presidential candidates in a more meaningful way than just categorizing them as the woman, the black guy, the Mormon, or the crazy one (that kind of applies to several of them though, in my opinion).
What’s gotten me fired up this morning isn’t the results of the Iowa caucus, it was a post I read on my local yahoo listserve, ashevillemamas. A discussion thread about supporting Ron Paul.
All I have to say is that any man – or any candidate for that matter – who comes out as pro-life will never, ever get my vote. It is an automatic deal-breaker. I don’t care if he supports home schooling and voted against the Iraq war. With pro-life politics, he’s waging a deadlier war – a war against all women.
So, look beyond Iowa and seriously consider your vote. Do a little research. Find out about the candidate for yourself. Make a decision on your own, without being influenced by who's waving a flag or flying a banner.
I guess posting a question on a listserve is one way to find out more. It just disheartens and saddens me that women in my so-called progressive community are supporting a man who says women shouldn't have the right to choose.
What’s gotten me fired up this morning isn’t the results of the Iowa caucus, it was a post I read on my local yahoo listserve, ashevillemamas. A discussion thread about supporting Ron Paul.
All I have to say is that any man – or any candidate for that matter – who comes out as pro-life will never, ever get my vote. It is an automatic deal-breaker. I don’t care if he supports home schooling and voted against the Iraq war. With pro-life politics, he’s waging a deadlier war – a war against all women.
So, look beyond Iowa and seriously consider your vote. Do a little research. Find out about the candidate for yourself. Make a decision on your own, without being influenced by who's waving a flag or flying a banner.
I guess posting a question on a listserve is one way to find out more. It just disheartens and saddens me that women in my so-called progressive community are supporting a man who says women shouldn't have the right to choose.
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