Well, North Carolina is finally on the presidential radar. Bill Clinton came to Asheville last week and Leah and I went to Asheville High School to hear him speak. Live and in person. He spoke for one hour and it was the last stop of his seven city tour of NC last Friday. Whew!
I went for several reasons. 1) I wanted to see a former president. And what better speaker than Bill Clinton. 2) I wanted to see him as part of the presidential campaign. 3) I wanted to learn more about Hillary.
The first two reasons were checked off the list early. It was like a rock concert. Thousands of us jammed into a hot high school auditorium, craning our necks to see Bill Clinton speak. Of course Leah and I are, well, on the petite side, so we were at a bit of a disadvantage.
But the real learning came from his speech. I was on the fence before the event. Barack, Hillary, Barack, Hillary. Back and forth. Call it fear of commitment. I haven't been ready to give myself to just one candidate. But whoa. Hold on for Hillary.
Bill was great -- never criticized the other candidates. He just clearly stated why Hillary is running, what she's achieved in the past, and what she plans to do in the future. And thank god he had an hour, because all I've gotten up to now has been media pre-digested sound bites that are taken out of context. I was so glad to have the opportunity to actually hear what she plans to do about creating jobs and caring for the environment, offering healthcare to all, and supporting veterans. I can't repeat the details -- that's the gift that Bill has -- to provide all the details in such a conversational way. I understood it all in the moment, but it was such a full speech there is no way I can comprehensively summarize it.
I guess the bottom line is that I walked away feeling she is the right person for the job at the right time. She has vast experience as a lawyer, first lady, senator, and activist. She has valuable experience working with both Democrats and Republicans and what surprised me the most on my running pro and con list, was the pro that she's got such a positive track record when it comes to military and veterans affairs. I didn't realize that would matter to me so much. But he was able to put a personal face to it and also show how she's been involved.
So I guess I drank the Kool-Aid. That is, until Michelle Obama comes to town (will I slide that way if I get to hear her speak?)
Most of all, I'm just glad I will have the chance to vote in the most historic presidential primary of my lifetime and to feel like it just might matter.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Follow up on Haiti
Thanks to those of you who emailed me directly, called, or posted about Haiti. I wanted to give a recap of organizations that folks mentioned:
- Here's one that a friend in Asheville is involved with: Mission Manna. In her words, "Check out www.missionmanna.org for a grassroots organization providing health care to children."
- Partners in Health, www.pih.org
- Kiva, www.kiva.org -- for microlending
- CRS, www.crs.org -- one of the largest relief and development organizations; and I used to work for them overseas, so I know they do good work
And I haven't read through it all, but here's a blog about Haiti: http://dyinginhaiti.blogspot.com.
At least this got the conversation started. We'll see where it goes.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Rebates for Haiti?
Here's a letter to the editor that I submitted to the Asheville Citizen-Times last week. I was told it will run in the near future, but there we loads of letters lined up before mine. Since I'm inpatient and can't wait to share it, here it is.
Dear Editor,
I want to give my tax rebate to Haiti, not Wal-Mart. Two articles were side by side in today’s paper (Jan. 29, 2008), but worlds apart. “Haiti’s poor eat dirt as food prices rise” described families eating cookies made of clay, salt, and shortening because they cannot afford food, while “House OKs tax rebates” outlined the stimulus package passed by the House.
Frankly, I don’t want the money. Will it help me pay some bills? Yes, but just in the short term. After reading about a mother feeding her child dirt to fill his belly, I guarantee that I will not go shopping with this money.
I am going to search for a way to get it as close as possible to families living in Cite Soleil, Haiti. I know sending money is a short-term fix to Haiti’s problem; the roots of poverty in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest county are deep and complicated. But faced with the comparison side by side, I don’t feel right doing anything else.
I encourage others to consider donating their rebate to an aid organization in Haiti or a domestic charity. Maybe we can turn this in to a grassroots campaign to stimulate social justice, not spending.
Sincerely,
Shelley Booth
Asheville, NC
And as a p.s. -- I'd love to link the articles from the Citizen-Times, but their website is atrocious for finding archives (even from last week). So here's the Haiti story from MSNBC.
It also got me digging for more information. Check out Partners in Health, started by Dr. Paul Farmer and his work as a doctor and anthropologist in Haiti. I also went to NPR to learn more about his biography, Mountains beyond Mountains, and his work.
Let me know if this speaks to you at all. Do these rebates make sense? Will you consider donating some of your check to charity?
Dear Editor,
I want to give my tax rebate to Haiti, not Wal-Mart. Two articles were side by side in today’s paper (Jan. 29, 2008), but worlds apart. “Haiti’s poor eat dirt as food prices rise” described families eating cookies made of clay, salt, and shortening because they cannot afford food, while “House OKs tax rebates” outlined the stimulus package passed by the House.
Frankly, I don’t want the money. Will it help me pay some bills? Yes, but just in the short term. After reading about a mother feeding her child dirt to fill his belly, I guarantee that I will not go shopping with this money.
I am going to search for a way to get it as close as possible to families living in Cite Soleil, Haiti. I know sending money is a short-term fix to Haiti’s problem; the roots of poverty in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest county are deep and complicated. But faced with the comparison side by side, I don’t feel right doing anything else.
I encourage others to consider donating their rebate to an aid organization in Haiti or a domestic charity. Maybe we can turn this in to a grassroots campaign to stimulate social justice, not spending.
Sincerely,
Shelley Booth
Asheville, NC
And as a p.s. -- I'd love to link the articles from the Citizen-Times, but their website is atrocious for finding archives (even from last week). So here's the Haiti story from MSNBC.
It also got me digging for more information. Check out Partners in Health, started by Dr. Paul Farmer and his work as a doctor and anthropologist in Haiti. I also went to NPR to learn more about his biography, Mountains beyond Mountains, and his work.
Let me know if this speaks to you at all. Do these rebates make sense? Will you consider donating some of your check to charity?
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Lauging to keep from Crying
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.
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.
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.
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