I sent a shorter version of this post to the editor of New York Times Magazine, and they published it this past Sunday.
I’m already getting inquiries about submitting my work elsewhere [e.g. a new website on women entrepreneurs that is scheduled to launch in October]. I hope I don’t get in over my head.
The Permanent Commission on the Status of Women in Connecticut is still alive and kicking, but has had it’s budget reduced by 55%.
I guess someone told our not so bright Governor what “permanent” means.
Our August book club selection was The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips. It tells the story of the Moores, a Depression-era coal mining family in Alabama. For them, the Depression is nothing new — they have been barely getting by all their lives. But not to worry, this is not “The Waltons.” Parents Leta and Albert are hard-working and loving, but they’re not saints, and at times, they rail against the unfairness of the economic inequality. Albert after all is a union member trying to improve working conditions and wages for men working in the coal mines.
The action centers around a mystery — Tess Moore, the middle daughter, sees a woman throw a baby down the family well on a hot summer evening in 1931. Tess and her older sister Virgie then set out to find who would do something so unspeakably violent. Their quest leads them to various awkward encounters with women and families in even more desperate economic circumstances than the Moores. The readers’ guide asks, were Tess and Virgie’s intentions pure. I would say, not at first. In fact, they seem bent on proving that poor women with lots of kids are innately depraved enough to kill their children. Eventually they come to have empathy for women who do the best with what they have.
Albert Moore is fortunate enough to own land, which allows the family to grow much of their own food and to even employ tenant farmers to harvest cotton for them. Although Tess, Virgie, and their younger brother Jack have to help out around the house and farm, they still have some time for play and social activities. The children of the tenant family, the Talberts, are not so fortunate and must spend their days picking cotton. Albert offers his kids the chance to earn some pocket money by helping with the harvest. They are complete failures — the much younger Talbert children can outpick them, and don’t complain about pricking their fingers or sweating in the hot sun.
Like others in the pre-FDR years of the Depression, the Moores are just barely hanging on. They have no health insurance, and no safety net should something terrible happen to the key breadwinner. When Jack is injured in a hit and run accident, Albert chooses to work double shifts at the mine to pay the medical bills, rather than sue the brick company that owns the truck that hit his son. For me, this was the least believable part of the novel. Yes, people were less likely to file lawsuits then, but it’s just not convincing after Phillips descriptions of Albert’s concerns about justice for the working man.
More believable is Albert’s willingness to cross the color line and befriend his African-American co-worker Jonah. There are limits to this friendship, though. Albert invites Jonah to have dinner at his house — Jonah refuses, fearing retribution from Albert’s racist colleagues and neighbors. Albert eventually backs down — but I think he does it more to save Jonah from harm than to protect Albert’s family.
Unlike some reviewers at Amazon, I had no problem with the shift between each family members’ point of view. What didn’t work so well was Phillips’ choice to have Jack narrate as an adult. I suppose she did this so she could tie up loose ends by telling what happened to the family after the summer of 1931, but I would have liked the story better had she left this open to the reader’s imagination. Once the girls solve the mystery of the Well Woman, the energy of the story dissipates.
Still, for the most part, this is a convincing and engaging first novel. It’s a great example of the struggles that families had to endure to survive in the era before the social safety net created by FDR’s New Deal.
Next up: A Short History of Women by Kate Walbert.
via Historiann (and many others). I’ve been sitting in my office most of the day thinking about how to craft something that recognizes Ted Kennedy’s many flaws when it came to women (e.g. the Chappaquiddik accident), while also acknowledging his accomplishments, but as usual, Historiann beat me too it.
Here’s some other blog entries with which I agree:
From Our Bodies, Our Blog: “Remembering Senator Kennedy’s Work on Behalf of All,” “Tribute to Senator Edward Kennedy, Healthcare Champion.”
Inside Higher Ed reminded me that Kennedy was a champion of Title IX and Affirmative Action.
From Pam’s House Blend.
From Postbourgie.
From Edge of the American West.
And a round-up of other posts from Reproductive Health Reality Check.
Added later: From Feminist Majority:
Feminist Movement Loses a Dear Friend and Champion
Statement of Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal on the Death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy
For decades, Senator Edward M. Kennedy was a champion of women’s rights. For years, when few other Senators would take women’s rights seriously, the women’s movement could count on Senator Kennedy. In struggle after struggle, the women’s movement could turn to Senator Kennedy and his dedicated and talented staff to lead the fight in Congress. Behind the scenes, Senator Kennedy would sit down with the leaders and activists of the women’s and civil rights movements and strategize. He was indefatigable and, whether in the Senate in the majority or minority, he had the undying hope and the know-how to move ahead, pass legislation to help millions, and work for a better day.
In legislative battle after battle, Senator Kennedy never let down the women’s movement. We did not always win – but we were always stronger because of his passion, wise council, unparalleled legislative skill, and inspiration. As a women’s rights leader who had the privilege of working with Senator Kennedy in many of those struggles for decades, to say we will miss his brilliant leadership is a gross understatement. But, of course, the dream never dies, the fight goes on, and we will never forget Senator Kennedy and his indomitable spirit.
Senator Kennedy, who was the principal sponsor of more landmark legislation than any other Senator in U.S. history, led the fight in much historic legislation for women’s rights, civil rights, and human services, including:
via Disability Studies, Temple U.:
Brilliant article. The comments are even better [okay, some of them are disablist but others are right on]. No wonder the folks across the pond think Americans are clueless. I hope Penny will send me a button.
Logo at left is from the disability rights advocacy group Not Dead Yet. Yes, they got their name from the following priceless bit from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
This week’s New York Times Magazine focuses on global women’s rights. The issue includes an article by Motherlode blogger Lisa Belkin entitled “The Power of the Purse.” Belkin claims that this is the first time in history that women have used their dollars to advance the cause of women:
“To appreciate the magnitude of this change, go back 150 years or so to the women’s suffrage movement. Back to when one of its leaders, Matilda Joslyn Gage, lamented: ‘We have yet to hear of a woman of wealth who has left anything for the enfranchisement of her sex. Almost every daily paper heralds the fact of some large bequest to colleges, churches and charities by rich women, but it is proverbial that they never remember the woman suffrage movement that underlies in importance all others.’”
The article focuses on Women Moving Millions, founded by Helen LaKelly Hunt and Swanee Hunt, daughters of oil magnate H. L. Hunt. Helen wrote her doctoral thesis on the origins of feminism, arguing that wealthy women sat on the sidelines during the battle for women’s suffrage:
“Women gave heart, mind, body, intellect, will, blood, sweat and tears, but not their dollars,” she says. “Women didn’t fund suffrage; now women are funding women. That’s historic.”
How could Hunt have forgotten Alva Belmont [pictured above] who was the key financial backer for both the suffrage movement and the cause of working women’s rights? Belmont not only gave loads of her own money and opened her lavish home in Newport, RI to suffrage activists, she was also a tireless fundraiser who was deft at getting other wealthy women and men to donate to her causes. Belmont also supported the more radical side of the suffrage movement, the Congressional Union for Women’s Suffrage, later renamed the National Woman’s Party (NWP). These were the women who picketed the White House during the First World War, going so far as to compare President Wilson to the German Kaiser for refusing to grant women the right to vote. These picketers were the same ones “Jailed for Freedom,” i.e. put in prison, where they were beaten, tortured, and lived under horrible conditions. Their story is nicely portrayed in the HBO film, “Iron-Jawed Angels.” Once the suffrage battle was won, the NWP went on to promote the Equal Rights Amendment, a move that was controversial even among many former women’s suffrage supporters.
Of course, there are other wealthy women who supported women’s rights — see the National Women’s History Project — and don’t forget to celebrate Women’s Equality Day, commemorating passage of the 20th amendment granting women the right to vote, on August 26th.
As I say in my latest article at History News Network. [thanks again for publishing my writing, and promoting my book.]
The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article on the CDC’s latest recommendations for colleges and universities. Brainstorm blogger Gene C. Fant wonders what impact the epidemic will have on faculty hiring.
Meanwhile, Inside Higher Education talks about the flu waiting game, and has some tips on how to teach students who have to miss classes because of the flu. How are folks out there adapting their syllabi to address the possibility of absences due to flu? What about faculty who need to take sick days — is there a plan to make sure classes get covered?
Since the Center for History and New Media is no longer supporting Survey Builder, I have transferred my emergency contraception survey on Survey Monkey.
Please help me spread the word about it. While I’m covering the entire history of emergency contraception, my replies thus far have mostly been from women and men whose experience with ECP has been very recent. Therefore, I’m especially interested in getting responses from the earlier history of emergency contraception (aka the “morning-after-pill”) in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s (yes the technology has been around that long).
By now, many of you have no doubt heard about the boycott of Whole Foods, launched by Single Payer Action in response to an editorial in the Wall Street Journal by Whole Food CEO John Mackey. I do agree that there are parts of this article that are aggravating (I made a smart-assed remark on Facebook about him saying “let them eat arugula”). His argument about preventing disease through good eating habits has some merit, but it overlooks a major reason why folks on low incomes don’t eat nutritious foods — they’re too expensive.
The recent film, Food, Inc., has an excellent segment about a low-income Hispanic family who find it cheaper to buy dollar meals at McDonalds than to buy fruits and vegetables at the local supermarket. Not surprisingly, two family members have diabetes. Since they lack health insurance, they have to choose between medication and food (and other necessities). So, the cycle worsens. The film also nicely explains how agricultural policies have ensured that fattening foods are cheaper than healthy ones.
Yet the film doesn’t offer many solutions as to how to make healthy, locally grown foods more affordable (okay it does talk about Walmart selling organic foods, but that doesn’t really tackle the issue at hand). Neither does the Whole Foods boycott site. They offer alternative places to shop, but they don’t address the issue of cost.
I don’t shop at Whole Foods because it’s too expensive (hence the epithet “Whole Paycheck”) and a lot of their stuff is trucked in from large organic megafarms, not local producers. I’m happy to support local farmers — many are literally my neighbors — but the price is significantly higher than the supermarket. I’m fortunate to have a well-paying, tenured job, but what about those on fixed incomes? Yes, low income people need affordable health insurance, but they also need the ability to buy wholesome food.
via Feministing. I can’t read it yet because I haven’t seen this week’s episode (have to wait until it goes online). That doesn’t mean the rest of you can’t enjoy this.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman must be in want of a drink
Orientalism and Yoga in the 21st Century
is a Vice Provost, Dean, and Professor at Northeastern University
History for the Future
By Norse code
Follow me on twitter: @jmedwards29
Why Do You Write Like You're Running Out Of Time?
A site to think about my academic work the same way I do everything: by overthinking it.
Blog for History 511: Digital History
History in the Digital Age
History Happens
A Group Blog on Early American History
A journal of New England cultural, literary, political, and social history
The latest news on WordPress.com and the WordPress community.
Knitting Clio 