If you're in the area: John James Audubon in Henderson, Kentucky

I grew up in Henderson, Kentucky, but knew very little about John James Audubon State Park in my time there. I went to its picnic shelters every summer for family reunions, church socials and class parties. I swam in the lake a couple of times. I went with my elementary school class to what was then a small museum space that didn't have much in it. My parents would say that the park was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and what a great program the CCC was, but I didn't really understand what they meant. To me, in the 1980s, the park was the place with lots of picnic shelters, with a lake to swim in, with the museum that, from the outside, looked like a beautiful fairy tale castle, and with a carriage house or something nearby that was never open except for the bathrooms. And a golf course I had never seen (and still haven't). It was nice... but not anything I ever recommended as a must-see place to visit. 

Here we are almost 40 years later and the park has been transformed into a wonderful destination and celebration of both the work of the CCC and conservationists, with a kick-your-butt back country trail and access to a lake that I only heard about as a kid (back then, I don't think there was an open trail to it). The cabins are beautiful and I believe they are open for rentals year-round. The main lake no longer has swimming, having been restored to make it more wildlife-friendly, but I believe you can take a kayak out on it.  

The museum space inside is GREATLY expanded with artifacts and information from the life of John James Audubon and why his work led to the creation of Audubon societies all over the world. There's also regular presentations inside about the importance of wildlife conservation and the wildlife of the area. That always-closed carriage house - actually, the Tea House - is now open and serves as the park's office (and it's totally worth it to visit - the woodwork is gorgeous). And events (hikes, presentations, workshops, art fetivals and more) abound - you need to follow the park on Facebook to be able to keep up. 

The trails are amazing. There's over six miles of trails, and some will have your calves screaming because of the inclines. We didn't get to do the expanded trails along the river, which you access outside the park on Warbler Road, next to the Ohio River, but we did do the backcountry trail and I'm still hurting from it. 

The trails do NOT allow dogs except for one, near the campground. But you can take your dog on all of the roads through the park, and that's a few miles of terrific, scenic exercise. Wish they had trails along the roads to make it safer for walking along them. 

The park now has reminders about the CCC everywhere: a statue, a couple of plaques, mentions in the museum, and more. My parents' mentions of the CCC have stuck with me all the years and, after studying the CCC in high school and at my university, I became a CCC fan girl: when I travel, I immediately notice CCC-built structures in parks and public spaces, and make a point of visiting any that might be nearby as I travel. I have a photo album tribute to the CCC, noting all of the CCC-built places I've been and memorabilia I've come across. 

We went to the park over two days: the first just to hike, and the second, to spend time in the museum. If you go, be sure to take some snacks and water - there's no restaurant in the park. 

The park is easy to turn into if you are coming from Henderson, but REALLY difficult to turn into if you are coming from Evansville, Indiana. Please be really, really cautious when turning in and out of the park onto Highway 41. 

With all that said, I do have some criticisms of the park. Here is an email I sent to the park manager, the head of Kentucky State Parks, and the Friends of Audubon State Park group after my November 2023 visit: 

I visited John James Audubon State Park during my Thanksgiving holiday in Kentucky. I haven’t been there since I was a teen - more than 40 years ago. The vastly expanded museum and hiking trails, the restored lake, the quality of the groundskeeping - it was amazing. I was particularly pleased to see so much information about and tributes to the Civilian Conservation Corps - that is a legacy I always knew, because of the park and because my father always noted it when I was growing up. I have followed the park on Facebook for years and knew the park now regularly had events - guided hikes, science talks, workshops for kids - but being onsite and seeing everything for myself, firsthand, really brought home what a treasure the park is now. Kudos to everyone who has, over many years, made this possible. Well done.

However, there are some things I feel compelled to note that need to be addressed urgently.

One thing that should be simple to fix: please put closed captioning on your films on rotation in your theater. This is a very easy fix, something anyone with video editing software could do for you. I bet there are students or faculty at area universities and colleges that would be happy to make this happen for you on a volunteer basis. This would help both the hearing impaired and people who are not native English speakers to better experience the films.

I was deeply disturbed by the lack of focus - even mention - in the museum that John James Audubon enslaved people and that he dismissed and belittled the abolitionist movement. When the Audubon family lived in Henderson, Kentucky, they had enslaved people working for them in their household, and they bought and sold enslaved people. Think of the families they broke up. Think of the lives they destroyed. This is all well documented on this web page of the National Audubon Society's own web site: https://www.audubon.org/news/the-myth-john-james-audubon

Why not reproduce this web page on a series of display boards and put these up in the museum? Why not be open and honest and transparent on the very dark side of this man? You don't have to answer this question - was he a good man who did something horrific or was he a bad man who did something good? - but welcome the discussion! The answer, either way, could lead to a lot of self-examination by visitors.

The other very large hole in all that's wonderful about the park is the lack of prominent acknowledgment of the people settled in the area long before European Americans came: no statue, no information board, no anything that I could find. That's as shameful as not acknowledging Audubon's enslavement of people and his defense of slavery.

I hope that all of this is being addressed already by funders and supporters of John James Audubon State Park. In fact, if there is a fundraising campaign to make any of this happen, let me know: I'll donate to it and publicize it.

Here is the response I got. I'm pleased about the revamp, but wish, in the interim, they would just print out the web page I mentioned, as a couple of large signs, and just put them on some easels. 

Dear Ms. Cravens,

I wanted to express my gratitude for your visit to Audubon State Park during the holiday. I'm delighted that you had the opportunity to enjoy our park's trails and grounds. I will be sure to share your kind words with our grounds team. It is a priority for us to preserve and convey the unique history of the park, particularly our association with the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Thank you as well for suggesting the addition of closed captioning to our videos. I believe this is an excellent idea and being personally aware of the challenges faced by individuals with hearing impairments, I fully understand the importance of such accommodations.

I wanted to inform you that the Kentucky Department of Parks is currently working on the design for a comprehensive restoration of the Audubon Museum building. As part of this restoration, we intend to revamp the museum layout, install new display cases, and incorporate significant information and scholarly works pertaining to the entire life of John James Audubon. It is essential for us to not only celebrate Audubon's contributions to natural history and bird depictions but also acknowledge and comprehend his history as an enslaver and anti-abolitionist.

While our collection of indigenous art and artifacts is limited, we are continuously searching for items that will enrich our understanding of the area's history. Our objective is to present a comprehensive history to our guests, allowing them to interpret the information in their own way.

Once again, thank you for sharing your ideas and concerns with us.

Best regards,

David Miller
Park Manager
John James Audubon State Park

All the thoughts for all the people

What a roller coaster. 

Tuesday, I went to bed as despondent as I was four years ago, so depressed I couldn't cry. Wondering when, not if, my family would handle deportation orders. Wondering how quickly my friends' marriages would be declared null and void, how quickly friends would be fired for being gay or a different religion or just some other thing that had nothing to do with their job performance. Wondering how I would protect myself from COVID-19. Wondering how we were going to survive, knowing that four more years of this would be far, far worse than the last four years. At a loss for any productive thought. Here's my post to Facebook that night:

I feel as bad as I did in November 2016. Humans are horrible. You are hateful, evil crap. It's time for a meteor to hit this planet - WHAM - so it can start over. As I said after almost getting run off the road by methed-out truckers as I rode the Alaska Highway in British Columbia: FUCK ALL YA'LL.

Wednesday, I woke up to numbers I wasn't expecting. But I should have. Whereas pollster got it wrong AGAIN, the press said this over and over: what the results are at the end of Tuesday night, when in-person voting totals are in, will not be the results when vote-by-mail results are in over the course of the next two or three days. The press repeatedly said that. We didn't listen. 

But even then, I wasn't ready to believe. I had very cautious hope when I went to bed Wednesday night. Thursday, I was just in a holding pattern. Friday, even though no delegate numbers had changed, the voting totals were clear. And I knew it: Trump lost. 

And here we are on Saturday. So. Much. Joy. We walked our dog and I danced for the postman and with three other neighbors during the course of that walk. I don't feel like everything is fine now, but I have hope. I know we'll need to hold the White House through three Presidents to undo all this crap. But I have hope. I know that there is an enormous amount to do now to undo this horror show - knowing that some things can't be undone, like the trauma of children separated from parents, like those who have died or been permanently disabled from COVID-19, like the restaurants, clubs, bars, arts groups and other businesses that have closed for good. Like the people murdered by police. 

Of course, now I'm reading right-wingers and middle-of-the-road Democrats talking about compromise, talking about not celebrating "too much," talking about "forgiveness." 

No.

I'm not at all interested in punishing Republican voters but I AM interested in prosecuting those who broke the law. I want those who have broken the law in this administration to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. It's time for the country to see actions DO have consequences and that, as President, you are NOT "King." If there are no prosecutions, there is no rule of law, period. If there are no prosecutions, this WILL happen again. 

And I want a full-throttle agenda: on health care, on restoring the protections of public lands, on restoring EPA rules, on restoring voting rights, on restoring US State Department funds and programs, on restoring protections for programs like Voice of America and AmeriCorps, on restoring DACA, on establishing a realistic path to legal residency, on addressing the pandemic, on free community college and affordable state universities, and, ALWAYS, on access to abortion. No compromise. None.  

I get it, Republican voters are going to have such a hard time: they are going to get more affordable health care. They are going to have cleaner water. They are going to see billionaires pay a fairer share of taxes and the ballooning federal deficit under Trump get reduced. They are going to have family members who are NOT going to die because of the global pandemic. They are going to have more welcoming markets abroad for the things their employers grow or make. They are still going to get to go to churches that prohibit gay marriage. They will still get to avoid black, Latino and Asian neighborhoods and businesses. They get to still buy and drive gas-guzzling pedestrian-killing trucks. They will still get to quietly take their wives, sisters, daughters and mistresses to clinics for abortion services that they publicly protest about. They still get to discourage their children and grandchildren from going to college. They still get to disparage people who read books, love the arts, study philosophy, speak languages other than English and travel to other countries. They will still get to believe stupid crap like pedophile parties in non-existent pizza restaurant basements. They will still get to go to rallies by Trump if he still wants to have them. And they'll get to keep all the guns they have now and buy even more, at least of certain kinds. 

That last paragraph was dripping with sarcasm, in case you didn't get it. In other words - ya'll Republicans get to benefit from all that is coming AND still be full of hate and bigotry and have guns.  

I wonder when you will understand that nothing changes for a white man if he hears people speaking Spanish in line at WalMart. Nothing. It doesn't make English somehow not matter anymore. There has never been a time in the history of this land we now call the USA when humans weren't speaking a myriad of languages - nothing has changed, not really. 

I wonder when you will realize that nothing changes for you if woman who is raped has access to abortion services - unless you are that woman. If you are against abortion, you never, ever have to have one, even if terminating a pregnancy would save your life. 

I wonder when you will realize that nothing changes for you at all if a mosque gets built in your county. You don't ever have to go. If you don't want to hear the call to prayer, push for an ordinance that would prevent such - but know that it will also apply to church bells and drums (I live across the street from a new Pentecostal Church - I DREAM of such an ordinance...). 

I wonder when you will realize that nothing changes for you at all if your local grocery store starts selling tamales or hummus. Unless you like tamales or hummus - then you are going to be SO HAPPY. 

I wonder when white people will realize that nothing changes for you if black people get treated by the police and courts the same way white people do. 

I wonder when you will realize that nothing changes for straight people, even Christians, if gay people get married. You get to stay married to whomever you are married to. You can be disgusted by anyone's marriage. You are always free to do that. 

I wonder when you will realize that nothing changes for you if a neighbor buys an electric car or commutes by bicycle, that even if that happens, you get to keep driving your big gas-guzzling truck.  

I wonder when you will realize that nothing changes for you whatsoever if people kneel quietly during the national anthem. 

Just so you know: I'm white. I'm middle class. I love Johnny Cash. I love honky tonks. I love Bi-mart and Costco. I love college basketball. I love the Andy Griffith Show. I love The Waltons. I love The Dirty Dozen. I love Judge Judy. I used to watch Live PD - though I tended to yell "Don't answer questions! You have the right to remain silent!" at the TV over and over. I still watch Gone With the Wind. I don't like when things that are bland are called vanilla, because, in fact, vanilla is a rich, delicious flavoring and, also, I don't think I'm bland, I don't think bluegrass is bland, I don't think opera is bland, I don't think anything I love is bland. 

Being a part of the Democratic Party doesn't mean I lose any of the "white people" things I love. Supporting civil rights and Black Lives Matter doesn't mean I lose any of the "white people" things I love. I just think about things VERY differently than I did in my younger days: I am always sad now that there are no black people in Mayberry. I love GWTW while also acknowledging it was written by a racist and represents racism. I will watch Judge Judy reruns until my dying day and also be appalled at how tone-deaf she can be about how hard it is for renters to find new places to live. 

I guess it comes down to this: I just don't get how white people that voted for Trump think they are under siege. The majority of white voters are NOT under economic stress, they are NOT economically disadvantaged, they are going to keep loving what they love, they get to keep their guns, and that's not going to change in their lifetime.

I think you, Trump supporters, are fascists. I really do. I'm not calling you that to hurt your feelings - I'm saying it as a reality. You are fascists. By definition. 

Fascism is a belief in ultra-nationalism (jingoism), fueled by xenophobia, racism, anti-Semitism, chauvinism, and isolationism. Fascists believe in the supremacy of their national or ethnic group over all others. Fascists are usually on the extreme political right. Fascists usually have one favored religion over all others. Fascism is characterized by an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader - a demagogue. Fascists are often elected to office in fully Democratic processes. And fascists can be happy only in the defeat of those that are not fascists - that is their only path to joy. 

Even with this election, the United States is a fascist country. That cannot be disputed. We are full of millions and millions and millions of fascist people. This is who the Republican Party is. This is who at least half the country is. And I've no idea how to make you not fascists. Can you love your country and not be a fascist? Yes - I love my country and I'm not a fascist. You can love your language, love your country, love your religion and love a person in your political party and NOT be a fascist. 

I'm exhausted. I'm tired. But I'm also relieved. I'm going to rest up and regroup so I can be part of the movement to retake a LOT of things we've lost and so we can rebuild a bigger, better "wall" between church and state, between American values and fascism, between misinformation and facts.

Lots to do. Wear a mask while you do it. 

A USA citizen & election observer talks about voting abroad

I have a lot of friends who are USA citizens and live abroad. One of them lives in Eastern Europe, and has for many years. This friend has been an international observer for 18 elections in six countries in the past 13 years. Below, she describes what volunteering for her is like in 2020 and just how messed up the USA process for voting is:

I started my voting process - and yes, it's a process for Americans living abroad. Many people have asked me how an American living abroad can vote. It depends - voting in the U.S. is decentralized to the states and each state has its own rules and procedures. This is often surprising, if not shocking, to non-U.S. citizens. In most countries, even other decentralized ones, voting is usually legislated at the national level to ensure the same rights/opportunities/responsibilities for all citizens. Not in the U.S., friends! In my state, Ohio, because I live abroad, I can now receive my ballot by email (the first 10 years I lived abroad, I could only receive my ballot by postal mail, and I never received it in time at my international address to actually vote).

I LOVE receiving my ballot by email and having the time to read up on all the candidates and issues - national, state, city, county... there are SO many kinds of elections on my ballot! Back in the pre-internet day when I voted in person, I literally had no idea who most of the people on my ballot were. Now I can sit with my ballot and research all the candidates for judges, board of education, State Attorney General, City Council, and all the other myriad of positions we get to elect as Ohio citizens. There were 3 issues on my ballot this time and I was delighted to have the time to research them and I feel like I made informed decisions on each of them.

Despite receiving my ballot by email, I have to return it by postal mail. By the way, a few states let overseas voters both receive and submit their ballots electronically, but many do not (some still only send ballots by postal mail, which essentially disenfranchises many overseas voters when/where the post is slow). For Ohio voters, if you want to vote absentee and you are IN the U.S., you cannot receive your ballot by email, only by postal mail. Along with your ballot, they send you 2 special envelopes to return your ballot in - your ballot goes in one sealed envelope with your name, ID (birth date and last four digits of your Social Security Number or Ohio driver's license number), address, and signature printed on the envelope; and then you put that envelope inside a postage-paid (for mailing inside the U.S. only) envelope addressed to your county Board of Elections. The instructions we overseas voters receive are the same as for absentee voters in the U.S., but of course we don't get any special envelopes by email, only a .pdf of what goes on the envelopes. Buried in the 4 pages of instructions is a note that overseas voters can print out envelopes with the necessary information on them. You know what? Paper and envelope sizes EVERYWHERE ELSE in the world are different than American standard paper and envelope sizes, so the template .pdfs don't work here. I printed the forms in standard European sizes, taped the completed and signed "envelope form" to a European-size envelope, put it in another European-size envelope addressed to my county Board of Elections, then put that into a DHL envelope, and paid $60 for DHL to deliver the envelope-in-an-envelope-in-an-envelope to Columbus, Ohio. Best money I've ever spent. My vote better be counted.

I have been an international observer for 18 elections in 6 countries in the past 13 years. There are some differences I wish more Americans knew and cared about. Can incarcerated prisoners vote? To the best of my knowledge, not in any U.S. state, yet they can vote in every country where I have worked as an international election observer (mass incarceration of people of color is a uniquely and horrifying way the U.S. disenfranchises minorities). Can people who have served their time vote? In many U.S. states, no, voting rights are lost for life after serving a prison sentence; yet they can vote in every country where I have worked as an international election observer. If a person has served their time, why are they still punished by being disenfranchised in many U.S. states? Oh right, because it's a way to disfranchise people of color.

After 13 years of observing elections in half a dozen countries, I am also 100% convinced that a printed ballot that a voter hand-completes (with appropriate email exceptions for absentee voters) is the best voting method. Hand-counting in front of partisan and non-partisan citizen observers can be a time-consuming process but eliminates computer and hacking problems, and and can be manageable if polling districts are limited to a reasonable number of voters.

And the Electoral College, the most undemocratic voting process in the modern world, NEEDS TO END.

End of my TEDTalk. Thanks for attending.

My review of The Foxfire 45th Anniversary Book: Singin', Praisin', Raisin'

In 1987, I performed the lead in Foxfire, a play with songs, by Susan Cooper and Hume Cronyn, based on the Foxfire books about Appalachian culture and traditions in North Georgia. I loved being Annie Nations. I adored the young man who played my husband, and still call him "Hector." I remember once in rehearsal when I was supposed to be angry, and my Hector just wasn't giving me anything to work with - the audience would see any reason for me to get angry. So I told him I really, really needed him to get angry or annoyed - something. And he said, "But how can I get angry at those sweet brown eyes..." I'll always love "my" Hector (hi, Andy!).

Foxfire was a natural choice for the theater department at Western Kentucky University, and I was beyond honored to be in the show. It remains one of the most special, wonderful experiences of my life. But I didn't really know the story of Foxfire, not until years later. In case you don't know the story: the Foxfire series began in 1966, when a high school class in Georgia interviewed their relatives and local citizens about their youth and young adult days, their traditions and culture, and how things had changed for them over time. The stories were published in a magazine, and those stories are also expanded and published in books. The content is written as a mixture of how-to information, first-person narratives, oral history and folklore.

I found The Foxfire 45th Anniversary Book: Singin', Praisin', Raisin' last year at the Texas Book Festival and finally got around to reading it this year.

I have mixed feelings about it.

Any project that is working to preserve the voices of elders and their culture from their youth and younger days deserves to be lauded. If you have enjoyed listening to your own grandparents and elderly family members talking about their youth and early adult days, whether they lead a rural, urban or somewhere-in-between life, you know how precious those stories are, and the appeal of the Foxfire stories won't at all be a surprise to you. This particular book is a good representation of what the series generates annually and regularly, and if you aren't familiar with rural white culture beyond stereotypes on TV and in movies, this is a good introduction - it's best to pop on a bluegrass soundtrack to get the full effect. And if you are familiar with this region and love its music and land and food culture - as I do (I'm from Kentucky), you also will love it as it lovingly, reverently talks about such - you may even find, like me, hearing the people in this book telling stories and situations you have heard from your own family members. It also is a great example of what could be done in regions all over the world: young people going out into their own communities and preserving the stories of their elders. If you are looking for a monologue for an audition or other drama performance, this provides outstanding source material.

However, there are some uncomfortable insights that some readers will experience, at least I did: the presence of black Americans in the area is almost completely ignored, not only in the choice of storytellers but in the recorded memories of the storyteller. There ARE black Americans in Appalachia - Google it if you don't believe me. There are no mentions in this book of the ugly sides of historic mountain life, like child marriage or racism. There are also idealizations that just simply aren't true, not only by the storytellers but by the editors, like this from the start of the chapter entitled "Knoxville Girl: Crime Close to Home": "Crimes were rare and murders were virtually unheard of... " That is just patently not true. The overall perpetuation of poverty as "beautiful" in this book makes me uncomfortable. I appreciate what the book honors, but I just so wonder how many stories get left out because they might make local people not look quite so noble and honorable.

It was also disturbing to find out that the founder of the project molested young children, which I did when I did a little online research in writing this review. I'm so glad the project has survived that disturbing association - I hope MercyCorps does as well. But all I could think that's a perfect example of what I mean: bad things happen everywhere, including in Appalachia. No place is paradise, no time is a perfect time. We need to acknowledge the bad with the good.

"People then didn't know any better"

People then didn't know any better.

I've heard that phrase all-too-often whenever there's talk about the past in the USA and Europe, about the horrific treatment and exclusion of women and ethnic minorities and the participation or inaction of white men - or white society in general - in that oppression. The excuse implies that white people - particularly white men - heard and saw only messages of their supremacy, living in a vacuum that never allowed dissenting voices and so, therefore, they didn't know any better than to be white supremacists, abusers, fascists, whatever. We hear it about our own parents, grandparents and great-grandparents in particular.

For so long, I believed it.

But in the last 10 years, I've read and seen more material from specific times when, supposedly, dissenting voices weren't widely known and alternative viewpoints weren't expressed. As I've read, I've learned that, particularly in the last 250 years, most definitely, people DID know better.

Let's take American slave narratives, for instance: these interviews with formerly enslaved Americans from the 1700s and 1800s are readily and easily available online from a variety of sources - and were widely available in newspapers during those times as well. Take the case of Oney "Ona" Judge, enslaved under George Washington and his wife: with the aid of Philadelphia's free black community, Judge liberated herself in 1796 and lived as a fugitive slave in New Hampshire for the rest of her life. She was twice interviewed by abolitionist newspapers in the mid-1840s. Washington wanted her abducted and brought back to him, but the plan was abandoned when a local official warned that news of an abduction could cause a riot on the docks by supporters of abolition.

So, at a time when people supposedly didn't know any better, Ona was one of many slaves having her story told in publications in the 1700s, and there were so many vocal supporters of abolition that a local official feared that they would RIOT if Ona was abducted and returned to the man who, we've all been told, was the most respected and adored man in our country.

Look at the editorials in newspapers in the 1800s: the evils of slavery are regularly talked about. People were regularly hearing those messages, all over the USA, via newspapers and lectures and pulpits. They either listened to those voices or they deliberately, purposely ignored them.

People then didn't know any better.

I've been told repeatedly that, before the USA got involved officially in World War II, Americans had no idea that Nazis were that bad. I was told the USA government turned away Jewish refugees because Americans just didn't understand what was happening under the Nazis. But one day a few years ago, TCM showed four movies, back to back, all released before 1943 and all strongly stating the horrors of Nazism - and this was before the depth of the Holocaust was widely known. I watched them all and then decided to try to find and watch every English-language anti-fascist movies released before 1943. I'm now up to 14 titles. The first I've found is in 1939. These aren't obscure films: these are mainstream movies that feature the biggest stars of the day, including Edward G. Robinson, George Sanders, Margaret Sullavan, Jimmy Stewart, Joan Bennett, Joel McCrea, Paulette Goddard, Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Leslie Howard, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, of course, Charlie Chaplin. Millions of Americans saw those movies and, therefore, WERE WARNED ABOUT NAZIS.

People then didn't know any better.

The movie Hidden Figures was a revelation for me. This wasn't about just one or two black women working within the space program. This was about a room FULL of black women working out mathematical problems and crunching data for the space program. How many white men saw these black American women working, benefitted from their mathmatical and analytical knowledge and skills, and still joined their local White Citizens League or remained quiet during the Civil Rights movement?

People then didn't know any better.

Recently, a Playboy interview from 1971 with John Wayne resurfaced where Wayne said he believed in white supremacy. It shocked a lot of people, which, in turn, shocked me - I've always known John Wayne was an extreme right-winger, his views were widely reported at the time and have never been a secret. But let's be clear: John Wayne wasn't the way he was because he was born in 1907. He wasn't that way because he was 30 in 1937. He wasn't that way because he was 64 in 1971. He wasn't that way because of when he was born nor because of when or where he lived. He was that way because of the CHOICES HE MADE ABOUT WHAT TO BELIEVE. There were people all around him in the 1930s and 40s and 50s and 60s who didn't think like him and didn't vote like him and were talking about and marching about civil rights. He saw them, he heard them and he CHOSE to oppose them. His racism and sexism didn't come from the time or place he lived in - it came from WHO HE WAS.

And, yet, I heard the excuses. And when I pushed back, I was told, "So, the majority of white people in the early to mid 20th century weren't racist and supportive of racist laws or at the very least complicit in racism through their silence?" That statement implies we should assume that anyone born in certain times was a racist because, you know, People then didn't know any better.

Your birthdate doesn't give you a pass to be a racist nor a misogynist - at least not in the USA. Not now, now 50 years ago, not 100 years ago, not 200 years ago.

And don't even get me started on the fact that Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelly (Frankenstein), wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, published in 1792, arguing that women are not naturally inferior to men and that both men and women should be treated as rational beings, with equal access to education. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was an immediate success and well received upon its publication, reviewed favorably by the Analytical Review, the General Magazine, the Literary Magazine, New York Magazine and the Monthly Review. And she was NOT the only person saying such in 1792. Or 1892. And don't even get me started on how more feminist archeology is turning common assumptions about who was making tools, who was hunting and who was leading in primitive and ancient societies on its head - those common, sexist assumptions are recent, not thousands of years old.

People then didn't know any better.

Fuck that.

Racists who believe they aren't racists

I love language. I love English. Not in a "Everyone MUST speak English in the USA!" kind of way, but in a "Let's read aloud from Hamlet tonight!" kind of way. I like poetry. I like well-written narratives. I lose myself in a well-crafted novel. I love hearing a well-spoken person deliver a speech where every word feels perfectly, lovingly placed. I correct people speaking on TV, particularly newscasters, sometimes talking back to the TV and sometimes tweeting the channel (I'm sure they love that). I correct myself when I realize I have been using a word incorrectly, or not using proper grammar.

A friend posted a photo on Facebook that had this caption:

This pic of the openly gay son of Alabama’s new senator, staring defiantly into the eyes of the outrageously homophobic VP who’s swearing in his dad, is everything! 

A friend of his commented:

I’m sorry, but just because someone holds a religious opposition to homosexuality does not mean they are homophonic, nor does it mean they hate anyone who is homosexual. This rhetoric and word twisting is infuriating.

So I responded:

"homophobic | ˌhōməˈfōbik | adjective having or showing a dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people: homophobic remarks." Pence is against allowing gay people to marry, for conversion therapy to 'change' gay people to straight, for allowing businesses to be able to fire people who are gay, and against gay couples from adopting children. If we are English speakers and understand the meaning of words as they are defined in the dictionary, yes, the vice-President is homophobic. Were he against all of those same things for black Americans, he would be racist. That's how words work.

And it dawned on me yet again that not only do homophobic people in the USA not want to be called homophobic, but racist people in the USA don't want to be called racist. And I wonder - why?

Homophobic people in the USA say, "I don't HATE gay people. I just don't want them to marry, to adopt children, to be my doctor, to rent an apartment from me, to ask me to dry clean their clothes from their wedding, or to ever mention anything all of the rest of us are allowed to mention - like 'I had a date last night' or 'I think I'm in love' or 'my boyfriend and I just made plans for a vacation to Mexico.' And if my child said he was gay, I want to be able to take him to a counselor who says he can change him and make him straight. But I don't HATE gay people. Jesus tells us to love the sinner, hate the sin! In fact, I have gay friends!"

And racist people in the USA, say, "I don't HATE black people. I just don't want them to date or marry white people, to be my doctor, to be my massage therapist or to rent an apartment from me. I don't want their kids in my kids' schools because they will bring down test scores because most of them can't be as smart or well-behaved as white kids - it's just their biology, they can't really help it. I don't want one as my mayor, or sheriff, or governor, or President. But I don't hate black people! I love their music! And I have black friends!"

I've heard almost all of those actual statements from real people, particularly back in Kentucky. Some of the comments have come from relatives. And I love my family, and I love Kentucky, but, yes, a lot of people there are racists. You might "have black friends", you might not march with the Klan, you might not want to bring back slavery, you might never, ever use racial slurs, you might have black co-workers and you all use the same bathrooms, you might prefer a certain bank teller because she is the nicest of everyone at your bank and she also happens to be black, but, yes, you can still be racist.

Did you see the movie Get Out? If you didn't, stop reading and SEE THAT MOVIE. If you did, keep reading: I loved that movie. I cannot get that movie out of my head. The white characters in that movie, in response to the question, "Are you racist?" would say no. Seriously. They would say no, with great sincerity. When the dad says he would have voted Obama a third term? He means that. Yeah, I know the movie is fiction, but those white characters rang true for me on a level that shakes me to my core. I know those people. They don't lure black people to their homes and steal their souls, but they feel entitled to exploit black Americans economically, to make voting difficult for them, to defund their schools, to pollute their water - and that sense of entitlement makes them RACISTS.

And I know I've singled out racism against black Americans. I fully acknowledge the racism against other perceived races - Arab people, indigenous people of the Americas, Asian people, and on and on. I hear people try to attribute biological traits to Eastern Europeans, to Irish people, to people from a specific province of a country. I've heard Africans from one country disparage as biologically inferior Africans that are also from that same country, but are from a different "tribe." It's all JUST as offensive as any racism, of course. It's just that racism against black Americans is the racism that jumps out at me the most, the one I grew up with.

Racism. Racist. Homophobia. Homophobic. These words have specific meanings. And if the meaning describes you, why not own it? If you don't want to own it, maybe the problem isn't the word - maybe it's you.

Is globalization really new?

In various parts of Europe, and maybe beyond, you can find ceramics made hundreds of years ago from my husband's hometown in Germany.

There are Roman ruins in Northern Africa, and Roman soldiers included black Africans.

The Ottoman Empire stretched from Belgrade past Baghdad.

The Persian empire stretched to Macedonia.

Marcus Antonius, a Roman politician, commonly known as Mark or Marc Antony, died in Egypt.

When you were in school, you learned about all sorts of various tribes from far away invading some land, taking it over, integrating with locals and influencing culture. You yawned. You wondered what that had to do with your life now. You didn't realize that the point was: culture is never fixed. Europe, Asia and Northern Africa, at least, have always had multi-national economies, even "global" economies. There were ancient empires in Central and South America and sub Sahara Africa , swallowing tribes, changing borders, influencing - or even wiping out - cultures.

Globalization has been with us for a few thousand years. Political unrest in one part of the world has affected another, for better or worse, long before airplanes and cars and even steamer ships. Borders have shifted and reshifted and disappeared and been redrawn. Languages have come and gone. Tribes have formed, thrived and dispersed. Over and over and over. Yet we pretend we need to "get back" to a time that never existed, when borders were absolute, when we were isolated and prosperous.

I absolutely understand the love of a culture in which you are born and/or raised. You hear the music of your land, the language or accent of your home, you smell the food, and you feel your heart stir, you feel a sense of identity. I do. I mourn when a beloved restaurant closes in my home town, or another radio station that played the music I love changes formats, or that I have to curb my accent because, when I use it outside of my region, people can't understand me. But I also love it when someone in the Czech Republic says, upon learning I'm from Kentucky, "Horses!" Or when I meet a guy from Japan that plays bluegrass and talks lovingly about a pilgrimage he made to Kentucky years ago. I know these things will survive as long as there are people that love them and celebrate them. But I'm not going to force anyone to eat barbecue instead of burritos or hummus. I eat burritos. I eat hummus.

You might love your far away roots as well. Finding out that, genetically, I am 29% Celt, more than any other European tribe, gave me an emotional boost for Ireland and Scotland, two places I'd already fallen in love with from vacationing there, and I wear my Claddagh ring with pride in my genetic heritage. But does it really matter? I didn't grow up in Ireland or Scotland. No one in my family ever talked about Ireland or Scotland. The farthest back I ever heard anyone talk about the family was a great great grandparent or two - the story usually involved a wagon or a donkey or a farm, within the boundaries of the USA. I choose to identify with Ireland and Scotland. Would it be fair if I'd found out I was part Shawnee, to start identifying as native American? You can, and may, wear a Claddagh ring and not be from Ireland. That's fine. I don't mind. But identity is tricky. It's complicated. It's personal.

I love the English language. I really do. It's such a hodgepodge. And that word, hodgepodge, is so English. It's an alteration of hotchpotch and associated with hodge, an archaic British English term for an agricultural worker. Did you know that? If you didn't, does that make you less of an English speaker than me? I celebrate English by reading Shakespeare and John Steinbeck and Toni Morrison, and looking up word origins, and going to theater, and reading poetry, and trying to use proper grammar, and supporting literacy programs. I don't celebrate it by forcing people to speak it and getting angry when they don't. And my many English friends don't celebrate it by telling me I'm horrid for using American pronunciations and spellings (they just make fun of me). Yes, I think everyone in the USA that is a citizen, or wants to be, or that wants to live here for the rest of their lives, should be able to read and speak English. But I don't at all mind hearing instructions in another language as well. And I also think every USA citizen should delight in hearing other languages, and even learn another one. I'm not threatened by other languages, because I love my native language and celebrate it - why don't you? You can celebrate your heritage and not be a dick about it.

The global language used to be Greek. GREEK. Now, it's English, and more people on this Earth speak English than at any other time in human history. When the numbers of English speakers declines, give me a shout.

Projections show that new immigrants and their descendants will drive most USA population growth in the coming 50 years - just as they have for the past half-century (all my life). Non-Hispanic whites will remain the largest racial or ethnic group in the overall USA population, even in 2065, long after I'm dead, but non-Hispanic whites will become less than a majority. Among immigrants who arrived within the past five years, Asians already outnumber Hispanics, and there is a projected rise of Asians as our nation’s largest immigrant group (more on these numbers here). The projections also show a change in birth patterns, with a continuing dip in average lifetime births to Hispanic women and a slight rise in average lifetime births to Asian and white women. Today, average lifetime births to Hispanic women are markedly higher than to other groups, but the projections show that in 2065, Hispanics, whites, blacks and Asians would have similar fertility rates. Those projections lead some people in the USA to start breathing heavily, panic, and want to vote for extremists. And I just cannot understand why.

And I bring all this up as we all reel from the vote in the for-now-United Kingdom regarding membership in the European Union. The "leave" votes were from people who feel their language and food and values and even their history are under attack, who feel that intellectuals are a threat to their livelihoods and culture, and who feel left out of decision-making that does, very much, affect their lives. It's a vote based more on feelings than reality. But feelings matter. And woe to any politician, in Brussels or in Washington, D.C., that forgets that. The EU should employ the same participatory decision-making in Europe that it demands of projects it funds in the developing world. EU offices, you do a great job with social media - that's part of the reason people under 50 in the UK voted to stay in the EU. But you do a lousy job at traditional communications methods, and that's part of the reason people 50 and over voted to leave. Politicians, you MUST reach out. You must discuss. You must share. You must ask for feedback and show you have heard that feedback. Or you will have a revolution on your hands.

A friend posted this to Facebook, BEFORE the vote, and I think it's dead on:

Having been doing some canvassing it appears that we are heading for Brexit, but the reasons are peculiarly English and I can't cure anyone of that.

It is not because of Boris or his lying battlebus. I don't think anyone trusts him.

It is not because of Farage and his atrocious shit stirring. He is a dreadful human being and most people know this.

It is not because of the psychopathic Gove and his twisted view of the World. Would anyone let him look after their kids let alone the NHS?

It is not because there are so many wealthy people in Britain who won't be affected by the outcome and can afford the arrogance to ignore all the advice.

It is not because people believe any of the Brexit politicians. I don't think most people are really listening to what they are actually saying.

It is also not because anyone actually cares about the facts or figures or wrong or rights of the EU or any of the arguments. Most people support the EU and believe that it is generally good.

It seems to me that this Brexit vote is because people have had enough and don't care any more about the does and don'ts, they are going to have their day in court and the answer is basically 'anything politicians do not want.' People out there canvassing or working will tell you that the social contract between politicians and the people is broken and that the working man has had enough of shit jobs and shit lives and having to share the little with people who don't speak English and will sleep in their car, so if politicians ask them for a positive the answer is no, not for any good reason, but because it is not yes. Pretty much like the answer always is to them when they try and talk to politicians.

I do think right wing extremists are very much to blame for exploiting people's fears and misconceptions regarding this vote. But the EU is also to blame for this vote, for its poor job of communicating with its citizens, and its poor job of making people feel they are a part of the decisions being made about their lives. Let's face it: government and mainstream media are utterly out-of-touch. Back in 2005, I sat in Germany listening to pundits on CNN International and the BBC say over and over that there was no way French voters would reject the EU Constitution, and I thought, all the while, you guys are in for SUCH a shock. And when the French rejected that Constitution, those same pundits said, "Well, the Dutch will FOR SURE approve it." And, again, I shook my head in disbelief at how out-of-touch they were. And, boom, three days later, Dutch voters rejected the constitution by 61.6% of voters. And it's happened again, with Brexit. How does a fat, middle-aged girl from Kentucky know more than you, EU governments and CNN and BBC and all the rest, when it comes to how people feel and vote?!

I don't live a fear-based life - but oh-so-many people do, and not just in Europe. And rather than make fun of them, or dismiss them, or condemn them, it's time to start talking with them, as humans. If you don't, you can expect these same results when France votes or the Netherlands votes or whoever is next. Or in November right here in the USA...

Finally watched Birth of a Nation. Yuck.

According to the dictionary on my computer, the term racism means "the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races." There are a lot of people that would read that definition, without the word racism, and happily, even unashamedly, identify with the phrase. I am not one of those people. But they are all around me. That belief about different races is not limited to only people descended from European tribes, I've learned as I've traveled the world. And when people tout any race - their own or someone else's - as smarter, kinder, more family-oriented, sneakier, more violent, more passionate, more creative, better with money, or WHATEVER - than other races, I get a really ugly pain in my stomach. Racism is real.

In our vernacular use, most people, when they say something is racist, mean something much stronger: they use the word for something that has a message that is demeaning at best, and hateful at worst, regarding all people of a particular race. When someone says some book or movie or play or whatever is racist, that's usually what they mean: that the piece is demeaning to an entire race.

When someone says, "Hey, that's racist" about a movie or book or play or whatever, if I haven't seen it or read it or whatever, I'll give it a look. And sometimes, I don't find it truly racist - I don't always think the author or screenwriter or whatever is trying to say something specfici about all members of a race, good or bad. Maybe I do think it's racist, but I think it's more a relic of a time - presentation of stereotypes and sweeping generalizations we all, surely, know now aren't true, right? Often, I think, yes, it's racist - but it's far, far more sexist, so why aren't we talking about that?!

In short, I'm not quick to jump on the oh-my-goodness-that's-racist! bandwagon. So knowing that's my MO, please take this for what it is worth:

I finally watched Birth of a Nation, all three plus hours of it, and it's the most hateful, racist-filled crap of a movie I've ever seen in my life. By far. It's absolutely reprehensible. It's so much worse than I ever imagined. To call it racist doesn't even begin to describe its horribleness. It is hideous.

Tons of old American movies are racist. Maybe all of them. Maybe all of the new ones as well. I love old movies, but loving old movies, like Gone With the Wind, is like loving my grandparents (one of whom I'm relatively certain was in the White Citizens League back in the 1950s): racist, painfully so at times, but there are so many, many other wonderful things about them that are worth loving, worth loving deeply, and I do so, even if, at times, they make me cringe - or even make me angry and ashamed. I look at the entire picture, and see what the heart of the message is, and what might be a product of the time, and see if I can reconcile, if the heart is good and greater than the unpleasantness around it. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't.

There's a racist joke and a couple of racist scenes in my beloved Duck Soup.  There's oh-so-much racism in Red Dust, yet another film I adore. There's a couple of cringe-worthy comments in His Girl Friday, a comedy we all claim to love. Often, in a quest to not address racism, movies simply ignore that black Americans or Asians exist at all - not exactly racism, but most definitely not anything to applaud. I am fully conscious of the racism every time I watch these films, but it doesn't keep me from enjoying them, because there is so much more there, so many wonderful portrayals of the human spirit and of human values. If I avoided movies that could be considered racist, I wouldn't watch any movies.

And I'm always amazed at how the people so quick to tell me what is and isn't racist will roll their eyes when I start to talk about sexism in movies - especially when I go off on The Philadelphia Story, a movie I LOATHE for its horrible sexist message: men cheat on their wives, but as long as they go back to their wives eventually, or don't entirely leave them, they are just being normal and women should accept it. BITE ME.

But the obvious, hateful agenda of Birth of a Nation... its entire story, its characters, its presentation - EVEN THE TITLE... it is all beyond anything I can get my head around. It has no other purpose than to say that African Americans are sex-crazed buffoons naturally prone to violence, that their subjugation was (and is) for the good of everyone in the USA, and that the only way to have world peace is for white people to be united in their subjugation of Africans everywhere. It also promotes a twisted view of history, saying explicitly that, before the Civil War, there was no one nation, there was no union - just happy independent states doing entirely as they pleased (which makes it perfectly in-line with the modern-day GOP, but I digress...). Birth of a Nation has NO OTHER PURPOSE than inspiring hate and feelings of superiority by white Americans, and to say that the USA should give states the right to subjugate black Americans. It wasn't made primarily to tell a love story, or a survival story, or a horror story, or any kind of story: it was made solely to say horrific things about one race of people, and to claim it was best for the people of that race to be enslaved by another race of people, who the movie says are superior intellectually, emotionally, culturally and spiritually. It promotes a passionate, irrational hatred of black Americans - and it makes the Ku Klux Klan the heroes. That's its message, first and foremost.

Geesh, the movie is so freakin' racist that many of the black characters are played by white actors with make-up, when those characters were required to come in contact with a white actress. This film is widely credited for reviving the long-dead Ku Klux Klan - and I completely see why.

I have always hoped, having not seen it, that maybe it was just really outdated, that it would turn out, once I saw it, to be just to be just archaic and misguided. At worst, insidious. Nope, there's no stealth here - it's infused with angry, intense, unashamed arrogance regarding the film-maker's supremacist beliefs. No subtlety at all.

I can't admire the film-making techniques of Birth of a Nation any more than I can in Triumph of the Will. I don't give a rat's ass that this movie pioneered panoramic long shots, iris effects, still shots, night photography, panning shots, the staging of battle scenes, color tinting and having its own musical score. I DON'T CARE. It's like saying, "Sad about the stabbing of that family, but look how well the knives worked! What technique!"

D.W. Griffith didn't make Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages as a follow-up in order to apologize for Birth of a Nation - isn't it OBVIOUS that he made that follow-up because he was so upset at people disgust at B of a N, that he felt the criticism was, itself, intolerance and that such was unfair? Well, DW, yes, the criticism, the disgust, were - and are - intolerance. And humans have a right to express such, to reject your pathetic world view. No, I don't think this movie should be banned. But I also think it needs to be presented honestly and openly for what it is - no sugar-coating, no oh-but-the-film-techniques! justifications. Let's present it as the love letter to white supremicists that it is. That is what it is. Period.

I'm really glad Turner Classic Movies (TCM) showed it. I'm glad I've seen it. But I'm disappointed to learn it's even more horrible than I ever expected. Wow.

On a side note: I was on the light rail coming home from Portland in 2013, and was eavesdropping on a group of African women, I think from Tanzania, and a group of Indian women talking about movies they love. And they all love Gone With the Wind, and went on and on about why. They loved it like I do. No mention of its racism was ever made - I kept listening for it, but it never happened. Sometimes I wonder if people in other countries, even Africans, understand the horrors of slavery in the Americas... but I kind of loved that they loved the film without experiencing any racist subtext. The way women are expected to enjoy so many films without getting upset about the sexism.

March Madness

You may remember that, when I lived in Kabul, Afghanistan, I visited a leather shop and had a purse custom made to my specifications. My office mate went on to form a partnership with the owner and now helps him design and sell gorgeous bags, other leather goods and other handicrafts. By buying from Gundara, you not only get a unique, gorgeous item, you help support local people in Afghanistan. And a big thank you to my friends who have bought items from Gundara already!

If you are in Kabul, the shop is in the plaza across from the India Embassy.

* * *
I want to do this motorcycle trip in Africa to see the work of Riders for Health so badly my heart hurts.

* * *
Han Solo is watching me... This is what I look like in my home office. Always under the watchful eye of Han Solo. And Agent Mulder (can you see him there? he's there...). And Shrek and Fiona. I'm a geek.

I'm going to buy a toy tiara and start wearing it every day around the house, particularly during video conference calls for work. Because I can.


* * *
Want to make a Kentucky Atheist angry? Show up at my door to proselytize during March Madness. WWJD? Not do that.

This is not one of my grandmothers. But this IS one of the residents of the apartment complex for seniors where they live in Henderson, Kentucky. I try to explain to people that it's just NOT a retirement home in the way you might think a retirement home is, and people don't believe me. Maybe this photo will explain it. It will at least explain what March Madness is like in Kentucky. GO BIG BLUE!!!!

FYI, two players from the greater Portland metropolitan area are on Kentucky's team. I never, ever would have thought of this area as a basketball recruiting ground. They just aren't that into basketball around here. And while football is popular here, you just do not see anywhere near the craziness and devotion to teams the way you do in the South or Midwest.

And on a related note: wonder what Prime Minister Cameron thought of that WKU game that kicked off March Madness... and wonder what he thought of Big Red?

* * *
Check out the VERY scary malware Stefan had on his computer. Note that this attempt to compromise his account happened AFTER he logged in to check his bank account balance! I'm really ticked off that his employer's IT department didn't do any research, just immediately claimed it was the bank that had been compromised, not Stefan's lap top. I did an Internet search and found out the truth. I really do not like doing other people's jobs...

* * *
Don Julio González Estrada, creator and founder of Tequila Don Julio passed away. I will never forget the bottle of Don Julio my friends Sharron and Ron brought us for our wedding, schlepping it all the way from Texas to Germany. Oh how we enjoyed that.... glad the tequila will live on.

* * *
Last week, the cooking expert on Portland local TV just said "Add Qweso."

* * *
This year - last week, in fact -- is the anniversary of the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. It was published in 1852. I never read it in school or at university - I read I just a few years ago, in fact. And it was nothing at all like I thought it would be.

* * *
Tweet from Will Ferrell / @RealFerrellWill :

I live n a country where a chick that threw flour on Kim Kardashian was arrested on site But the man who KILLED Trayvon Martin is still free

If you know me, you know that I don't like teenagers. I fear them. No matter the color, no matter the gender, hoodie or not. I've had teens - and pre-teens - start saying the most awful things to me for no reason other than I happened to be standing near them or walking by. I've had them grab me - my breasts, my ass - and I've had them do that one-foot-forward-stomp, like they are going to come after me. But when I see a teen in my neighborhood, hoodie or not, I do not freakin' jump in my car and follow him or her! I don't walk behind him/her/them and confront him/her/them; I look out the window and give a very suspicious look ala Gladys Kravitz. If I was really scared or worried, I'd call the police - but I'd stay in my car or my house. Whether or not this was a case of racism, it was most certainly a case of stupidity on the shooter's part, a criminal case of extreme over-reaction - and warranted way, WAY more investigation on the part of the police.

And, for the record, I'm working on trying to not pre-judge teens, despite so many bad experiences with them. I've noticed they become very disarmed when I look them right in the eye and say, in a loud voice, "Good morning!" And most of them have been really, really wonderful when I'm walking a dog or two.

But they still need to stay off my lawn.

* * *
5 of the Top 6 Porn Consuming Red States Have Voted For Rick Santorum. So Santorum voters in the South are both hypocrites and women-haters.