The Next Stage: Women and Retirement

Good news/ bad news from the June 15 PA Democratic State Committee meeting

2013-06-17T09:31:00.001-04:00

First the good news: resolutions sponsored by progressive caucus members calling for online voter registration and early voting passed unanimously and a moratorium on fracking passed by a clear majority. A resolution in support of social security passed unanimously.

The early voting and online voter registration resolutions called for state committee to support efforts currently in the PA legislature to allow for early voting and online registration. And online voter registration bill (Senate Bill 37) passed the Senate unanimously and is currently before the House. Two early voting bills (HB 361 and HB 548) have been proposed in the House. The Republicans have been ruthless in their attempts to suppress voting rights; the Democrats must fight back with a proactive agenda that ensures that voting is as easy and accessible as possible.

While the voter access resolutions were non-controversial, the resolution on fracking was contentious. Areas in the western part of the state which have experienced job growth as a result of the fracking industry were for the most part opposed to the resolution. Given the powerful interests involved in the fracking industry, it’s not clear what impact this resolution will have, but having PA state committee on record in favor of a moratorium has got to strengthen the position of anti-fracking activists.

With regard to the social security resolution, as one member of the progressive caucus said, “it’s incredible that the state Democratic Party has to pass a resolution in support of social security. Isn’t that a given?” Not so long ago such a resolution would have been totally unnecessary. But since we now have “centrist” Democrats who argue that we must cut “entitlements" to reduce the budget deficit, we are forced to defend social security and Medicare within the Democratic Party. This is surely the world turned upside down!

Now for the bad news: the bylaws change calling for due process for aggrieved committeepeople failed. A bylaws change requires a 2/3 majority and it’s not easy to reach that threshold. Since the Chair thought it was clear we didn’t have 2/3’s, he didn’t call for a head count. I really would have liked to have had those numbers. It looked to me like we had at least 50% of the members present and progressive caucus chair Bruce Slater thought we had a majority, but the bottom line was we didn’t have 2/3’s.

The big surprise (for me) was that the intense opposition that scuttled the bylaws amendment came from Montgomery County. I had heard that there was opposition from Philadlphia County, but at the Philadelphia County regional meeting there was a civil discussion rather than the hard sell I expected. Lou Farinella who chaired the meeting was opposed to the bylaws change, but he acknowledged that there were legitimate concerns about due process. He complimented Irv Ackelsberg’s defense of Tracey Gordon, whose expulsion from her ward committee set in motion the progressive caucus attempt to get the state Democratic Party to guarantee due process. Farinella even told an anecdote about how he was once kicked out of his ward in the late 1970’s for support of then Mayor Bill Green—as if to say I myself have had experience with arbitrary and capricious behavior and understand your concerns even though I disagree with your proposed solution.

When I left the Philadelphia caucus meeting, I felt optimistic about the possibility of passage of the bylaws amendment. Irv Acklesberg and Walter Sullivan made effective arguments in favor of the bylaws change and it appeared that some of the opposition within the Philadelphia delegation might have softened a bit. (It may have been, as some of my fellow progressive caucus members stated, that Farinella did not engage in a hard sell because he knew that had the votes to defeat the amendment.)

The most intense opposition to the bylaws change came from Montgomery County spearheaded by Montgomery County Chair, Marcel Groen. Delegates are seated by county, so when people stand up to cast their vote, you can see what parts of the state support or oppose a resolution. When the entire Montgomery County delegation stood up in opposition, it was clear we had a problem.

Marcel Groen’s speech against the motion was shockingly self-centered. He stated that Montgomery County had instituted fair procedures and that due process for committeepeople existed in Montgomery County. He was opposed to any appeal beyond the county level as there was no need for anyone in Montgomery County to appeal any of his actions to state committee. He is alleged to have told a progressive caucus member that “he didn’t want anyone telling him what to do.”

Assuming it is true that there are no problems and never will be problems in Montgomery County, there clearly have been problems in other parts of the state. Groen was voting to prevent extension of due process in other parts of the state because he saw it as an encroachment on his power in Montgomery County. No county should be a law unto itself. Philadelphia County has a reputation for such arrogance, but Montgomery County appears to be just as bad, if not worse.

Apparently at least some of the Montgomery County delegates voted against the amendment based on a misunderstanding of what it involved. One delegate said he had been told the bylaws amendment would require changing the process that Montgomery County currently has in place. Not true. The amendment would require only that the county rules be consistent with the state party rules and that a committee person who believed that the county process has been applied unfairly in her case would have the opportunity to appeal to Democratic State Committee. In short, the amendment simply provides for due process. When Irv Ackelsberg asked the Montgomery County delegate if he had read the amendment, he said he had not. Apparently there were quite few delegates who voted against the bylaws change because they were told to do so and never bothered to read the amendment.

Bruce Slater said he was not discouraged that we failed at this point to reach the 2/3 threshold for a bylaws change. He said at least 50% of the delegates voted for the amendment and many state committee delegates, including some of those in leadership, now acknowledge that there is a problem and are talking about ways to address it.

Fortunately, not all county chairs insist upon having the final word with regard to what happens in their counties and recognize that there might be times when a committeeperson has been treated unjustly and should have the right to appeal. The bottom line: A Democratic Party should have democratic procedures.

The Magic of Toledo:The Spain and Portugal Diaries, Part VIII

2013-06-10T09:14:00.000-04:00

In the mid 1980's when Rick and I were in Spain, we took a day trip from Madrid to Toledo. It was frustrating to be in that beautiful town for only a short time and I longed to get back there. I especially wanted to see Toledo at night. That amazing painting by El Greco "The View from Toledo" had a hold on my imagination.

Toledo was not on the direct route back to Madrid and involved more driving than we liked to do on one day, but we decided to do it anyway as we might not have the opportunity to see Toledo again. I still very much liked Toledo but it was not as magical as I remembered. It seems whenever I fall in love with a place, it’s never as wonderful the second time around. Sometimes it’s a real disappointment as in my return trip to Santiago . (Tuscany is an exception to this. )

Anyway, we did get to see Toledo at night and we also visited the major synagogue, El Transito.

Toledo at night

There are two synagogues in the Old Town of Toledo and in 1986 we saw the 12c synagogue which had been converted into the Christian church, Santa Maria la Blanca. This time we visited El Transito and the adjoining Museo Sefardi with a collection illustrating the history and culture of the Sephardic Jews in Spain. If you have time for only one synagogue, El Transito is the one.

El Transiito courtyard of El Transito

As far as I’m concerned, there are three “must see’s” in Toledo, the synagogue, the gargantuan cathedral which has an astonishing collection of paintings and a small chapel, Iglesia de Santo Tome containing the Burial of Count Orgaz which we missed in 1986.

There are some paintings that a photograph can’t begin to capture and this is one of them. Although I’m not as in love with El Greco as I used to be decades go, there are still some of his paintings I could look at for hours. This is one of them.

I’m very happy we managed to visit Toledo once again and it was much more enjoyable in March without the crowds and intense heat of mid-summer.

Back to Spain—Zamora, Salamanca again: The Spain and Portugal Diaries, Part VII

2013-05-31T12:05:00.002-04:00

Main Square in Zamora

The scenery changed very dramatically when we left Northern Portugal for Spain. Bright green hills morphed into the flat arid plains of central Spain. When we drove through this region in the mid-1980’s we saw some of the most depressing little towns in Western Europe. These impoverished dusty towns appear to be a thing of the past.

Our first stop was Zamora. We chose it because it was a convenient stopping point and known for a 12thc. cathedral. We hadn't expected it to have such an incredibly beautiful old town. Like Salamanca, the buildings were all golden sandstone; unlike Salamanca, we saw the historic center shimmering in sunlight.

The Michelin guides can usually be counted on to identify major cultural treasures but they fell down on the job in their description of the cathedral at Zamora simply stating: “The principal exhibit in the cathedral museum is a series of 15thc century Flemish tapestries.” What an understatement! With perfectly preserved jewel like colors, these were among the most beautiful tapestries I’ve ever seen; the museum guard called them the most beautiful in the world and he may have been right. It is worth the trip to Zamora for the tapestries alone.

Cathedral in Zamora

And if we ever make it back to Zamora, I would definitely stay at the Paredor, a very beautiful old manor house right near the main square.

The drive from Zamora to Toledo was our longest driving day so we broke it up with a stop at Salamanca, hoping to catch Salamanca on a sunny day. Unfortunately it was another rainy day in Salamanca, but the town is so beautiful it didn’t really matter. And we did get a ray of sunshine for about two minutes. Salamanca on a brilliant sunny day may be one of those travel experiences which will forever elude us.

Main Square in Salamanca

This time we managed to see the University of Salamanca. During our previous stop at Salamanca, we had the misfortune to arrive at the University at 1:30 just as it was closing for the day. It would have been a real loss to have visited Salamanca and not seen the university found in 1215. Apparently medieval Salamanca had its problems with campus violence and according to the guide provided by the University, Alfonso X, El Sabio (King of Castille, 1252-84) "banned students from buying weapons and advised the university proctor to imprison or expel quarrelsome students!”

We would have liked to linger in Salamanca but we had a two and a half hour drive to Toledo ahead of us.

Casa Mateus and Braganza:The Spain and Portugal Diaries, Part VI

2013-05-22T19:36:00.000-04:00

I had never heard of the small Portuguese town of Mateus, but when we realized we needed to break up our trip from Guimaraes to Braganza, we looked at the map and saw that Mateus was conveniently located around the mid-point.

The Casa Mateus, an early 18th century baroque manor house built by the Mateus family (makers of Mateus rose wine) is now open to the public and run as a private foundation by the Mateus family. The manor house was filled with the art work/memorabilia of the Mateus family and definitely worth a visit.

But for me the great attraction was the garden—I cannot resist a garden tour.

The garden was awash in camellias, magnolias, and apple trees in bloom.

In fact camellias were everywhere in northern Portugal.

Camellias in the cathedral in Porto

The Casa Mateus garden was not as well kept up as it might be—we were told there was only one full-time gardener with 2 part-time helpers—but was still very beautiful and must be spectacular in summer. Although we greatly enjoy the absence of crowds and the low prices of off-season travel, the reality is that gardens are generally at their best during high season. Again, trade-offs, trade-offs.

Braganza turned out to be something of a disappointment. It does have a well-preserved 12thc. castle on a steep hill with spectacular views of the countryside, but outside the castle walls the town is mostly modern construction, without the architectural riches of most of Portugal’s historic towns.

Apparently the Braganca dynasty which built the castle decided to leave the cool rainy North and decamp for the warmth and sunshine of Southern Portugal and took their enormous wealth with them.

Our trip was winding down and I was starting to get tired. Two weeks is about my limit at this stage of life and this trip was over the limit. Much as I enjoyed our road trip in Northern Portugal, I was starting to think longingly of home. When we were younger we took this kind of European road trip for 3-4 weeks and if money had not been an issue would gladly have kept going for another 4 weeks. But, sad to say, this is no longer the case.

Viana do Castelo, Guimaraes, Braga—Magical Small Towns of Northern Portugal; The Spain and Portugal Diaries, Part V

2013-05-10T16:10:00.001-04:00

View from Staircase at Bom Jesus

If we ever travel to northern Portugal again, we will definitely plan an overnight stay in the magical town of Viana do Castelo which has a glorious old town and one of the most beautiful town squares in Northern Portugal.

When Rick and I first started traveling together we never made advance reservations. We waited until we got to a town before deciding whether or not we wanted to stay there, but as we got older we increasingly disliked the hassle of searching for a hotel. So we now we choose the security of advance booking over the freedom to follow our inclinations. We’re just too old to arrive in a town dead tired without a hotel booking. We also have less tolerance for changing hotels every night.

So although we would have liked to stay in Viana do Castelo, we had already booked two nights in a fantastic pousada in Guimaraes, a converted 12th century monastery perched on a steep hillside with magnificent views and a glorious garden. It even had a beautiful cloister where guests could hang out. I had always wanted to sit round drinking wine in a medieval cloister—yes this really has been one of my travel fantasies—and in the Pousada de Santa Marinha da Costa I got my wish.

The next day we went to the Bom de Jesus do Monte described by our guidebook as “Portugal’s most spectacular religious sanctuary." Bom Jesus with its spectacular baroque staircase leading up to the church is itself worth a trip to northern Portugal. Rick and I surprised ourselves by managing to climb up and down the astonishing staircase. It was gratifying to know we could still do something like that.

The only disappointment was that the white washed stone of the staircase was beginning to show some wear and tear and looked very different from the photo in the guidebook. Portugal is clearly having difficulty keeping maintaining its rich cultural heritage.

Staircase at Bom Jesus

Unfortunately, we short-changed Guimares with its attractive old town and impressive Main Square, but we did manage to explore the historic center of nearby Braga. Rick and I have accepted that we can't see everything and would rather see a few things well than run frantically from place to place.

Most of Braga is a little shabby, but once you enter the old town, it’s a magical place. Unfortunately, getting to that historic center is a herculean challenge. These ancient European cities were not meant for automobiles. Once inside the old town, we were really happy we didn’t give into our frustration with the crazy traffic and near impossibility of finding a parking space and abandon Braga.

Cathedral in Braga

But even in the generally well-kept old town, there were signs of disrepair and historic buildings which sadly no longer looked at all like their photos in the guidebook. Let’s hope when this miserable recession ends, that the Portuguese government will be able to invest in its treasures like historic Braga and the magnificent Bom Jesus.

Porto, a must visit for port wine lovers:The Spain and Portugal Diaries, Part IV

2013-04-26T21:55:00.005-04:00

Like Lisbon, Porto is a river city on steep hills; unlike Lisbon, Porto is not covered with glistening tiles. Although I did not fall in love with Porto the way I did with Lisbon, Rick and I enjoyed it very much.

Porto has a rich architectural heritage but unfortunately much of it is in disrepair. The signs of economic distress were much more visible in Porto than in Madrid. But Porto retains its charm nonetheless—especially on a sunny day.

We arrived in Porto on a gray, gloomy day and the shabbiness of some parts of the town was a little depressing. A few days later, on a dazzling sunny day, sections which had looked down-at-heels now looked delightfully picturesque. Porto is a city of towers and a gray granite tower gains against a gray sky just can’t compare to that same gray tower against a dazzling blue sky.

We managed to see almost the entire metropolitan area by hopping on and off the city bus tour. One of the highlights was the Ribeira district with tiny houses perched on vertiginous hills. It reminded me little of Italy’s Amalfi coast, especially as many of the houses were festooned with laundry hanging out to dry. And there were tiles if not so spectacular as those in Lisbon

Another highlight was Porto’s Atlantic coast. Parts of Porto and the neighboring town of Matosinhos opened onto the Atlantic. We jumped off our tour bus, headed straight for the beach and spent a few hours sipping red wine and staring at the ocean--just as we had in Barcelona last year. Of course since this was March, we were bundled up with scarves and sweaters, but I actually prefer this to a broiling summer beach.

The high point of our visit to Porto was our trip to the Port wine houses in Gaia, a small neighboring town across the Douro River, devoted to the making of port wine. For port-lovers like us, this was equivalent to a pilgrimage to Mecca. It was fascinating to learn how our beloved wine is made and yes they really do dance on the grapes.

We usually look for small hotels, but we found a really good deal at the Hotel Intercontinental and decided to try it. For what we paid, it was a fantastic deal with all sorts of amenities and amazing breakfasts. It’s a relatively new hotel in an old palace and trying to build its reputation, so I don’t know how long the good deals will last. The staff were extraordinarily helpful --all in all, a great experience. The hotel staff recommended a seriously good restaurant Paparico – wonderful food , charming setting , great service and surprisingly affordable.

Spain's Paradores and Portugal's Pousadas-- Government run hotels which work: The Spain and Portugal Diaries, Part III

2013-04-17T09:11:00.000-04:00

Cathedral in Viseu

One of the pleasures of going to Spain and Portugal in early Spring is the bright green landscape. When we drove through central Spain in 1986, we found a depressingly barren, brown, rock-strewn landscape. In mid-March it’s still austere, but the green gets brighter and lusher as we approached Portugal.

Our first stop in Portugal was Viseu which our guidebook described quite accurately as having “an enthralling old town.”

Old town square in Viseu

We stayed in one of Portugal’s pousadas—a government run hotel housed in a converted early 19th century hospital. Rick and I are drawn to historic buildings converted into modern hotels and we’ve stayed in more converted convents and monasteries than I can remember.

This however was our first converted hospital and a very enjoyable stay at an affordable 81 euros a night. Another advantage of off-season travel in Portugal and Spain is that off-season rates for the government run pousadas and paradores are significantly lower than high season rates.

From what we’ve read recently the pousadas (of Portugal) and paradores (of Spain) are going through something of a crisis. They were established in the early 1970’s as a way of luring tourists out of Madrid and Lisbon into the provinces, thus spreading the tourist dollar around. When they first opened they were often the only game in town. Now they have competition form new boutique hotels with a more “flexible” labor force.

The staff of the pousadas and paradores are government employee with benefits that most workers in the hospitality industry can only dream of. A recent New York Times article acknowledged that the paradores “For the most part...get high marks for service and food.” But according to Ramón Estalella, the secretary general of the Confederation of Spanish Hotels and Tourist Accommodations, “As a government enterprise, the paradores also have a bulky and inflexible staff...As government workers, they expect to be employed for life.”

According to the New York Times reporter, one criticism of the paradores is that “the staff, which averages more than 18 years on the job, is set in the old ways of hotel manners. Staff members speak few languages and tend to get about the business of checking you in without the friendly banter people are used to these days. “

This was not our experience We found the staff to be friendly and competent and if you like the idea if a hotel run by well-compensated employees with benefits maybe then maybe the pousadas (of Portugal) and paradores ( of Spain) are the place for you.

Salamanca--Gorgeous Even on a Gray, Rainy Day: The Spain and Portugal Diaries, Part II

2013-04-07T09:37:00.001-04:00

The Cathedral in Salamanca

We picked up a rental car in Madrid and headed west to Salamanca. We weren’t sure Salamanca was worth an overnight stop. Were we ever wrong! It’s worth a minimum of two nights and I could happily have spent a week there.

We had the misfortune to have gray, drizzly weather in Salamanca but the old town with its perfectly preserved Medieval and Renaissance architecture was spectacularly beautiful despite the gloom. We decided that if the weather was good on our way back, we would stop again to see that golden stone in bright sunlight.

The rain did have one upside. The cathedral, the University buildings, and the Plaza Mayor were all brilliantly lit at night and the rain on the cobblestone streets reflected all that light, making Salamanca at night one of the the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen.

The Hotel we stayed in, Hotel Rector, could not have been more charming—all Rick’s internet research really paid off.

Unfortunately when we drove by Salamanca on our return to Madrid, it was another gray day, but the town is so beautiful it didn’t really matter. This time we managed to see the University of Salamanca, founded in 1215. When we were there a week earlier we arrived at 1:30 just as the doors were closing. It would have been a real loss not to have seen the interior of the university.

The entrance to the University Of Salamanca

Apparently, medieval Salamanca had its problems with campus violence and according to the guide provided by the university, Alfonso X El Sabio, King of Castille 1252-84, “banned students from buying weapons and advised the university proctor to “imprison or expel quarrelsome students.” It was difficult to imagine warring students disrupting the tranquility of that serenely beautiful place.

We really would have liked to linger in Salamanca but we had a 2 ½ hour drive to Toledo ahead of us. It looks like a sunny day in Salamanca is one of those travel experiences that will forever elude us

Madrid is better than ever: The Spain and Portugal Diaries, Part I

2013-03-29T22:24:00.000-04:00

The Plaza Mayor

Last year Rick and I returned to Barcelona. Rick had been there fifty years ago; for me it was 43 years. The changes were astonishing--we were returning to a different city.

This year we returned to Madrid. We had been there together in 1986 when Spain was just emerging form the dark night of the Franco regime. The changes may not have been as dramatic as what we experienced in Barcelona, but they were striking nonetheless. The somewhat shabby down-at-heels historic center of the Madrid of 1986 was a transformed into sparkling vibrant city with its architectural treasures beautifully restored. Although Spain is mired in recession, you would ever know from a visit to the historic part of Madrid.

Typical street scene in Madrid's historic center

When we visited in 1986, I was overwhelmed by the Prado and the beauty of the Plaza Mayor but for the most part wasn’t particularly impressed by Madrid. That has changed. Madrid is definitely on my list of places I would like to see again. Unfortunately, since we don’t have an endless expanse of travel time ahead of us, tough choices will have to be made.

We flew in and out of Madrid and had a few days in Madrid at either end of the trip. We had a great hotel, the Hotel Unico—one of those small boutique hotels we scour the internet for.

And Madrid has become a food-lovers mecca. We found a branch of Astrid y Gaston, a restaurant serving Nueva Cocina Peruvian specialties that we went to when we were in Lima. Rick thought it was even better than its Peruvian cousin and very good value. We also went to a very traditional Basque inflected restaurant Zalacain. It’s been superseded by the Nueva Cocina restaurants currently garnering all the Michelin stars in Madrid these days, but in some ways I prefer it to the razzle dazzle of the hot new chefs. Zalacain was a trip back in time to the days when good restaurants were well-staffed.(Some would say over-staffed.) Instead of exhausted wait staff dashing about from table to table, the waiters were not in a pressure cooker and seemed as relaxed as the customers. It sure takes away some of the enjoyment when you are being served by overworked waiters.

We had glorious weather those first few days in Madrid and we spent our first day just hanging out in the Plaza Mayor, certainly one of the most beautiful squares in Europe. We have become slow travelers, doing maybe one or two things per day.

Our second day was devoted to the Prado. Of course you need a week for the Prado, but we tried to make the most of our one day. For me, one of the surprises of revisiting much loved museums is discovering how much my tastes have changed. When we were in Madrid almost three decades ago, for me, the highlight was Bosch’s “Garden of Earthly Delights.’ I remember standing there for a really long time trying to take it all in. This time, I felt no such desire—a few minutes and I was ready to move on. I’m also starting to lose my taste for El Greco, but at his stage in my life I can’t get enough Titian.

Magnolia Stellata: More on forcing branches of flowering shrubs

2013-03-13T14:38:00.000-04:00

My repertory of forced branches is usually limited to forsythia, witch hazel and quince. But this year I got a pleasant surprise. Rick and I were trying to wrestle a gargantuan bittersweet vine to the ground. It was strangling our Magnolia Stellata-- an early blooming magnolia.

In the process of pulling down the bittersweet we broke off a few branches of the Magnolia Stellata. I decided why not bring them in and try to force them. To my surprise, in a few days we had gorgeous magnolia flowers on our window sill. Looks like I’ve made and addition to my yearly ritual of forcing branches of flowering shrubs.

Getting a head start on Spring with forced bulbs and branches of flowering shrubs

2013-03-08T13:49:00.001-05:00

In late February and early March, my house is filled with flowers--and yes, real fragrant flowers, not the denatured kind you get in flower shops.

The secret is forcing bulbs and branches of flowering shrubs. In January and February I force forsythia and witch hazel. In early March, it's time for one of the easiest and most beautiful of the flowering shrubs--quince,especially quince contorta with convoluted branches almost as striking as the flowers. And the tremendous advantage of forcing branches of flowering shrubs is there is no advance preparation—just go out in the garden and break off a branch.

Forced bulbs require a bit of forethought. In November I put hyacinths and daffodils in pots in an old refrigerator in my basement. Hyacinths are the easiest--they need only about an 8 week chill. Tulips are the hardest usually requiring 12 weeks.

Another advantage of hyacinths is that after blooming inside, in mid-March they can be tucked in somewhere outside. And they can be counted on to bloom the following year. Daffodils and Tulips unfortunately are not so reliable, but hyacinths are forever. And hyacinth fragrance is something I cannot get enough of.

hyacinths blooming in my kitchen

An old fashioned political ritual: circulating petitions

2013-02-27T10:14:00.000-05:00

In the age of the internet there is something beautifully anachronistic about this petition ritual, but it has its advantages—forcing candidates and their supporters to get out and talk to voters.

I’ve been doing petitions for decades –only missed when on sabbatical in 1999. The petition period always forces me to make choices about priorities. Whose petitions do I carry? Whose petitions do I care about enough to circulate in really cold weather? Or even in the rain? (I remember doing some for Cindy Bass on a rainy day just before the deadline.)Unfortunately the petition period occurs during the usually miserable weather of February and early March

This year I’ll be circulatingpetitions for candidate for controller Brett Mandel who probably doesn’t need my help as he appears to have assembled a really strong team.

Also, I will be circulating petitions for a progressive slate for traffic court—community activists Inja Coates and Marwan Kriedie. Yes, traffic court! It will probably be (and should be) eliminated but probably won’t happen overnight and we need thoughtful, honest people in these positions to help restore our city’s faith in our courts.

There are several other excellent candidates I would be happy to circulate petitions for but I’ve found that 3 is the maximum number you can ask people to sign without annoying them—and even that is pushing it.

The weather may be miserable, but I enjoy getting out and chatting with my neighbors and it’s a great way to find out what has been going on in the neighborhood. Sometimes it’s good news—e.g., a good friend’s delight in her new grandchild. Too often it’s news of a death. Since there are a lot of seniors in our neighborhood, there is always some sad news.

But petitions are part of the rhythm of life for political activists and for me February means petitions and early species crocuses!

How Republican efforts to suppress the vote have backfired and helped to create a growing citizen movement to safeguard voters’ rights

2013-02-18T22:26:00.005-05:00

For someone like me who toils away in grassroots politics, the past few months have been very gratifying. The Philadelphia Chapters of the National Organization for Women and the Coalition of Labor Union Women, supported by a grant from the Bread and Roses Community Fund, on January 14 held a non-partisan workshop on Running for Election Board/Committeeperson. We focused on running for Electing Board offices which are on the 2013 primary ballot. The workshop much to our surprise drew a crowd of about 100 interested citizens. The audience was much larger than CLUW and NOW could have organized on our own and was mostly due to the stellar organizing skills of deputy City commissioner Tracey Gordon.

More surprising than the number of attendees was the intensity of their interest. They were seriously engaged by principal speaker Commissioner Stephanie Singer’s lively, informative, and inspirational presentation. Nobody dozed off, despite the amount of technical detail. People seemed really hungry to learn how the election system works. Commissioner Singer‘s office then organized three additional workshops in various locations round the city—all very well-attended.

Why the sudden interest in what had been very low profile positions—Judge of Elections and Inspector of Elections? From comments made at the workshops as well as from conversations I had with some of the attendees, it’s clear that Republican attempts at vote suppression have backfired and there is growing grassroots interest in safeguarding the right to vote. Thanks to Pennsylvania’s Voter ID law more and more citizens realize the critical importance of a well-run Election Board.

Pennsylvania citizens also are becoming increasingly aware of how hard it is to vote in Pennsylvania and and how poorly we compare to other states which have some form of early voting. There is a growing consensus that we have to make it easier to vote. The Brennan Center justice report How to Fix Long Lines recommends three specific reforms :

There are three reforms that would dramatically reduce the excessive lines that plague voting, and have the added benefit of creating a more efficient and secure electoral system: Modernizing voter registration Providing early voting during a fixed national time period Setting minimum standards for polling place access

The Brennan Center posts a detailed blueprint to make this happen.

Low voter turn-out in mid-term elections has had serious consequences . If the people who came out in November 2012 had come out in 2010, we’d have a different congress and a different state legislature, with major consequences for redistricting. I think the only way to get more people to vote in mid-term elections is to make it easier to vote. People may be willing to wait in line for hours to vote for the President, but this generally doesn’t carry over to state legislators. And as president Obama has said, no citizen should have to stand in line for hours to vote!!!

The long struggle to get an amendment to PA Democratic State Committee’s by-laws to guarantee due process for committee people.

2013-02-11T15:14:00.000-05:00

This shouldn’t be so hard! In 2011, our Philadelphia Democratic Progressive Caucus brought the issue of the Philadelphia Democratic Party’s failure to seat duly elected democratic committeeperson Tracey Gordon to the attention of the PA Democratic Progressive Caucus . We were gratified by the strong support we received. We learned that Philadelphia County is not the only place where party officials flout the will of the voters and that there is widespread support throughout the state for ensuring transparent, democratic processes and a grievance procedure for committeepeople who were treated unfairly.

The Philadelphia Democratic Progressive Caucus had tried repeatedly to contact Philadelphia Democratic City Committee re the Tracey Gordon case but we received no reply and our certified mail was refused. Furthermore, the Philadelphia Democratic Party did not respond to letters from Tracey Gordon’s lawyer Irv Acklesberg. Jim Burn’s response to Irv Ackelsberg was that the PA Democratic Party would not respond until Gordon had first taken up the matter with the Philadelphia Democratic Party. Burn was unmoved by Ackelsberg’s proof of repeated unsuccessful attemtps to contact Philadelphia Democratic City Committee.

In response to our concerns, the PA Democratic Progressive Caucus tried to get a motion supporting due process for aggrieved committeepeople to the floor for a vote at the September 2012 state committee meeting, but we were told that the motion had first to be approved by the by-laws committee. (A real concern or a delaying tactic?) However, the following motion was passed:

Therefore, be it resolved, that we the elected committee people of the Democratic State Party respectfully request that the leadership of the State Democratic Party commission the state by-laws committee to establish a review and recommendation process for a due process procedure of the removal of county committee people and to submit a draft to all state committee members for the Jan./Feb. 2013 30 day call.

The by-laws committee was then charged to develop a motion to address these concerns. The motion was to be voted on at the February state committee meeting. I decided to view this as a victory and that there would be a final resolution in February 2013. My belief that the Party was taking a real step towards ensuring due process has turned out to be premature.

The by-laws committee did propose an amendment which addressed our concerns; however, the PA Democratic Party’s Deputy Chair and legal counsel objected to the proposed motion on the grounds that these issues should be resolved at the County Committee level which is better situated to handle local matters involving local individuals and local collection of documentation.!!!!

The bylaws committee members understood that that this effectively leaves a committeeperson without any recourse and there must be some mechanism for an aggrieved committeeperson to appeal to state committee. This is so painfully obvious that it’s hard to believe that the PA Democratic Party’s Deputy Chair and its legal counsel were making such a specious argument.

I was unable to attend the by-laws committee meeting which (unlike previous by-laws committee meetings I attended) was closed to those who were not members of the committee. Apparently there was an agreement that the by-laws committee would work on language satisfactory to both the by-laws committee and the Party’s legal counsel and that the by-laws amendment will go to the general assembly to be voted on at the state committee meeting in June, 2013.

So this much needed amendment has been delayed once again. Progressive Caucus Chair Bruce Slater believes that Party Chair Jim Burn (who attended the closed by-laws committee meeting) was acting in good faith. I sure hope he’s right and that we are not being jerked around once again.

I find it hard to believe that getting an amendment to ensure something so integral to the operation of a party committed to democratic principles should be so controversial, so difficult to achieve.

If the Democratic Party is ever to attract idealistic young people with the energy and vision to build the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, it must have fair, transparent internal processes. What happened to Tracey Gordon must not happen again. (Fortunately there was a satisfactory resolution in the Tracey Gordon case, but we had to go to Court to achieve this. )

Some of my friends who see the Democratic Party as incapable of reform and are seeking alternatives to the Democratic Party think I’m borderline delusional and engaged in a hopeless, quixotic quest. Maybe. After this by-laws saga and a similar procedural derailment of the anti-fracking resolution, that little voice in the back of my head asking why I’m involved in this Sisyphean struggle becomes a little louder, a little more insistent. But there are some very good people involved on the grassroots level of the Democratic Party (if not on the top leadership level) and I have not yet given up hope.

Forcing Branches of Flowering Shrubs: One Way of Coping with the Winter Blues

2013-02-04T16:09:00.001-05:00

Forsythia blooming on kitchen windowsill

I manage to deal with GWS (Gardening Withdrawal Syndrome) in January and February by bringing in shrubs to force. The easiest is Forsythia and this year the buds were beginning to swell in late December. A friend brought some forsythia to our New Year’s Party and by mid-January they were blooming inside.

I had planned to force some witch hazel which usually blooms early February. I usually bring in a branch for forcing in late January but this year my witch hazel beat me to it and started blooming outdoors the third week of January.

Witch Hazel blooming outdoors in mid-January

The sprigs of witch hazel which usual grace our breakfast room table in February were on the table in mid- January.

What other surprises does our changing climate have in store for me this season???

What's next for the the pro-choice movement?

2013-01-27T18:47:00.000-05:00

We are winning the battle for hearts and minds. According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, seven in 10 Americans believe Roe v. Wade should stand, the highest level of support since polls began tracking it in 1989. The increased support comes primarily from Democrats—particularly Hispanics and African-Americans—with a slight increase in support from Republicans.

However, although the polling data are encouraging to supporters of abortion rights, the Republicans do not seem to have gotten the message. According to John Boehner, Ending Abortion Is 'One Of Our Most Fundamental Goals This Year' and those states governed by Republican majorities continue to chip away at abortion rights.

In 1973 after the Roe decision, I thought the battle had been won. How wrong I was. When I went to a pro-choice demonstration in DC in the early 90’s, I couldn’t quite believe that we were still fighting this battle. But I was heartened to see so many young women there and thought that soon this would be settled and we wouldn't be wasting our energy fighting for this basic right. Wrong again.

When I dragged myself to DC for the 2004 March for Women’s Lives I began to worry that I might be fighting this battle until my dying day. The Republican War on Women which dominated debate in the 2012 election was further evidence that the battle is far from over. The backlash grows more vicious each year—perhaps the virulence of the opposition is related to their growing realization that they are losing.

Fortunately, there is a generation of young feminists out there ready to fight for reproductive rights. I don’t think young women are going to meekly stand by and accept the loss of hard fought rights. But women in my generation thought at one time that we had spared them the necessity of that fight.

Many young feminists are growing impatient with establishment feminist organizations, and what they see as second wave feminists’ reluctance to pass the torch, According to a recent Time Magazine article, 32 year old Erin Matson, 32, was elected vice president of NOW in 2009 but recently resigned:

"When you want to build a jet pack, sometimes that means you have to leave the bicycle factory," she says. Matson says she is considering starting a new organization to specifically target young people. "A number of young women are just saying, 'To hell with it, I'm just going to lead,'" she says. "It's easier for young women to exercise leadership right now than before we had this[internet] technology."

The time has come for a younger generation to assume leadership of the pro-choice movement. NARAL’s Nancy Keenan realizes this and announced she will step down in 2013. According to Time, “she said she hoped a younger person could replace her. ‘They're chomping at the bit to have their opportunity,’ she says.” It’s time.

President Obama's Second Inaugural:Is the long backlash against the 1960’s finally over?

2013-01-21T16:23:00.000-05:00

Everyone I know has been echoing the same theme--this is nothing like the euphoria of Inauguration Day, January 2009. True, but in some ways it’s more significant. We’ve re-elected the first African-American president and that’s huge. And although President Obama doesn’t get nearly the credit he deserves, he has a record of real accomplishment.

Inauguration Day, January 2009 was my last semester teaching at Community College and we had classes that day. Although I used to be religious about never canceling classes, I met my students and told them to go watch the Inauguration which was being streamed in the College auditorium.

I still couldn’t quite believe Obama had really won and he really was taking the oath of office. To echo the phrase Michelle Obama was pilloried for, for the first time in my life I was proud of my country. I had been very invested in the 2008 campaign and as a Philadelphia NOW chapter president got a lot of grief for supporting Obama rather than Clinton. I thought Obama would make the better president, but it also mattered more to me to elect first African-American president than to elect the first woman president. (I’m ready to make up for that feminist lapse (if that’s what it was) by working hard for Hillary in 2016.

But the euphoria I felt in January 2009 was also because I thought that just maybe the long backlash against the 1960’s—a backlash fuelled largely by rage against the dismantling of racial and gender hierarchy—was finally over. The Tea Party soon disabused me of that illusion.

I actually thought the backlash might have been over in 1992 which was the first and only Inauguration I ever attended. It seemed that Clinton’s presidency was the end of the conservative backlash of the Reagan/ Bush years but it turned out to be only an interregnum with the right returning for 8 horrendous years of George W. Bush.

The Republicans are hoping that Obama years will turn out to be a similar interregnum, but the country has changed too much. The party of the 1% managed to win elections by playing to people’s racial and cultural fears, thus getting them to vote against their own interest. Fewer people are buying their poison.

We may have finally turned a corner. The demographic changes in the country, the dramatic generational differences on issues such as racial and gender equality and same- sex marriage suggest the backlash may finally be over, or at least winding down.

Yes, we have the crazed Republican right but it is becoming increasingly marginalized, although thanks to partisan redistricting, anti-gay, anti- choice forces are in power in state legislatures across the country, determined to destroy the social safety net and enact the right wing social agenda. But these forces are becoming increasingly marginalized and can no longer win a national election. So just maybe, this time, my oft made prediction is finally coming true.

Getting more citizens involved in grassroots politics!

2013-01-12T16:33:00.003-05:00

During my working years I always hated January. The holidays were over and it was back to the daily grind. Now that I’m retired, January still means back to work, but it's work that I’ve chosen, work on my timetable.

One of the joys of living in a deep blue city with many progressive organizations is that there are many options for social justice work. Working for social change gives me some sense of being part of the future and having some forward momentum in my life. When I was teaching I felt that I was going round and round in the same groove I had been in for years. The thrill was gone.

My passion at this stage in my life is civic participation. For me and for many other progressive activists, Republican attempts to suppress the vote have been the galvanizing force--there are state wide groups working to overturn the Voter ID law and to make voting easier in PA. Also, the Voter ID law (slated to be implemented in 2013) has drawn attention to what has been a very low profile position—-the Judge of Elections. In each division, the Judge of Elections resolves disputes and makes determinations about voter eligibility in areas where the law is ambiguous. This has been an under the radar position with very few citizens actually running for the job. The Majority and Minority Inspectors also play an important role in ensuring fair, well-run elections. With the enactment of the Voter ID law, having a fair, knowledgeable election board matters more than ever.

The organization I care the most about,Philadelphia NOW, in partnership with Philadelphia CLUW, has prepared a handbook and is running a workshop on running for the Election Board ; at a later point we will hold a workshop on running for committeeperson. Thanks to a grant from Bread and Roses Community Fund, Philadelphia NOW did this in the past. Once again supported by Bread and Roses, we are running the workshop but we should be more successful this time. We are working in partnership with CLUW and we are also part of a broader movement, thePhiladelphia Democratic Progressive Caucus which will encourage civic and community groups to run workshops for their members to encourage them to run for Election Board and committeeperson.

So I am putting my energy into getting more citizens involved in grassroots politics, trying to make the Democratic Party more democratic , fighting voter suppression and making voting easier. If the people who came out in November 2012 had come out in 2010, we’d have a different congress and a different state legislature with major consequences for redistricting.

I think the only way to get more people to vote in mid-term elections is to make it easier to vote. People may be willing to wait in line for hours to vote for the President, but this generally doesn’t carry over to state legislators. And no citizen should have to stand in line for hours to vote!!! Many of our NOW members consider this a women’s issue as women are the ones most likely to be juggling work and family and having trouble getting to the polls—especially when their work place is far from their home.

I have friends on the left who question my focus on electoral politics and in particular the value of trying to reform the Democratic Party, but I’m convinced that for the rest of my activist life the only hope for progressive change lies in making it easier for people to vote and in building the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

My New Year’s resolution inspired by good friend Cathy Schrader

2013-01-02T19:28:00.004-05:00

When I’ve played the New Year’s resolutions game I usually think in self-improvement terms: I will work on my Spanish; I will exercise more; I will clean out the basement etc., etc.

This year, inspired by my good friend Cathy Schrader, I’ve decided to focus on attitudinal change. Cathy has been dealing with a major, life-threatening illness for many years. She’s always had an upbeat temperament and it has served her well during this difficult time. This year she and her husband and two good friends went on a much anticipated trip to Italy. They flew to London, spent a few days enjoying London’s museums and theatre , then flew to Venice for several magical days with perfect weather, then Florence which Cathy fell in love with and finally Rome.

Cathy at our New Year's Day Party, 2013

Then the perfect trip unraveled. Cathy got sick in Rome and because of her medical history was rushed to the hospital. When she told me this I felt sick with disappointment—after all Cathy’s been through, she sure didn’t deserve this.

To my surprise, she said it wasn’t so bad. The Rome hospital was fascinating; she met some really wonderful people and discovered much about Italian culture she would never have learned as an ordinary tourist.

My response: I was amazed that she managed to salvage something from the experience. I know I would have been in a deep, dark depression about my ruined vacation.

Cathy’s response; Well, with what I’ve been through, I’ve had to learn how to how to focus on anything positive which comes my way.

As long as I’ve known her-–about 50 years—Cathy’s always been looking at the glass half-full. We traveled together to Italy in the late 1960’s and her sunny disposition and tendency to think the best of people got us into some dicey situations, including two near-miss sexual assaults. We decided not to go to Italy because we had been having a hard time fending off predatory French men and had heard that Italian men were much worse.

I’ve had the good fortune to go to Italy many times since then, but this was Cathy’s first trip back since 1969. It seemed so cruel that she had to spend part of that time in the hospital.

But she focused on the positive. She was happy she convinced her husband not to spend his time hanging around the hospital and was glad he had the opportunity to explore Rome. If it had been me, I probably would have wanted Rick to spend his time keeping me company in the hospital.

So inspired by Cathy, this is my New Year’s resolution: to try to salvage something positive from whatever life brings--without getting ridiculously Pollyannaish about it--although that’s never been a danger for me.

A gardening challenge I finally met this year

2012-12-24T14:21:00.000-05:00

For years I’ve tried to have flowers blooming without interruption all year long—a real challenge in Philadelphia. This means perennials, flowering shrubs and bulbs. A clump of winter pansies doesn’t count—that’s too easy.

Well this year I finally achieved my goal. I had a few roses blooming in late December which overlapped with my snowdrops emerging the third week in December. The roses are gone today, but the snow drops will persist through January.

In the past we always had a hard frost sometime in late November /early December and the snow drops usually did not come up until early January so I did not have that period of overlap.

Maybe I should not be celebrating as this is probably connected to the scary prospect of climate change, but in 2012 I finally managed to have continuous bloom throughout the year. And soon I’ll have winter honeysuckle!!

Ed Schwartz,a Remarkable Man, an Enduring Legacy

2012-12-14T20:09:00.000-05:00

Last night I attended a memorial service for my friend and neighbor, civic activist Ed Schwartz at the Constitution Center last night. The Center was filled with Philadelphians from all works of life who had come to pay tribute to this remarkable man.

Ed had a major impact on local government and civic life in Philadelphia as a city Councilman, head of the office of Housing and Community Development and Founder of the non-profit, the Institute for the Study of Civic Values. As a friend once said of him, he produces more ideas per minute than anyone I know. When I taught a service learning course at Community College of Philadelphia he was one of my regular guest speakers and always willing to share his ideas and expertise with my students. Over the years quite a few of my students volunteered at the Institute and parlayed that experience into o a career in non-profits.

I loved talking to him about local politics. For many years he lived in the East Mt. Airy division where I serve as a committeeperson and I always looked forward to talking to him on Election Day. We agreed on issues and core values but often disagreed as to which candidate could best advance those values. I remember a few shouting matches on Election Day about a particular mayoral candidate about whom we strongly disagreed. But whatever the discussion, I always came away from the conversation with a new idea or new perspective.

When he moved--like a typical Philadelphian he moved just a few blocks away--he was in a different voting division and I missed those Election Day conversations. A few years later, I learned to my shock that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. This was really hard to take in—someone with his mind, his ability to think, to write, to argue, to engage with the world—losing that ability to engage.

Luckily for Ed, the strong support network provided by his wife Jane arrested the progress of the disease and by all reports in the last year of his life he was getting better--raising some questions about the diagnosis. At our New Year’s party last year I had a conversation with him about local politics and he was clearly keeping up with the political landscape. The last time I saw him was at his daughter Ruth’s graduation party last May and he was obviously very proud of her and enjoying the party. He may not have been his old self, but he certainly did not seem like someone suffering from Alzheimer’s.

His wife Jane reported that he was attending city council sessions regularly and was playing again with a group of friends who had formed a band, the Reading Terminals. (Among his many accomplishments he was a very good pianist.) It looked like Ed was beginning to regain a life, maybe not the old one, but a meaningful life nonetheless. On November 29, he died of a heart attack. Sadly, just as he appeared to be regaining his life, he lost it. But it was clear from the testimony last night that his legacy lives.

Growing Old On My Terms

2012-12-08T16:49:00.001-05:00

Growing Old On My Terms By Margaret Guthrie, Cross-posted from Metropolis

One of the things that happens when you pass 75 -- and I am not talking about speed limits here -- is that you realize you could drop dead at any time. Dropping dead at any moment becomes much more real than it was at 30 or at 50 or even in your sixties and early 70s. As Dustin Hoffman once said, "The end is definitely in sight." As you pass through life, you might give occasional thought to your removal from the planet, to your participation in the recycling of all physical substance, but it doesn't occupy the forefront of your thoughts. The trick, when you're officially elderly, is to not let it occupy the forefront now.

Society doesn't help. Television is full of ads designed to scare old people into doing things that might not be in their best interest. For instance, there are those over-55 communities, which are basically beached cruise ships for the elderly. These places are full of organized activities like arts and crafts and high-school shop for the elderly and dining with 70 or so of your best friends, all of you basically ghetto-ized and awaiting the grim reaper, while you play bridge. Frankly, the idea of learning all over again how to make a magazine rack or napkin holder doesn't appeal to me. Plus, as I understand it, they have rules, like having to get permission to have your grandchildren visit you because they're under 55 years of age. Really?

I live on a block that has two young residents under the age of one, and a gentleman across the street from me who is in his 80s, lives alone, drives his own car and seems to be in fine shape. I believe he still plays the organ at his church on Sundays. There is a young woman next door to me in her junior year at St. Joseph's University, and next door to her is a young woman in her last year at Girls High whose sights are set on Howard University. Various parents, grandparents and others of all ages also live on my block. It's a microcosm of life in the city, and I would not miss it for all the "security" of living in a community where everything is taken care of for me. Sure, I have to rake leaves, shovel snow and haul the recycling out to the curb, but that keeps me moving. One thing you do learn about being old is how important it is to keep moving.

And then there are the ads for various drugs designed to ease or erase the physical effects of aging. The list of side effects can be nothing short of terrifying. I don't now and have never regarded either tuberculosis or death as a side effect. At this moment there is an epidemic of fungal meningitis loose among us, the result of careless manufacture of a steroid injection designed to ease back pain and related ills, as I understand it from the media. Is our medical system really out to help us, or is their only purpose their own enrichment at the possible expense of our lives? My own doctor told me it's his goal to keep me out of the hospital; I assured him it's a goal we share. My ultimate goal in this particular part of my life is to just go to sleep one night and not wake up -- but not for a while, please.

If my knees hurt, I'm supposed to let a surgeon who specializes in such things remove my knees and replace them with some mechanical device attached to the bones in my leg. No thank you. I would like to go into the recycling bin with as much of my own parts as I possibly can. I already have enough bridges in my mouth to make me competitive with Manhattan, and several years ago I had cataract surgery to replace the lenses of both eyes. I would like very much to hang onto the rest of me, as I figure at a maximum I have another 15 years. The more of actual me there is, the more I can enjoy the time that is left.

Something to be Thankful for this Thanksgiving—Obama’s Victory!

2012-11-24T12:11:00.001-05:00

We certainly had something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving—Obama’s victory!

Rick and I spent Thanksgiving with my sister and her extended family of friends and relatives. The group gets larger every year with more and more table extensions. It’s a group of secular liberal Democrats and while there were no formal prayers, there were plenty of expressions of relief at not having to face four years of President Romney--and a whole lot of gloating about the shell shocked Republicans who thought they were cruising towards easy victory.

I’m not a religious person so am not thanking God for sending Hurricane Sandy to give the president a bump in the polls. So I guess my thanks goes to the president who had a record of accomplishment, , to the voters who came in numbers much higher than expected and to Obama’s stellar campaign team. To quote James Carville: :

They connected people in a way that had never been done before with Facebook. If they knew I was an undecided voter, they also knew I was in the Marine Corps, and they'd have a retired gunnery sergeant call me to get me to vote. It was way far above anything that's ever been tried in politics before. Political scientists will mine this data forever.

And also thanks to Nate Silver whose fivethirtyeight.com kept me sane in those tension filled weeks before the election.

It would have been a very glum Thanksgiving dinner if things had turned out otherwise!

I have never been so far behind in fall clean-up as I have been this year.

2012-11-15T18:47:00.000-05:00

My garden desperately in need of fall clean-up!

During my working years when my garden was a mess, I was convinced that when I retired things would be very different. How wrong I was.

I have never been so far behind in fall clean-up as I have been this year. Sure, I can blame it on the election. I was immobilized by anxiety the entire Fall (especially after the Denver debate).

But getting older and taking a little bit longer to do everything is certainly part of the explanation. My husband managed to keep election anxiety at bay but has seemed much less interested in garden work then he used to be. I haven’t raked a single leaf and he hasn’t been much better.

And there are all these leaves which still have to come down!

I still have a lot of bulbs to plant and it’s clear that divisions of perennials I had intended to do this Fall will not get done. There’s no choice about the bulbs; they have to go into the ground and they will even if it means I’m out there some cold rainy night in December desperately trying to get the bulbs in before the ground freezes.

Just hope we don’t have an early snow fall!

The Obama Victory

2012-11-07T22:05:00.000-05:00

It sure felt different from 2008. Instead of the incredible high, there was just an enormous sense of relief. That word “relief” cropped up over and over in phone calls, emails from friends/family members today.

I’m a Democratic committeeperson and yesterday was a tough day at the polls—mainly because I could not sleep Monday night. I get caught up in worrying that I wouldn’t get enough sleep to handle a long day and that worry became a self-fulfilling prophecy. By the end of the day, I had a raging headache and could barely keep my eyes open.

The good news was that my neighbors voted overwhelmingly for Obama. Despite all those claims that liberals/progressives were disillusioned with the President, my neighbors were almost all voting enthusiastically for the President. So the vibes were good and that made the headache bearable.

When the networks called the race for Obama soon after 11:00 pm, I collapsed and had the soundest sleep I had had in a long time—no waking up in the middle of the night obsessing about the election.

There was so much at stake in this election. Obama has had real accomplishments-- e.g., health care, financial regulation, the end of DADT and support for marriage equality. It would be intolerable to see all this unravel.

But I think the intensity of my support for Obama is in some ways connected to my stage in life. I came of age in the 1960’s, a time of tremendous social possibility, but then spent my middle years in a time of reaction. There was bit of hope during the Clinton years, but then the dark ages returned with the George W. Bush years. Obama’s 2008 victory signaled the possibility of an era of progressive change. And we have certainly seen real movement in that direction.

I have hope (yes, a much ridiculed word) that we may see further change in the direction of fairer, less racist, less homophobic society. I so want to leave this beautiful planet on a note of hope.