COVID Comfort

For the last six months, we have all been living through a pandemic, the likes of which most of us have never been through or dreamed was a possible reality. I have good days and bad days. Some days I am engulfed in frustration that I cannot just go to the grocery store whenever I like as it may be too crowded for someone like me who has pre-existing conditions that put me in the high risk category. On these days I often feel isolated and lonely, taking some comfort, though, in Zoom meetings and classes.

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 Other days, especially when I have one of those rare in-person meetings with a friend, I feel more hopeful, that someday this pandemic will run its course, that this new normal will meld into a newer, less scary reality with more possibilities for connection and entry back into a life of engagement and productivity. 

This is a time of distance, physical, psychic, spiritual, and emotional. This distance is within me, as well. Often I feel estranged from my core, out of sync with my emotions, and my best self. I strive to take care of my health, meditate, exercise, eat well, and keep in touch with friends by phone and Internet as much as possible. It isn't as comforting as being in the physical presence of others, but it is some contact...and contact is what I am really missing. In my mind I hear the words, "Is anybody out there?" These words echo and race around and around inside my being. 

One time I got a pretty good answer coming back to me. In the wee hours of night, in the middle of a deep sleep, some words suddenly blared loudly inside my brain, waking me, prompting me to jump up to a sitting position in bed. It was someone singing a particular chant, "Baba Nam Kevalam," "Love is All There Is." Who had so abruptly woken me up from such a deep sleep chanting these Sanskrit words?  I looked around me, still groggy with sleep. There was no one there. No electronic device was on. 

It's a mystery. I'd like to think it may have been an answer to the question running around my mind, "Is anybody out there?" Shall I venture a guess that it was my Higher Self, or God reaching out in my despair. My spiritual teacher has said, "You are never alone or helpless. The force that guides the stars guides you, too." We all need one another in these challenging times. We need to show one another that there IS somebody out there. We are all one.WE are who is out there. Each and everyone of us. That thought does give me some comfort here during this strange time of COVID-19. May it be of comfort to you, too. 

Trump Speak: P. T. Barnum with a Megaphone

 

In today’s charged national atmosphere, we are used to hearing language that is exaggerated and strident from President Trump. The question in my mind is: Why are Trump’s speeches appealing to many people? What is there about the language he uses that brings people in?

Linguist George Lakoff explains that Trump uses salesmen’s tricks to appeal to audiences. These tricks shape our unconscious, whether or not we believe what he is saying, according to Lakoff (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/11/14238274/trumps-speaking-style-press-conference-linguists-explain). What are these salesmen’s tricks?

Here is a list of a few of these tricks: 1. Trump implies that others share the same idea, as when he says that “many people are saying” or “believe me”. People are more likely to believe something if they feel many other people share this same opinion. 2. He assigns stereotypes to people or groups of people and gains traction by repeating the slur. For example, he called Hilary Clinton “crooked;” he called terrorists “radical Muslims”. 3. He refers to his supporters as “folks” to identify with them. 4. He uses many pauses, ramblings, and unfinished sentences. “He knows his audience can finish his sentences for him," Lakoff says (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/11/14238274/trumps-speaking-style-press-conference-linguists-explain).

Trump/Library of Congress

What would seem to be off-putting in a speaker’s style like a lot of pauses and false starts sometimes works to his advantage as audiences can predict what he was going to say, which may bring them closer to him. Audiences fill in the blanks with sentiments that resonate with them, e.g., fear of joblessness, fear of foreign terrorist groups, and fear of other races gaining power over whites. He taps into their insecurity, allowing his audience to express their fear through anger, which gives them a false sense of empowerment.

That is a secret to Trump’s success as a speaker—his uncanny ability to use words that resonate with a large section of the population, the increasing numbers of people who are out of work, cannot get adequate health insurance, and struggle to take care of their families. Trump can fire them up by appealing to these fears and insecurities, and offering false hope that he can solve all their problems, much like did P.T. Barnum, when he got crowds to believe his wild claims about his circus, enticing them to buy tickets to see the show at the big top.

Trump and Barnum have more in common than both being "dream weavers." Barnun, who was a 

 Barnum & Bailey

 slave owner, had as his first freaky attraction, an enslaved woman he promoted as being George Washington’s 161-year-old nurse (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-pt-barnum-greatest-humbug-them-all-180967634/). They are dream weavers, but just as Barnum displayed and exploited unfortunate souls like bearded ladies, Siamese twins, and .little people, Trump as circus barker, is leading us toward a scary apocalypse where only rich, white supremacists can buy a ticket to the big show. It is only when crowds cease to be taken in by empty promises, hype, and dreams of a lily-white society that we can begin to shake loose of the mesmerism of Trump’s rhetoric. Do we want to create a dystopian society populated by white, cookie cutter robots, marching all, line by line, down into a fiery oblivion of our own making?

Is this the picture of the new, ideal society, based on equality and love that we all want in our heart of hearts? If not, we have been called to action to turn back the tide of hate and greed. The time is now. The need is urgent. There is nothing holding us back but our complacency and our fears. All we have to lose are our chains.

 

 

 

 

The Equal Rights Amendment Comes Back!

In January, Virginia became the pivotal 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment after its Senate and House of Delegates voted to approve the change to the U.S. Constitution. This makes up the required number of states (3/4) needed for ratifying this amendment. So why isn’t the ERA on track to be ratified and to become the 27th constitutional amendment?

ERA Author,Alice Paul, Toasts Passage of 1920 Vote for Women

In February, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution to extend the deadline for the ERA. It was supposed to be ratified by the states by 1982; however, constitutional amendments typically do not have such deadlines. Currently it is stuck in the Senate, languishing in committee.

 What is the Equal Rights Amendment? “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” These twenty-four words seem straightforward and logical. How could anyone disagree that women should not be equal to men?

Contrary to the opinion held by some, women are not guaranteed equality in the US Constitution. If women did have equality, it would give impetus to the fight for reproductive rights, equal pay for equal work, paid maternity leave, and many other struggles.

This is a long and complicated story. To make it simple, and hopefully not to omit any important facts in the timeline of the ERA, I will give a brief herstory.

In 1923 Alice Paul, who founded the National Women’s Party, which had pushed for women’s suffrage in 1920, introduced the ERA. The amendment was introduced in Congress every year until it was finally passed in 1972, introduced by Indiana Senator, Birch Bayh. Bayh also sponsored Title IX, which gave equality to girls’ sports in schools. Bayh also sponsored the amendment to the constitution that gave 18-year-olds the right to vote in national and state elections. He tried to get legislation passed to abolish the Electoral College, as well.

Bayh  & King at 2012 Celebration of 40 years of Title IX

Billie Jean King, tennis icon, who stood for women gaining equal salaries and status in tennis, and who defeated Bobbie Riggs in the “Match of the Sexes” in 1973, said of Bayh on hearing of his death in 2019, “Sen. Birch Bayh was one of the most important Americans of the 20th century… you simply cannot look at the evolution of equality in our nation without acknowledging the contributions Sen. Bayh made to securing equal rights and opportunities for every American….”

Thirty-five states had ratified the ERA by the 1982 deadline. The progress of these ratifications was slowed by the organizing against its passage by conservative, Phyllis Schlafly. One wonders why Schlafly was able to create such a huge backlash, which stalled the passage of the amendment. She argued that passing the ERA would mean that women and men would have to share the same bathrooms, women would have to go to the military, and their husbands could sue women for alimony. None of these issues would seem to be significant or even valid in the light of women achieving social equality with men. They represent a desperate clinging to the status quo in which women have our “place.” At least for some women, adhering to traditional, though subordinate sex roles probably felt safe. Fighting for equality with men was unknown and challenging, and considered “unladylike.”    

 Alda Testifies before Congress for ERA

 In 2017 Nevada ratified the ERA, followed by Illinois in 2018, and in January of this year, Virginia became the 38^th and last state needed to ratify the amendment.

Since the House of Representatives voted to suspend the time limit for ratification, it only remains for the Senate to follow suit. The task seems to be to lobby senators to bring it out of the Justice Committee where it is stuck at present.

Call your Senator in Congress and tell her/him to get  the “S.J. Resolution 6- A joint resolution removing the deadline for the ratification of the equal rights amendment”, out of committee, and put it up for a vote in the Senate..

We are almost there. This is the 100-year anniversary of women’s suffrage this year, 2020. Let’s celebrate by passing the Equal Rights Amendment, which is nearly 100 years old itself. We can do this for the equality and welfare of all people. Women’s rights are human rights..

Women's History Month/100 Years of Women's Suffrage in 2020

In 1980 President Jimmy Carter proclaimed March as “Women’s History Week” since International Women’s Day falls on March 8th. Congress declared all of March to be “Women’s History Month in 1987. In the past three decades, schools and communities across the country have highlighted women’s contributions to history during the month of March. I find it a bit troubling that few people seem to be aware of this month dedicated to putting a spotlight on the achievements of women and girls (Washington Post source).

In addition to the March Women’s History Month, this year, 2020, marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment. This year's theme honors "the brave women who fought to win suffrage rights for women, and for the women who continue to fight for the voting rights of others" (National Women's History Alliance source).

 While I support the idea of having a month to highlight women’s achievements, I also feel that textbooks shortchange girls, and not enough is being done to uncover the buried lives and works of so many women in the past.  We know a few of the sheroes of the past who helped women get the vote, for example…Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul. Have you heard of Lucy Stone, who spent more time in jail protesting for women’s right to vote than anyone else? Or have you heard of Zitka la Sa, who fought for Native American suffrage, or Dr. Mabel Ping Hua-Lee who fought for women’s voting rights, even though as a Chinese American, she couldn’t vote herself? There were many other women who fought for women’s suffrage, but they have been erased from our history, just as so many women who have done heroic deeds and helped advance our civilization, have been sidelined (National Park Service source).

Even though women were given the right to vote in 1920 with the 19^th Amendment, African-American women did not get the right to vote until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed. Some Native American women got the vote even later as Congress passed a law to let states decide when Native Americans could vote. Arizona and New Mexico allowed Native Americans to vote in 1948, with other states allowing Native Americans to vote during the next three decades. As with African Americans, Native Americans were subjected to such obstacles as a poll tax and literacy tests, which prevented many from voting (Library of Congress source).

When President Carter was proclaiming Women’s History Month, he also used his position to try to get the Equal Rights Amendment passed. “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” https://www.equalrightsamendment.org)

 

In 2020, we are still trying to pass the ERA. Now all 50 states have ratified it, but it is stalled in Congress due to the time limitation imposed on this amendment, having passed. No such deadline is typically imposed on constitutional amendments. The United States is one of the few developed countries that doesn’t include equal rights for women in its constitution.

What I am going to do for Women’s History Month is to check on the progress of the ERA in Congress. If we can get the Equal Rights Amendment that Alice Paul first proposed in 1923--100 years ago--passed in 2020, it will be another significant milestone for women in the United States. Equality under the law. Imagine that.

In Defense of the Serial Comma

Often when I am doing copyediting work, I encounter use of the serial comma, or non-use of it, as the case may be. You may know this punctuation mark as the Oxford Comma, as its use has been heralded by Oxford University for many decades. It may also be referred to as the Harvard Comma, which nomenclature I must admit to preferring as it reminds me of my alma mater, Harvard, and I relish the reminiscences it brings to mind.

Nick Morrison photo (Unsplash)

Whatever name we give it, the serial comma is useful in making the meaning of a sentence crystal clear. (I’m using this term to avoid having to choose between these esteemed institutions of higher learning, Oxford and Harvard, a task that I feel unqualified to undertake.)  For example, in the following sentence, I have written it first without the serial comma, and then with the serial comma. (This is a common example used by serial comma enthusiasts, yet I cannot keep myself from using it here.)

1.       1. Highlights of his global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector.

2.       2. Highlights of his global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod, and a dildo collector.

In the first sentence, we are affronted with the idea that Nelson Mandela was an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector, as well. How disrespectful! I am appalled that I could even write such drivel. Without the last comma, the serial comma, ‘Nelson Mandela’ is modified by an appositive, ‘an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector’. What nonsense! In the second sentence, we can readily see that our global traveler met three people, Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod, and a dildo collector.

Of course, even though using a serial comma in this sentence makes it much more apparent what the author is trying to convey, sometimes, as Benjamin Dreyer, the noted Random House editor, asserts, it may be a good idea to rework sentences for even more clarity (Dreyer 2019). For example:

3.       Highlights of his global tour include encounters with an 800-year-old demigod, a dildo collector, and Nelson Mandela.

 I much prefer the third example with the rearranging of items in this series so to lessen the association of South Africa’s heroic champion against apartheid, Nelson Mandela, with demigods and dildos, an unlikely and disparate group of individuals, to be sure. I wonder what editor we can thank for this example of the serial comma, or Harvard comma, as I like to call it. Call it what you like; just use it if you value clarity of expression. Am I clear?

Dreyer, Benjamin. Dreyer’s English. New York: Random House, 2019.

African American History Month: February, 2020

The month of February is designated as African American History Month. How did this celebration of the history and heritage of African Americans get started? In 1915, historian Carter G. Woodson, traveled to Chicago for a national celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of emancipation, sponsored by the state of Illinois. This exhibition, which showcased the achievements of African Americans, was attended by thousands of African Americans from all across the country. Inspired by this event, Woodson and a few others formed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). They started to call for a Negro History Week (Black History Month Origins).

Carter G. Woodson

 In 1925, Woodson, in an effort to extend the popularity of this History Week, sent out a press release announcing Negro History Week in February, 1926. He chose February because Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, were born in February, and he wished to build on the tradition of celebrations of the birthdays of two famous activists for African Americans. (Black History Month Origins).

Woodson wanted this commemorative history week to be more than about these two men, however. He wanted to focus on the achievements of black men and women who had contributed to the advance of human civilization. In the 1920s Negro History Week caught on in the country—in schools and before the public, and it continued to become more and popular in many schools and communities (Black History Month Origins).

Mary McLeod Bethune was an important African American educator, civil and women's right advocate, an adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt, and founder of a college. She urged Woodson to establish the Negro History Bulletin, which promoted this new holiday.  In the 1960s, Black History Month replaced Negro History Week in many localities. In 1976, fifty years after the first celebration, the Association promoted shifts from a week to a month and from Negro history to black history. Since the mid-1970s, Black History Month was proclaimed by every American president. It is often referred to as African American History Month, due to the changes in current politically appropriate designations for the month (Black History Month Origins).

Mary McLeod Bethune

 According to the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), here are some good ways to celebrate African American History Month:

• .      Visit a Black History or Civil Rights Museum in your locality
• .      Spend time with a Black elder in your community
• .      Read a book by a Black author
• .      Sign up to mentor a Black child in your community
• .      Learn about an unsung hero/shero of Black history
• .      Explore Black Music
• .      Call out racism and prejudice in your community (Celebrate Black History Month).

 I urge you to choose one or more of these actions to pay tribute to the culture and contributions of African Americans. Carter Woodson, the founder of this celebration, wanted to have a Black History Year. That sounds like a good idea to me.

Some Oddities in the English Language

English is a crazy, mixed up language; it’s a wonder that any of us have ever learned it! My students, who were learning English as a second language, often commented to me how difficult English is to learn because it doesn’t follow the rules a lot of the time. English has words that are spelled the same and are pronounced differently, and sometimes opposite terms mean the same thing, and many other odd constructions.

Consider a few of these oddities:

1. Why are there no eggs in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger, and neither apples nor pine in pineapple? English muffins aren’t English, nor are French fries French.
2. If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth? One goose, two geese. So—one moose, two meese? One mouse, two mice means one house, two hice?
3. If teachers have taught, why haven’t preachers praught? 
4. How can people recite at a play and play at a recital?
5. Why is a slim chance and a fat chance the same thing, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
6. Why can a house burn up while it’s burning down? Forms are filled out by being filled in. An alarm that has gone off is still going on.
7. People can sit on a bough and cough through the night as they re-read a red book to say they’ve re-read it.
8. Why, when stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible?
9. Why had the cops sought the sot?  The photographers knot all fought for the shot—and not just for naught.  Do the police think there was proof of blood on a wood floor?
10. Why doesn’t Buick rhyme with ‘quick’?

While all these irregularities may confound those new to the language, and even some more proficient speakers at times, at least it is easy to see that English was not invented by computers. Because of the terms taken from other languages,and nonstandard adoption of words into the lexicon,  the language  is sometimes confusing. However, English still holds a certain, creative charm amid all its idiosyncrasy.