And here is a picture of my and BarlowGirl:
Saturday, September 20, 2008
BarlowGirl
Since I last wrote, I have experience some stressful days (school, homework, church twice a week, dance three times a week, and guitar lessons once a week can get pretty stressful), but also one of the best days of my whole entire life. Last Sunday I got to go see my favorite bands of all time, BarlowGirl (I got the tickets for my birthday last July). My best friend was with me, and we could go right up to the stage, it was amazing. They played all my favorite songs (though I love all their songs). And here's the best part: I got to meet BarlowGirl! They have a signing line, and they signed my two posters. I was so excited. These girls are sooooo amazing. I love their music and message.
And here is a picture of my and BarlowGirl:
And here is a picture of my and BarlowGirl:
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Why Women Should Vote
History lesson...How you vote is your business, how I vote is mine, but if we don't vote we lose something important.
WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE
This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.
Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels..' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.
All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'
HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.
It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.
The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'
Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.
We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.
History is being made.
WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE
This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.
Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.
The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.
And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.
And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.
Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because- -why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels..' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.
All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'
HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.
It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.
The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'
Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.
We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.
History is being made.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
School and dance
I've had my first week of school, and as far as first week of school goes, it was pretty good. I like all my teachers for the most part, and I like all my classes. I'm going to LOVE theater (I already do!), and I've always love history and English, and I really like my teachers in those classes. In theatre we have 4 of the senior directors, and we've been dived into 4 groups (I have no idea if it's going to stay like this) and we go with one of the 4 directors to work on our monologues we've been working on, and they give us tips and stuff. I LOVE my senior director. I give her hugs when I walk into class.
And geometry isn't painful either. Like my teacher (who I love) said, "It's algebra with pictures" and there is some truth to that (a lot of truth to it acutely).
Dance has started up again. I'm taking classes 3 times a week: Tap on Tuesdays, Ballet on Thursday, and Pointe on Saterdays. I'm loving every miniute of it. I love dance so much. Even if I'm the only one in my tap class.
Here are some songs I really like:
"Call on Jesus" by Nicole Mullen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61GeKjnWfLA&feature=related
"Held" by Natalie Grant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOufqWodFNo
"I Will Not Be Moved" by Natalie Grant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyEMJBhCtU8&feature=related
"Awaken" by Natalie Grant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkJqN9OrXwk
"Jesus Will Still be There" by Point of Grace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKKCZ3xyKzc&feature=related
And that's all for now!
And geometry isn't painful either. Like my teacher (who I love) said, "It's algebra with pictures" and there is some truth to that (a lot of truth to it acutely).
Dance has started up again. I'm taking classes 3 times a week: Tap on Tuesdays, Ballet on Thursday, and Pointe on Saterdays. I'm loving every miniute of it. I love dance so much. Even if I'm the only one in my tap class.
Here are some songs I really like:
"Call on Jesus" by Nicole Mullen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61GeKjnWfLA&feature=related
"Held" by Natalie Grant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOufqWodFNo
"I Will Not Be Moved" by Natalie Grant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyEMJBhCtU8&feature=related
"Awaken" by Natalie Grant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkJqN9OrXwk
"Jesus Will Still be There" by Point of Grace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKKCZ3xyKzc&feature=related
And that's all for now!
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