feminism + human rights.

Because people rule.

Back to the Beginning (Revisiting Home Ec)

| Betsy

This year for the holidays I’m going down to my grandparents house, and it got me thinking about my grandmother’s college major, home economics. All I remember from my home economics class in 9th grade was that I learned how to make a pineapple upside-down cake. There was also some really weird lesson where we took tests to see what blood type we were, which still doesn’t make sense as to why it was in the curriculum. I’m not sure if they even have home economics classes now, but if they do, chances are high, they, too, have devolved from the time when my grandmother studied it.

So, I took a look online at the history of home economics, and came across several interesting databases and archives regarding women’s history. Some of them are databases of women’s history and others are based on purely home ec, but either way, they’re not only a great source of knowledge, but might also help stir up holiday conversation if you find yourself with your grandmother and unsure of a topic. Try asking her about what she studied at university, what she hoped to be at your age, or what her career aspirations were. You might not only be surprised, but you just might come away with more respect for home ec, and the lesson it’s passed on through the years.

Most of these are American, but that’s mainly because they were pretty easy to uncover. Have any from other countries? Let me know! Some of them you have to dig around for images, but they are all amazing resources!

*The Making of a Homemaker
*Home Economics to Human Ecology
*The Northern Great Plains: Women Pioneers
*American Women’s History: A Research Guide
*Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture
*The Schlesinger History of Women in America Collection
*Quilts as Visual History in 19th and 20th Century America
*The History of Household Technology with Constance Carter
*From Domesticity to Modernity: What was Home Economics?

Thank You.

| Betsy

You’ll have to turn up your speakers to hear this properly. It’s been transferred from VHS, and is a 1993 performance by 10,000 Maniacs at the inauguration of President Clinton. This morning I read that already this year there have been 219 American soldier deaths this year in Afghanistan, up 41% from all of 2008. And I’m sitting here in this coffeeshop surrounded by other somewhat sleepy people drinking my coffee and waking up. You can hear the Death Cab for Cutie song playing in between the sounds of the espresso machine and cash till.

And I’m catching up on the news and thinking about 1993, the year I graduated from high school. And where I hoped to be at this point in my life, where I hoped the world to be at this point in my life, and how the latter part of those hopes has gone pear-shaped. And I take an extra minute to enjoy the feeling of safety and peace and everydayness of my morning. I sip my red-eye (with light brew, natch) and catch up on what’s happening around the world and remember that these are days– we can take our days now to work towards a better future.

And I’m infinitely thankful for all the people who are fighting battles far away from home, wishing to have a nice quiet morning in the coffeeshop or with their families. This quiet moment of tranquility is for them. May they soon have days filled with laughter until they break.





These are the days you’ll remember.
Never before and never since, I promise, will the whole world be warm as this.
And as you feel it, you’ll know it’s true that you are blessed and lucky.
It’s true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.

These are the days you’ll remember.
When May is rushing over you with desire to be part of the miracles you see in every hour.
You’ll know it’s true that you are blessed and lucky.
It’s true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.

These are days.

These are the days you might fill with laughter until you break.
These days you might feel a shaft of light make its way across your face.
And when you do you’ll know how it was meant to be.
See the signs and know their meaning.
It’s true, you’ll know how it was meant to be.
Hear the signs and know they’re speaking to you, to you.

Lyrics from here.

One + One + One + One.

| Betsy

Today, I turn 34. I think getting older is always amusing when you compare your current age to your childhood thoughts concerning it. For example, when I was young, I couldn’t even comprehend the age 34 because it seemed so old. And the people on Thirtysomething? Wow… they were arguing about affairs and layoffs and childcare, which seemed unthinkable when all I wanted to do was run around like a feral child playing hide-and-seek in my neighbor’s front yard, an acre of forest. On a hill, no less. We had our own world of fake leaf money and dead trees to take refuge in and branches to swing on where time seemed to stop, especially the land of adults and bills and jobs.

Now, solidly in adulthood we try and navigate our ways outside our wilds of childhood, amazed and delighted when we find rare moments of those past days where our very present seemed so impossible to imagine. Those were the days when we could count our friends on one hand, two if we were lucky. The world was still made up of individuals not a seething mass of humanity and all its permutations. Well, despite appearances, the world is still made up of individuals. One + one + one + one = revolution. The news presents culture en masse with news blips and panoramic photos and photos of unknown people on the street, and we are not worth 2 seconds of soundbites or a camera span or an anonymous photo.

We are individuals. And in joining together we connect and form a revolution made up of individuals, not unknown people. Instead of one large knot we are like George Seurat’s adventures in pointilism each providing a vital part of the whole. With that in mind, the link below takes you to an incredible interactive map of the dead and detained from events surrounding the Iranian election. And by no means is it a comprehensive list. I think breaking down the anonymity helps to remind us that no matter what the news may so often tells us, we do not go unnoticed.

Breaking the masses down into individual faces and names makes us face the individual parts, made up of individual friends and relatives and co-workers. When so often faced with the nameless, it’s hard to see yourself in the person on the street in Tehran or fighting against a Chinese police officer or any of the countless places news stories take us. In the giganticness of it all, it can be hard to make sense of everything, how we grow from children of our neighborhoods to adults of the world. Yesterday I came across a quote from Arundhati Roy from The Cost of Living that perfectly explains the joys and tragedies and truths of living life:

“The only dream worth having is to dream that you will live while you’re alive and die only when you’re dead. […] To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.”— Arundhati Roy, The Cost of Living

Perfect. Just perfect.

The Quiet Wisdom of Tiny Joys.

| Betsy

Sometimes I forget to turn off the radio or click off the tv, finding myself inundated with news almost constantly somewhere in the background. I want to know what’s happening, when it’s happening and whom it’s happening to. I want to know what’s going on outside my little bubble and love being aware of the events of the globe, even though many times I do not love the events themselves. The stories of war and death and sadness are always fitted around snippets of pop culture or live interviews with people on the street to soften our reality.

In these moments of turning media off, I often find myself really, truly appreciating what I find in its absence. A conversation over a cup of coffee, a nostalgic game of Battleship, hanging out with my cat, cheering at a basketball game. These moments that we take for granted become technicolor once we stop to feel the warmth of the mug or the sound of a cat’s purr or the way your feet inexplicably stick to the floor in giant stadiums.

I think that somehow in just enjoying the day-to-day activities of our lives, the moments that seem ordinary, we honor the struggles of those in other parts of the world. We realize that there is nothing to be taken for granted in the seemingly rote and routine parts of our days and enjoy them in the stillness when our radios and televisions are clicked off.

After we’ve soaked in the familiar parts of our daily activities, we can turn the radio or television on to watch sports and bet on sites like 카지노 사이트 or perhaps pick up the paper. For in caring about what happens outside our individual bubbles, we are one step closer to being part of true change. In going from our private lives into better understanding the lives of others, we recognize that everyone deserves these tiny moments of joy, love and relaxation. Honoring the everyday can bring us closer to those that seem so distant or different, because we realize what it means to be free. We realize our work isn’t done once we know the facts, so we begin to dialogue and create and learn, looking for ways to make their days just as simple and as boring and as delicious as our own.

Iran Election Protest Photos.

| Betsy

Not too long ago, I wrote how happy I was to see Afghan women out protesting a new marriage law. But…wait a minute, don’t I always talk about how crafting your protest is more poignant than yelling your protest? Well, I do think there is one reason to take to the streets…and that’s when your government doesn’t allow you to. (You can read more about that here. In those instances, getting out in the street and marching is vital to showing how unjust you think things are or how, you too, will not stand for such treatment. As for the violence that sometimes ensues? There’s no excuse for destruction.

Like many people, I have been captivated by the recent events in Iran. Although I know it’s another video, I also know that this one is really important to have a look at. It’s a collection of the photos from Iran over the past few days. While there’s music at the beginning, I think the video grows stronger towards the end when you’re forced to look at the chaos and anger and frustration in silence.

One of the most amazing things about these protests is that despite governmental crackdowns on journalists, people are using the web to get their voices heard. Check out the Twitter feed for the phrase “Iran election.” The photo below was taken from that feed. Incredible. Terrible. Sad. Hopeful. All in one.