Women's Herstory Month

"Feminism directly confronts the idea that one person or set of people [has] the right to impose definitions of reality on others."
_ Sue Wise, feminist author & Liz Stanley, sociologist



Feminist Quiz:
What former slave was a powerful speaker for the rights of women and Black people?

Answer: Sojourner Truth (1797-1883)


National Women's History Project Honoree: Lorna Simpson
Lorna Simpson was born in 1960 and she is a well-known photographer and artist. Her art challenges conventional views of culture, gender, identity, and history. She uses the human body to portray the interactions and relationships that we experience in a multi-racial society.

Tibetans divided over protest strategy

Stringer/India / Reuters

Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, addresses a news conference at Dharamsala in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh March 16, 2008. The Dalai Lama called on Sunday for an investigation into China's tough response to protests in Tibet, and whether it was deliberate "cultural genocide". The comments from Tibet's spiritual leader came as police and troops locked down Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, two days after street protests against Chinese rule that the region's government-in-exile said had killed 80 people. REUTERS/Stringer (INDIA)
5:53 a.m. ET, 3/18/08

Updated 3:19 p.m. PT, Tues., March. 18, 2008

DHARMSALA, India - Tibetan exiles saw a chance to put China on the spot ahead of the Beijing Olympics, but never expected their protests to spread to Tibet and turn violent. Now the Dalai Lama is threatening to quit if his people don’t return to peaceful resistance.

It’s a warning he has used before — telling Tibetans to return to peaceful protests during 1989 unrest — but this time it comes amid deep divisions within the Tibetan community between those who back his pacifist approach and an angry young generation that demands action.

While the situation inside Tibet remains unclear, much of the violence last week appears to have been committed by Tibetans against Han Chinese — a fact that troubles the 72-year-old Dalai Lama, who has long called for Tibetans to have significant autonomy within China.

“Whether we like it or not, we have to live together side by side,” the Dalai Lama told reporters Tuesday in the northern Indian hill town of Dharmsala, seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile. “We must oppose Chinese policy but not the Chinese. Not on a racist basis.”

Though fearful of a Chinese crackdown — he compared the plight of Tibetans to that of “a young deer in a tiger’s hands” — the Dalai Lama insisted he could not abide violence by his own people. Peaceful protest is the only way, he said.

He said that if the situation gets out of control, his “only option is to completely resign.”

An aide later clarified that the Dalai Lama meant he would step down as the political leader of the exile government — not as the supreme religious leader of Tibetan Buddhists.


Regardless, his call for Tibetans to work with the Chinese stands in stark contrast to the “Free Tibet” chants of thousands of Tibetan youths, Buddhist monks and nuns who have marched the steep paths of Dharmsala in recent days, angry faces painted with Tibetan flags and chests smeared with blood-red paint.

They want action not diplomacy, independence not autonomy.

Youth activist cites frustration
“There is growing frustration among the younger generations. They have been talking for 20 years and nothing came out of it,” said Tsewang Rigzin, head of the Tibetan Youth Congress.

He urged “the protesters in Tibet to continue in their protests until China gets out of Tibet.”

While hesitant to directly criticize the Dalai Lama — who is deeply revered by Tibetans — and careful not to endorse violence, the younger activists warn that patience with his approach is running thin.

“I certainly hope the middle way approach will be reviewed. The Tibetan nation and Tibetan culture are on the verge of extinction,” Rigzin said.

Another activist, Tenzin Choedon, a 28-year-old student, said: “It is time for a change in Tibet and the Tibetan movement.”

The activists argue that the Dalai Lama is squandering a golden opportunity by not opposing China hosting the Olympics.

“We have to seize the opportunity of the Olympics,” said Rigzin. “We have to shift the spotlight while the whole world is watching to show the true color of China.”

The Youth Congress and other exile groups began a Dharmsala-to-Tibet walk on March 10 — just before Beijing was to kick off its Olympic celebrations with a torch run through Tibet. It was also the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising in Tibet that forced the Dalai Lama to flee to India.

When Indian authorities stopped the first march just days after it began, the exiles embarked on a second attempt.

It’s a far more antagonistic approach than the Dalai Lama prefers. On Tuesday, he urged the marchers to abandon the project, saying it would only spark confrontation with Chinese troops at the border. “Will you get independence? What’s the use?” he asked.

Yet even the Dalai Lama understands the anger of the young.

“In recent years our approach has had no concrete improvement inside Tibet, so naturally (there are) more and more signs of restlessness, even inside Tibet,” he said.

The turmoil in Tibet also has laid bare the inability of Tibetans to capitalize on the intense exposure to their cause and extract concessions from China.

“We are helpless,” said Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the Tibetan exile government, echoing comments by the Dalai Lama.

The government announced Monday that it was setting up a committee to coordinate the actions of Tibetan groups during the crisis. But word has not reached every group.

“So far we have not heard from them,” said B. Tsering, head of the Tibetan Women’s Association, which is taking part in the march to Tibet.

Despite China’s charge that the Dalai Lama and his supporters planned the uprising, the protests in Tibet and cities around the world were spontaneous — organized by local Tibetan groups and their sympathizers, B. Tsering said.

“If this continues I’m afraid the Tibetan people might lose control. It could get difficult,” she said. “Lots of demonstrations are decided on by the young people and we can’t control them.

The Dalai Lama insists pacifism is the only path to saving Tibet from the “cultural genocide” that he sees being inflicted by Han Chinese migration to Tibet and the communist regime’s religious restrictions.

“Our only strengths are justice and truth,” he said. “Force is immediate, but the effects of truth sometimes take longer.”

Arthur C. Clarke

Sci-fi guru Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90
Known for ‘2001’ and tech predictions; asked for secular funeral

Sanka Vidanagama/AFP-Getty Images file

Science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, seen here in this photograph taken at his home in Sri Lanka in December 2007, has died at the age of 90 after suffering breathing problems, an aide says.


8:32 a.m. PT, Wed., March. 19, 2008

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Even in death, Arthur C. Clarke would not compromise his vision.

The famed science fiction writer, who once denigrated religion as “a necessary evil in the childhood of our particular species,” left written instructions that his funeral be completely secular, according to his aides.

“Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral,” he wrote.


Clarke died early Wednesday at age 90 and was to be buried in a private funeral this weekend in his adopted home of Sri Lanka. Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome for years, suffered breathing problems in recent days, aide Rohan De Silva said.

The visionary author won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future. The 1968 story “2001: A Space Odyssey” — written simultaneously as a novel and screenplay with director Stanley Kubrick — was a frightening prophecy of artificial intelligence run amok.

One year after it made Clarke a household name in fiction, the scientist entered the homes of millions of Americans alongside Walter Cronkite anchoring television coverage of the Apollo mission to the moon.

Clarke also was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. He became known as the "godfather" of the satellite revolution. Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits.

Fiction vs. nonfiction
His nonfiction volumes on space travel and his explorations of the Great Barrier Reef and Indian Ocean earned him respect in the world of science, and in 1976 he became an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. But it was his writing that shot him to his greatest fame and that gave him the greatest fulfillment.

“Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered,” Clarke said recently. “I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these, I would like to be remembered as a writer.”

From 1950, he began a prolific output of both fiction and nonfiction, sometimes publishing three books in a year.

A statement from Clarke’s office said he had recently reviewed the final manuscript of his latest novel. “The Last Theorem,” co-written with Frederik Pohl, will be published later this year, it said.

Some of his best-known books are “Childhood’s End,” 1953; “The City and The Stars,” 1956; “The Nine Billion Names of God,” 1967; “Rendezvous with Rama,” 1973; “Imperial Earth,” 1975; and “The Songs of Distant Earth,” 1986.

When Clarke and Kubrick got together to develop a movie about space, they looked for inspiration to several of Clarke’s shorter pieces. As work progressed on the screenplay, Clarke also wrote a novel of the story. He followed it up with “2010,” “2061,” and “3001: The Final Odyssey.”

"2010" was made into a film sequel, and Clarke's legacy in the movies may well continue after his death: A film adaptation of "Rendezvous With Rama" has been in development for years, with actor Morgan Freeman as producer and star.

How Clarke inspired space exploration
Clarke's fiction inspired real-life space exploration. After the first moon landing in 1969 — an event Clarke predicted decades earlier — NASA Administrator Tom Paine said in an inscription to the writer that he "provided the essential intellectual drive that led us to the moon."

Clarke's 1979 novel, "The Fountains of Paradise," helped spark the real-world efforts to build a space elevator from Earth to orbit. The idea is still being pursued, even though its realization may still be decades away.

In the wake of Clarke's death, NASA said countless young people were inspired by "his hopeful vision of how spaceflight would transform societies, economies and humankind itself."

"Although his personal odyssey here on Earth is now over, his vision lives on through his writing; he will be sorely missed," Alan Stern, the space agency's associate administrator for science, said in a written statement.

Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin struck a similar tone: "Sir Arthur's positive vision of the future excited generations about space exploration, and inspired millions to pursue scientific careers," he said.

Planetary scientist Torrence Johnson agreed that Clarke’s work was a major influence on many in the field. Johnson, who has been exploring the solar system through the Voyager, Galileo and Cassini missions in his 35 years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, recalled a meeting of planetary scientists and rocket engineers where talk turned to the author.

“All of us around the table said we read Arthur C. Clarke,” Johnson said. “That was the thing that got us there.”

His legacy in space and on Earth
In an interview with The Associated Press, Clarke said he did not regret having never traveled to space himself, though he arranged to have DNA from his hair sent into orbit.

“One day, some super civilization may encounter this relic from the vanished species and I may exist in another time,” he said. “Move over, Stephen King.”

Along with his DNA sample, Clarke enclosed a handwritten note that read "Fare well, my clone."

Clarke, a British citizen, won a host of science fiction awards, and was named a Commander of the British Empire in 1989. Clarke was officially given a knighthood in 1998, but he delayed accepting it for two years after a London tabloid accused him of being a child molester. The allegation was never proved.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa lauded Clarke for his passion for his adopted home and his efforts to aid its progress.

“We were all proud to have this celebrated author, visionary and promoter of space exploration, prophet of satellite communications, great humanist and lover of animals in our midst,” he said in a statement.

Son of a farmer
Born in Minehead, western England, on Dec. 16, 1917, the son of a farmer, Arthur Charles Clark became addicted to science fiction after buying his first copies of the pulp magazine “Amazing Stories” at Woolworth’s. He read English writers H.G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon and began writing for his school magazine in his teens.

Clarke went to work as a clerk in Her Majesty’s Exchequer and Audit Department in London, where he joined the British Interplanetary Society and wrote his first short stories and scientific articles on space travel.

It was not until after World War II that Clarke received a bachelor of science degree in physics and mathematics from King’s College in London.

Serving in the wartime Royal Air Force, he wrote a 1945 memo about the possibility of using satellites to revolutionize communications. Clarke later sent it to a publication called Wireless World, which almost rejected it as too far-fetched.

He moved to Sri Lanka in 1956.

In recent years, Clarke was linked by his computer with friends and fans around the world, spending each morning answering e-mails and browsing the Internet.

On the occasion of his 90th birthday last December, Clarke delivered a speech to a small gathering during which he passed along three wishes: for ethnically divided Sri Lanka to find a lasting peace, for the world to embrace cleaner energy resources, and for extraterrestrial beings to "call us or give us a sign."

Clarke married in 1953, and was divorced in 1964. He had no children. He is survived by his brother, Fred, and sister, Mary. His body is to be brought to his home in Colombo so friends and fans can pay their respects before his burial.

This report was supplemented by msnbc.com.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Have you met the real John McCain?!

Reality Check on Obama's Legend

March 7, 2008 3:01 AM

The myth of Obama has overtaken the reality of a rather ordinary and checkered politician, argues Sister Toldjah, who provides the smelling salt of facts to rouse the fainting crowds.
Supporthttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

by Sister Toldjah

Barack Obama wants people to believe he is a “Washington outsider” who will “change” the way D.C. works. His selling points are that he decries lobbyists and special interests, says his campaign is responsible “to no one but the people,” asserts he has the ability to “get things done,” claims his 2002 anti-Iraq war speech was “courageous” and proved he has good judgment when it comes to walking against the political winds, has made a focal point of his campaign his commitment refocusing the US’ attention Afghanistan, and downplays the “experience” argument by suggesting that Washington experience is the “wrong” type of experience the country needs right now.

That’s his campaign spin. Now here are the facts:

1) On not taking money from DC lobbyists and special interest PACS: This is the type of double-talk “politics of the past” rhetoric he rails against. While his claim is technically true, what he does do is take money from state lobbyists and other big money contributors who have substantial lobbyist machines in DC, like law firms and corporations. In April 2007, the LA Times quoted the Campaign Finance Institute’s Stephen Weissman as pointing out that the distinction Obama makes on lobbyist money is meaningless: “He gets an asterisk that says he is trying to be different. … But overall, the same wealthy interests are funding his campaign as are funding other candidates, whether or not they are lobbyists.” The Capital Eye reported that “[a]ccording to the Center for Responsive Politics, 14 of Obama’s top 20 contributors employed lobbyists this year, spending a total of $16.2 million to influence the federal government in the first six months of 2007.” Obama’s no stranger to being influenced by those campaign donations, either.

2) His ability to “get things done”: Sure he has it, if you consider that every bill he passed as a State Senator was passed his last year in office by a Democrat-controlled legislature. Also, some of the more high profile accomplishments he cites now like the racial profiling/videotape confession legislation were bills where a lot of the legwork had been done by other Democrats in the legislature years prior when it was controlled by Republicans, but were given to Obama by his kingmaker, Senate president Emil Jones, Jr. in order for him to make the “close” (where he often did). When asked about this by the Houston Press’ Todd Spivak, State Senator Rickey Hendon replied, “I don’t consider it bill jacking. … But no one wants to carry the ball 99 yards all the way to the one-yard line, and then give it to the halfback who gets all the credit and the stats in the record book.” This isn’t to suggest that Obama’s achievements in the state senate are totally without merit, but instead to point out they weren’t all done by his leaping tall buildings in a single bound. He had a lot of help from Democrats. Consider this, too: if he wins, he will have a solid Democrat Congress to work with, so the only “reaching out” he’d have to do would be to the few moderate Republicans who have already proven themselves all too eager to vote with liberal Democrats.

3) His courage: Contrary to a recent hyperbolic campaign ad, it wasn’t “courageous” to give his 2002 anti-war speech, primarily because he delivered it at an anti-Iraq war rally. At the last debate, America’s former co-president claimed that it was easy to give that speech, and it wasn’t a gamble for him because he wasn’t in the US Senate and therefore wasn’t in a position of responsibility. Obama’s impassioned reply was, “I was in the midst of a U.S. Senate campaign. It was a high-stakes campaign.” Wrong. In reality, Obama did not announce his intentions to run for the US Senate until January 2003.

4) Experience: He downplays the question now, but after he was elected to serve in the US Senate in 2004, he was questioned about running on a national ticket. His response was, “I am a believer in knowing what you’re doing when you apply for a job. And I think that if I were to seriously consider running on a national ticket I would essentially have to start now, before having served a day in the Senate. Now, there are some people who might be comfortable doing that, but I’m not one of those people.” A little over a year later, he definitively stated he would not run for president, and wanted to serve out his full Senate term.

5) His “commitment” to Afghanistan: He believes the US “took its eye off the ball” when we went into Iraq, and promises to refocus on Afghanistan as president. The reality is that since Obama began chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on European Affairs in January 2007, not a single policy hearing has been conducted on anything, Afghanistan or otherwise. When Clinton brought this up at the Cleveland debate, Obama conceded, “I became chairman of this committee at the beginning of this campaign. … So it is true that we haven’t had oversight hearings on Afghanistan.” ‘Nuff said.

Does all this mean that Obama is an evil person? Of course it doesn’t. By many accounts, Obama is a likable friendly guy, even when he’s not causing supporters to faint when he speaks. He’s someone you could play poker with, even if you’re not a state lobbyist pal. And he probably does care about the “little guy” — even though he wants to “help” him at the expense of everyone else. All this means that Obama is a mere mortal, a man who is not unlike most other politicians when it comes to, well, playing politics. And while the national media’s mostly given him a free ride the last year or so, if Monday’s combative press conference is any indication, soon he may be wishing he really was a Washington outsider — literally.

Sister Toldjah is a freelance writer who blogs at SisterToldjah.com

Because High Art marks the cultural health of a society

Celebrated Tenor Di Stefano Dies at 86
Monday, March 03, 2008 2:20:26 PM

Giuseppe Di Stefano, one of the greatest tenors of the 20th century and a celebrated singing partner of Maria Callas, died Monday. He was 86.

Di Stefano died at home in Santa Maria Hoe, north of Milan, from injuries sustained in an attack at his family's villa in Kenya in November 2004, wife Monika Curth said.

The retired tenor had been incapacitated since unidentified assailants struck him on the head during the attack at his house in Diani, Kenya, she said.

Di Stefano, born in Sicily in 1921, made his debut in 1946 in the northern city of Reggio Emilia with Massenet's "Manon," and went on to sing at the world's top opera
houses, including Milan's La Scala, New York's Metropolitan, and in Vienna and Berlin.

His last performance was in Rome in 1992.

Known for his powerful voice, Di Stefano also is remembered for his duets with Callas, who performed and recorded with him several times in the 1950s through her final tour in 1973.

At the Met, Di Stefano sang in 112 performances, making his debut as the Duke in Verdi's "Rigoletto" on Feb. 25, 1948, and his finale in the title role of Offenbach's "Les Contes des Hoffmann" on Jan. 27, 1965.

Di Stefano will be buried in Santa Maria Hoe after a funeral Wednesday, his wife said.

Wheels of Justice Tour, 2008

In a recent opportunity, I was exposed to grassroots folks of passion, doing their work. I share the value and importance of that work here with you:
The Wheels of Justice Tour has a mission to counter the American media insulation-conditioning of all Americans in ongoing denial of information, by speaking out about the occupations in Iraq and Palestine. Two of the founding speakers on The Wheel of Justice Tour provide intelligent and factual information that you are not getting in the American media. This post is intended for all those Americans who cannot hear the history of our country doing great wrong in the world. A history of great wrongs that are grinding this country to a halt. Intelligent, irrefutable facts and knowledgeable information abound to open one's eyes to the truth. Being afraid and avoiding the truthful consequences of our governments actions that demand our responsible collective availabilities, will only make the pile of grievances that much bigger to show up for. Paying the bill for choices made, always comes due. One can choose truth, learn skills for showing up, choose courage required to do what needs doing, or one can be rendered imprisoned by the weight of one's choices to avoid the truth. Killing and/or hurting one another, turning a naïvely trusting blind eye to government actions unchecked, is always going to come knocking at the door of truth, in a manner that will not be denied.
I invite you to slowly take off your blinders, read what I post for all our betterment and concerned well-being. Spend even an hour researching what you find here. Trust your own intelligence to cross-check all references listed here. References that may also cross your further reading across the "super information highway." The key is to trust yourself. Believe your own instincts. Believe your own intuitions. Then talk with your neighbors, friends, families, community members_ thoughtfully. Observantly. Then quietly consider all the information before you again. Pray. Meditate. Then take appropriate action with your friends, perhaps new friends; to build this world into one that is pro-actively loving. Our governments absolutely require our leadership right NOW! Our governments have gone astray, and we ARE the ones we need right now. In this context, read on about The Wheels of Justice Tour, 2008:
'Eyewitness speakers roll into American towns and cities across this great country, and speak to everyday Americans in welcoming churches, and to students on college campuses. The basic message of the tour is facilitated on a biodiesel bus to show and talk and sing and dance truthfully about the occupation of Iraq and Palestine.
Eyewitnesses share their direct accounts from Iraq and Palestine to challenge and educate Americans about the repercussions of war and occupation on human beings abroad and Americans here at home. Having lived with war, terror and occupation, and seen first-hand the aftermath of government policies rooted in a justification of war and egregious violence the U. S. media then further clinically rations, to propagandize the American public, in order to gain un-researched popular support_ both Mazin Qumsiyeh and Mike Miles talk to us all about justice and human rights as the only real path for peace. Their firsthand experience and perspective are offered unattached to partisan politics.
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Qumsiyeh, a Palestinian American, is a former Professor of Genetics at Yale University School of Medicine. He is author of the widely acclaimed book, "Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle." He, along with his work appear in national media, interviews and print.

Miles, is a Catholic Worker and founder of Anathoth Community Farm, a center for the study of nonviolence, community, and sustainable living in Wisconsin. He holds a masters degree from North Park Seminary in Chicago, and has been arrested numerous times while practicing proactive nonviolence over the past 25 years. He has spent time as a human rights observer in both Iraq and Palestine.

The mobile peace center has made over a thousand stops on American campuses, in cities and towns with local peace groups and faith communities, promoting non-violent solutions to war and occupation across this planet. The public is invited to attend their free speaking events, and bus open-house when they arrive in a city near you!'

Looking for an internship in non-violence experience? I understand from last night's event, that TWOJT, 2008 is seeking a trip coordinator!

***Mike Miles: this one's for you!

Contact them to schedule a stop in your town and for more information at: (Well, stay tuned! I am working on this piece and will post pertinent contact info asap. Thanks!)