Truth and Lies

“While I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities, and to the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: Dream with ambition, lead with conviction and see yourselves in a way that others may not, simply because they've never seen it before." 

– Vice President Kamala Harris 

On January 20^th, while my mother and I watched through bittersweet tears, President Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46^th president of the United States. It was not a perfect moment. How could we shed joyful when so many people were dying? While we celebrated people were crying, desperate and missing their loved ones. While others were conniving and thieving. Destroying. Lying.

Still, Kamala Harris now stands beside the president as the first woman, Black American and South Asian American to serve as Vice President. For the first time in history, we have a female leader in the second highest position in the country. There is much to celebrate.

The inauguration of Vice President Harris is a significant step along a new and vital path. I believe, if we continue to place women in positions of leadership, all people will begin to recognize it as a normal and natural deed. Day in, day out; witnessing women in positions of governance will, over time, support the true view that women are equals. Women are capable. Women are deserving.

This new era sits in great juxtaposition to various times in our past, both recent and longstanding. Disheartening examples of casual sexism could be found in the highest office of our country. It was displayed and unchecked during the 2016 election. 

“Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!” Former President Trump said of GOP presidential hopeful and CEO of Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina in 2016. 

Yet, he was given the office. Even while sitting at the head of our country, he continued to mock issues women brought to his attention and he answered claims of his own sexual misconduct by insulting and bullying the women. A bad example, now out of time.

I believe, if we follow this new path, we will, albeit slowly, move away from the years of sexism and subjugation women have endured at home and in the workplace. If we keep this up, women will be considered for the jobs they want and the jobs they are qualified for. A woman might even bring home the same amount in her paycheck as a man. She’ll be able to take care of her own house and her own people. Without a second or third job. Women will work and live free from harassment and discrimination. Women will be equal partners in this nation.

With each new generation women will earn offices of power and with each new generation it will become more accepted for a man to look to a woman as a peer. This collective mental adjustment will not only serve women it will save them, if only in part. Challenge and change the view of women as lesser to men and you interrupt a small segment in the cycle of domestic abuse. Women are worth more.

Even now, in this historical moment, it is hard to forget and ignore the ugly voices; jawing on the television, repeating in movies, and at times, in our own heads. Women can’t do this. Women can’t do that. Women aren’t strong enough. Smart enough. Pretty enough. We’re never enough. And this election taught us, at the very least, one disturbing fact; if you repeat a lie enough times, to some it becomes truth. The idea that a woman isn’t capable or deserving of holding power is a lie we’ve lived with for far too long.

The Fun of Regulated Reading

by
Scott D. Parker

Do you ever regulate your reading?

I was struggling over what term to use so let me just explain. Last year, I did a little experiment. The book of Proverbs has 31 chapters. I decided that for every month that included 31 days, I would read a chapter of Proverbs per day. To keep things interesting, I changed translations every month. Then, at the end, I was able to go back and compare notes and compare verses that I underlined. It was a pretty fun experiment and, except for the transition from July into August, I never had a back to back month.

To January 2021. As I often do, I start to cycle through all of the things that have major anniversaries. Anything with a year ending in one or six are the key ones this year. In the first week, it was the 50th anniversary of Chicago III. That got me to thinking about music and what albums we’re gonna be celebrating major milestone anniversaries. It was my son – – an avid musicologist – – who reminded me I had a book on the shelf about the year 1971 in music. Why not just read it.

The book in question is titled Never a Dull Moment: 1971 The Year Rock Exploded by David Hepworth. It came out in 2016 and I think I might’ve had it since then. Born in 1950, Hepworth came of age about the same time that rock ‘n’ roll did. Those, he was 21 years old during 1971. He has written extensively about music since the 1980s. 

What got me excited about reading this book in 2021 was a table of contents. It is broken out by month. 12 chapters, 12 months, plus an introduction.

As soon as I saw that, I had a brilliant idea: read each chapter at the beginning of each month here in 2021 and go through the year 1971 with Hepworth. I had to read chapter 1 this week, but I'll get to chapter 2  on Monday. and then continue from there. That means Led Zepplin IV is in my future. So is Sticky Finger, Nursery Crime, Hunky Dory, What's Going On, Bryter Later, and Madman Across the Water. That's just the albums I know about. I can't wait to discover new-to-me albums.

And, if chapter one is any indication, this is going to be a blast. Hepworth writes in an engaging style, but primarily he writes only from the limited perspective of that month. He tells you what Bruce Springsteen was doing, the status of the band Slade, and how Yes was reimagining how music was recorded. He even drops a cliffhanger of an ending as the chapter closed about a woman who invented the album business.

But what makes these chapters special is that Hepworth includes a short playlist of songs that were popular in that month. I already made a January 1971 playlist and dang if I haven't discovered a new-to-me band: Badfinger.

Anyway, I don't know if you read books in this regulated manner or not, but I do, and I look forward to learning about 1971 fifty years later.

Are there other books that could be read in a regulated way?

True crime time with Beau

This week, Beau Johnson takes a look at True Crime from Samantha Kolesnik.

Suzy and her brother, Lim, live with their abusive mother in a town where the stars don’t shine at night. Once the abuse becomes too much to handle, the two siblings embark on a sordid cross-country murder spree beginning with their mom. As the murder tally rises, Suzy’s mental state spirals into irredeemable madness.

Get your copy here.