Oh Boy! Women Get One Whole Day a Year

...while men get the other 364

I’m not being fair, am I? But until 1920, women couldn’t vote. Until 1970-something, women couldn’t open credit accounts in their name without a husband or father as a co-signer. We couldn’t buy a house on our own.

Will all the Neo-fascist laws outlawing drag appearances in public eventually get around to forbidding women to wear trousers? We didn’t think that after almost 50 of abortion being legal that we would lose that right. In truth, it has been chipped away at even as it became accepted law.

I really am trying to celebrate International Women’s Day.

But it is hard to do. Is it my white-American-Land-of-the-free privilege showing that I have not had to come face to face with the visible eroding of my rights? Um…I am sorry to say that it is. The entrance of TFG into my political consciousness has been an unpleasant wake up call. Being apathetic is no longer a viable option for me.

But I’m going to try to get with a more positive program right here and now, and see if I can adjust my attitude for at least, this latter part of this International Women’s Day.

I am very grateful these women are (or were, in some cases) in the world, doing good work and giving me hope for the future:

Here and now:
Joyce Vance, Jill Wine-Banks, Kimberly Atkins-Storr, and Barb McQuade: #SistersInLaw podcast, and of course Joyce Vance’s newsletter here. For making law and politics make sense and talking me off the ledge every week.

My Panda Sisterhood. Because pandas and traveling and hanging out and our daily text chain.

Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan on the Supreme Court.

Alison Gill of the Daily Beans, Mueller She Wrote, and all her present and future podcasts.

My kid lit critique group and the many women writers and illustrators I’ve met along the way.

My many readers and appreciators of panda satire, who while not exclusively women, many are. It just goes to show the excellent taste of (some) women.

My women artist friends, near and far. You are the best.

Too many others to list…

Gone, but never forgotten:

Two Annes and a Fran: My first gang when I moved to Whidbey Island. I can’t believe you are all gone now. I was not supposed to be the last Anne standing.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg: Even before you were a Supreme, you were making women’s lives better. Thanks for helping me get my own house!

Sondra Freckelton; painter extraordinaire, teacher, gardener, friend.

My cousins Lenore and Ruth: Lenore helped me follow my artistic path in my early life, and I met my cousin Ruth towards the end of her life. I miss you both.

I could go on, but I think I won’t.

Happy International Women’s Day. Remember, The Handmaid’s Tale was a cautionary work of fiction, not a blueprint for the future.

This weekend Daylight Savings Time begins in the US!