Yes, it is okay to talk about politics

Just a few nights also I had a conversation with a couple of intelligent people who said that it is only right that all citizens of the United States of America support the George W. Bush administration since Mr. Bush was voted into his office as President by a majority of the people.
I was able to take their point, but responded back that what they suggest is: no matter what a person does once legally elected into office is…well, according to them, okay. As long as properly elected, all actions become right and just even if they include our President bending (and perhaps breaking) the laws to fit into his (and perhaps in future her) personal agenda.
I say no to that idea. It certainly sounds like a form of dictatorship to my ears.
When torture is authorized and then the word is bandied about with verbal hairs being split to determine what the term means there is a problem and I for one do not agree that all of us American loving citizens must support the current administration.
What say you?

Nostalgia vs Grief

You've got to wonder if there ever was a time when life was simply great. Has there ever been a time and place that deserves to be thought about in comfortable nostalgia? Was there ever a slow paced time where people were not sleep deprived and always being accused of doing or not doing their life right? Likely, no. It all depends on that half-full, half-empty thing. As each of us asks questions about our own lives it turns out that some of the time life is half-full, half-empty, and at others even over-filled.
Recently I spoke with a woman who is revolted by people who speak of incidents where prayer saved one of their loved one's lives. Her disgust comes from the feeling that her own prayers did not save her beloved. On hearing all of those platitudes she cannot get around her questions: Were my prayers not good enough? Were my prayers undeserving?
Perhaps we all need to be thoughtful before offering hope-filled condolences to a person who remains in the painfully unresolved grief of loss. That person is not in a safe emotional place and is unable to hear anything that smacks of sanctimonious clap trap, no matter how well meaning.
I am thinking there well may be only two prayers that can be justified, those of gratitude (thankfulness/praise) and guidance.

Numerology Page

We might think it’s silly, but most of us still take a peek at our horoscopes on the Astrology pages in Newspapers and magazines, right? Well, if you know of someone who is getting married this year have them check out the monthly “Numerology” page at www.prescottweddings.com where they can find out what energies can be expected on the day of their wedding. It isn’t even silly. I write the column under my nom de plum and can assure you it is all really real.

Beauty is really deep

Everyone has heard the old saying, “beauty is not just skin deep”, but what does that really mean? Of course it means that beauty comes from within. But, again, what does that mean?
A great deal of our physical body is affected by what we believe about the world in general and specifically regarding ourselves. People always know what it is they don’t want. They are often hard pressed to know what it is they do want. That is because we are always trying to fit into the world—as we know it.
Our history is not just about killing each other or looking hot. Fortunately, there are now more places to find out what else happened in our past. We can learn all sorts of interesting things that help us know about our world, making it simpler to discover who we are inside. Self-knowledge is a good way to know what we believe is beautiful.
A peacefulness inside is expressed as a warm character that others are attracted to and like to be around. So, is peacefulness beauty? Absolutely!

Is there more to history than killing each orther or looking hot?

There is certainly a wide range of topics along the grand pole of history. Likely the killing and destruction found in wars, which is not the only interest men have, is on one end while doing everything possible to be considered sexy, which is also not the only interest women have, is on the other.
But too often history about women is either found in Women’s History Departments of Universities or on what is called the “fringe” giving people the impression it isn’t very interesting or doesn’t affect their lives. Many people automatically connect the term feminism with violent beliefs about sexuality. Pro-Choice also includes having children outside the current legal boundaries and is not exclusively about exercising abortion. And all the men I know who are very much interested in equality for women, knowing full well it affects their ability to enjoy equality themselves, are turned off by the word feminism and what is available about the history of women in the main-stream market today.
I have taught private workshops on Dream Interpretation and Analysis from a Jungian perspective for a decade. Believe me, a person’s dreams are a reflection of what they believe about themselves. What we believe is based on what we are taught. A person’s well being or ill health is affected by self-esteem. We find ourselves experiencing physical pains caused by our fears until we make conscious choices. Knowing all history helps sort out our personal beliefs. Until then, women’s history continues to be thought of as “second class”.
Let’s face it, how many people are going to spend their highly limited free time reading “The Feminist Papers – Adams through Beauvoir”? Not too many, other than those required to read it when taking a course to get their college degree. Yes, there are some books that deal with the pioneering lives of women in our past. Most of it, however, continues to dwell on how women should be “super” achievers and be willing to over-achieve. The vast majority of non-fiction literature published about historical women during the past fifteen years is about the Goddess. There is certainly no problem with that—I used a great deal of it when researching my book, Infamous Eve, A History—other than it does not always attract the interest of the general reader.
Right now the history of women seems to fall into the perceived categories of: 1. Uninteresting, 2. A sales job on how women should continue to be everything to everyone, or 3. Goddess worship is the way for religion to be experienced so that everyone gets to be happy.
The biggest real problem is that most of the popular biblical history found in the main-stream is written about the men—heroes—even though those heroes were war mongers taking land belonging to others, murderers to get or keep their heart’s desires, and without a doubt control freaks. Other than the ones with a distinctly biased position, the religious histories written about women are few and far between. So much was ignored, suppressed, deleted, or plundered and re-written so that it appears to be about men instead that tenacity is required to actually write about it.
Too often exercising our free-will is still considered a bad option. Regardless of individual perspectives and beliefs about Equal Rights for Women, there is an undeniable existence of a barrier that keeps women on a level lower than men. As long as social customs and political laws bind women to men the biblical Eve will still be used to constrain women, especially regarding work, marriage, and children.
Past historical mistakes cannot be prevented from recurring over and over again when they remain unknown. When we do know what they are, the status quo, that keeps both women and men without equality, ends.

Is history being revisited?

Is the grand Universe offering us an opportunity to deal with a lesson in our history not previously understood? Are we re-living a version of the events that surrounded the ratification of United States Constitution’s 14th and 15th Amendments? Those events greatly concerned and involved two of our most important historical figures. Elizabeth Cady Stanton is the woman responsible for initiating women rights in this country and Frederick Douglass, who was born into slavery, is a major figure in the effort to release the United States of America from the horrors of slavery. They worked closely together, but in July, 1868 they had to face the fact that their primary objective of freedom for all did not survive when the legislators of the day banned together to block the powerful union of women and black people to only offer males the vote.

The 14th amendment said: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." The idea was to make sure freed slaves were not prevented from voting, but it only gave franchise to males rather than all citizens.

But then the Supreme Court case of Minor vs. Happersett allowed the individual states to determine which males got to vote anyway.

The cause of the amendments failure:
1. The rights of women were not included.
2. The Federal government did not prevent the individual states from initiating voter qualification laws like literacy tests and pole taxes.

Are we being beguiled into allowing the seemingly towering objective of gaining the highest office in the land by either a black man or a woman to deflect away from the primary objective and divide us so that no one really gains anything and those of us in this country who love it and care about equality are again torn apart in an attempt to undermine the power women and blacks exhibit together?

My gratitude is great

Publicity and marketing are extremely important to any author—known or especially unknown. Of course those who are well known have more publicity and thus free marketing. The rest must use whatever means are at our disposal to get our names and books known by an ever expanding audience.

Some of the groups who have given space on their web-sites to my book, Infamous Eve, A History are:

http://www.bookfetish.com/
http://www.wandakeesey.com/
http://www.mysteryfiction.net/
http://www.newbookreviews.org/
http://www.readerviews.com/
http://www.bookviews.com/
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/

I certainly am grateful to each and every one.