What a disaster. Everyone knows that she will always vote with the Mexicans, or whatever. And be dripping burrito sauce all over the bench. And probably her thirty-two closest relatives will always be like, "Hey muchacho, let's jump the border and stuff." Don't even get me started on how she's clearly a female woman. When she hits the menopause she'll go crazy and declare the white men illegal! Who will look out for them? WHO?!
What really bothers me isn't even the fact that I have no recollection of being taught about her in history classes; it's that I remember units where we talked about famous, strong women. The only names that ever came up would be those of scientists, suffragettes, athletes and entertainers. Not that Marie Curie and Katharine Hepburn aren't admirable, but there was a very serious dearth of information taught about women in (USA) politics.
@InCahoots with Zombies: Hearing this always makes me feel very lucky I went to an experimental history high school in NYC. We had an entire semester on women in American history and government. I remember my friends in other schools arguing about whether or not it was necessary, but if we hadn't, those stories might not have been told at all, and certainly not as in depth.
It's like people who say we don't need Black History Month. For the foreseeable future, yes, we do, until history is written in a more inclusive way.
Margaret Thatcher had to take elocution lessons to lowered the timbre of her own voice (as opposed to soften) in order to appear more authoritative. Even in the 1970s when the first permanent female newsreaders started appearing on British television, the argument was that the softer, higher pitched female voice could never hope to emulate the reassuring gravitas of a man's when it came to broadcasting grave news to the nation.
My late grandmother taught me about Frances Perkins as a child, and that is what inspired me to study history. Perkins was such a powerful woman, and to hear another powerful women speak about how great of an influence she had on her encouraged the 10 year old me to believe there wasn't anything off limits that I could try.
I don't think she did a disservice in her decision to "slip between the cracks." She knew the things that needed to be accomplished, and had she done so differently in 1932, there's a chance she never would have been able to. I also don't believe the fact that another woman didn't match her accomplishments for decades was because of the way she lived. Rather, an end to the war, the return of soldiers, and many other social factors played into it.
Some of us are kind of ignorant, assuming FDR single-handedly saved America during the Great Depression.
It's nice to know (and very interesting, might I add) that a woman played a key role in the FDR administration, as well as realizing that the most influential woman in politics was in power only 10-odd years after she could vote. She's kind of a testament to the strong woman ideal.
@Ailanthus-altissima: But how many Secretaries of Labor get taught about in school? History teaches about the one in charge, and therefore the President. And sometimes the Secretary of State gets credit for foreign policy. But domestic policy is never about the Cabinet member.
@Lymed with a sore throat: So I remember hearing about her in one of my classes. I think that when someone how a huge impact on policy, they end up getting some attention (for some reason, my high school taught us way more about Henry Clay, a senator, than about Frances Perkins). In the end, I think she had one or two sentences in my high school history text, followed by an AP question, followed by me actually looking her up myself.
Frances Perkins went to my alma mater and is one of my personal heroines. She worked her ass off for better labor conditions for women and children for years, and she defended her right to keep her maiden name in court after getting married! Mount Holyoke ladies represent! This is my favorite quote of hers: "The door might not be opened to a woman again for a long, long time, and I had a kind of duty to other women to walk in and sit down on the chair that was offered, and so establish the right of others long hence and far distant in geography to sit in the high seats."
@denna: i'm not just saying this because i went there, but the women are almost uniformly highly intelligent accomplished, and supportive. as a bonus, it is also truly one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. it's a really wonderful place. enjoy your visit!
Family may be "involuntary" by virtue of blood, but family relationships do not preclude other ones. And it's not like you have to choose suffocating closeness with your family members or having other healthy relationships outside family, with friends, partners etc, as if the two are mutually exclusive. That is much too extreme an assumption. For instance, I am close with my family by virtue of the fact that I do not live with them. When I became an adult, I moved out and onward with my life and we actually became closer. It seems like some deeply flawed logic is at work with this site.
I am a firm believer that family bonds are important and even if the relationship isn't perfect, it is worth trying to maintain. There are those where you might have to cut ties because the relationship is too toxic or genuinely abusive but I think that, generally speaking, shouldn't be your default option if you're not getting along with your parents. Most 18 year-olds have a hard time with their parental relationships. Does that mean they should cut them out entirely (which is a terribly selfish thing to do)? I don't think so. And working to maintain important relationships doesn't impinge on your personal freedom. It makes you a more empathetic, compassionate individual.
In my experience with my boyfriend, his relationship with his sister and his mother have become very trying for him and even detrimental to his well-being. He briefly considered cutting them out of his life before realizing that those relationships were important to him. They were not abusing him or being so poisonous to him that he needed to relinquish them for life. We talked a lot about it and I encouraged him to really think deeply about this before burning those bridges. He is now working to reconnect with both his sister and his mother, despite the fact that it takes work.
@Cerridwen: I should hasten to add, it's not really "selfish" to cut people out, family or otherwise, you are genuinely being abused. Sometimes, you do have to put yourself first. But I generally think that for someone who is just having typical teenager problems with Mom and Dad, it is pretty selfish to up and cut them out of your life. But that is just opinion...
Does this mean that blaming "games" for renegade nerd behavior is done? Cause I was all set to start spinning my WoW disc backwards to look for secret messages. Now what do I have to do, decrypt facebook?
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ha
It cracks me up that some of the people trashing her can't even get her heritage right. She's not Mexican. She's Puerto Rican.
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It's like people who say we don't need Black History Month. For the foreseeable future, yes, we do, until history is written in a more inclusive way.
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I don't think she did a disservice in her decision to "slip between the cracks." She knew the things that needed to be accomplished, and had she done so differently in 1932, there's a chance she never would have been able to. I also don't believe the fact that another woman didn't match her accomplishments for decades was because of the way she lived. Rather, an end to the war, the return of soldiers, and many other social factors played into it.
03/03/09
Some of us are kind of ignorant, assuming FDR single-handedly saved America during the Great Depression.
It's nice to know (and very interesting, might I add) that a woman played a key role in the FDR administration, as well as realizing that the most influential woman in politics was in power only 10-odd years after she could vote. She's kind of a testament to the strong woman ideal.
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(Sorry. Had to. I have a disease that forces me to reference Dirty Dancing whenever possible.)
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She's Baby's namesake (who ironically would follow in her footsteps and go to Mount Holyoke).
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11/15/08
I am a firm believer that family bonds are important and even if the relationship isn't perfect, it is worth trying to maintain. There are those where you might have to cut ties because the relationship is too toxic or genuinely abusive but I think that, generally speaking, shouldn't be your default option if you're not getting along with your parents. Most 18 year-olds have a hard time with their parental relationships. Does that mean they should cut them out entirely (which is a terribly selfish thing to do)? I don't think so. And working to maintain important relationships doesn't impinge on your personal freedom. It makes you a more empathetic, compassionate individual.
In my experience with my boyfriend, his relationship with his sister and his mother have become very trying for him and even detrimental to his well-being. He briefly considered cutting them out of his life before realizing that those relationships were important to him. They were not abusing him or being so poisonous to him that he needed to relinquish them for life. We talked a lot about it and I encouraged him to really think deeply about this before burning those bridges. He is now working to reconnect with both his sister and his mother, despite the fact that it takes work.
11/15/08
11/15/08