Second Re-read: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

I borrowed this book from Norwalk Library in 2019 and bought my own copy in 2023. I knew I'd reread it one day, and now's the time. 

Jeff and I recently watched the series on Hulu and liked it. But I realized that I had forgotten many of the details. Of course, many details differ between the novel and the series. There are new characters and new developments. I don't have any problems with the changes. 

Now, I want to rewatch the series. The Mets season will still be over--that will give me some time.  

Book 33: My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem

Full disclosure: I was about halfway through this book but put it aside when I got sucked into The Cabinet of Curiosities. That's not a knock on this book, which I enjoyed.

Steinem started her life on the road, courtesy of her father. The family spent most of the year traveling around the country, buying and selling antiques, farm tools, and other household items. Living in India for two years after college taught Steinem the pleasures of communal travel. The key to her growth as a writer, activist, feminist, and person was to talk with other people and especially listen. 

I liked Steinem's discussion of political campaigns, especially the 2008 Democratic race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. She was moving in her stories relating to Native American culture and history. I loved reading about the Spider Woman of the Southwest--who names things and brings them into being. Steinem believes spiders should be the totem of writers. "Both go into a space alone and spin out of their own bodies a reality that has never existed before." I can now say I want to be a spider woman.

Women's Equality Day and National Dog Day

While Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment on August 18, August 26 was the day the Secretary of State signed the proclamation granting American women the right to vote. In 1972, President Nixon declared August 26 Women's Rights Day, later renamed Women's Equality Day.

Covid-19 has changed recognition and celebration of the centennial of the women's right to vote. I already attended a Zoom lecture and just signed up for a four-part webinar. 

I've read some thought-provoking articles on the fight for suffrage. 

Here's one from The New York Times and another from Jezebel. 

Jeff told me today is also National Dog Day, and here are some suggestions to celebrate. Lola had two long walks today in beautiful weather for her celebration.

A Century Ago...

Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment recognizing women's right to vote. Despite Abigail Adams' plea to her husband to "remember the ladies"  in 1776, women were forgotten when suffrage was concerned. The organized fight for womens' suffrage began at the Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. (Remember Seneca Falls, Selma, and Stonewall?)

In 1917, suffragists' signs asked Woodrow Wilson, "Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?"

Here's a visual history from The New York Times.

Here's a description of the Night of Terror--something you'll never learn in school. I only learned about it in a TV movie.

Remember. Vote!

Book 21: Girl Sleuth Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her

A few weeks ago, I was talking to my brother about Nancy Drew. I knew my sister and I had read her books, but I didn't remember if they were too girly for Jim. No, he told me he read the books and joked about "a ruse to get the chums out of the house."

A few weeks later, he sent me the book Girl Sleuth by Melanie Rehak. It focuses on the two women who were most essential to creating the iconic character Nancy Drew: Mildred Wirt Benson and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. Both were college-educated career women making their way in the business world.

The  book did a good job in setting up the historic backdrop of Millicent's and Harriet's lives and their competing visions of Nancy Drew.

For more on Nancy, check out this.

Book 19: The Testaments

The Testaments is Margaret Atwood's sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. It is incredible; I loved it.

Three women narrate the book: Aunt Lydia from The Handmaid's Tale and two young girls, Agnes and Daisy. Agnes and Daisy appear in The Handmaid's Tale, but we know nothing of their thoughts in that book. Both girls are daughters of June (or Offred) the original handmaid.

I was most interested in Aunt Lydia's story. She had been a judge in the United States before Gilead. She describes her transition to becoming an aunt and her efforts to consolidate power. Her story was much better than what was shown in the television show.

Agnes has spent most of her life in Gilead. She loves her adoptive mother Tabitha, but her world is upended when Tabitha dies. Daisy's adoptive parents are killed in an explosion, and she learns that she is the famous baby Nicole, spirited away from Gilead.

I love how the three women come together and join forces.

Atwood does a great job of world-building beyond what we learned about Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale: the Rubies school to train commanders' wives, how the aunts were established, and how new aunts were trained.

I've already returned the book to the library; fourteen people are still on the waiting list. But I want to read it again.

Edited to add: I just found this post by Rhiannon. Good reading.

Women's Equality Day

That's the designation for today--Women's Equality Day is August 26th--the day women in the United States were granted the constitutional right to vote.

Unfortunately gaining the vote was not enough to guarantee equal rights for women. But gaining suffrage was a huge step, requiring a lot of work and sacrifices. I will always vote to honor the suffragists.

Book Seven: Shell Game

I finished this V.I. Warshawski book by Sara Paretsky on Tuesday night. As always--I've read all the V.I. books--I enjoyed the story. V.I. is smart, resourceful, brave, tenacious, loyal, and a strong feminist. I like that Paretsky used the current political environment of Trump's hatred of immigration and the transgressions of ICE agents (I really want to use the term run-amuckness.) What the hell, this is my blog--the run-amuckness of ICE agents.

One thing I particularly liked was when V.I. was discussing the reaction of her neighbor/friend Mr. Contreras when she spent the night with an archaeologist.

Mr. Contreras has never liked any man I've been involved with. I don't know if it was jealousy, or if he had an unacknowledged fear that I might marry and leave him in the lurch. I couldn't really imagine marrying again, but whether I did, I would never abandon him.

Could this be a hint of a new development?

I seem to remember that Mr. Contreras started off as more of an adversary. I think Peppy--the golden retriever who first appears in Bitter Medicine--the fourth book in the V.I. series--brought them together. V.I. and Mr. Contreras share Peppy and her son Mitch.

My only quibble with the series is that the bad guys are always wealthy, upper crust men. I'd like to see a poor bad guy every once in a while. 

Reading the (Female) Detectives

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been reading mysteries. After I read Breakdown, I read Brush Back, which had been the latest VI Warshawski mystery. Last Sunday's New York Times reviewed a new book, Fallout. 

I went to the library: I'm fifth on the Fallout waiting list. The library expects to receive multiple copies, so the wait might not be too long.

I just finished Critical Mass. This book takes place between Breakdown and Brush Back, but I missed it. I also picked up Deep Pockets, a Carlotta Carlyle mystery. By googling, I discovered there's a later Carlotta book I haven't read (Lie Down with the Devil.)

Most mystery/detective books I've read feature female detectives. Nancy Drew is the first series I remember reading; I was in a book club and received monthly installments. I also read Trixie Belden, Judy Bolton and the Dana Girls.

The first VI Warshawki and Kinsey Millhone books were published in 1982. Carlotta Carlyle first appeared in 1987. I'm not sure how I found VI or Kinsey or which one I read first, but obviously, I've enjoyed both series.

They are similar in some ways: both are licensed private investigators, divorced, runners, involved with musicians at some point, often at odds with the police, committed to their clients, smart and determined. Both have older male neighbors as confidants and friends.

Kinsey is a loner, almost anti-social. She's an orphan without family at least for part of the series. In later books, Kinsey discovers relatives from both sides of her family. She seems to have only one friend--Henry, her landlord and neighbor. In the series Kinsey's had three short-term romantic relationships. Kinsey was once a police officer before she went private. She never seems to cook--eating cereal, sandwiches, Big Macs and strange meals at Rosie's Tavern. One last thing that makes a big difference in her stories--Kinsey is "trapped" in the eighties--the setting of her mysteries--in her thirties.

VI is more social and comes from a large family. Friends and relatives are the catalysts for many of her cases. I think she has had three long-term relationships--although I'm not sure about the length of one (Conrad)--and a few other relationships. VI loves food and is a good cook. She is also a singer. VI is a feminist and a progressive; most--if not all--of her cases involve white collar crime. One predictable thing in VI mysteries--the rich/corporate people are almost always the guilty criminals.

I haven't read a Carlotta Carlyle mystery for years. She's tall, red-headed, a cab driver, a former cop, a guitar player. Carlotta has a long term off and on relationship with her cab company boss (or owner?) Sam, who has a mob family background. Carlotta is a devoted Big Sister.  I don't remember many details. I'll have to write more after I read Deep Pockets.

I prefer to read about female detectives, though I've read about male detectives such as Spenser, Lord Peter Wimsey and Sam Spade. I identify more with the women, I guess. There's no residual narrative sexism. (Hmm, what exactly is residual narrative sexism anyway? I like the phrase: did I just invent it?)

I'm  not sure if I'll continue with my mystery reading binge. For now, on to Carlotta.

Election Eve

This has been a long election season--I guess it's really been four years long. People are already talking about the 2020 Presidential election.

Eight years ago, I was anxious about the election results. McCain seemed to have embraced the devil (I mean the Republican operatives who four years earlier attacked his own family.) Of course faux feminist Sarah Palin was also a fright. In 20008, I'm embarrassed to say, I supported John Edwards. I later voted for Obama.

The stakes are higher tomorrow, but I'm not as anxious. I don't believe enough people will support Trump to make him President. I can't believe it.

I hope I don't face a rude awakening tomorrow. 

Happy Anniversary Women Voters!

It's been 95 years since the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, was ratified. We don't honor the suffragists enough for their hard work and sacrifice.

Thank you.

RIP Rosie the Riveter Model

A few minutes ago, Jeff told me that Mary Doyle Keefe, the original model for Rosie the Riveter, died at age 92. Reading the story on CNN, I realized that I'd never seen the original Norman Rockwell image. I know the second image in the story with the caption, "We Can Do It!"

The image and idea of Rosie will live on.

Of A Song of Ice and Fire and Rape as Wallpaper

I love Game of Thrones (the TV show). In fact, I may be obsessed: I am currently re- watching the second season; Season Three starts on March 31; I am re-reading (more accurately re-skimming) the second book, A Clash of Kings.

That doesn't mean that I don't have problems with the show or the books.

I wrote about  my issues with the books before. Then I read this post via a link from Shakesville. Sophia McDougall said, "I found I couldn’t cope with rape as wallpaper."

Sophia said it much better than I did; I couldn't find the right words.

Although Sophia stopped reading, I continued with the series, despite my misgivings.  And I'm looking forward to Season Three.

My Life as a Feminist

For some women, there is an a-ha moment http://www.theclickbook.com/?p=3 when they suddenly realize that they are feminists.

I can't think of a single defining moment or event in my life. I saw things that were annoying, stupid and wrong. Why did women in TV chase scenes always fall and twist/sprain/break ankles? Why were classified ads segregated by Help Wanted--Male and Help Wanted--Female? Why was it acceptable for defense attorneys to put victims' sexual history into evidence in rape cases?

I remember a friend said that women's lib was stupid: I wondered what she was afraid of.

I remember a boyfriend said I couldn't believe in women's lib because I wore skirts: I wondered WTF.

I remember another guy told me he was sick of my women's lib shit when I said I had problem with one of his favorite Grateful Dead songs, Jack Straw. That song opens and closes with the line, "We can share the women we can share the wine." Once again, I wondered WTF.

I remember my sister telling me that I talked about women's lib, but I let [my boyfriend] tell me what to do. Unfortunately, she was right.

Believing in feminism didn't make me a perfect feminist. Hell, there is no perfect feminist.

My feminism was a work in progress; it is still a work in progress.

Just a few examples: feminism means not being judgmental about women's looks; feminism means defending women, even women like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachman, when "progressives" insult them with misogynist slurs rather than challenge them on their views.

An example of what I aspire to be is here: http://www.shakesville.com/2012/04/shakespeares-sister.html

I Voted Today

We don't have any big elections this year in Connecticut so turnout was low. Some people are still without power after the snowstorm ten days ago or their polling places are being used as shelters.

Norwalk did have a mayoral election. I must confess I haven't followed it closely. It's a big difference from a 2001 campaign when I was a volunteer. I briefly toyed with the idea of not voting, because I hadn't been focused but I couldn't justify that.

Too many women gave up too much to give me that right. Women have had the vote for less than 100 years. I can't squander the right that they thought so hard to win for me.

Five Words

I'm not sure where I saw this: describe yourself using five words:

woman
USian (thanks Shakesville for the term)
feminist
writer
wife

Thank You Suffragists

American history, according to high school, is calm; things just flow along--then there's a big war--and then things just gradually grow better. Ta-da!

High school history would be much more interesting if schools taught the messy violent reality.

Recently we watched Iron Jawed Angels, a HBO movie about US suffragists. I had seen parts of it and have had it saved on our DVR for over a year.

Less than one hundred years ago, women were denied the simple act of voting. Most of us take this right for granted (Ann Coulter thinks women shouldn't vote--don't take anything for granted.)

Alice Paul and Lucy Burns among others were tortured for trying to gain these rights. Iron Jawed Angels focused on Alice Paul (Hillary Swank.) While Patrick Dempsey is likeable as the semi-romantic lead, the subplot detracts from the main exciting plot. More coverage of the Night of Terror would have been welcome. We did see a beautiful (unfortunately true) scene in which Lucy's cuffed hands are hung over the jailhouse door. Her fellow suffragists hold their own arms up in protest of her treatment.

What these women sacrificed for us should not be ignored. They should be praised and celebrated in our textbooks.