HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to the Just Posts!
One year long and one year strong.
The sad thing is I woke up today with a splitting headache that's dogged me all day and that has left me tempted to say to my beloved, "Not tonight dear, I have a headache." Frankly I don't think she or any of my many social justice brides will fall for that lame-ass line, though, and so I find myself lying here instead thinking of England. (Hey, non-Brits and non-Canadians, does that joke make sense to you? I've always wondered if Americans, for example, knew that expression of if it is, rather, a legacy of our colonial past up here in the Great White North.)
Getting back to the point at hand: social justice. I was listening to CBC radio the other day as Sheelah Rogers was interviewing yet another Facebook activist. You know the type: they get pissed about something and rather than doing anything concrete about it, they start a group on Facebook and, blammo, before you know it they have 1000 people in their group and, with luck, City Hall or whatever other sinister bureaucratic force starts to take notice.
I'm pretty damn cynical about Facebook activism; it seems to me nothing more than a petition that can still capitalize on the novelty factor. I am also cynical about web sites that say they will feed the poor or do any other manner of good deed if you do nothing more than click on them. Apparently advertisers are hungry enough for our eyeballs that they will shave a pittance in profit so that they can call it corporate philanthropy. There's probably tax write-offs too to that kind of advertising, right? Mind you, it's not that I doubt the good intentions of people who participate in Facebook or Mouse-click activism; it's just that the ease of it all rankles me at some deep, lapsed-Protestant work-ethic level.
Which all brings me to the Just Posts. I'm sure that you've all noticed over this past year that Jen is the optimist in the marriage and I am the pessimist even though her work with the ever growing problem of homelessness should by all accounts make her a pessimist and the horse shoes that dog my asshole should've resulted in nothing but unbridled optimism spouting from my every pore.
As a pessimist, I often fear that the Just Posts are nothing more than Facebook activism. In fact, I can get quite blue about it all. Ask Jen. I surely must annoy the hell out of her. Yes, I realize that what we are doing is more than a mouse click or a petition--and that even they have their place. Yes, I realize that the posts we link to are more often than not reasoned and researched. Yes, I realize that all this cross-linking is creating communities of like-minded readers. Yes, I realize that I have had my own mind expanded by reading this astonishing bounty of writing. I have learned about issues I did not know exist. I have been reminded of worthy charities that had fallen off my radar. I have been shown the nuance behind front page headlines. I have had this big, alien world made smaller and more understandable. There is value in that. Great value.
And yet, the part of me that is a pessimist and that longs for dramatic change through concrete action gets the blues sometimes. Part of it is "parent of young child syndrome". I want to do more in my community, but by the time I get my kid up in the morning, take her to day care, squeeze all my work into the shortest day possible, pick up my kid, deal with the domestic, and get her to bed, I'm spent. Sure, I've written some feisty blog posts and letters this past year and I continue to be a newshound in my evening hours. Heck, I've even made rally posters for a local cause that I believe in and was the person behind the megaphone when the rally happened. But we all know that activism, real down and dirty activism, demands time and commitment and meetings and all those things that parents of young children don't have. And even that kind of activism seldom yields results and, as such, leads to burn-out and pessimism among its do-gooders.
So maybe you all can help snap my pessimism. Tell me, how do you manage the balance between armchair activism and getting concrete things done? How do you find value in what you think and learn and write in the blogosphere? How could we get more bang for our buck out here such that we nudge the boulder of change further down hill? Tell me these things--in the comments or in a post. I really want to know your take on it all.
In the meantime, please read these wonderful posts about a broad range of issues. And don't forget to check in with Susanne, Jen (who's back from her travels) and maybe even Hel (her computer was fried by lightening last week so she may be outta commission this month). Happy Anniversary, one and all.
The Just Posts
aimee with Where does your Candidate stand on Healthcare
azahar with Thought for the day
Beck with Welcome to The Macho World
BipolarLawyerCook with Your own best advocate
bon with Other Pictures
Chani with Blog Blast for Peace: If not now, when? Passing through the Gates, Horse Manure, and Gays in the Military
The Cool Mom Picks' Safe Toy Guide
Denguy with Bad Plastic, Bad Bad and 'Tis the Season
Devra at DC Metro Moms with What About the other 9 months?
Erin with It's That Time Again
I am the master evil genius with What does need look like?
Jangari with Toilet culture, Exodus, and Four Corners on the Intervention
JCK at Motherscribe with We are all connected, we cannot be ourselves without community
jen with Power to the people who need it most, Tradition, Choosing and doing and going
jen at MOMocrats with Power to the People (who need it most)
jessi with Donorschooseorg--helping teachers across the country
Julie at Using My Words with Blog blast for Peace, Does the abstinence message for drug use work?, Let's Get it On: Abstinence only sex education is risky and ineffective, Does putting the arts at risk put kids at risk too? and Inconvenient Truth: A Transcript of my testimony to the EPA at the NESHAP Public Hearing
Kayleigh at Another Working Mom with I'm Dreaming of a... and Holidaze
Kevin at Life has Taught Us with Your signature does make a difference
Kyla with Healthcare is a bitch
Laura with A more important PSA
lori with Thoughts for the day
Mad with SOS? You can't be serious
Mad Organica with Tell Your Girls to Call for the Ball
Madame M. with Plan: Freezing butts, Stargazing and Retail (couples) therapy
Mary G with Charity begins at home
Mel from Actual Unretouched Photo with The Homeless
Pundit Mom with Do Republican Candidates Care About Women Voters?, You Know This Would All Be Different if Men Could Breastfeed and A Promise to American Women
Roy with Intersection of racisim, sexism and commerce
Sin with Seasonal Angst Disorder, Part 1
Suzanne Reisman on blogher with For a Good Time, Call a Feminist (Not that You'd Know This From the Media), No Smart Woman Left Behind and What's Bugging Women?
Thordora with Murders are Not Monsters; they're men
TIV with Post-traumatic stress disorder and ripples of trauma
Wayfarer Scientista with The Spilling of Oil
The Readers
Alejna
Crazy
Jen
Kiki
Lawyer Mama
Liv
Mad
Pundit Mom
Sin
Steph
Susanne
Monday, December 10, 2007
The November Just Posts
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35 hats in the ring:
I always wonder about those 'just post' little boxes. Now I know!
Cheers
This is my calling card or link"Whittereronautism"until blogger comments get themselves sorted out.
ack. it's a hard balance. I think I try to find the things that I have the time, energy and passion for and work on those. The small corner of the world thing.
and those change over time, and depending on where i live and who I interact with and just how much time and energy my child takes up.
but it's true, at least for me, that reading about issues, thinking about them, engaging with others in discussion about them... makes me more likely to DO something. I find this to be true in my life. Like when I gave money to someone who asked for it the other day, and thought about a post of jen's about giving money if you have to someone who asks... just because they asked. not with judgement, or worry about where it is going. but to just give it.
and so I did.
Thank you for citing my blog. This is a really nice list for finding other like-minded blogs.
Parent of young children syndrome - I'm right in the thick of that.
I have wondered about this myself. (And, by the way, "thinking of England" does make sense to me. It is that famous.)
We always think that we have to get big to change things but I have resigned myself to the fact that the only thing I have some kind of control of is myself. And that by being connected to the whole of the universe if I change myself a bit it does make a difference. Mostly a small difference but then if everybody would make that small difference it would add up.
The just posts are making me think and write about social justice. I wouldn't have done that otherwise. And that thinking and writing made me do some things differently.
I'm still amazed that people are influenced by what I say or write or do but then I - and you too - have to accept that nowadays with these blogs it happens more and more.
You know, the people who read your blog actually think about the things you write.
Before I even look at the Just Posts, I have to comment on yours. I saw the funniest commentary on this topic the other day when a show happened to be on that I don't even watch. It's the guy who used to be on Jon Stewart, Colbert? He does a segment called the Word and was talking about kids today and how their activism comes by going home mad about something and blogging about it. Instead of actually doing it. It inspired a blog post for me (ironic) which I haven't written. When I was blogging about my weight loss woes, my Hubs was so frustrated that I could write about it but not actually DO anything. Hmmmm...
Food for thought.
I guess my point was that you post was thought provoking and that you make a strong argument. We all just need to DO something.
blushing in semi-shame...you've got my number. i bought half my Christmas presents this year from the "click to feed the hungry/mammogram the poor/shelter animals" site. i've been feeling kinda puffed up with pride about it (secretly, of course)...but now perspective sneaks back in. i KNOW it's not the same as being actively involved in fighting for issues in my own community. i know it's part of a larger system that has commercial aspects and side effects that make me uncomfortable. and yet...it's something. as are the Just Posts, and the things i learn reading them and thinking about them and - in some cases - changing my purchasing/parenting/citizenry practices as a result.
i know it's not enough. but it's a step i can make without falling into despair, because any grander commitment and i start to be overwhelmed by the realization that it will NEVER be enough.
Dear Mad. You know where I'm at with this one. You know my frustrations with feeling like my hands are tied with a lovely, velvety rope. And you know, this is probably the first time that I'll admit it in print, but I think I might honestly decide to put off having a second child for a while until I feel as though I'm in a good place in this respect. It's certainly not the fault of Mme L that I'm not out there, but there's also no doubt that it is hard to be out there when you have other responsibilities.
And I can tell you that I am a few steps closer to doing something concrete and that, if nothing else, our virtual connection has helped to push me in the direction that I needed to go.
In fact, in some ways, I would say that when we write a Just Post, we make ourselves in some way accountable to the community of bloggers. Just putting it into print is enough for some of us to realise how committed we truly are about it. And that might not lead us to take action tomorrow. But it might two years from now.
[End ramble]
Mad, when I met many moons ago, I remember thinking that all of these issues were just over my head. I purposefully ignored anything remotely political. And now, because of this community, because of this round table, I have a fire in my belly in regards to numerous issues, and I hope one day, once this intensive full time parenting gig is not so intensive or full time, that the fire will translate into action. But the fire? It started here.
To your first point: It may come as some surprise but the US was once a British colony.
I KNOW!
I'll wait until everyone has recovered.
Okay better now?
Anyway, we may have given the Brits the boot but we kept an awful lot of their culture, including but not limited to:
Copious drinking
Strange and bizarre expressions about knickers and England.
Therefore, not only have I heard of the expression, "Lie back and think of England," but I comprehend and have been known to jokingly employ it myself.
:)
Off to read the rest now. LOL
Julie
Using My Words
Hey, I'm on that list. Unexpected!
I do what I can. Which is mostly a bunch of little stuff, but hey, better then nothing. Today the Baby and I are baking a big batch of dairy-free cookies for a sad friend with food issues. It's a small thing, but it's the size of thing that I can do right now.
Julie:
I know, I know. But along with revolution comes rejection. Believe me when I say that we Canadians are FAR MORE British in our ways than you feisty Yanks. When I was in elementary school we sang God Save the Queen every morning right after singing Oh Canada.
Oh and have you noticed our spelling?
Oh and Julie? Texas was NEVER a British colony. Methinks, it's the New Englander in you speaking.
Aww Mad. I feel ya babe. I too am a cynic.
Okay AND...my comment got so long than since (a) I am already a space hog in both your post and comments, I'd better move it to my site and also pump the Just Posts, too.
So...I am replying. Over There.
And thanks for being understanding about Friday.
XO
Julie
Using My Words
The just posts was part of what inspired me to give up my full time job in order to go back to university.
The time has allowed me to start doing some volunteer work at a community mental health center.
It's true, Mad. We have Zees and you have Zeds and lots of extra Us which I unfortunately use sometimes on my own accidentally (apparently forgetting my US-ness I guess).
Oh and Es as in judgement <-- the only spelling that makes sense hence why I perpetually misspell it according to here.
I think we're a bit more like the Aussies, so I admit you are right (of course!).
It might be the lawlessness.
I think you Canadians are descended from fine stock.
I can't speak for the rest of Americans but I am descended from lawless and disorderly people.
(I KNOW! I'll give everyone a minute to recover from the shock. Okay, better now?)
My people were sent here as Punishment and my other people were conquered by the aforementioned people who were sent here. So I am the Weary and the Oppressed. Do I look it?
So true...Texas was never a British colony.
Hang on. Six flags...digging in recesses of mind...colonies of
Spain
France
Mexico
Republic of Texas
Confederacy
US
Lookee there. No England.
I guess that's why we say "chaps my hide" and "ay carumba" more often than "twists my knickers."
Still we do drink by the yard here.
And I was cursing inches only yesterday.
Still we do love us some Canadians down here in Houston.
Julie
Using My Words
Happy Anniversary to the Just Posts - and though frustrations abound, so does hope. It's a good time to remember hope here in the states, where holidays, cold weather and elections are upon us.
I think we all do the work our own way. As far as I'm concerned, anything that gets the issues on the table is okay with me.
Funny you mention the "work ethic" mentality. I wrote a post about that last week, including the history of it .. and I'm thoroughly disabused of the notion that it serves any purpose. :)
I don't like bandwagons as a whole. But I'm all for getting people talking. When we talk, we hear new ideas. When we are exposed to new ideas, we learn. And then we change.
So it's all good.
I have to agree again.
Sometimes someone reads something and it leads to them doing something small or something great.
And sometimes donations pay for old suitcases and magazines and an art teacher to give kids their pasts back.
You are doing good just by being you.
And I say this despite you nabbing the woman I adore and marrying her :)
Mad. I sort of got stuck on the expression 'the horseshoes that dog my asshole'. I need a tshirt. damn its good.
Reading many of the people I read, reading the just posts, has made me a better person. It opened my eyes in many ways. Insofar as online activism, no, I start no groups, I become part of none. But my own little contributions as well as all the others these posts influence....they all add up.
its good stuff Mad.
you know, mad, all we can do is our best. i try and act locally as much as possible. i don't have time to lead a rally to washington but i sure as hell can help fill the food shelf down the road. I can't flood cancer research with money but I can make sure kids in the local children's hospital have toys to play with while they are ill
and the best thing we can do? teach our kids. Yes, yes, it is cliche (like that damn whitney houston song) but it is also so true, love. and I already know your little gal is learning so much from you.
so much.
xoxo
In answer to your question about what did I do when my kids were litte? I took on a community activism role that paid a bit, and rode on my husband's coattails for the rest. Lucky to have a husband who made enough for me to do that and was prepared to let me do it.
What did I do when my kids were grown enough to let me? Took a full time job and socked away the money for their education. Which they paid for by themselves after all.
What did I do then? Picked up pieces of things I could do, one by one, until I had a portfolio. No biggies. I know I can't change the world or anyone in it, not really. I'm working close to home at things I can see and giving money I can track to local initiatives I honour.
I am still snickering at your exchange with Julie. Especially since at least half of my ancestors are what are known as 'skedadlers' (Read 'United Empire Loyalists') who left Kentucky for Upper Canada before things got interesting. Texas residents are not the only myth makers, no, not at all.
Thanks for the listing. I think this Just Post initiative is really useful, as well as a mind opener for me, at any rate.
Honestly, Mad, these Just Posts have raised my awareness in a big way. And that's a start, right?
From someone who goes into work every single solitary day and recieves a paycheck to "change the world." I beseech you to not poo poo the power of education. The power of the changed mind. And I believe we can do that here. I try to do it on my blog every once and a while. I think it might make an impact, sometime, somewhere.
Of course I work with crime victims, not hunger or homelessness, so the dynamics are different. Everyday I work to change the "it is her fault. she went to that party/wore that dress/got herself drunk." mentality. In the end, standing in the town square behind a bull horn? What are you trying to do? The same thing I do. Speak out. Educate. Change minds. Because sometimes that is bigger than changed laws or anything tactile. Maybe if minds are changed, first perpetration of violence may be stopped. No perpetration, no victim. Now THAT is changing the world.
We can do that here as well. From one cynic to another, allow yourself to be cynical at times. But allow fits of hopefullness as well. That is the only way I can get through my day to day life.
Misty: Oh heavens! Far be it from me to poo-poo the value of education. Every choice I have made in my life has been a choice in favour of education. I'm all for working for the changed mind but there are times, you know, when it feels more like preaching to the choir. And other times when you hear more silence echoed back at you than, in reality, there likely is.
Both you and Jen have jobs that allow you to work to change the world. I respect that deeply. Sometimes, though, those of us who must settle for changing the world in our free time get overwhelmed by the weary weight of this world and our utter inability to do much of anything that is concrete or worthwhile. Having kids only compounds that sense of anxiety and fatalism.
I do have much hopefullness. Vast stores of it, in fact. If I didn't, I wouldn't still be working on the Just Posts. It's been a year and I see no sign of quiting in my future. Still, I think it important and honest to periodically raise these doubts that I and, likely, others have. Not to do so would feel not only dishonest but creepily self-congratulatory.
All: Thank you for your responses here. You are certainly helping me to frame a greater context for what it is we do here.
And Kyla? I love the fire in your belly. Promise me you'll keep the flames stoked for years to come.
Wow - I've been wading through your links and have learned so much. And felt so deeply.
Keep up the great work.
Mad, Happy Anniversary! And congratulations to all the fine writers in November.
I am honored to have this badge. You've inspired me with your post here and I answered you, I hope, in my post today. Thank you: http://motherscribe.blogspot.com/2007/12/every-pebble-makes-ripple-in-pool-every.html
Happy anniversary, babe.
I'm like you. I'm awfully pessimistic, both about what can be done and what I'm doing. (Not much.)
Once you have children, it's a Catch 22. You become MORE aware of all the ills of the world and more motivated to make things better for your kids BUT you also have no time or energy to do it.
Right now, I'm all armchair. And likely will be forever, since I can hardly muster the energy (mentally) to write about things that make me angry, let alone get up and do them.
But if the worst I can do is speak out, and have someone listen, well, then that will have to do, for now.
I wrote you a post today, Mad. Happy Anniversary.
And curses on blogger for making me do this:
Andrea
As ever, you guys rock.
And the "think of England" line - isn't that what the blushing bride is supposed to do on her wedding night? I think that's a pretty common expression.
Magpie: Only if she's not enjoying it and is only doing it for God and Country.
Of course we know that expression. Posting a response to this post today.
Emily R
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