Social Commentary

The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution.

By journalist Jonathan Eig.

Wow. So very very very good. This book tells “the extraordinary story of one of the most far-reaching scientific breakthroughs known to mankind…. This is a grand story of radical feminist politics, scientific ingenuity, establishment opposition, and, ultimately, a sea change in social attitudes.”

Other books by Eig:

• Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season
• Get Capone: The Secret Plot that Captured America’s Most Wanted Gangster
• Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig

Great newsletter.

Wonderful series about about empathy and social change.

AND an article about our own Kim Klein…. “Is social justice fundraising an oxymoron?”

Pay attention to Transformation.

Pay attention to Kim Klein, long-time advocate for social justice and grassroots fundraising for social change.

Okay. Finally. Yes. I know.

I joined Twitter. So now I Tweet on Twitter.

@spjoyaux

John Lepp kept nagging me. Others got all excited when I joined up. Thanks, people. So there I am.

Hugely distressed by the New York Times Sunday 06-26-16 articles. Read these:

“When You Dial 911 and Wall St. Answers.” Ambulances and firefighters are late. And people die and… Thanks to Private Equity. WTF?!!! Cities and towns and states and federal governments outsourcing. WTF?!!! This is criminal.

“The Security Consequences of Brexit”

This one I find amusing: “After Brexit, 3 Centuries of Unity in Britain Are in Danger.” Yes, Scotland and Northern Ireland may well vote themselves OUT OF the United Kingdom…choosing the EU over the UK.

Racism. Nationalism. Bigotry. Money over all else. I’m distressed by our world. I’m angry. I’ll keep fighting and speaking out. But I must admit to exhaustion right now. And I’ll through in Trump of course, and Bernie Sanders, too.

WARNING WARNING WARNING. 

You might NOT want to read this blog!

Don’t read this if you’re not politically inclined!

Don’t read this if vile language and huge anger offend you.

I’m so fucking pissed I’m not sure that I can present today. And I start presenting in 30 minutes.

BREXIT!!!! You deserve whatever you get, Britain… Sinking monetary power. Unemployment. Tumbling economy. And leaving the single most impressive political and economic power in decades and decades and decades…

Unfortunately, you’re screwing the rest of the world with your stupid exit. You listened to crap from some elected officials and rabidly anti globalization people. You didn’t listen to your own leading economists and science and …

What will you do next? Endorse creationism and fight against evolution. Sure. Why not?

You think your “special” relationship with the USA will help you? (Well, if asshole Trump is elected, maybe the UK and the USA can create their own ugly little failing world together!!!

I always hope that other countries are better than the USA. But clearly the UK isn’t right now.

With all its challenges and weaknesses, the European Union is an amazing vision and creation and action. You want to counter the two biggest economies in the world (China and the US) – then you want the EU. You want to position yourself as global leadership with impact, it’s the EU. It’s not the UK. It’s not Germany or France or…. THE EUROPEAN UNION can be so much – and it already is. THE EUROPEAN UNION can be better – so help make it so.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot WTF

I’m so angry. Brexit is soooooooooooooooooo dumb and stupid and harmful. So you hurt yourselves and you hurt Europe and you hurt the rest of the world. Usually it’s the US that behaves like this. And the US will continue to do things as dumb as Brexit. After all, we triggered the 2008 recession because of our stupidity. Hmmm… Maybe Brexit will trigger the next one.

DAMN!

From Gloria Steinem’s Facebook post on Sunday, May 8, 2016, Mother’s Day…..

• To mother is to care about the welfare of another person as much as one’s own.
• To mother depends on empathy and thoughtfulness, noticing and caring.
• To mother creates the only pairing in which the older and the younger, the stronger and the weaker, are perfectly matched.

AFP webinar June 13, 2016

How social justice fuels philanthropy Click to register http://afp.peachnewmedia.com/store/seminar/seminar.php?seminar=49708

One of my favorite quotes: “Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropists to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice that makes philanthropy necessary.” Thank you, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Excellent article about electing women and people of color.

“What I want to know from my Democratic Party is, when will the voices of people of color, when will the voices of women, when will the voices of labor, when will the voices of black women, when will our voices be effective, legitimate equal leaders in a big-tent party?” Asked Representative Donna Edwards.

And the op-ed author, Jill Filipovic, concludes by commenting: “Right now, ‘the woman card’ and ‘the race card’ are broadly seen as cynical tactics. Democrats should make them central components of a winning hand.”

When will this change? How long must we wait? How much harder must we fight around the world – and yes, even in the U.S. of A. We’re #72 in the global ranking of women’s representation in the lower house. Australia is 45. Canada is 48. Sweden is #5. Rwanda is #1.

When will this change? How long must we wait? Because actually, research repeatedly finds that women are better than men as leaders in so very many ways and in so very many instances.

Clearly I’m blogging lots in my social commentary section. The election is making me do it. And that leads me to justice and injustice and sexism and racism and homophobia and economic justice and and and …

So here goes again! I’m writing about The Donald. Read the NYT article “Donald Trump’s Presidential Run Began in an Effort to Gain Stature.” I can well imagine that this article has lots of truth to it. I believe that because I can’t actually believe that an inexperienced person would run for office, let alone the office of the President. (Obviously, I retain some naivete about experience and expertise and and and ….)

And then my dear friend Doris sent me this YouTube video. I laughed. I laughed hilariously. Then I wanted to cry in embarrassment for this country and for The Donald and for our world.

I’m so angry I could…..

This is one of the best pieces I’ve ever read about gender bias.

Sady Doyle is in a job interview. “We’re a progressive site,” the man across the table begins, “And our readership, as with most progressive sites, is mostly men. You’ve focused a lot on women’s issues. Would you be comfortable writing something that men would be able to read?”

Does he not even realize what he’s saying? Progressive men wouldn’t want to read anything about women? Most progressives are men? Really? Then why is there still so much gender bias and racial bias and homophobia and and and ….

Sady writes more in her tumblr article, Progressive: A young white man says, “Support Hillary Clinton all you like, but don’t confuse that with opposing actual power.”

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (WTF?!#!*) Actual power? Yes. White over black. Men over women. Straight over LGBTQ.

So then Sady asks: “Is feminism part of the left? Is it non-negotiable, central? Or is [feminism] a side issue, something that cane written off, discounted at will…”

Honestly, I’m not feeling the love from the left. Or from those progressive men.

Read Sady Doyle’s marvelous piece. Because it just gets better and better. And share it with men you know and love. And other women. And with the lefties and socialists, too. Share Sady’s article everywhere.

And….. Beth Ann of Vancouver just sent this marvelous article from Esquire: “Things About Being A Woman That Women Won’t Tell You.”  Things like fear and sex and clothes and abortion and…  I was laughing and crying. And yelling. Thank you, journalist Caitlin Moran.

I’m so angry I could….