June 1, 2024

Three movies and a book that I saw/read recently, that I keep thinking about

The latest two first: I just finished reading (listening to) The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson. It is both dramatized biographies and an overview of the Great Migration of Southern Negro-classified people to the North and West. I enjoyed the life stories, but the parts that keep recurring to me, at various times during the day, during various activities, is the amount of new information imparted in close to a first-person telling, of the realities of living in the Post-Reconstruction Jim Crow states, and the continuing themes in the other states. As a child, I used to ask myself, "Why didn't they just leave." Even after the difficulty in leaving an emotionally abusive long-term marriage, I still didn't connect the dots that leaving the South was difficult and dangerous, perhaps fatally so.

There were two eye opening things that I wonder why I didn't already know or figure out (??? What is it that makes not knowing uncomfortable things so easy? Is it not knowing, or refusing to know?) that occur to me now, as I write this. The first was the determined, consistent, and successful cheating of sharecroppers to ensure that they could neither obtain their own land, or leave the place on which they worked. The second was how Slavery 2.0 was enforced on everyone, no matter their classification, and whether or not they were in the actual South (those states that went to war with democracy to maintain their hold on the lives and labor of those classed as Negro), or just South-thinking adjacent. The most striking story was of making a multi-day highway trip from Louisiana to California, and trying to get a place to sleep for the night. Even when the motel owner seemed to want to rent to the traveler, and not just for the income, but because it was the Golden Rule thing to do; he couldn't bring himself to do it, due to the hell that he adjudged would rain ("reign" works here too ...) down on him from his fellow motel/hotel owners in his community. Even, he said, if the traveler were to "sneak away" in the pre-dawn darkness so as not to be seen leaving the establishment. I saw the movie Green Book; I knew about the prohibitions. What I didn't know, was that the saying, "All it takes for evil to succeed is for good to do nothing" was being demonstrated over and over again, all over. Now, I have cogitated, thinking about the holocaust, how willingly, or not, I'd step forward to help Jewish-classified people, if I would have been German-classified. The German enforcers would hang your children from your own balcony before killing you, if you were caught aiding and abetting.

So, immediately upon finishing this book, the same day even, I watched the movie The Banker (2020 Anthony Mackie, Samuel L. Jackson, Nia Long). I think I may have caught wind of this movie here on Democracy Underground. It was beautifully made, with great acting, and many of the things written about in the aforementioned book were playing out on the the screen. In living color, so to speak. The story, of Negro-classified bankers trying, and mainly succeeding, to live the American Dream in spite of the American White Supremacy was delightful. The movie was (loosely, I'm guessing) based on a true history. I say loosely, because there was a bit of a save at the end, after the confiscation of assets that seemed like way more than the alleged monetary discrepancy that had been "discovered." Of note is that a White-classified partner was forced to betray them under threat of total confiscation of assets and a 50 year prison sentence. This is the above theme playing out once again. "I want to live by the Golden Rule, but this god damned White Supremacy won't let me." No wonder it is so hard to fight that demon intertwined with structure.

---------------------------

The next movie that has been revisiting me lately is Quiz Lady (2023 Awkwafina, Sandra Oh, Will Ferrell) . This delightful romp manages to address neurodivergence, LGBTQIA+ themes, siblings coming through for each other, missing-dad coping strategies, and quiz shows.


-----------------------------

And, the third movie: Moving On (2022 Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda). It's a low-key, pretty serious movie, interspersed with bouts of slapstick comedy à la It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. It is about two old, in both senses, friends as they face their last years. One subplot follows the Me Too theme, and how these traumatic events live on for decades and decades, and another is about a young person trying to figure out their gender, and why it is a problem for their parents. Lily Tomlin's character is there to supply love, appreciation, and understanding based on that person's character, not on which toys or clothes they choose. For me Moving On was truly moving.

February 20, 2024

Doctors and Bosses

I've had just as many bad doctors and bosses who were women as I've had who were men. I tried relying on the stereotype that just to be in those positions, the women had to be really good at their jobs. That did not turn out to be the case. Yes, I am a feminist, and yes, there have been some really crappy women in positions of authority in my life. It was very disappointing.

February 20, 2024

Margaret Thatcher

A balance of women, say 51% of people in power, would certainly help, though, even if Phyllis Schlafly would disagree.

February 19, 2024

What are "sissies?"

February 19, 2024

remembering that

Remembering that with the Putin/Maga crowd, every accusation is a confession, ... Secretary Clinton got 3 million more votes than the Sneaker Salesman. Everytime some vote skullduggery in the last presidential election comes to light, it turns out it was some SS crewmember cheating for its team. They are Still screaming that "The election was stolen." I believe, considering President Gore, that they know what they are talking about.

February 19, 2024

I've heard variations

I've heard variations of "Muscovy or Moscovia" to describe Putin's permutation, as opposed to the rest of the Russians. It seems that a lot of the different areas are seeing some negatives in being attached to the Moscow/Saint Petersburg rulers.

February 19, 2024

So, conceivably ...

A "municipality or county" could still run an advertisement, "Earn up to $1000/month stuffing envelopes at home!" Sort of pulling yourself up by your own BootStraps ...

February 18, 2024

crickets again

It seems to me that each chore can be done by either person, half of the time. Except breastfeeding .... but if expressed milk has been stored, Dad can step right in there, too. I got myself (woman) a pint-sized chain saw. It meant that I could do a lot of those jobs that I thought that I wasn't strong enough to do. I didn't actually use, that saw though, by the time I got it I was so used to being told that I couldn't do it, that I was scared of it. So, I hired a woman hand, and she used it. There are a lot of ways to get muscle-requiring work done with less muscle, like keeping one end of a heavy hay bale on the ground. You can still move it, and get it up to the third level on a stack. My wasband used to sit on the tractor using the idea that only a man can handle this beast, while the kids and I did all of the actual work on the ground. I didn't raise the obvious issue, because he wouldn't help at all if he couldn't just sit on his butt when that was one of the jobs. When cleaning out the barn, he'd appropriate filling the big wheel barrows, because he could do it faster than we could. That left us struggling with the humongous loads to get them out to the dump area, while he shovel-leaned waiting for us to get back. Again, my rationale for tolerating it was that I should be happy he was out there helping at all. This is how the anger builds bit by bit. Just because one gets away with this poor behavior, just because one can gaslight and talk a good story about this poor behavior, it sure doesn't mean we "share alike in the chores." If no one helps me to learn how to work on the car, or actively ridicules and humiliates me when I try to buck the trend, then later, I might be tempted to say, "No, dear, since you're fixing the car, I'll run the vacuum." But in order to share those undesirable over and over again chores, we all need to be given the opportunities and obligations to learn to, and to practice, doing both the sometimes chores and the again and again chores. As an afterthought, it sure wouldn't hurt if good strong tools that fit a medium to small glove size hand were readily available, not necessarily in pink, purple, or turquoise.

February 17, 2024

They decide amongst themselves, well before the "election."

I was both astonished and then rapidly said to myself, "Of course they do." It took several elections with no opponent on the ballot for Sheriff (Oregon counties), and then finally a couple of newspaper (we used to have those) articles that explained that the old sheriff would resign early, which would open up the spot for an appointee, who would become the incumbent. The deadlines for registering for the election were futzed around with ... if you didn't do something, something, before somewhen, you couldn't be on the ballot ...
I'm not sure how they manage to keep any opposition off the ballot completely, but they do. The same with elected judges. You have a choice in the election, of the one person on the ballot.

February 17, 2024

other marginalized people

I like that you pointed out that not all marginalized people get the concept that we all do better when we help each other. It was eye-opening to me when I was younger to watch members of different marginalized groups point out how wrong it was to be mistreated themselves, and then turn right around and treat members of other marginalized groups poorly.