This is What Democracy Looks Like

The other day in my composition class at City College, something remarkable happened. A Muslim girl wearing a burka walked over to an older student wearing a kippah. She said that is a kippah on your head-yes? And he answered, yes! She said in her culture the head gear is called a Keffiyeh. He said he knew, and went on to say how similar they are, and that they are both beautiful. She held her hand out and introduced herself by name, and he extended his hand for a warm embrace. AND NOW THEY ARE FRIENDS-a Jew, an Arab. Just like in my book RONIT AND JAMIL. And furthermore, as I said to my class, this class is what democracy looks like. And this is the world I am so proud to be a part of!

Legacy

I sometimes think how I would like to be remembered when I am gone. This seems particularly significant now, in 2017, when a man was elected president of the United States, and with this has come a legacy of corruption and indecency.

I want to be remembered as a good person who stood on the side of justice. In a world where our president is a bully and liar, I want to be recalled as someone with impeccable integrity, one who spoke the truth, and dared to defend the truth in the world. I want to be thought of as a defender of human rights and righteousness. I want people to say, Pam was not afraid to call the emperor naked. I want people to remember that though I liked good food and travel, that money was never what guided me, but humanity and decency. 

I hope my children will think about the values I raised them with and integrate these values into the lives of their children. I want my children and grandchildren to think of me with humor, affection and passion: these, too, are part of my legacy. And how much I value family-intimacy, communication, friendship, being a good wife, a good parent. These, too, have been an integral part of my value system.

I plan on being around a very long time; I would like to be around to see how Ella grows up, and to celebrate all the occasions that go with this. But it is critical to make every day a valuable day, so that if tomorrow I were to blow off into the wind, I could think I have left my imprint on the world-and it is a good one for which I will be remembered by those who knew and loved me!

The Southern Poverty Law Center

I just joined The Southern Poverty Law Center, and boy am I proud to be a member. I got a letter from Morris Dess, the founder. As he said, 40 years ago, Martin Luther King's dream became his dream--to combat hate crimes; to make the world more tolerant; to fight injustice and to protect victims of injustice. Dess grew up in a small Southern town, where his dad bristled at the idea that there were separate water fountains for Black people, and his dad drank from the same dipper as a Black woman he knew. And look at the culture of hate in our world today, when decades ago there were GREAT men like Dess' dad, who knew RIGHT stands above MIGHT. Too bad the world has spiraled in such a negative direction, but I for one will not tolerate the intolerance of our current government. The resistance is strong, so other people will not, too!

March: Book One by John Lewis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just finished the first of the trilogy of John Lewis's wonderful, MARCH. It is a graphic novel about the march (with Martin Luther King) across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama. I was totally blown away. I had thought I knew history, but his book demonstrated how many facts I was missing. John Lewis was a very young man-just in college-when he joined the sit-ins at restaurants where Blacks were not being served. He would not back down. Of course, this meant jail, but he did not care. What was he fighting for? The unalienable rights of human beings-EQUALITY. What started out as a very small movement grew on a daily basis and suddenly, hundreds stood on line (and Whites joined forces) demanding to eat and be served with a Black person. What a hero Lewis was and continues to be, since he was one of the senators who skipped the inauguration, a statement about a man who speaks from the HATE and not from the HEART. There is no room for Donald Trump in a just world, and he has proven this on a daily basis with just two weeks in office. But there is PLENTY of room for a man like Lewis, who personifies righteousness. Cannot wait to read the rest of these books!

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Brooklyn Bubble

I live in Brooklyn, where I proudly wear my Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Hillary buttons. I go to the Y, my gym, and everyone is talking politics. They are appalled by this presidency, and all the zumba in the world will not diminish the fear present with the Trump presidency. I walk around Brooklyn; I go to a coffee shop. Everyone is talking about the newest disaster he has unleashed on the world. I go on the subway and people start crying while they are reading the newspaper. It has made New Yorkers kinder, gentler; we are looking out for the Muslims. Yet, as  I continue to live in my "bubble" I ponder: How are the Trump supporters feeling now? I know very few. Are they empowered? Do they think all the dismantling and destroying is good? Are they fine with their heath care being taken away? Is it okay that pre-existing conditions will no longer be covered? In other words, as I feel empowered by the Million Woman March and my neighborhood people, all of whom feel the way I do,  I wonder if the Trump people feel this is the world they wanted. And then I have to wonder what is wrong with them, which makes the world  more divided than ever!

East is East and West is West and never the twain will meet. In truth, I cannot accept there are people out there who believe it is okay to detain Muslim Americans at the airport, and continue to watch the Syrian crisis unfold, and feel it is okay for so many children to die daily. In other words, my bubble is a better place to be!

Politics of the Pantsuit Nation

My friend Doris Barkin is presenting a paper on the Politics of the Pantsuit Nation as exemplified in TWO GENTLEMAN OF VERONA. Its focus is on Julia and her codpieced costume. It further elaborates on the level of cross-dressing that occurred during Shakespeare's time, and the openness to it, suggesting a fear and titillation of the opposite sex. It also gives rise to a male's homo-erotic feelings. After I read this brilliant essay, I understood, on yet another level, why Hillary lost the vote, and some of it had to do with a man's fear of a strong woman. I always said there was a level of misogyny and racism in this loss, yet this paper carefully elaborates the FEAR and VULNERABILITY, but also ADMIRATION Shakespearean male characters had for the women who dared to pretend to be men in disguise.

And what about our contemporary culture? America in 2017 only has the fear. How pathetic is that?

Censorship

Teaching a book for my graduate young adult literature class, PLACES I NEVER MEANT TO BE, edited by Judy Blume. The book includes a series of stories for teens, all of which had been censored. Judy Blume's wonderful introduction sends a powerful message during this Trump presidency, that you can not allow censorship a place in the world, since that means the end of the voice of discontentment. It seems like the presidency is now very keen on censorship. Just last week Stephen Bannon told the media to "shut up with their false news." The media is facing daily assault. and Trump's team has coined a new phrase, "alt facts." Call them what you want, that means Trump and his team are prepared to lie. As Judy Blume says,"In the age of censorship, I mourn the loss of books that will never be written. I mourn the voices that will be silenced-writers' voices, teachers' voices-and all because of fear.

The bottom line is, censorship happens, often when you least expect it. It's not just about the book you want to read, but about the book your classmate may want to read. What can you do if censorship hits close to home? The first step is awareness. Become informed. Take a stand.  Do not let him win, people. SAY WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY. Do not be silenced!