International Women’s Day – New York Style!
International Women’s Day – New York Style!
Are you confused by the recent Republican probing into women’s reproductive rights? I know I am. I am so confused I think sometimes I have bungee-jumped into a time warp where I am now back in the grim dark days of unwanted pregnancy, or fear of pregnancy. Nothing to do with me but everything to do with my mother.
Every Saturday afternoon, (a slight exaggeration but this is how it felt!) we would go to our local church for the ultimate mother daughter bonding experience – the sacrament of confession! My father and many brothers always managed to be elsewhere in the character building pursuit of sports while we engaged in the process of asking Father Parish to forgive our sins, a whole week’s worth! My sins “I was catty and unkind, I was disobedient and told fibs . . .” always merited a don’t do it again and say three Hail Mary’s which seemed fair enough to me. My mother however always seemed to be a little more troubled when she came out of the confessional. A woman with watery eyes at the best of times, which I later recognised as eyes of utter exhaustion, red rims framed her salty ponds. Her sin, I later learned, was in denying her husband his conjugal rights.
The love my mother and father had for each other was never in doubt, nor did we as children suffer the agonies of the unwanted. We were a Good Catholic Family, one amongst millions! And my parents contributed to the growing numbers. Forget the difficult pregnancies, the tortured labours and nervous breakdowns. We said rosaries, lit candles, said novenas and lived as best we could with a depressed mother thinking all the time how blessed and extra special we were because suffering was so up there on the cross with Christ and his beloved mother Mary!
In my fumblings of faith and confusion there was one fact about Jesus that stood out above all – he was an only child! Which wasn’t the Catholic way at all! Just ask GOP candidate Rick Santorum who waves his finger in a no, no, no about that C-Word . . . contraception!
Is this too much information? Or perhaps not enough? Links below for the curious!
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This Saturday past, in recognition of International Women’s Day, a group gathered together to march from Union Square down to Liberty Plaza, aka Zuccotti Park.
Enough with the words, here are some photos – SOOC!
The march down Broadway . . .
The Pink Ladies on the March, something to see!
More observers . . .
Hmmm, love to know what these observers are thinking about the marchers coming towards them . . .
But hey, this is Soho, Saturday afternoon and the sun is shining and the crowds are out! What’s not to love!
We are family!
Thoughts in the air?
Welcome to Liberty Plaza / Zuccotti Park!
Miss Butterfly of Liberty Plaza!
This wonderful woman, with her smile and in her wheelchair, came in from Queens with sandwiches for the marchers . . .
Miss Butterfly with her summons – her wings obstructed the sidewalk, amongst other citations to do with skates etc
Happy Every Day Every One!
Related articles
- Rachel Maddow: Gary Trudeau – The Shaming Wand
- Tales from the kitchen table – Gail Collins New York Times
- Bob McDonnell, Virginia Governor
- Rick Santorum . . .Esquire (!)
- So many more links out there . . . love to see yours!
Thank you, you all make me proud. I may be 58, but I am not too old to be a ‘slut’.
Anna, you go girl, never too old! Breaking news is that advertisers have withdrawn from the Rush blab!
EDIT: Rush? Slut? Fortunate enough not to know what on earth these two explosive words have to do with simple civilities? Meet Sandra Fluke . . .
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/sandra-fluke_n_1341449.html
It is generally agreed that Jesus had brothers and sisters. Such idea has been squelched by orthodox church because it leads to complications re Mary as mother beyond Holy Mother and to Jesus’s uniqueness. As for the politics, when it’s about economics the democrats usually win and when it is about values the republicans win. Since republicans have no real plan for “the people that take the bus to work” they switch to values but it is backfiring. They are not in tune with the values of most people esp area women’s rights and healthcare.
Carl, as children in the long ago kingdom of received wisdom, we were never going to know that Jesus had brothers and sisters. We thought it enough to know that he had a friend such as Mary Magdalene . . . . 🙂
Wonderful! I would have definitely taken part if I’d been there. It’s ridiculous that this is even an issue in this day and age. No wonder we’re still battling for equal pay when we can’t even keep the government out of our personal reproductive choices. Thanks for sharing these great photos.
Alison, consider yourself there in spirit and thank you for your company here! Honestly, I struggle to believe that with so much happening this is even an issue. . . .
While I can see the sin in abortion, I think contraceptives should be used to prevent unwanted pregnancy. I do not however, think the taxpayers should have to pay for it. The Federal Government needs to defund planned parenthood and either the State, or the churches, deal with the issue. Actually, when it comes right down to it, people should be responsible for their own actions.
Hey Marcy, always good to hear from you! I agree with you that people should be responsible for their own actions, but, in brutal socio-economic terms surely contraception is less of a burden to the taxpayer than the cost of maintaining the poverty of welfare? As for the simple issue of humanity, that it should be so complicated . . . You have a great day!
Exactly, which is why the Government needs to retract subsidies to planned parenthood. As long as the Government pays, planned parenthood is going to ‘push’ contraceptives (therefore encouraging sexual activity in our youth) to assure themselves an automatic income. Take the money away, let the markets adjust themselves, and perhaps encourage parents to teach ‘abstinence’, and the problem may not be so severe to begin with. Contraception is the way to go, for sure, but it should be handled by families and individuals that don’t want to deal with pregnancy. The welfare system itself needs to be restructured too. The Government encourages large families who rely on the system for food stamps and such (via headcount). Anyway, that’s my 2 cents. You have a great day too, Patti. 😉
Interesting photos. Great to see what’s going on in New York.
Thank you Cardinal, there always seems to be something going on here!
Where do i start – what a bonza (aussie slang) post !!!!!!! Every bit of it…but you know..you had me with the phot ‘if I wanted the Government in my womb I’d screw a Senator…still peeing with laughter at that one…perfect
That such a short pithy set of words should clear the confusion – I almost fell over when I saw the sign. So pleased it gave you a good run for the day Jo!
Well done for being there Patti – Ironically the struggle for Womens Rights aids Mens Rights too since we have more shared issues than we care to admit! I can really feel for your mother with the big C word. My wife is of Catholic upbringing but we had to make a number of choices regarding children because of medical issues and fortunately ‘God’ has provided an un-Pope controlled form of contraception. You can work that one out for yourself 😉 We have a child via scientific intervention – something else that I believe is frowned upon in the Catholic church. Fortunately, we now attend a Church of England parish and the resident Priest was over the moon at the addition to his flock 10 years back 😉 We didn’t ask for God’s / science’s intervention a second time because a Child needs its parents and the risk to my wife was probably too high. Keep up the good fight
Martin, how lovely to hear that you and your wife went ahead to become the family you are! You make the salient point about the rights of men and women, both of which add up to human rights – can’t have one without the other! Relationships, which I always thought were highly personal, are suddenly becoming crowded again what with religious dogma and legislators taking a new turn in the nostalgia stakes.
Here is Gail Collins in today’s NYT’s discussing, amongst other issues, a study linking the pill to prostate cancer. As always with these articles, the comments feed the piece!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/17/opinion/collins-politicians-swinging-stethoscopes.html?_r=1&hp
One word answer to that NYT article… Frightening 😦 There are times when I get upset with our UK government but perhaps I shouldn’t treat them too harshly in the light of what I’m readin here!
At least argument on the issue is robust but what with chaos in Afghanistan, Iraq, hawks scratching around in Iran etc etc, oh and domestic poverty etc etc, I would have thought there were larger issues to deal with than turning the biological clock back to the days of playing Vatican Roulette!
I agree Patti – I doubt that even the last Pope thought we should be going back there! Not sure about the current one…
I have to admit I don’t do very well in large crowds…
they always make for quite the photo op, though…
🙂
Does it make sense to say that being in a crowd with a camera gives me such a sense of space that I almost feel invisible? Which I know is an absolute nonsense! 🙂
Great post. I think I’m about to pop some blood vessels every time that I think about the crap the Republicans are trying with the contraception bit. (And those who say that government shouldn’t have to pay for it are missing the point — the gov’t doesn’t pay for it; the employer/employee (aka policy holder) pays for it. ) To think that my employer can say what I can or cannot do with my health is ridiculous. It opens up all sorts of other privacy issues, but of course, one of the leading R presidential contenders (Santorum) thinks that there is no right to privacy in the Constitution. Wow! I just don’t know what to make of it all and wonder what other kinds of wackiness the next months before the election will bring. This is the 10th Presidential election that I’ve followed closely (wasn’t able to vote in the ’76 one though) and I think that this is the craziest it has ever been.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
Anne, thank you so much for your company here – the ranks of the dazed and confused are growing! I never thought for one moment this election, let alone the Republican Primary, would be this crazy. I thought it was whacky enough when Newt and Michelle Bachmann thought they were serious contenders and suddenly we are at this point. Honestly, I never saw it coming!
Looking fwd to enjoying more of your blog!
I`ts a great party ,I seen a lot in your photographs Thanks for sharing Patti 🙂
Great to have you along Jake!
I was raised, along with five brothers and sisters, in the Catholic faith too. Unfortunately, my mother endured premature births, difficult pregnancies, tortured labors and nervous breakdowns.
I was branded a rebel (and totally embarrassed my family) in high school. The priest who instructed our Religion class asked me if I condoned abortion and my reply wasn’t an absolute, “No!” I won’t even go into my scandalous beliefs on birth control… as I totally agree with you (not the Catholic doctrine).
Thank you for standing up for women’s rights Patti! Thank you for standing up for our mothers, sisters and daughters.
Theresa, so many of us have our stories and I can’t tell you how grateful I am to hear part of yours, thank you so much! And well done to you for giving your independence of thought some voice back in the day – I am sure prayers were said for you, as indeed they were said in our family for the rebel of the moment!
Yet here we are, however many years later, after all the tears, trouble and strife, defending again the right to choose from the voices of some very loud, very ignorant men whose wives and partners should know better.
We all stand together!
It’s great to see that the International Women’s Day is celebrated in New York too. And as somebody else pointed out seen from a non-catholic or non-US point of view, it’s so strange that you still have a debate – and strong as it is – about women’s right to have control over their own body. Fighting against contraceptions doesn’t make sense in the 21th century. Great picture by the way.
Otto, Newt Gingrich hit the nostalgia button some months ago with the idea of putting the children of the poor back to work as janitors etc (which reminds me of all the cleaning we did as children at our local Catholic school!) so I suppose it was only a matter of time in this desperate Republican primary that talk would turn to the seriously retro issue of birth control.
So good to hear from you and thank you for your company!
This is the Great Leap Backward in the history of the United States, as it is also the time of another Great Leap Backward for the Catholic Church (which has known many such in its thousands of years of existence).
It is dismaying, saddening, depressing and — when it comes to Rick Santorum — highly alarming.
It is the hypocrisy, though, that sends me up in smoke.
Newt Gingrich — three times married, deserting one ill wife to take up with the next before benefit of divorce — he feels entitled to toss around the title Slut???????
Mitt Romney’s one achievement as Governor of Massachusetts, a solid health care bill — now he denounces Obamacare and renounces his own activities — Hmmmmm?
And Rick Santorum! The sanctus sanctorum, has seven children and can afford them, how wonderful for him! Not so wonderful, perhaps, for people less lucky. A man of ethics and lots of active sperm — but integrity? Transparency?
A Knight of Malta whose evangelical fan base doesn’t even know he’s Catholic? Hmmmm —
And when he was Senator from Pennsylvania, he proposed getting rid of the National Weather Service in favor of private weather companies, such as Accuweather, providing (for a fee) vital commercial, recreational, and safety information which the government provided free. He nearly succeeded. Guess where Accuweather is located? Will it surprise you to learn that it is State College, Pennsylvania?
Sorry about the rant, Patti. This is heavy stuff. At least your photos, as always, are really attractive and telling —-
Judith, this is not a rant so nothing to forgive you for – we need to know we are not alone! I have to remind myself that these men are throwing millions of dollars away in the crazy race to be POTUS – I can’t help thinking we would all be safer if they were more content to stick to running the local Elk’s Club.
As for the Newt, he really does take the hypocrisy biscuit while seriously putting the con into convert (not the first time I have said this, but . . .) and going off to Rome with Callista to meet the Pope, film it as a documentary, available $19.99 wherever you see this sign discounts available with coupon!
Now if the Newt really wanted to parade his credentials as a proper Catholic he would sit down the back like all good Catholics and mind his own damned business. Same with Rick but my guess is he is right up the front, running the show and enjoying the glow.
Patti, I didn’t know about this documentary — and after seeing the blurb on your link, like Dorothy Parker in another context, this viewer fwowed up
Can’t wait to hear what you think – relying on your good opinion!
Crossed wires — I didn’t mean followed up, like I would watch it. (ugh)
Reference was to a much-quoted review by Dorothy Parker, (1893-1967) American writer, critic, and wit; member of the famed Algonquin Round Table.
‘”Constant Reader” was Dorothy Parker’s book reviewing pseudonym at The New Yorker. Her reviews, like much of her writing, were witty, sharp, and caustic.
“Constant Reader’s best-known review was of A. A. Milne’s The House at Pooh Corner. Milne’s whimsy had always nauseated her. When she came to the word hummy, her stomach revolted. ‘And it is that word “hummy,” my darlings,’ she wrote, ‘that marks the first place in The House at Pooh Corner at which Tonstant Weader Fwowed up.'”‘
Pretty much sums up my response to The Newt.
I see the light, apologies and thank you Judith! It is definitely above and beyond the call of duty to expect anyone to follow up on that link when to fwow up from Dorothy Parker is the perfect reaction!
Nice to see how International women day was celebrated in New york. Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures Patti. It was a really nice post. Nice to see you stand up for the rights of all women. great job.
Thank you Arindam for adding your voice!
When I look at your photos and read your blog, it’s like another world!
Thank you for the vicarious experience without the reality of my being there!
Great, Patti! Thanks for letting me march along with you on the streets of NYC for International Women’s Day. From the very beginning to the onlookers as the marchers came toward, love the expressions, and Miss Butterfly!, the woman who brought sandwiches. Really great post.
Great to have your company SF! The simple kindness and generosity of the woman who brought in the sandwiches topped the day. Who knew Obama voting liberals went in for such basics!