Sherrie R. Cronin's Blog, page 39

What the hell happened in 1968? (race relations edition)

It looks like the national guard has been called in after days of racial violence in the city, according the large headline on the top of the front page. The governor has put Wichita in a state of emergency, enacted a curfew, closed bars and stopped the sale of gasoline in containers. I scan the front page for information on why.

For more on why 1968 has an eerie resemblance to today, read this entire post at What the hell happened in 1968? (race relations edition).

Filed under: z2: time Tagged: anger, be better, equality, fairness, hate, just listen, looting, memories, national guard, newspapers, race relations, time passing, tolerance, violence

What the hell happened in 1968? (The How to Get a Standing Ovation Edition)

I have to smile. Attacks on communism seem quaint and harmless today, although thirteen-year-old Sherri Roth was under the firm impression that both Lenin and Marx specifically advocated tyranny, massacres, and cruelty.

Read this entire post inspired by a newspaper from August 1968 at What the hell happened in 1968? (The How to Get a Standing Ovation Edition).

Filed under: y1: favorite posts Tagged: communists, hippies, individual rights, memories, newspapers, personal freedom, politics, seeing the future, time passing

What the hell happened in 1968? (World Peace Edition)

Yes. Of course. The older Sherrie knows that history will eventually say “What a mistake. What were we thinking?” She knows that it will be decades before any leader sends another half million men to Asia to meddle into the internal affairs of another nation. But she also knows that it will happen again.

Read the entire post, inspired by the Wichita Eagle of August 23, 1968, at What the hell happened in 1968? (World Peace Edition).

 

Filed under: x0: peace Tagged: 1968, Dixie Chicks, history, memories, military intervention, newspapers, pacifism, peace, President Johnson, seeing the future, time passing, Vietnam, war, Wichita Eagle, world, world peace

Predicting the future, or shaping it?

Thanks to George Orwell we are considerably less likely to live in an “Orwellian” society. He didn’t predict the future. He, and an army of teachers, shaped it. What an amazing thing.

Read the whole post at Predicting the future, or shaping it?

Filed under: d4: seeing the future Tagged: book reviews, economic policy, future, money, power of prose, seeing the future, speculative fiction, wealth, wealth distribution, writers

“Give Mother the Vote”

The United States hardly lead the parade for voting rights for women. Women in countries ranging from Denmark to Uruguay to Armenia were able to cast their votes first.

Read the entire post at “Give Mother the Vote”.

 

Filed under: c3: favorite posts Tagged: be better, causes, freedom, how far we have come, overcoming, personal freedom, sexism, time passing, women's rights

This box went everywhere with me

Okay …. so it looks like the real me is a lot about eating, drinking and getting a good night’s sleep. And while Ford Perfect traveled the galaxy armed only with his trusty towel, it looks like I prefer cloth napkins and washcloths.

read the full blog post at This box went everywhere with me.

 

 

Filed under: y1: favorite posts Tagged: letting go, personal freedom, personal growth, Qigong, travel, treasures

Poverty is sexist

March 8 was International Women’s Day. On my x0 blog I wrote about a report by Maria Shriver that noted that in the U.S. (1) Nearly two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women,  (2) The average woman is paid 77 cents for every dollar a man makes, and African American women earn only 64 cents and Hispanic women only 55 cents for every dollar made by a white man and (3) men make more money than women who have the same level of educational achievement, from high school diplomas to advanced graduate degrees.

You can read my original post on the X0 blog called Poverty is sexist.

I praised the group One for encouraging Chancellor Angela Merkel to select women’s economic empowerment as one of the key issues for the 2015 agenda at the G7 summit meeting being held in Germany.

Well, the summit has come and gone, and I was delighted to read recently that Angela Merkel did include women’s economic empowerment as one of those key issues.  The G7 committed to “increasing the number of women and girls in developing countries receiving technical and vocational training through G7 measures by one third by 2030”, noted the need to improve working conditions that allow women and men to balance family life and employment, and agreed to the G7 Principles on Women’s Entrepreneurship including encouraging girls’ participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. More broadly, the G7 stated support for UN Women’s Empowerment Principles, and encouraged companies around the world to incorporate them into their practices.

High level conferences such as this don’t yield immediate policy changes anywhere, much less immediate results. None-the-less by placing a focus on the disproportionate financial burdens placed on women throughout the world, the G-7 summit took a step in the right direction. Good news is good.

 

Filed under: x0: favorite posts Tagged: causes, change, economic policy, equality, fairness, poverty, sexism, women, world

Spurning spring?

At some point many years ago I decided that I was in the summer of my life. Natural enough. Life was full and I was as physically fit and attractive as I was ever going to be. Those are summer kinds of things to me.

Read the rest of this post at Spurning spring?

Filed under: z2: favorite posts Tagged: appearance, attractiveness, beauty, nature, seasons, time passing

Am I turning into a wild animal?

“Do you think maybe I’m turning into a wild animal?” I asked him. “Like, I used to be domesticated and it’s wearing off? Sort of like, I don’t know, rose bushes that revert back to what ever it was that they really were before some nursery grafted something else on to them?

”I can tell that I’ve lost him with the roses thing. He’s not much of a gardener and he’s got no idea of what I’m talking about.

“You’re fine,” he laughs.

“How do you know?”

Read the complete post at

Am I turning into a wild animal?.

Filed under: c3: favorite posts Tagged: change, metamorphosis, nature, shapeshifting, wild

How full is too full?

So about six months ago, I got fired up about going after something I wanted. It happens once in awhile. The person I share my life with bought into my idea, and that could have been the first problem. You see, what I wanted was complicated and expensive and going to take a real lot of effort. Sort of like the time that I decided what I wanted most in life was to sail around the world. Only that time, my partner had the good sense to suggest a long soak in the tub and big glass of wine instead.

Read the entire post at How full is too full?

 

Filed under: z2: favorite posts Tagged: change, Dalai Lama, fresh start, obsessed, resolutions, time passing