Lady Don’t Lack !!

Lady Don’t Lack !!

Rap after Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”

by C. Jenny Walbridge, © 2022

We got big butts

And we will not lie.

You other peoples

Might ask why—

It’s how we’re made, we just size up;

We gonna fill your cup!

We so lovely you tearin’

You look and you can’t stop leerin’

That girl in the mirror smilin’

That fat on her backside pilin’!

In the butt we’re radical.

We be international!

We like our rear 

And we think we’re fine—

Whoever made us 

Was sure tryin’!

Drivin’ to be livin’

Women got much fat

Drivin’ to be livin’

And we sure don’t lack!

We stick out in wide ways;

I say we gonna get some lays!

Cellulite is here to find?

Jigglin,’ sister, we don’t mind–

We beautiful!

We got big butts 

And we think we bad!

They givin’ by our mom and dad.

Nobody who be less than cool

Will learn it all at this good school!

We love our butts 

And it’s so okay

Bitching about it’s yesterday!

My body, it ain’t yours for free

Unless you gonna respect me!

Lady don’t lack…

Lady don’t lack!

Decent folks find our form pleasin;’

Nature made us for a reason!

Drivin’ to be livin’ 

And we got much fat

Drivin’ to be livin’

And we fine with that.

What is that in your head?  It’s corny!

That thought you got makes you too scorny!

Critic, baby, you may be.

Well free your mind, y’all, say me!

Dial 1-800-FIX-A-LOT

And ditch those sexist thoughts!

Lady don’t lack!

Life

Life

by C. Jenny Walbridge, June 27, 2022-October 5, 2023

If I get angry at you, I can cause a bullet to wound or kill your body.  But why don’t we work out our emotional problems using words?  Children and adults possess the right to life in other countries—even if they anger another.  Why isn’t that a given for Americans? The right to life is in our Bill of Rights! The Second Amendment gives us the right to own guns; maybe what’s missing in our Bill of Rights is a prohibition of using them! 

The term “pro-life” has a visceral appeal, especially to people who are scared to look at themselves and their own relationship to living.  If life means something scary to you, controlling it and asserting that you “value” it makes you not only right—and morally so–and to feel better.  It gives you something to cling to, and becomes a way of mastering the issue that threatens you.  The cost of this is other peoples’ lives and interiors and their resentment in the future.  But when one is terrified to look inside oneself—to learn about who one is, and maybe to learn that one needs to do some work to get psychologically healthier—it is VERY appealing to “own” other people in this way, to force them to do something so you can feel in control of your own self, pushing the issue away from you and into others’ bodies.

I am “pro-choice.”  But I am also supportive of life: I care about the environment we share with the animals and plants; I support groups that work for a greener future, and in my relationships I try for positivity.  This last aspect of my being is more than some people can lay claim to, because it entails introspection and self-awareness, tools I have learned from my parents and my therapists, social workers whose very existence probably threatens many of us.  Let me tell you, they have worked for me!  Although I was extremely screwed up in 1980 when I entered high school, due to parenting and worldly mistakes, I started seeing therapists and kept that up my whole adult life.  Finally, I found one therapist who could help me do the profound work on myself that I needed to do, and have seen her for the last 30 years.  It took a long time of simply talking with her, but we have been successful. 

However, the education I had to have to learn how to fit in with Americans was mindboggling.  I must say, the study of anthropology—of different peoples from around the planet—was extremely helpful; I thank Loyola University Chicago, as well as my therapist, for that, but a couple of years at Reed College and the School of the Art Institute were life-giving as well.

Wouldn’t it be nice if all human life was wanted life?  Yes, it would.  It would also be nice for our children to get a decent world to play innot to work on.  That sounds good for us, adults, too, doesn’t it?  I loved Amy Shumer’s standup routine about sexual matters.  How about some more of this, America?  We love being the entertainers of the world—let’s act like it and work out these issues on stage!

The other thing is that there are MANY PEOPLE here now, and we live together on a limited area home that can be screwed up permanently.  Talk about gifts for the kids!  How about a place to run around and breathe clean air?  How about a clean river to swim in? 

We need a NEW DIRECTION.  I see it!  Let me help let us live peacefully.  My faith in myself as a woman tells me that we can do it!  We need to fly like butterflies from our cocoons, with every wing flap bringing the people of the world to a brighter day.

For starters, miscarriage is natural.  Some foods and spices cause the period to start back up.  We should utilize these natural, noninvasive methods for birth control.  I myself got progesterone shots, which were great because not only did my body not conceive, but they completely halted my period!  That was a freedom worthy of the name!  And I come from Libertyville, Illinois, so I know of what I speak.

Anyway, I love life.  What I don’t mean is “every sperm is sacred,” as Monty Python joked: of course each one is important, as every fetus who comes to term and get born is a baby, important to love and care for; they and each child and adult are part of the cycle of life and deserve protection and help (yet these are denied by those who oppose abortion). Those with eggs must be held as even more sacred than men because there are such a limited number for each woman. I’m not disputing that  life is sacred, but if it is, we are behaving hypocritically–even sinfully–when we pollute God’s Earth.

I support women’s choices about our own needs, while recognizing that our future species has needs that we can meet or ignore—our offspring will be living HERE, and our choices will affect them!  We need to get ourselves in excellent psychological shape so we can anticipate those needs—to SEE our kids and—wait—look out and around, to see how ELSE we can contribute, rather than just through family.  Call me a Jehovah’s Witness, but I see that God is on our planet now, trying to live WITH Her recalcitrant offspring. There is no Heaven after Earth. Eden is here! This road may be new, but it is a path with heart! 

Feminist Poems

Feminist Poems

by Catherine Jennifer Walbridge ©2022

  1. Fingers

I’m in the bathroom at night

I’m sitting on the toilet

I need some toilet paper 

It is dark.

I reach for the end of the roll

I have to find the end

I touch the roll, very gently I find the end of the roll by turning it around its pivot slowly.

I’m in the book store

I’m at Whole Foods

I’m in their bathroom

The toilet paper is not hanging down conveniently

I reach under the plastic toilet paper dispenser

I have to turn the roll with my hand to find the end.

Gentleness is called for.

Precision.

My baby gives me the cigarette we are smoking

Very tenderly my fingers touch his.

He hands me the cigarette;

We must be careful because it is hot.

This is nothing that machines can do.

The hand…the fingers…the paper…the pen!

2. What it Is to Be a Girl

Walkin’ round with nothin’ hangin

Getting banged, not givin’ bangin.’

Feelin’ fine, sharing the future

Nature says I have to nurture.

Worshipping who I desire?

Goddess—talking on the wire—

Tellin’ me that I can work it—

Practice hard, showin’ you, jerk, fit

As a drum you playin’ on

Inspiring you to write a song.

Where’s the credit?  You get some

Providing schooling, sports; not dumb,

You’re simply discriminatin’

Want all control of who you’re datin.’

But she doesn’t grow while still.

Listen here—I see you will!

3. We could make life a lot easier for a lot of people!

In some other countries the folks are allowed

To do small capitalism, and proud 

Of their fruit stand they are.  And why don’t we

Give some small housing?  Austin, Portland—see?!?

One might just heal when they come to possess

Their own door knob, and even to feel blessed

To live in a space where they can just cry

Or take a nap, in privacy.  Sound good?  Let’s try!

‘Cause people are touching, and people need warming.

They want to run inside when the bugs are swarming.

We all have toes which belong to our feet—

Directing us whither we tread, who we greet.

Do we feel we don’t need manners with our neighbors?

Friends, enemies—for all folks—we must labor

For shared results, progress, two folks on the see-saw—

Neglecting each other, can’t get high, it’s a law

Of nature.  (Good deeds make us happy together!

Gifts, sharing, good-natured acting—whatever.)

Enjoy being ourself as we impact another,

And they’re holding us, like a sister or brother.

Family and friends—we do need ‘em.

See all the nations who know they must feed ‘em?

Not leave fellows to rot while leaders drink up,

But help people be strong, all join with a cup!

4. Sexy!

Our place in the world is erotic: 

no control over the weather.

No control over the stock market—

No control over our feelings, our finances, our dinner’s quality

because it comes from polluted fields—they may be polluted, we don’t know,

just like we don’t know how our lover will respond from day to day.

Nature is sexy.  We are part of nature.  

But does our history from now on have to be so hurtful, just because we are trying to live the fact that the world is sexy? that we are not in control, that peoples get hurt because forces are so powerful, like sex?

And we must prove that we can synthesize things; even though we are part of nature, we “are above it”—an abstraction good for who?

“They got screwed.”  

Make love, not war!

5. Feathers

Falling into place as I again comb them with my beak.

Life keeps going!   I fly!

I feel like a jukebox.  All the selections keep dropping into my slots and then I play them…New tunes each day.  I learn.

Momentary panic

——worked through—-

Played through

I think of our pet millipede who,

when I turned the light in the kitchen on,

looked at me and ran from the open peanut butter jar to behind the cabinets—

We were both shocked.

We saw it again.  I said to my boyfriend, “This is our friend.  Don’t kill it.”

Really a beautiful animal with too much style to murder.

My boyfriend!   My boyfriend shares with me.

He tries to help me fix my computer and leaves a grease spot on “return.”

Life—decent.

I am 50.  Death is approaching, very slowly.

Am hoping not to crash into a window…

If I do and they find me, maybe they will give me to the natural history museum to identify and catalogue: 

the Jennybird:

she didn’t shave 

she looked at the sky

(a rainbow was there sometimes)

6. The Third Sex

Calculate the appearance—colored clothes and something hair—

Strike up a conversation if you want to take a dare.

Your instinct’s right, because you can’t just look inside the pants—

Your body wants to party, not analyze the dance!

It’s dark and light in stripes in division on a horse—

Picture the zebra now—it’s an animal, of course.

Each one is different—you can see, they really are unique.

Straight markings are impossible—stripes show in curves, go peek!

All in order, some of them are sexy in one way,

Others in another.  God makes them—it’s okay.

Humans have fingerprints and some realistic gripes

But when the zebra moves, you don’t think about its pipes.

Are there really only two sexes?   Well, ask a doctor—“No.”

How about three then, if there’s hermaphroditic flow?

I say we have some billions, and every person’s great.

Each of us is unique.  Some will, maybe, mate;

Some of us have babies; some just clearly can’t.

Sexual organs differ, like the leg that wears the pants.

Don’t cop out, friend, be truthful to your feelings for

A person, not a gender, ‘cause in bed there’s always more

And trans folks can be amazing, just like the others can—

Please remember the zebras before you make a ban,

For God creates with panache, sometimes in black and white,

Somewhat he and somewhat she but always in the right.

If He makes us in His image, well, that means He’s more complex—

He is also She and More—that’s how They stack the decks.

Each person gets a special mix of dark and then of light—

The feminine, the masculine—everybody’s right!

Wise one, know that we can live in peace together—

But we must be creative, like God Itself, no tether.

Open doors but also, sugar, look within, I say—

I’m ready for more tolerance, now and here, today!

7. Frozen Pizza

“The Pill and frozen pizza were women’s liberation,” says my boyfriend.

The progesterone birth control shot and frozen pizza are indeed my liberation:

no blood, no babies.  Dinner!

But my guy and I make quality meals, too,

and we sleep together,

and study and read and write and learn about each other and the world, discuss

and walk 

and look for pennies, dimes and quarters

and often we find them!

Our pizza costs $5.99 and there are always leftovers for lunch.

The shots are freeing and free 

because I have insurance from the government

for being bipolar 

which means that I am free to work part time and not be rich.

We endlessly review good business policy for food and liquor establishments, 

he saying “You must always please the customer,” and

“I would have specials all the time in a club that looks really classy.”

We love cheese and halvah.  

“What can we do, we are only human,” as he says.

8. To the Class of ’21

from C. Jenny Walbridge

I wrote this speech with my “Judgement Free Zone” pen.

It’s from some planet fitness thing.  Now’s when

I’m comin’ from the future, makin’ a stand

Talkin’ of art and healthy in this land,

And sea emocean true.  I notice that you grew

Now, we be needin’ your peace signs, too!

My love life, ‘cause I have dignity,

Depends on you having fun.  Here, see,

This state, this world, where we be living,

You and me.  I’m okay giving,

Though I need you motivated 

To pay attention: you’re not dated.

We can care likewise for Earth

While I’m alive, and give you birth.

Lemme just share a couple things

I found out—they might give you wings!

From an artist these words coming,

Who studied peoples, not be dumbing,

Learning all about the others

In the world, our sisters, brothers.

My life is performance art…

Is yours, too?  That’s a good start!

Using all the rainbow hues—

Love is wise—that’s my good news.

You can make your body wild

Just like when you were a child

But document your progress, so

You can see just how you grow.

A skateboard sticker I have goes,

“GREEN IS GOoD.”  (Seedless should know.)

Not cash green!  I now suggest

We give our nature here a rest:

Each day, dance for all and me—

Surprise us—creativity!

No one needs to waste away.

‘If not fun, why done?’ I say.

Science tells us the best way

Most inventive, now, is play!

Sitting versus dancing, here—

Make the world reject fear!

Our planet wants to be known

As a kind place, be a safe home

To stay and dine, without rapine—

(Grabbing others, saying ‘They’re mine.’)

A-R-T ’s in Earth—so, get it?

Grow up, go save your life with it!

Make some noise with pots and pans—

You can grow some grown-up plans!

Makin’ music—olders like it—

Givin’ hope—don’t drive but bike it.

Get tattoos if you need ‘em, whitey,

Browns, you, too, can be delightey.

What’s the rhythm of the game? 

Lust is love, they are the same.

Appreciation, courtesy,

Are cool—they make humans to be

Friendly, optimistic, free

To help each other up.  You see?

9. Live Child

When “with child” happens in a tube

When no use can be found for lube

Then tell me I’m no animal

Who needs warmth, whose rhythms pull

Me through my life, in winter rain,

Me feeling joy, me feeling pain,

‘Cause I am one with human needs

I cry to you in voice that pleads

That here I sniff and air goes in 

And there are you, and here we been

We’re touching now in simple skin

I say your name—you let me in.

10. A Poem

Your recycled paper is more expensive than regular.  

It takes a lot of water to clean out a can for recycling.

Having a car must needs be part of your lifestyle.

You are a vulnerable woman, you need the protection.  Rape.

Your car is the “greenest” model available.

I am unreasonable to suggest that you are unreasonable.

11. Wild 

She was always shoving her wet, wild nose into some cavernous place in the Earth, as if to convince it it still spoke in a valued tongue.

12. If I were the President,

I would need things to be somewhat stressful,

but also fun.  

I would need not to have to dress in fancy clothes;

and not to run

‘Cause walking is my sport of choice—

and stretching, too—

I would need to dance around

but not to come unglued.

I would need to get a chance to 

talk to people of my State—

Publicity, you know, 

and chances to be great.

But wise counsel tells me

that I might be hated;

Though that advice pales

before ones who aren’t dated.

It seems that the U. S. 

is in such a hole

We need to rise again and can,

‘cause we got soul!

A many people hurtin’ here

and I do care—

Don’t like to see my sister-girl

up quit, bad fare.

So tired that my brother-man

can only go

As far as rich folks let him,

no bootstraps, and so

Can’t pull up himself;

he needs to live, not die—

It’s serious.  I can ask myself

‘cause why?

I’ve learned that to be healthy means

you’ve dignity, you sigh

In pleasure sometimes, 

smiling, too—

If you deny the poor, 

you work for who?

Lazy are you, one might say?

“Get up and run, and start today!

“You’re good as Hillary in some ways—

With Trump it’s already a craze!”

We’re international, I see—

And that means I can start with me.

Am I a banker?  Or have degrees?

No!  And yes, I have to tease,

‘Cause I can see what you may not—

A way out for the melting pot!

Be Christian, Muslim, Jewish, more—

Stick with me for an open door.

It looks like pain from way outside

But I won’t ask you to swallow your pride.

We can work, not slave, but play

For future kids and us today.

On this planet there’s a lot

Of wisdom—some is in my plot,

I’m thinking: no more shame

For rich because

They’ll quit supporting 

Stuff that does

Not help the matters 

Here at hand,

Like empowering folks

To form a band,

To sing wholly the songs we love,

To see again the settling dove.

Peace, baby!  Vote this way

in November

And you and I will suddenly

remember.

Love,

~C. Jenny Walbridge

13. My Pledge

I’m gal who’s strong, I’m woman tough

And times ahead, they may be rough

But, see, my heart is big and round–

The Planet wise, the Planet sound

Is first to me–then I’ll make love,

And free the caged white turtledove,

But not before, man!  Can you see

I plan in you a door to free?

No mating now is how I say

We need the world fixed up today!

So let’s try no sex any more

’Til females stop being so poor

And plastic ceases being dumped

In water home of whales with humps.

14 Give up those condoms, stand with me—

Abstinence will make us free.

One painful year we’ll slow our lust

’Til Sister Earth can breathe, we’ll trust:

“To-get-her” sing, all safe, and then

Next year here, sex back, our friend!

14. Kali’s Song to the U. S. A.

I worship with my eyes

And my eyes are touched by fire.

I’m Kali, the Destroyer,

Who is likened to a liar,

But it’s never that I’ve killed–no,

Nor ever have I stolen;

You see, I’m not a woeful man

And neither am I rollin’

Deep in guilt and steep hypocrisy,

Cold-heartedness and sin–

I love my every brother,

But he will not let me in!

The worship of the natural can

Take great one Yahweh’s powers,

Though also what’s effective

Is a field full of flowers.

To balance on a seesaw–

Yes, you’ve done it with a friend–

Takes two, but then it needs one more–

The center point–to end.

Say Holy Ghost, call what you will,

But I remind you that

This one who charms by warmth and 

Arms is not an idiot!

I’m waiting at the door, you see,

And wondering I be

About who runs the show down here,

God–is it you or me?

We light fire and it licks for us;

Its sight gives our minds a turn.

That’s fuel for the flame;

Thus our hearts do slowly burn.

One cannot fight the glowing 

Of one’s nature.  And to grow

Takes Earthly womb, and woman’s

Room is soon within the tow.

I, Kali, Indian goddess,

Say let not all grace be men’s:

Fire’s power’s the Eiffel Tower

Of modern folk, with friends,

But male control of nature has

Taken us down a road of pain

And caused in us a longing

For removal of bloodstain.

So do not divorce from love, my friend,

Your worship or your soul.

Your heart’s attached to all these things–

To share all threes the goal!

Though dime and gold are moon and sun,

They now are linked with fears.

Recall that you are good, oh, land,

You’re beautiful, you’re oh-so-grand,

But if you do not understand,

We’ll drown soon in our tears!

15. Woman’s Day

It’s Woman’s Day today

So all women, please knit something

Then cook something

Then we’ll hear your televised criticisms of the government.

16. Human Needs

Waitin’ at the bus stop, Chicago north range

Lady in pink says she’s homeless, asks for change.

I say “No, I don’t have no coins.”  True.

Man beside me pulls out a five for her—whoo!

Lady’s very pleased.  To the guy I say,

“That was really nice to treat her that way!”

“My religion,” he replies, “won’t permit me to

Not help her if I can. “ Say what?  Say who?

“I’m a Muslim,” he says.  I’m familiar, though

Have never read most holy books, Koran and so.

Shelters for our rest

Beds because we nest

Human needs have all of us

Life is what it means to trust.

Invest in a better life for you and your;

Be happy—can you, seeing pain and poor?

Does your religion let you accept it all?

Who do you have to make the call?

Little toes have everyone

Caring and a need for fun

Human needs of all of us

Life is what it means to trust.

Winter quick approaches here

Dark outside, cold people peer

From places warm? or temp housing—

Hearing sound of church bells ring.

It makes me feel enlivened when

I shake a hand and message send

I give some help for human needs;

Love is how contentment breeds.

Shelters for our rest 

Beds because we nest

Humanity is all of us—

Life is what it means to trust.

17. Wise Eyes

Seeing in the pond, “I’m beautiful,” she thinks. 

Her god has given to her a perfect right to drink.

Hunting with his tools, “I’m powerful,” he states.

“God gave me this talent; he must want me to mate.”

They’re Muslim.  Come along a Christian, born and bred.

He’s learned trauma and his sex fills him with dread.

A rational belief system, ‘cause God, who made us all,

Wants us to love in peace, use our hearts, not take a fall?

Oh, no, we must be careful of the female of the race:

We need to control her—make her mind, bind her in lace.

The very mom of Jesus had to be a sinless lass;

Born of mother virgin, to appease the sounding brass.

But customs are as customs do, and variable and so

Creatively invented—they don’t grow up from below

Or from on high.  It’s easy to assume yours are the best—

After all, they’re popular, we drink them at the breast.

Jesus came for helping, yet there are others to hear:

Mohammed and Baha’ullah don’t make love seem less dear.

The Christ did not preach pain, self-hate;

Stop flagellation!  Find a mate!

18. Rap After Sir Mix-A-Lot’s 1992 “Baby Got Back”

Lady Don’t Lack

We got big butts

And we will not lie

You other peoples

Might ask why

It’s how we’re made, we just size up–

We gonna fill your cup!

We so lovely you tearin’

You look and you can’t stop leerin’

That girl in the mirror smilin’

That fat on her backside pilin’!

In the butt we’re radical!

We be international!

We like our rear 

And we think we’re fine

Whoever made us 

Was sure tryin’!

Drivin’ to be livin’

Women got much fat

Drivin’ to be livin’

And we sure don’t lack!

We stick out in wide ways

I say we gonna get some lays

Cellulite is here to find?

Jigglin,’ sister, we don’t mind–

We beautiful!

We got big butts 

And we think we bad

They givin’ by our mom and dad!

Nobody who be less than cool

Will learn it all at this good school!

We love our butts 

And it’s so okay

Bitching about it’s yesterday

My body it ain’t yours for free

Unless you gonna respect me!

Lady don’t lack

Lady don’t lack

Decent folks find our form pleasin’

Nature made us for a reason!

Drivin’ to be livin’ 

And we got much fat

Drivin’ to be livin’

And we fine with that.

What is that in your head?  It’s corny!

That thought you got makes you too scorny!

Critic baby you may be

Well free your mind, y’all, say me!

Dial 1-800-FIX-A-LOT

And ditch those sexist thoughts!

Lady don’t lack!

19.  Chicago Connection

Rap after NWA’s “Express Yourself” and Above the Law’s “Freedom of Speech”

ARTEMIS

There’s been a lot of hiding and terrifying out there and I’ve never had the chance to tell anyone what way is up.  It’s time to dig reality.  I’m workin’ on me.  I’m tryin’ to

Connect myself…

People tell me I should

Express myself!”

(Be enlightening this geek will–

You’ll want to read the sequel!)

I’m expressin’ with my vulnerability

And I’m a comin’ from bipolarist virility.

I get sick of takin’ pills to self-deadicate;

I’m an ape and have biology to medicate.

With you I pledge to share my design–

And what I need to be more or less fine.

I’m connectin’ for my responsibility

Of livin’ in a world with human fra-ility

I make lovin’ thought with each embroidered stitch

My needle’s workin,’ I’m like a acupuncture witch!

The war now over, here’s what I’m gonna make—

My mind is free, it’s just like I’m gonna break

Dance in the street–I’m ‘a level with you:

My city’s real pretty but I’ll tell it what to do.

“Heal thyself” said the doctor by the name of Dre–

“First, do no harm—” We should be goin’ that way!

Connect myself…

Express myself…

Yeah, I’m a sewer and it’s time for relatin,’

Connectin’ the dots for the inundatin’

Of all us citizens–why, you wanna know?

I’ve been through the trial, wanna help our love to show.

Drugs have seen their day and ECT has, too;

There’s better stuff out there, we should see it through!

Just like that alternative energy tech–

Earth and our bodies need apology—heck!

Mental illness ain’t a place to dwell in long

Discrimination there’s the way to do it wrong;

Why attack with words and antiquated solution 

When all are in the boat of chemical pollution?

Be enlivening the meek will–

Come out and be our equal!

Connect ourselves!

Countin’ on my method, well, I think that I can do this

Though conventionals may say I’m lookin’ foolish.

I been healing–don’t criticize me;

Talk to me close up–look into my eyes–see?

I’m plannin’ a great world party!

Let’s get there now—we ain’t tardy!

It seems that a lot a us have depression.

Ain’t no surprise–but there’s a lesson

For us, it’s the consequences of messin’

With Nature–I do it too, I’m confessin,’

And holdin’ back our good hearts from each other,

Including our differently-abled brother,

And our poor sister, who ain’t got one dime–

The children, too!  Isn’t now the time?

They say, “express myself”?

—Respect myself?

In fifty years, doctor billing will catch up with news.

But by then our health and compassion will lose!

We just have no trust in all but the painful–

Big medical treatment is often disdainful!

Bodies a universal language for all to hear—

Don’t go drownin’ in your beer!

Some don’t agree with my unique approaches:

I stay away from illicit drugs and roaches,

Cause they make a sister foolish–

I need all of my body parts to do this!

A fancy degree?  Well, I lack it.

I got style though, but others will attack it!

It’s scary to me, the form of folks out in the cold for the norm but I’m warm!

Connect myself…

Respect myself!

Lookin’ at the mirror;

No reason to fear ‘er!

I want to put Libertyville on the map;

My mid-U. S. hometown’s the source of my rap

Tom Morello and I be there on the crew

We be Illinoisan if we can’t reach you!

Why I got to be here, talking so much,

Stitchin’ and preachin,’ and tryin’ to touch

You, neighbor, acquaintance, ‘cause you tellin’ me

That we needin’ help?  Yeah, this I can see!

Don’t let your bad contort us,

‘Cause it could abort us!

Like is the U. S. just a correctional facility?

‘Cause I’m concerned with our psyches’ mobility:

I see talent that’s been wasted extreme;

WPA-like’s what I dream.

There’s methods around that would solve people’s problems–

Whether they be Jews, Christians, or Moslems–

Why they be in hiding

When they could be guiding?

This woman’s got to criticize two or ten–

There’s stuff going down and it’s hurting a friend–

He can’t do painting when there’s shooting outside:

How will he feel some pride?

Fifty stars on the flag, but the actors are soakin’

Up the blues of addiction while their nannies are jokin’

“See you in rehab,” say the rich girls and males

“See you in prison,” say the poor, “in the jails.”

Just take it around U. S. country and then

Go further and learn, and then listen and when

You see with your heart like I have done that soon

All people are one and we need the same tune:

To express ourselves,

Connect ourselves,

Respect ourselves!

People call it wise when you sharin’ the truth

‘Cause how you gonna be when you don’t have youth?

Is there gonna be a future for you or for me?

‘Cause we closin’ our eyes, and we just don’t see.

For many a muted voice here do I speak–

Chicago’s my home and the strong and the weak

Are both humbled by Lake and sidewalk and poor– 

Those who aren’t lazy but can’t find a door.

My thinking is different, my projects, they rock me,

Though many would see my appearance and mock me

Yet I live inside this big body of mine

And I say to you that conditions are fine

That here in this brick house, this person can count

The goodnesses that to her heart and it’s fount

Have been from the brave world extended and so

Are making it right for my virtues to grow.

(Some people say that my whole self is arty.

I want to hear them, smarty!)

See a therapist, yeah, this is what I do, 

And make some inner working break the hold on you.

See society, and then take a look at the world–

Help the Planet get the Earth flag unfurled!

I want to teach citizens and educate

See, females are now in the ring–are you late?

I ask bulls**** prevention for the future date

For expressin’ myself and improvin’ our fate!

I need some good fuel to live in peace.

Touching and home-cooked food are my grease,

And love from my tan man to make me create:

3-, 2-D and rhymin,’ my medicine’s great!

Unfortunately, in my present condition,

To function I make an unwelcome addition:

Yeah, I’m taking drugs, though I don’t like to do it,

But these days, sanity—they get me to brew it.

Sooner or later I may find my peak—

Instead of the drugs, Alexander Technique—

“The Body Has Its Reasons”—so, my body, speak!

I want to hear me, from howl to squeak!

Am I but alone in the law of the land?

My arms are but two–is there but one more hand?

Let’s hear from the people whose voices are few—

From the tens, and the hundreds, the millions, and you!

Express yourself, baby!

Please, do it—no maybe!

Friendly folks are reachin’ out to meet us, true,

So welcome to the start—celebrate the heart! 

Connect yourself, respect yourself—express yourself:

Elect yourself to Artemis and heal our part!

American

Recovery

Team

Ecological

Muse

International

Synthesis!

20. Peace

Peace doesn’t come from quietude,

From standing like a tree;

Creation is its action mood,

So set the spirit free!

21. Blissful

Blissful is everything—

the nouns and the verbs.

Even the predicates follow their hearts.

We realize with eyes some, 

with fingers others,

with love singing through the air others still.

But who are we, in happiness?

Why and wherefore do we this and that, making babies?

Tell us, please—if not in love, where are we?

22. Recess

Now let that I have said it here

Be evidence for more—

Americans are feeling how

Our culture makes us sore:

Sore when we build up the strong cult

Of power, and then just

Watch that great strength start to break down

The gentlest hearts, and us.

By rejecting a large part—

Its Nature—the U. S. has

Both lied to all and turned away its

Very soul—its jazz!

See, people, we cry out and cheer

When Michael Jordan moves,

Yet we don’t let on to the fact

All humans need to groove—

We evolved to exercise, 

To move our bodies, stroll;

Our ancestors were great walkers;

This sitting takes its toll!

John Kenneth Galbraith said,

“The ideas by which people…in measure guide their 

behavior were not forged in a world of wealth.”

He’s dead,

But John’s words seems to echo

What we know from science books:

Our heritage is that of schemer,

Not so much of rich-folk’s looks.Let’s learn about our past, 

For learning often is the key

That, combined with dreaming,

Brings a better home to be.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge,”

Einstein thought.

I’m telling you that we need both;

To help our Earth we ought!

A position that supports us in 

Naturally unfolding will

Find great rewards from those it serves,

Will hear no voice be still.

Teams are a great way of working—

A true solution, fostering friends.

Creativity’s for me

Not only means, but happy ends.

The ideas of rich and poor,

The leveling of their wealth,

So all contribute to the world,

Would bring great results!  Stealth

It seems, so simple! but

Fine work for you and me.

With wonder as a cornerstone,

We’ll build to set us free!

But look we should into the past,

So we can get inspired.

The task is grand and we must plan

For a natural kind of wired,

That to one another.  Hey,

You—man, woman, Turk or Norse—

It’s time to play with each other, For our kids’ lives, of course!

Dalai Lama Peace

Notes on Ethics for the New Millennium, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 1999, Riverhead Books, NY.

Chapter 14, “Peace and Disarmament”

starts by quoting a guy: “Chairman Mao once said that political power comes from the barrel of a gun.” (p. 217)  This is a very male idea.  The chapter is rife with masculine urges—fully appropriate, written, as it is, by a man.  Yet I think my feminine response and reflections on the topic here are important. 

“A spirituality which forgets God as all-powerful and Creator is not acceptable.  That is how we end up worshiping earthly powers, or ourselves usurping the place of God, even to the point of claiming an unlimited right to trample his creation underfoot.” (Paragraph 75)  Pope Francis’s words express caring for our common home—profoundly, you see when you read Laudato Si.’  He quotes a writing of St. Francis of Assisi in the first paragraph of this encyclical letter, On Care for Our Common Home: Laudato Si’, 2015: Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. St. Francis said that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life: “Praise be to you, my Lord,” says the Pope, quoting Francis, “through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs.” (Paragraph 1)  Thinking of our planetary home like a sister retains the feminine aspect but leaves behind our strong resentments, if any, towards our feminine parent.

Later, however, Pope Francis asserts that “The best way to restore men and women to their rightful place, putting an end to their claim to absolute dominion over the earth, is to speak once more of the figure of a Father who creates and who alone owns the world.”  (Paragraph 75)  I disagree with the Pope.  It is time for a Mother/Sister who shares the world!  This daddy thing doesn’t work because it is part of mens’ chemical structure to find pleasure in the suffering of others—the experiments of Dr. Tania Singer, neuroscientist, on the Charter for Compassion website in a landmark paper in Science in 2004, are described by Dale Debakcsy in “Dr. Tania Singer and the Neuroscience of Empathy:”  Singer reports on research she did regarding gender differences in empathy-related brain responses, finding that females were more empathic– when an unfair reward distributor felt pain –than males were.  “Male participants, on the other hand, glowed with empathy whenever the Fair actor was [electrically, painfully] shocked, but registered no response at all when the Unfair actor was and, in fact, showed marked activation in their pleasure-associated [brain] reward centers when they knew that the guy behaving unfairly was getting a nasty jolt.  It was a fascinating result that has since spawned a flood of interesting questions about when our Empathy Engines are engaged, and when they are left dormant, and evolutionary questions about why the difference between men and women in this and subsequent experiments is so substantial.”  If it is true that women might make better decision-makers in tense situations than men, and might not act with revenge-motivation—why not hire us as world leaders, as some nations have done?  Really, why not?  Really? 

Females are psychologically different because our sexuality isn’t hanging in front of us 24 hours a day.  We can be just without proving anything!  

To return to the Dalai Lama’s chapter, he states that “The potential is there,” to create a “more compassionate world,” (p. 217).  This is good news, but I would write, “The potential is here!”  As the man asserts, people like peace, there is plenty of evidence for that (pp. 202, 208, 215); but people are enthralled by fancy weapons and military bands, too (p. 204).  He suggests we “disarm ourselves internally” (p. 206): developing internal peace, we can create external peace (p. 206); and we must conceive of genuine, lasting world peace, a condition not just of cessation of fighting war (pp. 203, 206). 

However, since people are not today capable of avoiding conflict—“there will have to be ways of dealing with miscreants” (p. 207)—the larger picture will include United Nations troops (p. 212) and, also, voluntary disarmament efforts, which the Dalai Lama suggests will be “gradual” (pp. 207, 212). 

I have problems with this.  If we learn to deal with conflict effectively, we will not resort to violence to resolve it, according to the work of Doug Noll.  He has entered prisons and taught inmates to treat conflict with “emotional competency” and says that when given the choice—when educated—they choose his nonviolent techniques for conflictual situations (see yogabody.com, EP#488, “How to De-Escalate Conflicts with Doug Noll on the Lucas Rockwood Show”).  The Dalai Lama fantasizes about a “‘smart’ gun with bullets that could custom-assassinate a particular person” (p. 205), this as “more fair;” but it seems to me that changing the substrate here is what is needed—so violence of ANY kind is not relied on.  We cannot imagine a totally peaceful world, with residents who do not hurt others, but that does not mean that there could not be one! I am a fan of touching arts that do not hurt people much, such as sex, capoeira and judo, and involve interaction and sorting things out. 

Conception

Hey, women! To take control of our health we must be educated and/or informed.  We must also be introspective, willing to see how a situation feels to us; we are the ultimate arbiter of our own beings.  As women, we need insight that is true to what seems to us common sense, good science AND good health, especially in the United States, where the infrastructure to care for mothers and babies–indeed, the next generation of workers and leaders–is less than perfect for the middle class and poor, and where “pro-life” does not necessarily mean loving life. Women are in a complex situation, but that’s why we should be open to new science…and why we need to deal with our health care professionals with as much information as we can muster, and as much self-esteem as we can, because we are really special and the quest for our best care is not necessarily over yet.

A conversation with a celebrity changed the way I think about birth control—that it could be more proactive!  I talked to Dr. Bronner (now deceased), of All-One-God-Faith liquid castile soap (no, I am not making this up—natural food stores sell it in several scents) fame.  On his liquid soap bottles, among other things, it mentioned that the product could be used for birth control purposes.  I’m like, What?  So I called the number on the bottle.  I asked the Doctor what he was talking about.  He said a bit of soap inside the vagina would change its pH level (acidity/alkalinity), making it an environment in which sperm could not perform; lemon juice also provides this function, he told me.  An acidic pH interferes with sperm motility.  Sperm need a basic pH environment of more than 6, out of zero to 14.  Please, don’t take my word for this– have a backup method; you should consult a professional.  Later, I read that both lemon juice and pineapple juice kill sperm (see https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303916477_Spermicidal_effects_of_lemon_juice_and_juices_from_other_natural_products ).

One may ask, J., you are a post-menopausal woman yourself, why make such a fuss?  I respond that a) I care deeply for women and all life; b) my experience has taught me that abortion is not the best method for birth control; c) I want to tell you that for years I used not Dr. Bronner’s soap method but another form of birth control, Depo-Provera progesterone shots. They have advantages for some folks, like, for me, completely stopping my periods—what a deal!  Also, Depo stabilized my mood; I have bipolar illness, and was utilizing the shots also for mental health reasons.  The injections were no painful problem; after the first one, they weren’t bad.  The slight pain was worth it, to not bleed and be able to have unprotected sex! 

I also found a book called Herb Contraindications and Drug Interactions (Francis Brinker, N. D., 1997, Eclectic Institute).  I am no professional, but do perceive that women who are trying to conceive should know about and stay away from some herbs/foods.  It said that eating too much watercress could cause one’s late period to start (they call substances with this type of action emmenagogues).  There are many other foods and herbs that have this property!  Some other emmenagogues, according to the book, are licorice and rosemary.  Black pepper is an abortifacient, as are hibiscus, caffeine, and nutmeg, while saffron, sage, nettles, and St. John’s wort have both properties—inducing menstruation and causing miscarriage.  (Consult medical information if you want to, here. I have never studied herbalism, but do respect it. There were healers for thousands of years before modern medicine, don’t forget that!)

Later, being inquisitive, I did e-research to discover that not only can substances placed in the vagina control the ease of conception, but foods a woman could eat could also change her vagina’s pH level.  Furthermore, eating certain foods can apparently control whether a boy or a girl is conceived, as can controlling the pH of the vagina by making it more acidic or basic.  There is more information online about controlling the sex of a child, and some of it may be correct; I can understand that some gynecologists and potential parents would want to reject all of it, but it seems to me that there is some science out there.

Why is this stuff not common knowledge?  I talked to one gynecologist who said that the mechanics of abortion are reliable—after an abortion, they can see that a fetus is removed.  I refuse to give up hope, however, that American women of the future will grab the bull by the horns here, managing to halt a birth a) before conception or b) at an early stage, if they want to.  Or, if they prefer, they can rest assured that, with a little information, they will not ingest foods or herbs that will harm their developing new life!

Who said, Let your food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food?  The great doctor Hippocrates said that, and also that walking is humankind’s best medicine!  Knowledge comes from somewhere; it is not always wise to dismiss history. In Hippocrates’ day, they worshipped gods AND goddesses. Apparently they believed that women could be divine.  Let that be a lesson to us!

Some day women may decide to sync up their periods all over the world, or in one region; this can be done and observed in dorms and households, where women live in close proximity to each other (it occurs through smell, of hormones, I think). Would it be a good idea for universal menstruation? It seems to me that it might: holiday for a week or so, while women bleed, might make them more effective when they were not having their period. I was always able to function fine while bleeding, and never had unpleasant symptoms that some women get during their periods: cramps, etc. But this might be something to experiment with.

The Woman in American History, Study Guide

Study Guide for The Woman in American History, by Gerda Lerner, 1971, by J.

Gerda Lerner says that we are in a world where nothing happens but for the action of men and women, yet we are told that in the past, men acted and women were only acted on (Why History Matters, 1997, p. 132).  We are told that the actions of half the human race were negligible.  Furthermore, we are supposed to believe that the history of the activities of a small group in this country—upper class white males—is our only history, too (Why History Matters, 1997, p. 132).  It’s not!  Women are and have been a force in history, including American history!

A classic quote from Susan B. Anthony in 1853 is on p. 44 of Lerner’s The Woman in American History; it’s about training teachers, a profession which men were reticent to bequeath upon women.  “The lady may speak,” they finally said at a conference:  (The 13th chapter, “The Winning of Woman Suffrage,” also covers Susan B. Anthony, pp. 159-160.)

“None of you quite comprehend the cause of the disrespect of which you complain.

“Do you not see that so long as society says woman is incompetent to be a lawyer, minister, or doctor, but has ample ability to be a teacher, every man of you who chooses this profession tacitly acknowledges that he has no more brains than a woman?  And this, too, is the reason that teaching is a less lucrative profession as here men must compete with the cheap labor of woman…[to] exalt your profession, exalt those who labor with you…increase the salary of the women engaged in the noble work of educating our future President, Senators and Congressmen.”

CHAPTER 1: THE COLONIAL WOMAN

The book tells about women soldiers.  It also reports that in the colonies, there was a shortage of labor, so women did pretty well, being able to find work, and found value along with men in a communal effort, because there was so much to be done.  The frontier was similar.  Women had to interact with sometimes hostile Indians, and face challenging circumstances; they secured greater personal freedom than women did later in American history.  Hannah Dustin, along with another woman and a boy, killed 10 Indian captors and freed herself (p. 23)  

Anne Hutchinson was the first person in the New World to challenge the dogma of women’s subordination to men, p. 21.  An herbalist and midwife, she was forced out of the colony for her religious activities; 35 families followed her.

Mary Dyer, as a Quaker, believed in equality for males and females.  She and Anne helped the development of religious tolerance in the Colonies.

CHAPTER 2: DISSENTERS AND COMMUNITY BUILDERS

Quilting bees and other social occasions led to the formations of community institutions, such as churches.  During the Revolutionary War, women sacrificed to help the soldiers; they took over men’s jobs and raised money for the care of the soldiers.  Some dressed as men and fought (p. 25).  Mercy Otis Warren helped set up the Committees of Correspondence and wrote (p. 26).  But talented women like Mercy, Abigail Adams, and Eliza Pinckney were the exception to the rule; it took until after the War until ordinary women were able to aspire to the privileges of the few. (p. 26)

CHAPTER 3: LADIES AND “SCRIBBLING WOMEN”

After the Revolutionary War, technology expanded and more women could be “ladies,” reading popular magazines and subscribing to the idea that “a woman’s place is in the home,” losing freedoms and accomplishments that they’d had before.  Industrialization and other changes crystallized women’s sense of being discriminated against, laying the groundwork for the battle for women’s rights and suffrage.  

The ladies’ education, p. 32, encouraged women to write for the magazines, and the first novel published in the U. S. by a woman was in 1781 (pp. 33-38), and there were many women writers, who tried to widen women’s interests and improve their tastes.

CHAPTER 4: WOMEN LEAVE THE HOME TO WORK

Educating of women; Mary Willard, first provider of high school for girls, pp. 40-42.

Frances Wright, p. 42

Teacher training, Susan B. Anthony, p. 44.

Mary Lyon; colleges, pp. 44-45.

Women in the professions, medicine, law & business, arts & science.

Margaret Fuller, p. 48-49.

Women in industry, pp. 49-53.

CHAPTER 5: THE WEST AND THE SOUTH

The Western frontier was much like the original colonies, especially because there were so few women to men.  It was like life 100 years earlier.  

The South developed straight from the East.  In the plantation culture, domesticity was firmly enshrined.  The mistress had supervisory work and entertainment to do.  “Her case differs from that of the slave, as to the principle, just so far as this; that the indulgence is large and universal, instead of petty and capricious,” wrote British writer Harriet Martineau, p. 59.

Slavery was a labor system, but “terror and fear were essential ingredients for the success of such a system.” pp.59-62

The free black woman had few marketable skills except sewing and nursing; washing or service occupations were her choices.

Education for black kids was a problem—Catherine Ferguson, Sarah Douglas, pp. 63-64.

*Families and mother’s power, pp. 64-65.  Harriet Tubman, pp. 66-67.  Sojourner Truth, *p. 67  “The black woman is the forgotten heroine of our history.” p. 70.

CHAPTER 6: WOMEN ORGANIZE FOR REFORM AND WELFARE

Quilt-making bees were sometimes accompanied with book discussions, and raised money for organizations like churches and for “fallen women.”  However, men usually still controlled them. Yet Quaker women pioneered in organizing orphan asylums, free schools for the poor or black kids, and prison aid societies.  Other denominations did not lag far behind.  Dorothea Dix, pp. 72-75.  Antislavery groups, Lucretia Mott, pp. 75-77. The Grimke sisters, pp.77-79.

CHAPTER 7: WOMEN ASK FOR THEIR RIGHTS

Lots of causes were championed during the Jacksonian era.  People married creatively, one woman even keeping her own name pp.80-81. Women planned for asking for more freedoms.  Elizabeth Cady Stanton, pp. 82-83.  Seneca Falls Convention, 1848, p. 83. Great male thinkers spoke out on women’s behalf, pp. 84-85.  Frances Wright, Frances Kemble, p. 86.Susan B. Anthony & Elizabeth Cady Stanton, pp. 88-90.

Women got involved as nurses in the Civil War, helping to establish nursing as a woman’s vocation.  They also established office work, government service, and retail trade as women’s work. Northern women went south as teachers for freedmen, and Southern women taught in new public schools.  Associated with this vocation were women going to schools, colleges, higher education, and coed schools.  Urbanization and technology freed women from home tasks, so they could spend more time outside the home doing things like securing parks and libraries.   Middle class women organized to fight temperance, child labor, and provide welfare; they exerted pressure on governments, both local and federal.  

CHAPTER 8: WOMEN IN THE CIVIL WAR

Women got involved with supplying the armies, caring for the wounded.  Dorothea Dix, p. 96.  Mary Bickerdyke (“Mother”), p. 97.  Clara Barton, p. 98, started the Red Cross.

The armies had followers, soldiers’ wives, washerwomen, cooks and nurses, as well as female spies, p. 99..  Also, some women dressed as men and fought alongside the men—about 400 of them did so.  Harriet Tubman, p. 101.  On the home front, women stepped into the places left by fighting men.  Finally, the war brought new experiences for women, who would never be quite the same again when it was over.

CHAPTER 9: THE EDUCATED WOMAN IN A PERIOD OF TRANSITION

The Freedmen’s Bureau gave relief to many freed slaves during and after the war; it was created in 1865.  Many women became teachers.  Josephine Griffing, pp. 107-108.  “The Negro’s, not the woman’s hour.”—women had to work really hard for emancipation.

There were women’s colleges founded; women worked at them, and when to nursing and medicine colleges.  Emergence of women in various fields: In 1850, the first woman was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, p. 112.  Women in the ministry, p. 112. Women in law, p. 112-114.  Emily Dickinson, pp. 115-117. Other writers, p.117.

CHAPTER 10: WOMEN ORGANIZE FOR COMMUNITY BETTERMENT

General Foundation of Women’s Clubs was founded in 1890; women used them for social, self-improvement, and keeping in touch in farm country. Ida Wells Barnett, pp. 119-120.  Clubs were very important for African American women.  Maria McLeod Bethune, pp. 120-122.  Mary Church Terrell, pp. 122-123.  It was clear that women had to get involved politically to secure their rights.  The temperance movement became a training ground for women.  In their dependency on men, they were sore afraid of their husbands becoming alcoholics.  Frances Willard, pp. 123-124, encouraged women to be concerned about their suffrage.  The settlement house movement tried to minister to the poor.  Jane Addams, living in her Hull-House on Halsted in a poor neighborhood of Chicago, was a great leader in this effort.  They were concerned with every aspect of the suffering because of poverty.  Florence Kelley, pp. 128-129.  Child care was a big concern during this time as well.  Sophie Loeb, p. 130; the improvements in society that women worked for helped all citizens.

CHAPTER 11: WOMEN IN THE ERA OF REFORM

In 1870, women were 15% of the workforce in the U. S; in 1900, 20%. Agnes Nestor, p. 132.  Women in labor unions, p.133-137.  “Mother Jones,” pp. 133-134.  National Women’s Trade Union League, pp. 134-136.  Woman’s suffrage was seen as a means at this time, not an end.  Some Western states adopted women’s suffrage, but there was opposition, even from women, in 20 states.

CHAPTER 12: THREE PIONEERS OF WOMEN’S EMANCIPATION

With suffrage, women did not get that much improvement.  The Depression caused them to exit the job market, so as to provide work for the men, but WWII saw women re-enter the job market.  The fifties were conservative years, but birth control, transportation, and urbanization freed women up.  Higher levels of education and more divorce liberty also changed society.  “Yet social values, mores, and institutions lag far behind the material and economic progress made.”  Gerda Lerner wrote this in 1971. 

Each of the three women covered in this chapter transcended the strict limits of Victorian propriety in their personal lives.  Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 147-149.  Charlotte Perkins Gilman, pp.149-153.  Margaret Sanger, pp. 153-158.

CHAPTER 13: THE WINNING OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE

In 1890, the National American Woman Suffrage Association was formed, and united the two branches of the suffrage movement.  There was new leadership as the older leaders died.  Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, pp. 160-161.  Carrie Chapman Catt, pp. 162-163.  Alice Paul, pp. 165-167. Ratification in 1920.

CHAPTER 14: THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY WOMAN

The vote for women actually did not succeed in winning them political power; they tended to vote along party lines like men.  Women in government: In 1967, women occupied only 2% of the seats of Congress; in other years there had been as many as 20 women in Congress…pp. 172-173. “…the measure of the advance made by women in our society is not so much their progress as wives as their progress as persons.”p. 174.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, pp. 174-175.  Dress changes, sports, including dance, literature, culture, mass media, pp. 178-181.  NOW, pp. 184-5.

EPILOGUE

Women live a lot longer these days than they did when the nation was new.  At the time Gerda Lerner wrote the book, there were still a lot of housewives, who were charged with consumption decisions.  In this nation, childcare is still not provided for by government, unlike other countries.  Women are not in some top occupations, and Americans’ health is not as good as that of other nations.  “The rich contribution made by women to American development and growth, to the opportunities and freedoms we prize as the ‘American way of life,’ is worth treasuring and defending.  The challenges of the future are great enough to absorb the talents, creativity, and energies of all Americans—women and men.” p. 190.

Lady Don’t Lack

This rap, by J., follows Sir-Mix-A-Lot’s 1992 “Baby Got Back.”

We got big butts

And we will not lie

You other peoples

Might ask why

It’s how we’re made we just size up

We gonna fill your cup!

We so lovely you tearin’

You look and you can’t stop leerin’

That girl in the mirror smilin’

That fat on her backside pilin’!

In the butt we’re radical

We be international!

We like our rear 

And we think we’re fine

Whoever made us 

Was sure tryin’!

Drivin’ to be livin’

Women got much fat

Drivin’ to be livin’

And we sure don’t lack!

We stick out in wide ways

I say we gonna get some lays

Cellulite is here to find?

Jiggling, sister, we don’t mind–

We beautiful!

We got big butts 

And we think we bad

They givin’ by our mom and dad

Nobody who be less than cool

Will learn it all at this good school!

We love our butts 

And it’s so okay

Bitching about it’s yesterday

My body it ain’t yours for free

Unless you gonna respect me!

Lady don’t lack

Lady don’t lack

Decent folks find our form pleasin’

Nature made us for a reason!

Drivin’ to the livin’ 

And we got much fat

Drivin’ to the livin’

And we fine with that

What is that in your head?  It’s corny!

That thought you got makes you so scorny!

Critic baby you may be

Well free your mind, y’all, say me

Dial 1-800-FIX-A-LOT

And ditch those sexist thoughts!

Lady don’t lack!