Just a thought by Judith Martin-Straw
Just a Thought – Dear Senator Feinstein
Dear Senator Feinstein, I am replying to your request to describe "Why I Marched." I know it's important to you to understand why your constituents felt the need to organize a mass demonstration, as a part of many mass demonstrations around the world, in response to the installation of the new federal administration. I want to be very clear. I marched because watching the least qualified [...]
Just a Thought – First We March, Then We Run
I went to Washington D.C. and we marched. It was amazing. There have been very few times in my life I have felt myself a part of something this big, this world changing. When we organized to get the County of Los Angeles to divest their holdings in South Africa during apartheid, it was powerful, but it was not one event. This was all over the world, in one day. We can lay to rest forever [...]
Just a Thought – Taking it Down
It's not often I find myself a slave to tradition, but holidays seem to hold me. I have to leave the tree up until January 6th; it's the Epiphany, or the Feast of the Three Kings, or the 12th Day of Christmas, depending on what you name it in your tradition. Calling it the sixth of January works just fine for plenty of people. My mother often joked she'd be just as happy to leave it up until [...]
Merry Christmas, Culver City (An Affectionate Holiday Ditty)
It's dark, it's chill, we're wrapped up tight the shortest days shed little light But holidays can make us merry and celebrations make us tarry to spend a bit more time with cheer as we look back and feel the year behind us, melting into past We look around to what can last; So Happy Christmas, Culver City, Ninety-nine and looking pretty CCPD brings Santa to [...]
Just a Thought – I Do Love Lucy, After All
Somewhere in this world, right now, someone is watching an episode of I Love Lucy. There are only a few cultural phenomenon that have been this far reaching and this long lasting. Every hour of the day, somewhere in the world, someone is taking part in a Catholic Mass, someone is performing some version of Hamlet - and someone - someone with electricity and a tv set - is watching I Love [...]
Just a Thought – It Can Happen Here
In fact, it already has. In the weeks since the election, hate crimes are up. You might think that you live in a blue bubble of tolerance and community. You might want to think about that again. A swastika was found drawn on Braddock Drive. There have been reports of people screaming from cars "Go back to Mexico" in Carlson Park. My neighbors are wondering if they will put up their Hannukah [...]
Just a Thought – Loss of Privilege Feels Like Oppression (Part 2)
It is never about what happens. It is always about what you do in response to what happens. While I feel that, intellectually, I should have known better, I'm really still in shock. A democracy has voted the alt-Reich into power. It seems there are far more people than I thought there even could be who are totally comfortable with rape, mocking the disabled, racism, anti-Semitism and [...]
Just a Thought – Real Pain
I have been, since last Tuesday night, in a great deal of pain. Like a lot of people in Culver City, the loss of the election, the complete conservative lock on every branch of government, has been heart wrenching. But as I reminded my daughters on Wednesday morning, we live in the state of California, one of the three states in the union where women's rights are constitutionally guaranteed, [...]
Just a Thought – Not Just on Paper
I recognized just yesterday what I was feeling - the slightly dizzy, somewhat queasy sense of being overwhelmed. The desire to discuss was blocked by the anxiety of knowing I was not ready for a confrontation. If someone disagreed, if someone wanted to argue, I was not up for it. I'd cringe, I'd crumble, I'd cry. I did none of those things. I worked, I taught, I cooked. I ran, I did a lot of [...]
Just a Thought – Summer is Over
It’s time for us to understand that summer is over. While we hurry towards Election Day, we need to understand that we are not simply turning another election cycle or another year. This is the end of an era, and we will all be better off when it’s over. Alice Walker’s short story, “The Flowers” gives us summer through the eyes of a young girl, happily playing in nature, gathering [...]
