Listen Up!

I have said this before and I am going to say it again. I am going to vote for Barack Obama for president, here in the contested state of Virginia. I am going to stand outside metro stations and farmers' markets and hand out literature for him. I am going to donate money to him. Any woman who does anything different is, well, wrong.

That said, this article in Salon goes a long way towards capturing how many women feel. I especially endorse the comments concerning Dr. Dean, whom I am unlikely to ever forgive.

They are mad at Howard Dean.

Not simply for allowing the massive befouling of the Democratic process that was Michigan and Florida but for addressing issues of sexism only once Clinton was out of the race. Seriously, the anger at Dean may be some of the most unexpected and intense. At the recent EMILY's List conference, during a panel on gender and the election, Dean's name was the only one that got booed.

Keep it up, asshole. I have a long memory and a big checkbook. I choose where and when to write checks. Fifty states, my sweet, round ass.

And, um, yeah, including the stereotype of my religion:

They are mad at their party and its leaders because they feel this race has opened up a door, allowing people to rag on white women -- as irrelevant and buffoonish, as ambitious and preening, as old school and boring and nagging and hectoring -- in a way that demonstrates that women have a questionable place in liberalism and progressivism. Since when is the party supposedly interested in social justice not interested in the advancement of women to the highest office?


It was, in fact, remarkable, the success with which hoary stereotypes about second-wave feminism got so enthusiastically embraced 30 years past their sell-by date. Who knew how eager the American public -- and more critically, the American left -- was to wholeheartedly embrace the image of Hillary supporters as sexless, humorless, bitter, hysterical old crones. It was simply acceptable -- in a way that was a brisk eye-opener for a lot of young women, even those who didn't support Clinton -- to talk derisively about Clinton and her supporters as whiny, cackling, emasculating witches.

Of course, the ease with which these kinds of stereotypes were bandied about suggests that it is women -- about to take your jobs and your college acceptance letters and your seat in the Oval Office and probably your penis! -- who are the most threatening to the established white male power structure. But it seems that that was rather cold comfort when Clinton women were being steadily assailed with images of themselves as unappealing, pruney old harpies who did all their political thinking with their ovaries.

Obama and the thirty-something male bloggers can keep on choosing to not "get" this (we know you get it). We realize exactly how eager you are to "move beyond" this issue. You're making that disturbingly obvious. We also realize why you're in such an all-fired hurry to "move on" to the "more important" issues. We get it. It does not reflect well on you.

The ERA would be a good place to start. I am just a 50-something old woman with the checkbook and address book to prove it. Just saying.

Hat tip to my brilliant friend, E.

Art found here.

Tarot

I've got too many tarot decks and I've gotten v picky about which I buy. But I'll buy this one as soon as it's finished. And, would someone please reprint the Greenwood Tarot????????

Hat tip: Lunaea.

Mark Warner Is Going To Beat Jim Gilmore Like A Dirty Rug On A Clothesline

Listening To The Earth

As I go into the Earth, she pierces my heart. As I penetrate further, she unveils me. When I have reached her center I am weeping openly. I have known her all my life, yet she reveals stories to me, and these stories are revelations and I am transformed. Each time I go to her I am born like this. Her renewal washes over me endlessly, her wounds caress me, I become aware of all that has come between us, of the noise between us, the blindness, of something sleeping between us. Now my body reaches out to her. They speak effortlessly and I learn at no instant does she fail me in her presence. She is as delicate as I am, I know her sentience I feel her pain and my own pain comes into me and my own pain grows large and I grasp this pain with my hands, and I open my mouth to this pain, I taste, I know, and I know why she goes on, under great weight, with this great thirst, in drought, in starvation, with intelligence in every act does she survive disaster. This earth is my sister, I love her daily grace, her silent daring and how loved I am how we admire this strength in each other all that we have lost, all that we have suffered, all that we know: we are stunned by this beauty, and I do not forget what she is to me, what I am to her.

~Susan Griffin, in Earth Prayers From Around th World, 365 Prayers, Poems, and Invocations for Honoring the Earth, ed. Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon, Harper, San Francisco, 1991

As I'm landscaping my yard and planting new plants, replacing old ones, putting up structures, I've been spending more and more time listening to this tiny piece of land. I started doing that because I wanted to let the land tell me about herself, to make sure that what I did was in accord with her desires. What I didn't expect was how much she's been waiting to tell me about myself.

Picture found here.

Remember. And, If You Cannot Remember, Watch.

Friday Cat Blogging

Miss Thing is not paying attention to you.

Solstice Sunrise, Stonehenge 2008

The BBC has pictures from this year's Summer Solstice at Stonehenge. A bit cloudy, but still lovely. Also, today's Google logo has a big, bright sun.

Even more, here.

Another Poem For The Longest Day

It doesn't interest me if there is one God
Or many gods.
I want to know if you belong – or feel abandoned;
If you know despair
Or can see it in others.
I want to know
If you are prepared to live in the world
With its harsh need to change you;
If you can look back with firm eyes
Saying “this is where I stand.”
I want to know if you know how to melt
Into that fierce heat of living
Falling toward the center of your longing.
I want to know if you are willing
To live day by day
With the consequence of love
And the bitter unwanted passion
Of your sure defeat.
I have been told
In that fierce embrace
Even the gods
Speak of God.

~ David Whyte ~
(Fire in the Earth)


Art found here.

Little Summer Poem Touching The Subject Of Faith

I read, well, this is an understatement, a lot of poems. I've never found a better poem for the Summer Solstice than this one. When you read it, it helps to know that Oliver's talking about corn, although corn is not the subject of the poem.

Every summer
I listen and look
under the sun's brass and even
into the moonlight, but I can't hear

anything, I can't see anything --
not the pale roots digging down, nor the green stalks muscling up,
nor the leaves
deepening their damp pleats,

nor the tassels making,
nor the shucks, nor the cobs.
And still,
every day,

the leafy fields
grow taller and thicker --
green gowns lofting up in the night,
showered with silk.

And so, every summer,
I fail as a witness, seeing nothing --
I am deaf too
to the tick of the leaves,

the tapping of downwardness from the banyan feet --
all of it
happening
beyond any seeable proof, or hearable hum.

And, therefore, let the immeasurable come.
Let the unknowable touch the buckle of my spine.
Let the wind turn in the trees,
and the mystery hidden in the dirt

swing through the air.
How could I look at anything in this world
and tremble, and grip my hands over my heart?
What should I fear?

One morning
in the leafy green ocean
the honeycomb of the corn's beautiful body
is sure to be there.

From West Wind: Poems and Prose Poems, by Mary Oliver. Published by Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. Copyright 1997 by Mary Oliver.

Picture found here.

When The Moon Hits Your Eye Like A Big Pizza Pie, That's An Illusion

There's a full moon tonight and it's going to be giant! Go see it!

The full Moon of June 18th is a "solstice moon", coming only two days before the beginning of northern summer. This is significant because the sun and full Moon are like kids on a see-saw; when one is high, the other is low. This week's high solstice sun gives us a low, horizon-hugging Moon and a strong Moon Illusion.

Sky watchers have known for thousands of years that low-hanging moons look unnaturally big. At first, astronomers thought the atmosphere must be magnifying the Moon near the horizon, but cameras showed that is not the case. Moons on film are the same size regardless of elevation. Apparently, only human beings see giant moons.

Are we crazy?

After all these years, scientists still aren't sure. When you look at the Moon, rays of moonlight converge and form an image about 0.15 mm wide on the retina in the back of your eye. High moons and low moons make the same sized spot, yet the brain insists one is bigger than the other. Go figure.

More here

Hat tip to R.

Image found here.

Blessed Summer Solstice to You II

I said this last year and I'll say it again:

This week, I believe that I can state unequivocably, is my favorite week on the wheel of the year. This is the last week during which the days grown longer. Next week, we come to the Summer Solstice and, immediately thereafter, the days begin to grow shorter and shorter again, leading inexorably to the freezing dawn when I will stand with the wonderful women of my circle, bang pots, shake tamborines, yell, and generally make as much noise as possible to wake the Yule-time Sun. We drink schnappes or whiskey or some other throat-burning booze from glasses made of ice and then we throw the glasses on the frozen ground to shatter into a million diamond shards before heading off to a greasy-spoon on Capitol Hill or a pancake house in Arlington for a v. hearty breakfast.

But, for now, the sunlight pays the world the great compliment of lingering until almost nine o'clock in the evening, the flowers bloom, the grass grows, and the lightening bugs remind me, if I ever forget, that I live in an enchanted forest, full of mysteriously-blinking lights, leading me into shadowy and deep mysteries. The herb bed swells with herbs, the farmers' market bulges with riches from blueberries to tomatoes to cucumbers, the birds flit and float about, and, and, and, there's lots and lots of daylight!!!!

. . .

I know that I should be equally happy to see the beginning of Fall and Winter, and, yet, I cannot help but to rage, rage (a bit) against the dying of the light.

Happy Summer. Happy sunlight. Happy long days of summer. Enjoy. It's everthing. It's all real. It's all metaphor. There's always more.

Art (and more by this amazing artist) found here.

What Is Your Basis?

What lovely poetry.



Art found here.

No North Pole?

Freeway Blogger Rocks. That is all.


Art by J.R.R.T. But then, you knew that.

You Can't Have Him

More. Like. This.

Blessed Summer Solstice to You

From Wikipedia: Bloomsday (Irish: Lá Bhloom) is a commemoration observed annually on 16 June in Dublin and elsewhere to celebrate the life of Irish writer James Joyce and relive the events in his novel Ulysses, all of which took place on the same day in Dublin in 1904. The name derives from Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses, and 16 June was the date of Joyce's first outing with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle, when they walked to the Dublin village of Ringsend.




I love flowers I’d love to have the whole place swimming in roses God of heaven there’s nothing like nature the wild mountains then the sea and the waves rushing then the beautiful country with fields of oats and wheat and all kinds of things and all the fine cattle going about that would do your heart good to see rivers and lakes and flowers all sorts of shapes and smells and colours springing up even out of the ditches primroses and violets nature it is as for them saying there’s no God I wouldn’t give a snap of my two fingers for all their learning why don’t they go and create something I often asked him atheists or whatever they call themselves go and wash the cobbles off themselves first then they go howling for the priest and they dying and why why because they’re afraid of hell on account of their bad conscience ah yes I know them well who was the first person in the universe before there was anybody that made it all who ah that they don’t know neither do I so there you are they might as well try to stop the sun from rising tomorrow the sun shines for you he said the day we were lying among the rhododendrons on Howth head in the grey tweed suit and his straw hat the day I got him to propose to me yes first I gave him the bit of seedcake out of my mouth and it was leapyear like now yes 16 years ago my God after that long kiss I near lost my breath yes he said was a flower of the mountain yes so we are flowers all a woman’s body yes that was one true thing he said in his life and the sun shines for you today yes that was why I liked him because I saw he understood or felt what a woman is and I knew I could always get round him and I gave him all the pleasure I could leading him on till he asked me to say yes and I wouldn’t answer first only looked out over the sea and the sky I was thinking of so many things he didn’t know of Mulvey and Mr Stanhope and Hester and father and old captain Groves and the sailors playing all birds fly and I say stoop and washing up dishes they called it on the pier and the sentry in front of the governors house with the thing round his white helmet poor devil half roasted and the Spanish girls laughing in their shawls and their tall combs and the auctions in the morning the Greeks and the Jews and the Arabs and the devil knows who else from all the ends of Europe and Duke street and the fowl market all clucking outside Larby Sharans and the poor donkeys slipping half asleep and the vague fellows in the cloaks asleep in the shade on the steps and the big wheels of the carts of the bulls and the old castle thousands of years old yes and those handsome Moors all in white and turbans like kings asking you to sit down in their little bit of a shop and Ronda with the old windows of the posadas glancing eyes a lattice hid for her lover to kiss the iron and the wineshops half open at night and the castanets and the night we missed the boat at Algeciras the watchman going about serene with his lamp and O that awful deepdown torrent O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire and the glorious sunsets and the figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little streets and pink and blue and yellow houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and geraniums and cactuses and Gibraltar as a girl where I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.

What Would A Patriot Do?

The Virginia Coordinated Campaign is the campaign arm of the Democratic Party of Virginia, working to elect Barack Obama, Mark Warner and our slate of congressional candidates. Its McLean office, located at 1575 Anderson Rd, opens today, June 16, and is ready for volunteers. Bring your friends and family and come help take back the White House. For questions, call Bridgit Donnelly at (703) 261-7300.

My New Name For A Blog

What Chidyke Said.

Spade up some grass. Fill a couple of pots. Head over to a community plot, or just create one on some unused land in your ’hood. It’s not too late

Lady, I love you.

Picture: Tarragon from my new herb bed.

Spaces for Foxes

The lovely men doing my landscaping recently put up most of a cedar privacy (I'm a witch, after all) fence around the Eastern, Southern, and Western sides of my backyard.

They left special spaces underneath the Southern fence to allow the fox to visit me in winter, as is her wont.

Wiccan Landscaping.

The Longest Week

So, here it is. Summer. Only a few days away and, as always, amazing.

Young feminists moving in and out of my guest room, lavender and sage and tarragon taking root in the sun-warmed soil of my herb bed. Mints growing in the backyard. A tiny young boy who teases me with the mad teasing skillz that are the surest sign EVER that he's his father's son. Cats thriving in my dining room. Briefs blooming in my office, Magic happening everywhere.

Blue weed flowers beside every road. Sun setting later everyday.

Poems exploding in my inbox.

May it be so for you.

Pagan Ethics

Nine Touchstones of the Ethics of Goddess Religion

Nurture life.

Walk in love and beauty.

Trust the knowledge that comes through the body.

Speak the truth about conflict, pain, and suffering.

Take only what you need.

Think about the consequences of your actions for seven generations.

Approach the taking of life with great restraint.

Practice great generosity.

Repair the web.

More here.

In the ongoing discussion of Pagan ethics, Carol Christ's nine touchstones are a pretty good place to start. I'd forgotten that one of the phrases in a prayer that I pray every morning came from Christ's book.

The breath of my body will bless.
The cells of my being now sing,
With gratitude and reawakening.
Mother, make me a perfect priestess to your service.
And allow me, in all that I do today,
To help to repair the web.


Art found here.

My New Name For A Blog

What Ellroon Said.

Art found here.

Things That Make Me Happy

Sushi at Kaz.

Jeff Skilling is still in jail.

Good jazz that s/one posted at Eschaton.



Mary Oliver.

Days almost as long as they can possibly be.

One Day Early Friday Cat Blogging

Do not start with me. You will not win.

Obama!

Hat tip to Erin PDX.

My New Name For A Blog

What Suzie Said.

There is something to it being class based, as I’ve discussed before and will continue to evaluate – a smug sense that somehow prejudice against [the] lower class . . . is justified, and thus you shouldn’t defend those kinds of people. It’s also not a mistake that the bulk of the people gulping this sewage are white and male. It would appear that the upper class white males of the Democratic Party have more in common with the upper class white male Republicans than they care to admit. It is not a mistake, I think, that the people on the left who responded best to the anti-Clinton spew of this round are socio-economically similar to those on the Right who share their taste in Drudge and sludge.

Water Wars

The stream is shrunk--the pool is dry,
And we be comrades, thou and I;
With fevered jowl and dusty flank
Each jostling each along the bank;
And by one drouthy fear made still,
Forgoing thought of quest or kill.
Now ’neath his dam the fawn may see,
The lean Pack-wolf as cowed as he,
And the tall buck, unflinching, note
The fangs that tore his father’s throat.

The pools are shrunk--the streams are dry,
And we be playmates, thou and I,
Till yonder cloud--Good Hunting!--loose
The rain that breaks our Water Truce.

~Kipling

Getting a little dry out there in Califia's land?

Art found here.

Guess Which Accomplishment Jefferson Listed Second On His Tombstone?

Yeah, But, Even Here, Can You Spot The (Not So) Hidden Sexism

Toxic Mimics

Talking About It Is Better Than Pretending It Doesn't Exist

One thing that I discussed yesterday with the nice young man from Mother Jones was whether any good can come from the intense sexism directed at Hillary Clinton by the press and some supposedly liberal bloggers. I mentioned that Anita Hill went through hell and lost her bid to keep Clarence Thomas off SCOTUS, but it did open up the eyes of a lot of women and it did lead to changes that have made it less acceptable than it used to be to sexually harass women in the work place. (Yeah, it still happens, but, believe me, it's not as bad as it used to be.) My hope is that we'll see a resurgence of feminist thought, of discussion about the issue of sexism, and a move towards getting more women into politics.

On que, the XX chromosome side of left blogistan responds today w some v. good writing.

This week, Laura Flanders said we shouldn't have to elect women to get gender justice (among other things).
I agree. But doesn't gender justice include having women in government? I think putting more women into positions of power will improve society, if only because it opens up opportunities for women. It’s odd that this concept seems to have become controversial among feminists.
I would much rather have Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state than a white man who shared the same views. Her promotion may inspire girls, especially black girls. Having the career she does may make it easier for white men in power to imagine another black woman in that job.
I understand that it isn’t enough to add only a few token women. But it’s a start. We don’t get parity overnight. It starts with a few women, followed by a few more women, followed by a few more. I think women are more likely to change systems if we can get a foothold in them.
I'm writing this before I go on vacation, and so, I don't know the latest in the presidential race. But I have been mystified by progressive women who say gender doesn’t or shouldn’t matter when choosing a candidate. I guess this means that they have no problem with men holding the presidency forever as long as the men have good policies. The same goes for race.
I’m not saying gender or race should be the only things that matter. If you think Obama would significantly improve the lives of women, or the lives of some women, or your life, and Clinton wouldn’t have done so, I understand your vote. If you think it’s important to have an African American in the White House and you like Obama’s policies, I understand your vote. (Mix these thoughts up however you want.) But if you’re a feminist and you say that the gender or race of a candidate doesn’t matter, then I’m floored.

Go read the rest of what Suzie has to say at Echidne of the Snakes

Meanwhile, Digby is, as usual, spot on:

I don't believe Obama's win is [due to the sexist treatment that Clinton received].. He won it fair and square, carrying a heavy historical burden of his own. But that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Acknowledging that doesn't create a "toxic legacy" and neither is it just the sad lament of "lonely people" (translation: lonely old women.) But I'm sure those memes will catch on and we'll all be told that we imagined it all. (Youtube is our new best friend.)

Clinton's campaign ripped open a hole in our culture and forced us to look inside. And what we found was a simmering cauldron of crude, sophomoric sexism and ugly misogyny that a lot of us knew existed but didn't realize was still so socially acceptable that it could be broadcast on national television and garner nary a complaint from anybody but a few internet scolds like me. It was eye-opening, to say the least.

Jill responds to the amazing bullshit that the best woman for the job is a man:

I voted for Barack Obama. I like him a lot. He is very good on women’s issues. But that doesn’t make him the best “woman” for the job, any more than Bill Clinton was “the first Black president.” It erases the realities of being female to argue that a man can be a good enough “woman president;” it erases the fact that “good on women’s issues” is not the same as “woman;” it erases the importance of having women in positions of power. And it discounts just how huge of a milestone it will be when a woman is elected to the Presidency. We can applaud Obama on his progressive stances and keep him accountable on his less progressive ones without attributing to him a characteristic that he simply does not have. We can celebrate the practical and symbolic importance of his run for President without having to make him everything to everyone. And if we want to be as “post-gender” as Walker suggests, then perhaps we should really shift the paradigm and expect that issues of gender, racial and social justice be fundamental in any political system, and not the providence of “special interest groups” like women.

And, over at MyDD Natasha notes that:

Someone was telling me in earnest the other day that Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) should be the VP pick because, and I am not making this up, she's younger and prettier than the other women being discussed, and endorsed Clinton -- so shouldn't that make her a great person to appease the Clinton supporters?

Other points were offered in her defense, but if someone argued in favor of adding a Black candidate to the ticket on the basis of 'well, their skin's a lot lighter than the other people of color that we considered,' that would pretty much be the end of seriously paying attention to what they had to say. And rightly. Not to say the two things are directly equivalent, either. Just that where racist arguments are generally recognized right away, sexist arguments can be slipped by in even progressive circles, among people who insist that they're feminists, without usually causing much embarassment.

And yes, that'd be the Blanche Lincoln, who voted with Republicans on FISA and the estate tax, and was delisted from EMILY's List for casting anti-choice votes in the Senate.

When I argued the other day that people with bad records on gender issues should be automatically ruled out, it was exactly that sort of tokenism I was suggesting should be avoided. I didn't argue that Clinton should be picked, or even that another woman should necessarily be picked, but that someone should be selected that showed respect and consideration towards the issues that are important to her supporters. Issues that include, but are definitely not limited to, reproductive justice.

That's a whole lot of serious discussion about feminism. Let's hope that it's only the beginning.

Art found here.

Garden Magic

I'm a really bad gardener, because I forget what this is. But I like it. I hope it makes seeds so I can grow it again next year.

Just planted morning glory, woad, dill, and French thyme seeds in the new herb bed. The moon, fortunately, is waxing, although I'm not always particularly choosey about that; when seedlings arrive, they go in the ground; I'm not going to wait two weeks for the moon to be in the right phase.

What I do is to meditate with the seeds, breathe with them, let them know how much I want them to grow. I send strength and "wic" to them.



And I do some Reiki on them. Once they're planted, I tend to do some Reiki on the water that I use to water them. The woad seeds are a few years old, so I gave them a bit more attention. Then, I drew a Tarot card to see if there was anything that the seeds wanted me to know. I pulled the Knight of Swords: all those tiny seeds, shouting in unison, "Let's Go!" So I went directly out and planted them, still inside the circle that I'd cast, watered them, and then came inside to open the circle.

Do you do any magic for your plants?

Mother Jones

Yeah, I said it.

A Virginia lawyer who only gave me her blog handle, Hecate, said that Clinton's fight was ultimately thwarted by the forces she was trying to overcome. "Any woman who gets close to a position of power gets treated badly," she said. "The calls to drop out wouldn't have happened if she were a man. The attitude was that she needs to let the deserving man have his job." She added, "This election has ripped the cover off things we like to hide. Lots of young women and female bloggers have had their eyes opened to how sexist our society is."

Update: NTodd says it better than I did.

This Is What A Patriot Looks Like

Today, I watched the first serious woman contender for the White House give her concession speech and throw her support behind the man who won. Hillary Clinton, looking good and sounding relaxed, gave a great speech endorsing Senator Obama for President and urging her supporters to work as hard for Senator Obama as they have for her.

(Scroll down for more pics.)

Well, this isn't exactly the party I'd planned, but I sure like the company.

(APPLAUSE) And I want to start today by saying how grateful I am to all of you, to everyone who poured your hearts and your hopes into this campaign, who drove for miles and lined the streets waving homemade signs, who scrimped and saved to raise money, who knocked on doors and made calls, who talked, sometimes argued with your friends and neighbors...

(APPLAUSE)

... who e-mailed and contributed online, who invested so much in our common enterprise, to the moms and dads who came to our events, who lifted their little girls and little boys on their shoulders and whispered in their ears, "See, you can be anything you want to be."

(APPLAUSE)

To the young people...

(APPLAUSE)

... like 13-year-old Anne Riddell (ph) from Mayfield, Ohio, who had been saving for two years to go to Disney World and decided to use her savings instead to travel to Pennsylvania with her mom and volunteer there, as well.

To the veterans, to the childhood friends, to New Yorkers and Arkansans...

(APPLAUSE)

... who traveled across the country, telling anyone who would listen why you supported me. And to all of those women in their 80s and their 90s...

(APPLAUSE)

... born before women could vote, who cast their votes for our campaign. I've told you before about Florence Stein (ph) of South Dakota who was 88 years old and insisted that her daughter bring an absentee ballot to her hospice bedside. Her daughter and a friend put an American flag behind her bed and helped her fill out the ballot.

She passed away soon after and, under state law, her ballot didn't count, but her daughter later told a reporter, "My dad's an ornery, old cowboy, and he didn't like it when he heard Mom's vote wouldn't be counted. I don't think he had voted in 20 years, but he voted in place of my mom."

(APPLAUSE)

So to all those who voted for me and to whom I pledged my utmost, my commitment to you and to the progress we seek is unyielding.

You have inspired and touched me with the stories of the joys and sorrows that make up the fabric of our lives. And you have humbled me with your commitment to our country. Eighteen million of you, from all walks of life...

(APPLAUSE)

... women and men, young and old, Latino and Asian, African- American and Caucasian...

(APPLAUSE)

... rich, poor, and middle-class, gay and straight, you have stood with me.

(APPLAUSE)

And I will continue to stand strong with you every time, every place, in every way that I can. The dreams we share are worth fighting for.

Remember, we fought for the single mom with the young daughter, juggling work and school, who told me, "I'm doing it all to better myself for her."

We fought for the woman who grabbed my hand and asked me, "What are you going to do to make sure I have health care?" and began to cry, because even though she works three jobs, she can't afford insurance.

We fought for the young man in the Marine Corps t-shirt who waited months for medical care and said, "Take care of my buddies over there, and then will you please take care of me?"

(APPLAUSE)

We fought for all those who've lost jobs and health care, who can't afford gas or groceries or college, who have felt invisible to their president these last seven years.

I entered this race because I have an old-fashioned conviction that public service is about helping people solve their problems and live their dreams. I've had every opportunity and blessing in my own life, and I want the same for all Americans.

And until that day comes, you'll always find me on the front lines of democracy, fighting for the future.

(APPLAUSE)

The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our strength, and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama, the next president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him.

(APPLAUSE)

And I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me.

(APPLAUSE)

I have served in the Senate with him for four years. I have been in this campaign with him for 16 months. I have stood on the stage and gone toe-to-toe with him in 22 debates. I've had a front-row seat to his candidacy, and I have seen his strength and determination, his grace and his grit.

In his own life, Barack Obama has lived the American dream, as a community organizer, in the State Senate, as a United States senator. He has dedicated himself to ensuring the dream is realized. And in this campaign, he has inspired so many to become involved in the democratic process and invested in our common future.

Now, when I started this race, I intended to win back the White House and make sure we have a president who puts our country back on the path to peace, prosperity and progress. And that's exactly what we're going to do, by ensuring that Barack Obama walks through the doors of the Oval Office on January 20, 2009.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, I understand -- I understand that we all know this has been a tough fight, but the Democratic Party is a family. And now it's time to restore the ties that bind us together and to come together around the ideals we share, the values we cherish, and the country we love.

We may have started on separate journeys, but today our paths have merged. And we're all heading toward the same destination, united and more ready than ever to win in November and to turn our country around, because so much is at stake.

We all want an economy that sustains the American dream, the opportunity to work hard and have that work rewarded, to save for college, a home and retirement, to afford that gas and those groceries, and still have a little left over at the end of the month, an economy that lifts all of our people and ensures that our prosperity is broadly distributed and shared.

We all want a health care system that is universal, high-quality and affordable...

(APPLAUSE)

... so that parents don't have to choose between care for themselves or their children or be stuck in dead-end jobs simply to keep their insurance.

This isn't just an issue for me. It is a passion and a cause, and it is a fight I will continue until every single American is insured, no exceptions and no excuses.

(APPLAUSE)

We all want an America defined by deep and meaningful equality, from civil rights to labor rights, from women's rights to gay rights...

(APPLAUSE)

... from ending discrimination to promoting unionization, to providing help for the most important job there is: caring for our families.

And we all want to restore America's standing in the world, to end the war in Iraq, and once again lead by the power of our values...

(APPLAUSE)

... and to join with our allies to confront our shared challenges, from poverty and genocide to terrorism and global warming.

You know, I've been involved in politics and public life in one way or another for four decades. And during those...

(APPLAUSE)

During those 40 years, our country has voted 10 times for president. Democrats won only three of those times, and the man who won two of those elections is with us today.

(APPLAUSE)

We made tremendous progress during the '90s under a Democratic president, with a flourishing economy and our leadership for peace and security respected around the world.

Just think how much more progress we could have made over the past 40 years if we'd had a Democratic president. Think about the lost opportunities of these past seven years on the environment and the economy, on health care and civil rights, on education, foreign policy and the Supreme Court.

Imagine how far...

(APPLAUSE)

... we could have come, how much we could have achieved if we had just had a Democrat in the White House.

(APPLAUSE)

We cannot let this moment slip away. We have come too far and accomplished too much.

Now, the journey ahead will not be easy. Some will say we can't do it, that it's too hard, we're just not up to the task. But for as long as America has existed, it has been the American way to reject can't-do claims and to choose instead to stretch the boundaries of the possible through hard work, determination, and a pioneering spirit.

t is this belief, this optimism that Senator Obama and I share and that has inspired so many millions of our supporters to make their voices heard. So today I am standing with Senator Obama to say: Yes, we can!

And that together we will work -- we'll have to work hard to achieve universal health care. But on the day we live in an America where no child, no man, and no woman is without health insurance, we will live in a stronger America. That's why we need to help elect Barack Obama our president.

(APPLAUSE)

We'll have to work hard to get back to fiscal responsibility and a strong middle class. But on the day we live in an America whose middle class is thriving and growing again, where all Americans, no matter where they live or where their ancestors came from, can earn a decent living, we will live in a stronger America. And that is why we must help elect Barack Obama our president.

(APPLAUSE)

We'll have to work hard to foster the innovation that will make us energy independent and lift the threat of global warming from our children's future. But on the day we live in an America fueled by renewable energy, we will live in a stronger America. And that is why we have to help elect Barack Obama our president.

(APPLAUSE)

We'll have to work hard to bring our troops home from Iraq and get them the support they've earned by their service. But on the day we live in an America that's as loyal to our troops as they have been to us, we will live in a stronger America. And that is why we must help elect Barack Obama our president.

(APPLAUSE)

This election is a turning-point election. And it is critical that we all understand what our choice really is. Will we go forward together, or will we stall and slip backwards?

Now, think how much progress we've already made. When we first started, people everywhere asked the same questions. Could a woman really serve as commander-in-chief? Well, I think we answered that one.

(APPLAUSE)

Could an African-American really be our president? And Senator Obama has answered that one. (APPLAUSE)

Together, Senator Obama and I achieved milestones essential to our progress as a nation, part of our perpetual duty to form a more perfect union.

Now, on a personal note, when I was asked what it means to be a woman running for president, I always gave the same answer, that I was proud to be running as a woman, but I was running because I thought I'd be the best president. But...

(APPLAUSE)

But I am a woman and, like millions of women, I know there are still barriers and biases out there, often unconscious, and I want to build an America that respects and embraces the potential of every last one of us.

(APPLAUSE)

I ran as a daughter who benefited from opportunities my mother never dreamed of. I ran as a mother who worries about my daughter's future and a mother who wants to leave all children brighter tomorrows.

To build that future I see, we must make sure that women and men alike understand the struggles of their grandmothers and their mothers, and that women enjoy equal opportunities, equal pay, and equal respect.

(APPLAUSE)

Let us...

(APPLAUSE)

Let us resolve and work toward achieving very simple propositions: There are no acceptable limits, and there are no acceptable prejudices in the 21st century in our country.

(APPLAUSE)

You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a woman to win primary state victories...

(APPLAUSE)

... unremarkable to have a woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that a woman can be the president of the United States. And that is truly remarkable, my friends.

(APPLAUSE)

To those who are disappointed that we couldn't go all of the way, especially the young people who put so much into this campaign, it would break my heart if, in falling short of my goal, I in any way discouraged any of you from pursuing yours.

Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. And, when you stumble, keep faith. And, when you're knocked down, get right back up and never listen to anyone who says you can't or shouldn't go on.

(APPLAUSE)

As we gather here today in this historic, magnificent building, the 50th woman to leave this Earth is orbiting overhead. If we can blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White House.

(APPLAUSE)

Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it...

(APPLAUSE)

... and the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time.

That has always been the history of progress in America. Think of the suffragists who gathered at Seneca Falls in 1848 and those who kept fighting until women could cast their votes.

Think of the abolitionists who struggled and died to see the end of slavery. Think of the civil rights heroes and foot soldiers who marched, protested, and risked their lives to bring about the end of segregation and Jim Crow.

(APPLAUSE)

Because of them, I grew up taking for granted that women could vote and, because of them, my daughter grew up taking for granted that children of all colors could go to school together.

Because of them, Barack Obama and I could wage a hard-fought campaign for the Democratic nomination. Because of them and because of you, children today will grow up taking for granted that an African-American or a woman can, yes, become the president of the United States. And so...

(APPLAUSE)

... when that day arrives, and a woman takes the oath of office as our president, we will all stand taller, proud of the values of our nation, proud that every little girl can dream big and that her dreams can come true in America.

And all of you will know that, because of your passion and hard work, you helped pave the way for that day. So I want to say to my supporters: When you hear people saying or think to yourself, "If only, or, "What if," I say, please, don't go there. Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward.

(APPLAUSE)

Life is too short, time is too precious, and the stakes are too high to dwell on what might have been. We have to work together for what still can be. And that is why I will work my heart out to make sure that Senator Obama is our next president.

(APPLAUSE)

And I hope and pray that all of you will join me in that effort.

(APPLAUSE)

To my supporters and colleagues in Congress, to the governors and mayors, elected officials who stood with me in good times and bad, thank you for your strength and leadership.

To my friends in our labor unions who stood strong every step of the way, I thank you and pledge my support to you.

To my friends from every stage of my life, your love and ongoing commitment sustained me every single day.

To my family, especially Bill and Chelsea and my mother, you mean the world to me, and I thank you for all you have done.

(APPLAUSE)

And to my extraordinary staff, volunteers and supporters...

(APPLAUSE)

... thank you for working those long, hard hours. Thank you for dropping everything, leaving work or school, traveling to places that you've never been, sometimes for months on end. And thanks to your families, as well, because your sacrifice was theirs, too. All of you were there for me every step of the way.

Now, being human, we are imperfect. That's why we need each other, to catch each other when we falter, to encourage each other when we lose heart. Some may lead, some may follow, but none of us can go it alone.

The changes we're working for are changes that we can only accomplish together. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are rights that belong to us as individuals. But our lives, our freedom, our happiness are best enjoyed, best protected, and best advanced when we do work together.

That is what we will do now, as we join forces with Senator Obama and his campaign. We will make history together, as we write the next chapter in America's story. We will stand united for the values we hold dear, for the vision of progress we share, and for the country we love.

There is nothing more American than that.

And looking out at you today, I have never felt so blessed. The challenges that I have faced in this campaign...

(APPLAUSE)

... are nothing compared to those that millions of Americans face every day in their own lives.

So today I'm going to count my blessings and keep on going. I'm going to keep doing what I was doing long before the cameras ever showed up and what I'll be doing long after they're gone: working to give every American the same opportunities I had and working to ensure that every child has the chance to grow up and achieve his or her God- given potential.

I will do it with a heart filled with gratitude, with a deep and abiding love for our country, and with nothing but optimism and confidence for the days ahead.

This is now our time to do all that we can to make sure that, in this election, we add another Democratic president to that very small list of the last 40 years and that we take back our country and once again move with progress and commitment to the future.

Thank you all. And God bless you, and God bless America.

(APPLAUSE)

Press from everywhere around the world, Holland, Japan, Russia, Fox (which Goddess knows is a foreign nation) were there, eager to talk to Hillary's supporters. I stood in line with a school teacher from Alexandria, married to a preacher, who told me about the great gingerbread workshops that the National Building Museum does every holiday season so I'd be able to bring G/Son, and with two gorgeous young women from Texas who just arrived in DC this week for interships.





The nice young man in front of them told us all about voteboth.com.

At the entrance, Hillary's staffers were getting people to take off any buttons that said anything about Hillary for president. Luckily, the one that I wore just showed her graduation picture from Wellesly, so they let me in with it.

Inside, I got a spot directly on the rope line next the entrance. I stood next to a woman with Parkinson's who regretted the lost 8 years of stem cell research that Bush has cost us. Her friend kept saying, "You'll be sick all month from standing this long," and she kept saying, "I know. But it's worth it." Turns out, both of our dads worked in the union movement, hers organizing textile mills in Alabama and mine writing speeches for the Teamsters. A wonderful young man who just finished his first year of law school at Howard was standing and chatting with us as we waited.

Noted notables: Barbara Mikulski, Billie Jean King, Ted Danson, Chuck Schumer, Sheila Jackson Lee.

When the curtains opened, I grabbed Hil's hand and sent all the energy that this old witch knows how to send, Hil's eyes opened wide and she was on to the next person. I shook hands with Bill and touched fingers with Chelsea. Wow, is that young woman gorgeous.

I thought that her speech was pitch perfect. It was inspiring and focused and very supportive of Senator Obama. The loudest cheers were for her mention of the Supreme Court: Think about the lost opportunities of these past seven years on the environment and the economy, on health care and civil rights, on education, foreign policy and the Supreme Court. She knows her audience.

Sat and chatted afterwards with a lovely African American woman my age who was there to register DC voters. And, you know, that's how it happens. We old broads keep showing up. In the heat. Through the disappointment. Whenever there's a chance. Of everybody there today, she may have been doing the most concrete good, after Hillary Clinton who went a long, long way towards uniting the Democratic Party.

Out into the bright sunlight and oppressive heat and humidity that remind you that they truly did build this lovely city on top of swamp. And there were the Obama folks doing a v brisk business selling Obama buttons and t-shirts. And, even that was pitch perfect, as they'd waited to set up until after Hillary's concession. Obama has a lovely page up on his website that lets you send a message of support for Hillary. All class.

So, my dream of seeing a woman in the White House, well, that's a dream deferred. But, you know, Lagston Hughes was wrong when he said:

Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

Sometimes, it just makes you more determined to see your dream become reality. But for now, it's time to do what we can to keep John McCain out of the White House, That's what I'm going to do and, like Hillary Clinton, I will do it with a heart filled with gratitude, with a deep and abiding love for our country, and with nothing but optimism and confidence for the days ahead.

Hillary Clinton, thank you. May the Goddess guard and bless you.

An American Girl

Back from Hillary's speech, wiped from the heat and from standing for hours. Have a zillion photos to upload and sort through. Will blog it by this evening.

Driving home, I saw the picture I wished I could have gotten: a souvenir store with those life size standing photos of candidates. Hil and Obama were posed standing right next to each other. McCain was all alone. Line of tourists waiting to have their photos taken w/ Hil and Obama. No one taking their pics w McCain.

Friday Cat Blogging

In all her glory

Just What's Needed

"We're going to try to reach out to all her supporters and tell them that we want to unify the party," Obama told reporters. He recounted his comments to the St. Paul group: "I understood that they were as inspired by her candidacy as some of my supporters are inspired by mine. They're not alone in drawing inspiration from her campaign. My own daughters now take the possibility of a woman being president for granted."

This is just about pitch perfect.

More here.

My New Name For A Blog

J'adore Feral Liberal.

Morels. Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom!

Hat tip: First Draft.

What She Said

Yeah, What Melissa Said. Although I expect it to do zero good right now. Too much macho celebrating going on. And, we're smack dab in the middle of a retrograde Mercury, which, doesn't, you know, help.

To which, I'll just add that the oppressors don't get to determine which behavior/language/actions are oppressive. I'm a white woman and that means that I don't get to tell African Americans, "Oh, hell, that's not racist! Grow the fuck up!" If they tell me that my behavior wounds them, there's a 99.95% chance that my behavior is racist, even if I didn't "mean" it as racist and even if I'm "sorry if they got offended."

The same is true of sexism. When you have a whole hell of a lot of female bloggers saying that this campaign has been full of wounding, sexist behavior and comments -- when even today, I was told that Clinton's supporters just need to go see Sex and the City, have a cosmo, buy shoes, and see Chippendales, but when I mentioned the sexist nature of the comments was told that all I had was a hammer so everything looked to me like a nail -- then, you need to listen and consider, in the bowels of the Goddess, that you may be wrong. Your behavior/comments are very likely sexist. And continuing to repeat them won't do anything to help us all unite -- as we need to -- behind the historic opportunity to elect America's first African American president.

I am just saying.

We Get A Lot Of Chances.

What Susie Said About What Melissa Said, but you know what? This is a good thing. It's been too easy for too long for those of us crones who've, bloody but unbowed, achieved some measure of success and financial comfort and respect, and for those of us maidens and mothers who've been able to pretend that the guys OUR age didn't really think like that, to dream that we weren't living inside the patriarchy. We always were. We always were. We always were.

And if this race has done nothing else, it's reminded us that we wake up every morning in a sexist society, that the liberal blogs where we hang out are sexist, that our male colleagues are sexist, that even a lot of our female friends are sexist. One of the dearest people in the whole world to me said recently that, at least with Clinton's defeat, the misogyny of liberal males would go away. And I had to say, "No, it will just go back underground." If we let it. And I'd rather fight it above ground, in the open, with room to manoeuvre and space for sunlight to expose it.

None of us are in this for the short haul. We need to undermine the patriarchy every chance we get. And we get a lot of chances.

What He Said

My New Name For A Blog

What Sia Said.

Some Days, It's Melange

And some days, the "simple" act of being present inside a circle being cast, is everything needed to remind you that it's all real, it's all metaphor, there's always more.


Dark Moon, tonight.

Damn, that was good.

We Are More Than We Are. We Are One.

Light posting, as I'm hammered at work and with the garden and have a Dark Moon ritual tonight.

But I was discussing the racism/sexism/generational thing this weekend with the brilliant and beautiful Athenae from First Draft and I've been e-mailing back and forth this morning with my dear friend E., who's noted that apparently today is: Whine About Racism Demonstrated by Democrats Who Refused to Vote for Obama Day. As E. wrote: "But where's the goddamn mea culpa from all the media, LIBERAL and conservative, about how their overt sexism torpedoed Clinton's campaign? Oh wait - I forgot. The one truly revealing thing we learned in this primary season is that, while overt racism is no longer OK in the US (a good thing), overt sexism is still A-OK, no matter what your political persuasion. How silly of me to expect recognition of that!" It's been interesting to me to watch how many young, white, male bloggers have dumped on Clinton for superficial stuff, even criticizing her when she's done things we've complained for years that the Democrats were unwilling to do, such as scalping the media for bullshit attacks on her daughter or insisting that we should let everyone vote and count every vote (not to mention watching the men complaining that the announcers on her ads sounded "too much like announcers" or that her failure to seriously contest DC (which has few delegates and which she was never going to win) indicated serious problems with her campaign, but voicing no such concerns when Obama wrote off states such as West Virginia). As I said to Athenae, at some point, one begins to perceive an underlying organizing principle behind the behavior. Surprise! A lot of liberal men (who likely consider themselves feminists) are sexists. And I think that's, in part, what's got E., and me, and a lot of other women pissed off. (And a lot of liberal women who don't consider themselves racist are, surprise!, racists. I'm looking at you, Geraldine.)

You can't live in this society and not be tainted by both racism and sexism. That goes for women and African Americans as well as privileged white men who imagine themselves free of any such notions. You can try, you can be self-aware, you can learn, but you can't live in this culture and not carry the taint. And you can't live in this society and not carry those taints because racism and sexism are both malignant symptoms of the same disease: Patriarchy. In the Patriarchy, Power Over is everything. In order to exercise Power Over, one must consistently create new "others" over whom the privileged members of the Patriarchy can exercise power. African Americans and women have been prime targets, but so have gays, lesbians, immigrants, young people, old people, etc. And the Patriarchy prospers when, for example, women and African Americans fight with each other over the tiny piece of the pie that they perceive is available to maybe one, but not more than one, underprivileged group. Arguments about which group has suffered more at the hands of the Patriarchy strike me as pointless. The goal seems to be to rank groups by who has suffered more so that the most harmed group can get first crack at all of the (again, perceived) few crumbs of power that the patriarchs are willing to toss towards the "others." Ranking, in and of itself, is almost always a tool of the Patriarchy.

What's needed, IMHO, is to stop letting Patriarchy define the terms, the concepts, the frame of the debate. Early on, Clinton and Obama could (and, I think, should) have quit playing the winner-takes-all game that Patriarchy wants us to play and figured out ways to co-president or co-govern that would have been good for all of us. They still could. Whichever candidate you support, one thing is clear: almost half of the Democrats supported the other candidate. And yet, in what could and should have been an historic and happy time for both women and African Americans, the Patriarchy has prevailed and, regardless of whether the nominee is Obama or Clinton, one large contingent of Democrats will walk away angry and hurt.

Obama supporters tell me that one thing that they really like about him is his emphasis on change and on a new kind of politics. Those are vague terms to me and I'm not sure what he means by them. He'll have a chance, over the next few months, to put some meat on those bones, to show America what those words really mean. I'd like to think that he'll find serious ways (and I don't mean just a nice speech or a few appointments) to reach out to women. I'd like to think that, in whatever role she plays, Clinton will find ways to repair her heretofore stellar relations with African Americans.

Because we both lose as long as the Patriarchy has us angry at each other.


Update: Ian Welsh has more.

Sweet

If your life is anything like mine, there are periods when things seem worried, tense, full of obstacles, and, then, there are periods when everything is simply unimaginably sweet. I've always shorthanded this phenom in my own mind with a saying from one of the Dune books: Some days, it's melange. Some days, bitter spice. Lately, I've definitely been in one of my melange stages. (Don't worry; this is usually how the universe presages a whack upside the head. Another of my favorite lines, this time from the movie Out of Africa: Isak Dinesen's farm burns to the ground. The next day, she's walking with an old friend through the smoldering ruins. Friend: What happened? Dinesen: I had the best coffee harvest of my life. And, then, God remembered.)

Yesterday, I got to spend the day with G/Son. I try, I do, not to turn this blog into Old Woman Tells Everyone How Cute Her Grandson Is. I am not always successful.

We had a v serious thunderstorm with pounding rain and, since I love thunderstorms, G/Son and I went out onto my screen porch to watch the rain. Lightening struck my next door neighbor's pond and the thunder was so sudden and so loud that it startled Nonna and G/Son. We went inside for a minute, and G/Son said: That loud thunder scared me! The one thing that I don't want is for him to be afraid of storms, and the other thing that I don't want is for him to be unable to talk about his fears, so I said: Me, too. That thunder was so close and so loud that it scared me, too. Mostly, I was just startled, but, also, I was a little bit afraid. Let's go outside and yell at the thunder! (Goddess knows, it's been the overriding occupation of my days, yelling into thunderstorms. Really. In more ways than one.)

So, we did. We went back onto the porch and we both yelled as loud as we possibly could at the thunder. (We can yell pretty loud.) G/Son told the thunder: Don' do dat! Be nice! Be loud, but not so loud! No scaring G/Son and Nonna, thunder! Nonna yelled: I can be louder than you, thunder! You can't scare me off my own screen porch! Don' do dat! Soon, you'll be gone and G/Son and Nonna will be dancing in the puddles, you loud thunder! Back off!

Soon, the thunder was gone. We took off our Crocks and our flip-flops and we went outside barefoot in Nonna's yard. The grass was cool and wet and soft and it tickled our toes. I told G/Son about how you can grock that grass loves to be walked on. Rain was still dripping off the lilac bush and beech tree when we walked under them. There was a stream of water running down Nonna's street into the storm drain that goes to the holy Chesapeake Bay. We splashed in the stream and sent little blessings on leaves from us to the Chesapeake Bay. Here, Chesapeake Bay, this is to say that we love you. Here, Chesapeake Bay, this leaf is to tell you that we hope you get better soon from the pollution. Here, Chesapeake Bay, this is to tell you how much fun we are having splashing in the water that will be a part of you! Those leaves floated like little boats and we talked about Viking funerals and sending blessings into the West, which, not too surprisingly, is the direction that the little stream always flows. There were some birds splashing their feet in the water, too, just like G/Son and Nonna, and we pretended that we were birds and could splash in the water and then fly into the oak trees.

This morning, there was no sign of rain. It was a perfect, lazy, Sunday morning in June on Nonna's porch with the pink and deep purple roses blooming in mad profusion just outside the porch and the mint and thyme smelling wonderful under the bright sun. We sat under the lazy ceiling fan, and we ate waffles with strawberry jam and we drank ice water from paper cups with Elmo on them. We read Stellaluna and The Coyote That Swallowed a Flea and G/Son petted Miss Thing (gently!) and fed her kitty treats, exclaiming in pure delight with each one: She's eating it! G/Son swung his feet from the big chair on my porch and we listened to the birds singing in the trees and tried to guess what the birds were saying.

If it gets any better than this, I would be unlikely to be able to stand it. We witches say that What Is Remembered Lives. At two, G/Son's a little young to remember this morning. But if he ever, as an old man, gets a whiff of strawberry jam and roses on a Sunday morning in June and has a moment when he feels safe and comfortable and at peace, I will not die. And, regardless, sweet, sweet mornings like this one can make up for a lot of bitter spice.

May it be so for you.

First Of The Month Bazooms Blogging

Ladies! Listen up! Catching breast cancer early is the key to surviving it! Breast Self Exams (BSEs) can help you to detect breast cancer in its earlier stages. So, on the first of every month, give yourself a breast self-exam. It's easy to do. Here's how. If you prefer to do your BSE at a particular time in your cycle, calendar it now. But, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

And, once a year, get yourself a mammogram. Mammograms cost between $150 and $300. If you have to take a temp job one weekend a year, if you have to sell something on e-Bay, if you have to go cash in all the change in various jars all over the house, if you have to work the holiday season wrapping gifts at Macy's, for the love of the Goddess, please go get a mammogram once a year.

Or: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pays all or some of the cost of breast cancer screening services through its National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. This program provides mammograms and breast exams by a health professional to low-income, underinsured, and underserved women in all 50 states, six U.S. territories, the District of Columbia, and 14 American Indian/Alaska Native organizations. For more information, contact your state health department or call the Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER.

Send me an email after you get your mammogram and I will do an annual free tarot reading for you. Just, please, examine your own breasts once a month and get your sweet, round ass to a mammogram once a year.

Merci!

And, here's a video demonstration of a BSE.